|
|
viewing 1 To 23 of 23 items
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CD
|
|
TGR 045CD
|
Wildly creative free-form L.A. singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Laena Myers presents her highly anticipated debut solo album, LUV (Songs Of Yesterday). Released on Taxi Gauche Records, the 11-track collection is the first to feature the genre-spanning composer, in-demand session player/singer and classically trained violinist putting her own name to her recordings. Formerly known as Laena Geronimo and L.M.I./Laena Myers-Ionita, Laena is perhaps best known as lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of critically-acclaimed and internationally touring rockers FEELS, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. She's also known for her time as bassist for goth-punk band Numb.er as well as the Motown-inspired pop outfit The Like, and as the go-to-violinist for a myriad of artists from the L.A. music scene and beyond -- contributing to released recordings by John Frusciante, Jhené Aiko, Ty Segall, Shannon Lay, and The Allah Las to name a few. As a solo artist, Laena's punk background of guitar-based songwriting and swagger merges with her innovative classical/experimental roots and love for singing ballads, and this is shown throughout LUV (Songs Of Yesterday), leading to a depth of emotion that cuts to the heart of even the most hardened, revealing a more tender side to her vocal and lyrical prowess over lush string arrangements. The songs contained in LUV (Songs Of Yesterday) are picked from over the course of a decade, written purely from a place of honest expression and filled with texture, depth, and meaning. They were recorded between tours mostly in sweltering summer bedrooms by friend and co-producer Scott Cornish (Angel Olsen, Big Thief, No Age), and mixed during the pandemic. The album features Laena's vocals, guitar, bass, and violin playing and huge-sounding, lush string arrangements supplemented with drums and percussion by Nick Murray (Cate Le Bon, White Fence, Thee Oh Sees), synths by Jeff Fribourg (Numb.er, Froth), lap steel by Cole Berliner (Kamikaze Palm Tree), and sax by Gabe Flores (Grave Flowers Bongo Band), as well as field recordings -- birds singing at daybreak, footsteps and bells making their way into a cave, the wind on a peak in Angeles National Forest.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TGR 045LP
|
LP version. Wildly creative free-form L.A. singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Laena Myers presents her highly anticipated debut solo album, LUV (Songs Of Yesterday). Released on Taxi Gauche Records, the 11-track collection is the first to feature the genre-spanning composer, in-demand session player/singer and classically trained violinist putting her own name to her recordings. Formerly known as Laena Geronimo and L.M.I./Laena Myers-Ionita, Laena is perhaps best known as lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of critically-acclaimed and internationally touring rockers FEELS, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. She's also known for her time as bassist for goth-punk band Numb.er as well as the Motown-inspired pop outfit The Like, and as the go-to-violinist for a myriad of artists from the L.A. music scene and beyond -- contributing to released recordings by John Frusciante, Jhené Aiko, Ty Segall, Shannon Lay, and The Allah Las to name a few. As a solo artist, Laena's punk background of guitar-based songwriting and swagger merges with her innovative classical/experimental roots and love for singing ballads, and this is shown throughout LUV (Songs Of Yesterday), leading to a depth of emotion that cuts to the heart of even the most hardened, revealing a more tender side to her vocal and lyrical prowess over lush string arrangements. The songs contained in LUV (Songs Of Yesterday) are picked from over the course of a decade, written purely from a place of honest expression and filled with texture, depth, and meaning. They were recorded between tours mostly in sweltering summer bedrooms by friend and co-producer Scott Cornish (Angel Olsen, Big Thief, No Age), and mixed during the pandemic. The album features Laena's vocals, guitar, bass, and violin playing and huge-sounding, lush string arrangements supplemented with drums and percussion by Nick Murray (Cate Le Bon, White Fence, Thee Oh Sees), synths by Jeff Fribourg (Numb.er, Froth), lap steel by Cole Berliner (Kamikaze Palm Tree), and sax by Gabe Flores (Grave Flowers Bongo Band), as well as field recordings -- birds singing at daybreak, footsteps and bells making their way into a cave, the wind on a peak in Angeles National Forest.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TGR 040LP
