Tao Groove

A later album, the sound was an experiment with more organic sounds. Smooth and funky was more the goal. A lot of Rhodes and vintage analog synths, plus horns and slap ass bass.

This record coincided with Tao Groove’s involvement with David Scott and The Logixhouse Collective, an international thinktank of musicians and artists. In 2004, Logixhouse helped to coordinate Windsor Ontario, CA’s branch of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival (Movement 2004) with Derrick May.

1. Fuzz Monkey
2. Disko Stikka
3. Instant Zen
4. Shibba Baby
5. Bombs Over Baghdad (Remix)
6. It’s Still Coming Around
7. Let It Rain Down On Me
8. Get Up Offa That Thang (Remix)

Tao Groove live performances were rare. Mainly because he disliked public appearances, but also because of the extensive setup time an event required, as all live music was made uniquely for the event.

For the same reason, the styles in each of the live performances (Live PAs) are distinct from each other to build on the flow of the evening, depending on who else was playing.

1. Kollider Live At Movement 2004
2. Unification Live @ Motor Lounge Detroit
3. CuChulainn Live At The Blue Room

The 5th Tao Groove album. More of an EP. Departs somewhat from the previous release and explores more aggressive sounds. Goes into a more Detroit mode of heavy technology, but still keeps an organic feel that is absent from most Detroit techno sounds. The mood is less somber, but more unrelenting.

1. Gandalf
2. Ruafo
3. Level Lifter
4. Puree (Full Flow Mix)
5. Teeth (Full Tax Mix)

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.

1. Anna’s Piano (Remix)
2. Lament-Kaijhin
3. Soon It Will All Burn Down
4. Saxofix Hoax (Live)
5. Reconciliation
6. Light Cannot Escape
7. Safe In My Pocket
8. Phreak
9. The Dark War
10. Transubstantiation

Another early Tao Groove record, released after NeoTribe. This maintains a pretty consistent and upbeat anthem vibe pretty much throughout. During it’s creation, Tao moved between San Francisco and South Miami Beach, both influences are obvious in the tracks.

The track “Dictophone” alludes to a connection between Tao Groove and the then Detroit/NYC based 8 bit peoples collective. Tao Groove was one of the original members of 8bit before their chiptune style became fully realized. He still maintains a close relationship with 8bit founder Mesu Kasumai.

Stylistic differences caused Tao Groove to recede from involvement with 8 bit peoples early on.

1. Building The Golem
2. Cuisen Art of The Iron Chef
3. Dictophone
4. Gibby Moves Me
5. Inca From Detroit
6. On My Way To The Pagoda
7. People Parts
8. Powerfugg
9. The Funk
10. Tmasiw (808 Cow)

Tobey’s New Toy was Tao Groove’s debut release. This started out as a cassette tape so there’s not as much headroom, but it still sounds good for the garage sale equipment it was mixed down with… all four tracks of it.
When it was first burned to CD it was renamed The Little Fireman EP but we decided to keep it true to its mixtape name.

It’s worthwhile to note it was created on an AKAI S01 sampler. An 8 bank rackmounted beast that got around 27 seconds of sampling time to work with and it cost $1000. It was the bronze age comparatively to what is available now as software.

1. Bella Aboriginal
2. Francesconi Foo
3. Glow
4. Nihon Segue
5. Sippa Bass Ninja
6. Super Mario Bass Ninja (Remix)
7. Hidden Track

One of the middle Tao Groove albums circa 1997. The fact that it was designed for warehouse parties is apparent in straight floor driving tracks like Goya and heavy distorto-kick bangers like Chunk. Crazy Shlit and Roll The Drums make for early anthem tracks.

FYI – “Ambassador Snap” used to be a connection phone number in Detroit (run by Linda G. in the nineties) that you could call to get information on where all the parties were that weekend. We’re talking about back in the rave days in Detroit where you had to drive to map points and through similar various hurdles to get to a warehouse party. It was necessary due to the constant police assaults on the parties at the time. PS – “Space 19″ was a ticket point underneath a coffee house in Detroit.

1. Ambassador Snap
2. Batau
3. Chunk
4. Crazy Shlit At Space 19
5. Don’t Drink The Water
6. Goya
7. King Pong
8. Rain Dance
9. Roll The Drums
10. Tribe