asp's classic albums # 87: taj mahal travellers - august 1974
 

A PERFECT SOUNDTRACK TO HALLOWEEN!

...

Had something partially written up for this, but found a blogpost that PERFECTLY sums up my feelings... basically, if you don't want to read it all, this is mostly improvised eerie acoustic drone, imagine sun city girls -- no, really, imagine them, but without ANY sour notes.. no jazz-skronk stuff.. but definitely some of their more, how shall we put it.. creepy... material. This is 2 discs long of moaning Middle Eastern-tinged droney drifty improvised stuff that is always, always, always "ON". If that makes sense. There's never a dull moment. I don't reccomend this stuff very often, as a lot of music like this can be a bit dull and patchy and noodley, but this is seriously excellent, and brought to mind NNCK, Double Leopards, the aforementioned SCG, Master Musicians of Bukkake, Climax Golden Twins, and more. OH! HERE'S THAT BLOG POST:

some of the most satisfying acoustic drone ever made. albeit this belongs in the category of spaced out hippie free collective improvisation, but its sophistication and superior craft tower over thousands of imitators. it is not lazy like so many others in this vein, but rather full of ideas and invention. yes tantric buddhist chant and avant classical and rock'n'roll (in the loosest of loose definitions) CAN fuse into an incredible cosmic consciousness "thing". and yes it can be exhilarating and wonderful and soul nourishing. this is the stuff of legends.

there are other recordings by this sprawling commune of an outfit, and many solo outings by prominent violinist Takehisa Kosugi worth seeking out.

ENJOY!: (sorry about rapidshare, someone feel free to post non-rapidshare links!!!)

http://rapidshare.com/files/17459737...jap_.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/17460413...jap_.part2.rar

EDIT:
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.4shared.com/file/-6-1dlDR...ravellers.html

A much better download choice.

You're right in my wheelhouse today.
This is one of my very favorites. What a fantastic ensemble this was.

I haven't heard this release, but they're a fucking great group. Really need to get into more of their stuff. Kosugi's 'Catch Wave' is a GREAT record too.

Two very interesting new ASP classics threads, definitely. I'll check both bands.

Have you heard Takehisa Kosugi's Catch Wave? I'll up it at some point if not (remind me next week, I'm away from my record collection now till Monday). Well worth it. [Edit: Sorry, I didn't notice that Herr Slander already mentioned it. Whoops]

Catch Wave is incredible. I bought a reissue of that LP a few years ago and loved it. Lent it to a friend. Haven't seen it since. I need to track him down. There were only 300 copies of that reissue and I can't fin another without paying through the nose. If it were more readily available, I would just let him keep it in the name of drone evangelism.
A shimmering bit of amazement, that one.

I saw the LP for £25 once. I was a prize retard for not getting it, it wasn't there the next week. Worth probably 10 times that. Not sure if it was the re-issue or original though. The CD re-issue was pricey enough...

Fuck yeah, I'm getting that catch wave stuff right now.

Glad this is so popular.

WASHER, I love your avatar so much, I seriously want to pop in PERSONA every time I see it.

Thanks.
I haven't heard this release yet, but I've always really enjoyed their track on the Oz Days Live bootleg.

Been meaning to check out these dudes for a while now, cannae seem to find their stuff at reasonable prices anywhere. Cheers for download linkage, baby.