|
NYC-based electric cowboy Chillemi announces his sophomore, dark break-up album, Vacant Cowboy. Singing with an enigmatic allure, Chillemi's style paints with broad strokes of cinematic themes. The solo project of Brian Chillemi (Rose Cologne, Junk Boys), his debut album With Woman was released in April 2021 on Swiss indie label Taxi Gauche Records. After moving to Los Angeles from his native home of New York City just months before the pandemic, Chillemi returned to Manhattan to put the finishing touches on this LP. Edition of 200.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
TGR 042CD
|
Fomies is the result of the collaboration between four musicians who are also close friends hailing from the Vaud Riviera region. The band was formed in early 2017. During its initial phases, the group swiftly produced a self-made EP, which played a pivotal role in shaping their distinct artistic identity, characterized by a dynamic fusion of surf-punk and garage rock. This is their fifth studio album on the Zurich based label Taxi Gauche, home to Annie Taylor, Sam Himself, Adult Books, and Chloe Gallardo. For fans of: Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Harvey Rushmoore & The Octopus.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TGR 042LP
|
LP version. Fomies is the result of the collaboration between four musicians who are also close friends hailing from the Vaud Riviera region. The band was formed in early 2017. During its initial phases, the group swiftly produced a self-made EP, which played a pivotal role in shaping their distinct artistic identity, characterized by a dynamic fusion of surf-punk and garage rock. This is their fifth studio album on the Zurich based label Taxi Gauche, home to Annie Taylor, Sam Himself, Adult Books, and Chloe Gallardo. For fans of: Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Harvey Rushmoore & The Octopus.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
TGR 036CD
|
Defamator is the long-time-coming debut project of 24-year-old Chloe Gallardo. It tells a story of betrayal in love and friendship and the painful reality of overcoming love lost and former heartbreak. Drawing influences from artists such as Broadcast, Grouper, and My Bloody Valentine, Gallardo adds her own haunting, folk-style vocals and hyper-specific lyrics to create a sonic unique to her. A style that she describes in her words as "dark shoegaze bedroom indie pop." Album opener "Bloodline" epitomizes this bittersweet modus operandi. 15 seconds into its dainty acoustic strum, Gallardo adamantly sulks "I'm fucked up" -- the salvo of a lyric about feeling like a family disappointment. As the track lifts up into a cascading gaze-pop rush, recalling the likes of Bachelor and Snail Mail, we're blessed with a pristine elegance that belies the song's raging core. "I have always written music this way," she says of this fundamental contradiction. "It's funny because I try so hard to write darker-sounding songs and they always come out way too pretty. So, I've resorted to writing the most gut-wrenching and intense lyrics to compensate." Written mostly during peak-pandemic times in Gallardo's bedroom, the songs that made their way onto Defamator arose from a concerted period of healing. Drawing from the teachings of therapy, the songwriting process gave her the means to channel some deeply entrenched emotional scars. This venting of anger is implicit throughout the record. The album's title -- Gallardo's own neologism -- uses the concepts of "defamation" and "defamatory speech" to innovate a kind of pejorative accusation. As a result, it is like you are actively listening to Gallardo forcefully take command of her past. Of the title track she explains: "The song 'Defamator' is about someone who spoke untruthful things about me in order to manipulate me and the way people perceived me and I felt that was an underlying theme in most of the album." Recorded at Jazzcat Studios in Long Beach California with Jonny Bell (Hanni El Khatib, Adult Books, etc.), Defamator marks Gallardo's first time in a "legitimate recording studio." And it shows. Bell's production is vital moving part here. There's more stripped-back affairs -- "There Will Be Blood"; "The Way" -- songs which gently seethe and purr like Grouper's spectral dream-pop; Gallardo's fluttering folk-ish voice gloriously pushed to forefront.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TGR 036LP
