Tao Groove » drum and bass

The Babylon Experiment

Tommy — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:46:52 +0000

The Babylon Experiment was a major evolution from the debut Tobey’s New Toy album. Harmonically there’s a lot of range change and overall the tracks start to get more meat on them. The spectrum spreads stylistically as well, with parts of the record tasting like bubblegum and parts like dog shit.

FYI: The piano from “Reconciliation” was recorded over the phone into a laptop microphone in the business office of Brilliant Studios in San Francisco. It was the hippie waitress girl Tao met at the Mexican restaurant down the block from the studio. She had been learning piano. The rest of the track was built around that single piano line.

Samples in “Light Cannot Escape” from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Samples in “Phreak” from Full Metal Jacket.

Skematik For The Peoples

Tommy — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:22:15 +0000

This EP is really a B-side collection that was scavenged from older tape clips and a work-in-progress archive. All of the tracks are relatively old, sparse and definitely quirky. It marked a step in Tao’s drum programming before many of the loose knocky beats were being made.

Joe Normal

Tommy — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:34:38 +0000

This release is more tangential into some drum experiments. Some of it is barebones and ugly, like Bump Original while other tracks are laid back and rubby.

The Busta Rhymes remix was constructed as the ending of the Unification Live Set, but it’s not included in the final Live mix because of a technical failure.