Tao Groove » trance

Live Performances (Detroit Techno)

Tommy — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:27:06 +0000

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.

5 Miles Outside of Detroit

Tommy — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:09:27 +0000

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.

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.

Pagoda

Tommy — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:52:46 +0000

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.

Holy

Tommy — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:22:52 +0000

The tracks from Holy are alot more ambient than other Tao tracks. There’s a haunted mystery to these selections. Melodies are left hanging in between wet sheets. Nothing is too direct, faint sadness pervades and few right angles to the drumwork make Holy distinctive.

Many tape effects and tricks were used in the making of Holy, old school 2 inch tape style. As a result of the many analog to digital conversions and crude equipment, there is a warm saturation to all of the Holy tracks that muds up easily depending on your system.

Tobey’s New Toy

Tommy — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:34:11 +0000

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.