|
LP version. Defamator is the long-time-coming debut project of 24-year-old Chloe Gallardo. It tells a story of betrayal in love and friendship and the painful reality of overcoming love lost and former heartbreak. Drawing influences from artists such as Broadcast, Grouper, and My Bloody Valentine, Gallardo adds her own haunting, folk-style vocals and hyper-specific lyrics to create a sonic unique to her. A style that she describes in her words as "dark shoegaze bedroom indie pop." Album opener "Bloodline" epitomizes this bittersweet modus operandi. 15 seconds into its dainty acoustic strum, Gallardo adamantly sulks "I'm fucked up" -- the salvo of a lyric about feeling like a family disappointment. As the track lifts up into a cascading gaze-pop rush, recalling the likes of Bachelor and Snail Mail, we're blessed with a pristine elegance that belies the song's raging core. "I have always written music this way," she says of this fundamental contradiction. "It's funny because I try so hard to write darker-sounding songs and they always come out way too pretty. So, I've resorted to writing the most gut-wrenching and intense lyrics to compensate." Written mostly during peak-pandemic times in Gallardo's bedroom, the songs that made their way onto Defamator arose from a concerted period of healing. Drawing from the teachings of therapy, the songwriting process gave her the means to channel some deeply entrenched emotional scars. This venting of anger is implicit throughout the record. The album's title -- Gallardo's own neologism -- uses the concepts of "defamation" and "defamatory speech" to innovate a kind of pejorative accusation. As a result, it is like you are actively listening to Gallardo forcefully take command of her past. Of the title track she explains: "The song 'Defamator' is about someone who spoke untruthful things about me in order to manipulate me and the way people perceived me and I felt that was an underlying theme in most of the album." Recorded at Jazzcat Studios in Long Beach California with Jonny Bell (Hanni El Khatib, Adult Books, etc.), Defamator marks Gallardo's first time in a "legitimate recording studio." And it shows. Bell's production is vital moving part here. There's more stripped-back affairs -- "There Will Be Blood"; "The Way" -- songs which gently seethe and purr like Grouper's spectral dream-pop; Gallardo's fluttering folk-ish voice gloriously pushed to forefront.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
TAXI 028CD
|
The second of two albums to be released by Brion Starr over the same month, this one is produced by the legend that is Tony Visconti. Brion Starr lives and works in New York City, joined by a group of foreign and domestic collaborators. Their latest album A Night To Remember is a meditation on night itself, a spinning sci-fantasy through this future darkness we all contemplate, a journey to the end of the night told as a story of one evening in an internationalist future city with no up and no down, no beginning and no end. Passing through the seedy clubs, with all their trappings, when the night is just turning into morning. Have you lost your mind? Blackout and wake on a train. Is this a dream? We are nocturnal. There's fire in the streets. The first tier looks down on you. So, find the ones you love and hold them tight. Recorded at the Chateau d'Herouville and produced by Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex, Sparks). Starr's current collaborators include Jaie Gonzalez (Splashh), Hayden Tobin (Hanni El Khatib), Pete Sustarsic (Public Access TV), James Hurst (Beach Party), Ben McConnel (Beach House), Grace Kennedy, Charlie Sands, and composer Nigel Wilson. "We had a listening party when we finished, Tony was so happy that day, he told me he hadn't had a listening party in 'probably 30 years' (and we were in the middle of the pandemic!) I smile when I think of him suggesting we do it. It was a true celebration, I still have the cork from the champagne!"
