Tapers Choice are a jam band for jam band aficionados, which means I should hate them, while I don't love them, this is cool and interesting enough to hold my attention. As Alex Bleeker from Real Estate gets together with Dave Harrington from Darkside {which Darkside?}, Chris Thomson from Vampire Weekend and Zach Tenorio-Miller from Arc Iris to get spaced out zoned out and go on a musical journey sharing with us some demo's, live recordings and Studio sessions, being released in a AutoStereogrammatic Die- cast sleeve.
Blink and you'll miss the two second opener Doner Wrap. That leads into Let Your Eyes Adjust To The Light that has skittery percussion and hazy vocals, as you emerge from an all night session into the bright morning light,
Darkness On The Edge Of Midtown tips a wink at Bruce, but is rather more laid back song, that sounds like it was made for hill country, in a small town deep in the back woods, with some rather narcoleptic vocals, that tell us there are no such thing as the good old days, as the bells get scraped and the flute keeps things good and mellow.
Lilac Palace (Intro) is a carefully strummed opening.
Hieronymus Bong is every bit as stoned as the title makes out, this goes deeply proggy and exploratory as if they have all smoked half a dozen bongs each in the half hour before recording this, they have then pressed play on the tape, recording and seeing what happens, somehow it holds together, as they aim for the stratosphere, the drummer gets stuck in a repeating figure, as the keyboards and synths weave about and the guitarist slowly picks his way to glory, even if the organ is the ultimate winner in this musical battle.
Lick The Toad has a late 60's mystical hippy vibe as slowly layers of mandolins accompany the vocals wondering why you've chosen to live in the boonies, escaping from city life, as if they are searching for their own personal Big Pink, before it goes a bit laid back choral.
Pelt has a bit of a Venus In Furs vibe, with a viola, lots of cymbals with strange sounds from the guitars, easily the stand out tune for me, perfect to adlib some twisted sexual tales over, as this live track transformed thorough a prism of Can infused Psychotropic scenes, for any way they can mash your mind, as if they can see the Marshmallow Coast once more. Lick The Toad reprise is almost from behind a wall or under a lily pad.
The B-side opens with You Can't Make A Rainbow going on a deep journey to 1972 or so, to a broken down squat with a bunch of hippies tripped out of their minds, seeking out the deepest parts of the universe, through more powerful drugs and meditations, but still they have failed to find out how to make a rainbow.
21 Miles is a deeply chilled out incredible strung-out acid folk hymnal, as they sit around a campfire dreaming of being just 21 Miles from Bethlehem once more.
Type III might be an allusion of a type of Covid, or it could be the latest strain of acid they've been taking, looping them out into a dream nether world of shape shifting oil wheel prisms.
The Judas Window is just about perfect to jump out of, finding yourself entering the space world on the cover of Algarnas Tradgard's Delayed album.
Running From The Rain has a Jimmy Smith style organ part that jumps out, as they down some more cawfee, no matter what it might do for your objectivity when the sun comes up again, as the bass and guitar shape shift like the pattering rain. The guitar then spends minutes chasing the drums around a sound storm, as they try to outplay each other for a couple of minutes more than they need too, as I need that organ line back.
Walking Around (Outro) is one last musical flourish for the sonic adventures to take one last deep toke of this stuff, marvel at the world once more as stars float in front of their purple glazed shades.
Find out more at https://orgmusic.com/collections/vinyl-lp/products/history-of-tapers-choice-vol-1 https://taperschoice.bandcamp.com/album/history-of-tapers-choice-vol-1-tapers-choice https://taperschoice.net/