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TAXI 028LP
|
LP version. The second of two albums to be released by Brion Starr over the same month, this one is produced by the legend that is Tony Visconti. Brion Starr lives and works in New York City, joined by a group of foreign and domestic collaborators. Their latest album A Night To Remember is a meditation on night itself, a spinning sci-fantasy through this future darkness we all contemplate, a journey to the end of the night told as a story of one evening in an internationalist future city with no up and no down, no beginning and no end. Passing through the seedy clubs, with all their trappings, when the night is just turning into morning. Have you lost your mind? Blackout and wake on a train. Is this a dream? We are nocturnal. There's fire in the streets. The first tier looks down on you. So, find the ones you love and hold them tight. Recorded at the Chateau d'Herouville and produced by Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex, Sparks). Starr's current collaborators include Jaie Gonzalez (Splashh), Hayden Tobin (Hanni El Khatib), Pete Sustarsic (Public Access TV), James Hurst (Beach Party), Ben McConnel (Beach House), Grace Kennedy, Charlie Sands, and composer Nigel Wilson. "We had a listening party when we finished, Tony was so happy that day, he told me he hadn't had a listening party in 'probably 30 years' (and we were in the middle of the pandemic!) I smile when I think of him suggesting we do it. It was a true celebration, I still have the cork from the champagne!"
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TAXI 029LP
|
LP version. On the heels of his breakout year, Swiss indie rocker Sam Himself -- New Yorker by choice, "Fondue Western" baritone by trade -- prepares to release his debut album, Power Ballads. The Brooklyn-based songwriter, performer and multi-instrumentalist has been sounding the bell for his first LP with a number of singles. This full-length debut follows 2020's acclaimed Slow Drugs EP, the artist's third which earned him the Swiss National Broadcasting Service's Best Talent Award in 2020 and a nomination in 2021 for a Swiss Music Award, the most prestigious national prize of its kind in Sam's home country. Power Ballads marks the latest collaboration between Sam and his longtime producer, mixing engineer Daniel Schlett (The War On Drugs, Iggy Pop), as well as mastering legend Greg Calbi (Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie). Sam plays most of the instruments on Power Ballads himself, with producer Schlett adding sounds, textures and of course his singular mixing style (as heard recently e.g. on Iggy Pop's cover of The Velvet Underground's "European Son").
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
TAXI 029CD
|
On the heels of his breakout year, Swiss indie rocker Sam Himself -- New Yorker by choice, "Fondue Western" baritone by trade -- prepares to release his debut album, Power Ballads. The Brooklyn-based songwriter, performer and multi-instrumentalist has been sounding the bell for his first LP with a number of singles. This full-length debut follows 2020's acclaimed Slow Drugs EP, the artist's third which earned him the Swiss National Broadcasting Service's Best Talent Award in 2020 and a nomination in 2021 for a Swiss Music Award, the most prestigious national prize of its kind in Sam's home country. Power Ballads marks the latest collaboration between Sam and his longtime producer, mixing engineer Daniel Schlett (The War On Drugs, Iggy Pop), as well as mastering legend Greg Calbi (Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie). Sam plays most of the instruments on Power Ballads himself, with producer Schlett adding sounds, textures and of course his singular mixing style (as heard recently e.g. on Iggy Pop's cover of The Velvet Underground's "European Son").
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
TAXI 027CD
|
Third album from Pablo Infernal. Altin Asllani, Fabio Schoeni, Flavio Scano, and Jan Jossi -- four friends from Zurich with Swiss, Albanian, Brazilian and Italian roots, who have been sharing an ardent passion for music for more than a decade. With their third album Mount Angeles they are now setting out to conquer all rock enthusiasts beyond their country's borders. Their mutual love and enthusiasm for the rock music of the '70s speaks to style-defining bands such as Deep Purple, Frank Zappa and all the progressive rock pioneers. For years, the band's first choice for retreating and letting the artistic urge flow freely has been a 19th century house in the middle of the Swiss Alps, called Gasthaus Gruenenwald. The former train station and inn situated in Engelberg (which means nothing else than "angel mountain: in German, hence the album name), has become an essential part of the group's songwriting process. Mixed by none other than five-time Grammy Award winner Chris Lord-Alge from Los Angeles (Aerosmith, Muse, Foo Fighters, Green Day and many more) and finalized by Bill Skibbe at Jack White's Third Man Mastering Studio in Detroit, Mount Angeles presents the preliminary zenith of Pablo Infernal's work.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TAXI 027LP
|
LP version. Third album from Pablo Infernal. Altin Asllani, Fabio Schoeni, Flavio Scano, and Jan Jossi -- four friends from Zurich with Swiss, Albanian, Brazilian and Italian roots, who have been sharing an ardent passion for music for more than a decade. With their third album Mount Angeles they are now setting out to conquer all rock enthusiasts beyond their country's borders. Their mutual love and enthusiasm for the rock music of the '70s speaks to style-defining bands such as Deep Purple, Frank Zappa and all the progressive rock pioneers. For years, the band's first choice for retreating and letting the artistic urge flow freely has been a 19th century house in the middle of the Swiss Alps, called Gasthaus Gruenenwald. The former train station and inn situated in Engelberg (which means nothing else than "angel mountain: in German, hence the album name), has become an essential part of the group's songwriting process. Mixed by none other than five-time Grammy Award winner Chris Lord-Alge from Los Angeles (Aerosmith, Muse, Foo Fighters, Green Day and many more) and finalized by Bill Skibbe at Jack White's Third Man Mastering Studio in Detroit, Mount Angeles presents the preliminary zenith of Pablo Infernal's work.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TAXI 022LP
|
The first of two albums to be released by Brion Starr over the same month, the second of which is produced by the legend that is Tony Visconti (TAXI 028CD/LP). On 2020, the first full-length album recorded at the infamous Chateau d'Herouville in France since its closure in 1985, Starr explores a year which none of us will soon forget. Starr says of the album: "I feel like this is us at our most blunt, I certainly haven't felt very poetic this last year. I've been writing about what is right in front of me and have chosen to eschew beauty for the raw reality of what has been happening in NYC this year." 2020 is a genre-hopping, time-traveling whirlwind with heavy depth and impeccable range which is set very firmly in the surreal and manic time we are living in. The music and lyrics found within equal the surreal with the subtly psychedelic, the manic with a frantic talent. For fans of: David Bowie, Lou Reed, Shintaro Sakamoto, La Femme, Roxy Music. Limited edition clear vinyl with silver streaks.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TAXI 018LP
|
The solo project of Brian Chillemi from New York's Junk Boys and Organs, With Woman was recorded in Brooklyn and Queens apartments by producer Kyle Avallone and drinks heavily from the pool of Gallon Drunk/Cave balladry, smoky acoustic guitars alternating with the sparse echo of electric soloing. Edition of 200.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TAXI 019LP
|
Highway Dancer was the latest addition to Calvin Love's catalog of cerebrally-crafted, atmospheric indie pop, before his B-side and rarities album Night Song came out via Taxi Gauche Records in 2020 (TAXI 011LP). The album stems from the same period of songwriting as his 2017 EP, Ecdysis, and encapsulates the observations and inspiration from Love's life on the road. Highway Dancer is now reissued on vinyl. Calvin Love on the record: "The songs you hear on this album were compiled from a larger collection over the past three years. Many of the songs are the subconscious soundtrack to my life and travels before my mind had a chance to conceive them. Inspiration came from everything that attracted my inner soul to the external forces and beauty this world has to offer." For fans of: Weyes Blood, Father John Misty, Cut Worms, Sam Cohen. Marble color vinyl; edition of 200.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TAXI 014LP
|
The band initially came into existence in 2016, consisting of charismatic singer and guitarist Gini Jungi, bassist Michael Mutter, drummer Jan Winkler, and guitarist Tobias Arn. In 2017, the band released their first two singles "Partner in Crime" and "Wasted Youth", before taking themselves on a tour of Italy, France, and Switzerland. Not Yours!, the quartet's highly anticipated debut EP was released in spring 2019 and sold out only a few months later. Over the past few years, the band's sound shifted away from the rock-tinged pop of their early releases, instead drenching it in a heavier psychedelic wash, gaining the band comparisons to Warpaint or early Hole, and catching the ears of LA Weekly, The 405, Soundblab, and For The Rabbits. Released via Taxi Gauche Records, Not Yours! featured artwork created by Dominic Foster, also known for his work with The Coral. The band decided to hole themselves up once again at DALA Studios for their debut album, with David Langhard (producer of psychedelic titans Klaus Johann Grobe). Sweet Mortality is the result. Printed inner sleeve; gatefold sleeve.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
TAXI 014CD
|
The band initially came into existence in 2016, consisting of charismatic singer and guitarist Gini Jungi, bassist Michael Mutter, drummer Jan Winkler, and guitarist Tobias Arn. In 2017, the band released their first two singles "Partner in Crime" and "Wasted Youth", before taking themselves on a tour of Italy, France, and Switzerland. Not Yours!, the quartet's highly anticipated debut EP was released in spring 2019 and sold out only a few months later. Over the past few years, the band's sound shifted away from the rock-tinged pop of their early releases, instead drenching it in a heavier psychedelic wash, gaining the band comparisons to Warpaint or early Hole, and catching the ears of LA Weekly, The 405, Soundblab, and For The Rabbits. Released via Taxi Gauche Records, Not Yours! featured artwork created by Dominic Foster, also known for his work with The Coral. The band decided to hole themselves up once again at DALA Studios for their debut album, with David Langhard (producer of psychedelic titans Klaus Johann Grobe). Sweet Mortality is the result.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
12"
|
|
TAXI 017EP
|
The Sweethearts is a project by Tyler Thacker together with Sam Mehran (ex Test Icicles). Songs were written on a tiny Casio between Sam and Zak Mering. Tyler pretty much played all the instruments. As Tyler explains: "This album was recorded a decade ago underneath a bunkbed in a crowded apartment we shared in Brooklyn. At the time, The Sweethearts was just another anonymous moniker among many, intended as a pop-minded musical outlet between primary contributors myself, Zak Mering and Sam Mehran, featuring whatever friends happened to be passing though that day including but not limited to Morgan Whirledge, James Ferraro, Zak Davis, Aaron Frankle, Ian Drennan, Ariel Pink, Ryan Howe. Like so many of the collaborations from those years, these songs and many more floated to the wayside as we each barreled through various other configurative projects, eventually retired to failing hard drives. But the specter of this specific catalogue always haunted me despite shifting primary focus to painting shortly thereafter. Two years ago in July, the world lost one of its most fearless creators, Sam Mehran, and I lost one of my best friends who oozed melody as effortless as breath. These songs are letter bombs to adolescence in the information age: reterritorializing the tropes of heteronormative psycho-sexuality proliferated throughout western pop music on top of self-deprecation, heartbreak, disappointment, indulgence, and loss of innocence. At one point, I caught myself singing harmony to Zak and Sam on a song called 'Tonight's the Night' and it was in that meeting place between the metaphysical and the spirit world, that I finally got to say goodbye to Sam."
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TAXI 013LP
|
While establishing himself in the NYC music scene playing with artists like Cut Worms and Shilpa Ray, Kyle Avallone began working at home on what would become his new solo project, a dark and moody world where he could investigate the layers of romantic turmoil, hedonistic habits, and ordinary life. His debut album, Last Minute Man, is a sleazy offering of Casiotones covered in barroom smoke and crimson cabaret light; a scuzzed-out tower of songs that takes you on a late-night escapade littered with neon signs, bathroom debauchery, and 3AM rendezvous. You could be nightclubbing in Berlin with the ghost of Rowland S. Howard, or zig-zagging across the floor of the Black Lodge with holes in your loafers, a tear in your dress. "I wanted to escape the day-to-day," says Avallone. That desire to run away permeates through all of the album's nine tracks. In the sloppy swagger of "The Haunted Screen," a fallen angel has broken a wing at the expense of love. Despite his soul-sucking existence, he flies on. On the hypnotic closer, "Take Me Away," Avallone pleas, "Let's sail the sea by night/The distant shore is bright/I've counted my cards, there's nothing for me here/Disappear." Of course, there are other ways to check out -- indulgence, excess, isolation. "Cruise Control" chronicles a night on the town in the manner of Bowie's Thin White Duke -- the pursuit of cold satisfaction and the untold numbness that follows. Over the incessant groove of "I'm Ready," a prophet, prince, or president lays claim to his throne and prepares for his ascension, as well as the end of days. "Somewhere You Can't Find Me" puts you on the other end of a desperate phone call from the depths of addiction, a lost soul's muddled goodbye. But don't be mistaken -- it's not all doom and gloom. Avallone's lyrics and delivery contain an undercurrent of wry flirtation that suggests these characters can see beyond their torture. The title track, "Last Minute Man," evokes the self-deprecation and gentle chauvinism of Leonard Cohen -- "When your drink is done/when the party's no fun/when you bite and bat, but still he don't come/that's when the light shines on me..." The romantic ballad, "Borrowed Spell," finds our seducer waiting in anxious anticipation, fearful of what consequences love may bring.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TAXI 011LP
|
There is a palpable mood at the heart of Canadian perennial Calvin Love's work. Only once in a blue moon comes an artist that seems so familiar yet out of space. Love arrives as an enigma, a crooning, haunted voice. With nods in comparison to Roy Orbison and Bryan Ferry, Love has certainly drawn subtle inspiration from the classic singers of the '60s, '70s, and '80s. But Love's work reflects on the modern journey. Songs for the introverts, songs for lonely and hopeful, and songs to soundtrack our lives through the quiet hours, and all the places our minds drift to as we head toward the uncertain future of the 21st century. Emerging from the same vibrant Canadian scene as contemporaries Andy Shauf, Mac Demarco, and Sean Nicholas Savage, Love has established himself as a rare caliber of singer by blending obsession with the beauty of artifice and the inner systems of real and natural things. It is this infallible match that makes Love's work so strange and inviting. Active since 2011, Love has toured relentlessly throughout Canada, USA, Europe, and Asia. He has also worked with producers Richard Swift (The Shins, The Black Keys) and Gus Seyffert (Beck, Roger Waters), as well as opened on support tours for Jonathan Wilson, Weyes Blood, and Of Montreal. Love released his 2012 debut album New Radar on Aquarium Drunkard imprint, Autumn Tone, followed by 2015 sophomore album Super Future on Arts & Crafts as well as numerous cover albums, singles, and EPs and the 2018 release of Highway Dancer. Limited vinyl-only release.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TAXI 010LP
|
Brion Starr is a musician based in New York City. Starr's debut album, Global Identity (TAXI 002LP, 2019) was released in early 2019. The album was recorded at Konk Studios (home of The Kinks) in London with a cadre of international musicians including Robbie Wood (Swim Deep, Lida Fox, and Matthew McAuley (ARE Weapons). This is the sister album, Rope Memories, the diary of a highly successful advertising agent who is at the end of earth's life cycle and has to choose to stay on a fated earth or take all of their money earned to buy seats on a shuttle to an exclusive colony in space. The album is to be understood as a concept and varies between highly-developed art rock songs with moments of glam spectacle and punk brevity alternating with slower instrumental ambient songs reminiscent of early ambient pioneers which are meant to represent various stages of space travel. Edition of 300, printed inner sleeve.
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TAXI 002LP
|
Brion Starr is a singer, artist, and actor based in New York City, though this debut album was recorded over three months North London's Konk Studios (home of childhood musical heroes, The Kinks). This followed a year-and-a-half touring with The Noh Starrs after releasing their eponymous album via Modern Sky in 2017. Along with former bandmates Robbie Wood and Lida Fox, Starr follows the experimental drone and psych-rock elements of their debut album aligned with cut-up pop structures and free jazz contributions by Matt McAuley (TV Baby, A.R.E Weapons). Starr then explores musique concrete, loop-based tape compositions and ambient meditations on the latter half of the album with harpist Marilu Donovan.
|
|
|