"This is the second Talibam! disc in the past few months and it features the same duo of improv loonies: Matt Mottel on synth and Kevin Shea (from Peter Evans Qt & People) on drums. Unlike their previous CD on Azul Discografica, this one has no guests. Each side of this LP/EP has one 17 1/2 minute piece. Side 1 is called "Explosive Soul" and it contains some fine Sun Ra-like electric synth, twisted electronics and tight, explosive drums. This music is too focused to be considered just free-form noise. There is a strong and spirited connection between Matt's warped keyboards and Kevin's solid inter-weaving drums. About midway through the first side, the duo starts to rock out for a bit into a joyous groove and then ascend into an impressive wall of noise that finally breaks into fragments. Near the end they sound as if they are about to break into some great sixties rockin' riff tune, before the tempo explodes into a punk-rock rage. Side two is called "One Way Foot" and has that Sun Ra-like alien-worlds texture. Soon the cosmic sludge starts to thicken as Kevin's spins his percussive web into a more focused morass. Talibam! have a way of embracing various elements at the same time, free/noise meets head on with some more crazed punk-rockin' insanity. Most often they sound as if they are having fun, sometimes they almost go to far into the extreme. Inspired insanity from this ridiculous local duo." - BLG, Downtown Music Gallery
"Why is so much of the so-called experimental noise scene so apathetic? As much as people try to justify If one were to judge the musicians working in the polar musical extremes, the base similarities might very well be comparable to the disparities. Apathy is a turd, yet somehow it's become a prevailing mindset for many musicians, sadly even for those who thrive on being fringe. Deliberate apathy versus genuine ignorance — it's a fucking mess. Perhaps it's a case of misanthropy, but it's painful to watch fans rally around otherwise innocuous "noise" musicians whose only seeming function is to extend their braggadocio by being LOUD. Couple this with avant-garde music's otherwise arcane academics (think modern composition) and it's no wonder why so many people are left feeling alienated.
But then we have groups like Talibam! Finally a band that lives up to its exclamatory moniker, Talibam! are a refreshing reminder that experiments in sound aren't inherently exclusionary, even ones so tonally harsh and rhythmically spastic. To the untrained listener and/or lazy journalist, the band could be construed as "wild," "untalented," or worst of all, "primitive," but even cursory listens to The Excusable Earthling reveal not layers or narratives or semiotic devices, but a very in-the-moment sound that resists any foretelling construction or organizing principle. It's the difference between genuinely responding to a joke with laughter and a sitcom character who doesn't laugh because it's not in the script. Still, it's far from anarchy — The Excusable Earthling is an invitation to engage, inclusive and intelligent, so organic and free-range it could be stocked in a natural food store.
Although The Excusable Earthling is Talibam!'s first full-length vinyl release*, this fact belies the experience of the members. Consisting of one of the best drummers in the American underground Kevin Shea, the ever-so-explosive Matt Mottel on synthesizer, the members of Talibam! have worked with everyone from Cooper-Moore and Chris Corsano to Peter Evans and Akron/Family. But their vast list of related bands and collaborations say nothing about the music. Here's a signature sound, not in the sense of being "new" or necessarily "different," but because Shea and Mottel leave individual sonic imprints that are attuned specifically to each Talibam! moment, while any instance of seeming individuality is insinuated in a wider collective discourse. Sound stuffy? Don't worry, it's not reflected in the music.
Talibam! are perfect examples of music not made, but done — communal in its approach, yet never regressing to trite psychedelia or transparent "primitivism." With an attentive ear and your guard let down, you can literally hear the band searching for different textures and varying dynamics, striving for moments of pure connection but also boldly looking for exits when they do. Hell, you may even get to hear a little tonality and a 4/4 beat. I'll be straight with you: this is "difficult" music, but only for as long as your cultured idioms allow it. The sounds are striking and the performance is penetrating — this is physical music, and if you can't get down with that, then you're in a world of theory and illusions. To be sure, any Talibam! recording is best approached as a document of a vibrant process, not a cold, aestheticized artifact. Besides, given our current political, social, and cultural circumstances, our interests would perhaps be more wisely vested in the very same movement and dynamicism that afford Talibam!'s musicking.
* Talibam! also issued their first two "official" CD releases this year, including the highly, highly recommended studio album, Ordination Of The Globetrotting Conscripts." - Mr P, Tiny Mix Tapes
"Structured improvisation from Kevin Shea (drums) and Matt Mottel (synth). Darlings of a tiny sliver of the avant scene here in NYC, their heavy rep is fairly justified here across two sidelong pieces that hold the attention really well, as bits of melody grind it out amidst seamless transitions into freer modes of play. Quite a lot going on here given the rigidity of the lineup, a series of loose melodic attacks that gather steam then scatter in the wind. Sort of rock-based in spots, but I'm all for such cross-pollination. A good time herein." by Doug Mosurak, Dusted Magazine
Zebulon's Francophile café confines get a bit tighter tonight to celebrate anxiety-jazz Talibam!'s third (yes, third) release of the summer, The Excusable Earthling. Matt Mottel's synthesizer antics rip like he learned to play from John McLaughlin... Behind it all, drummer/show stealer Kevin Shea (voted World's Greatest Percussionist by the Japanese Journal of Bullying!) fondles a 3/4-size kit with maniac clatter. So see Talibam! before they release another Zappa-meets-Zorn concoction, or file a habeas petition at Guantanamo, whichever comes first. -MG, Flavorpill NYC, Issue 378
FEB 2008 Talibam! interview is up on Foxy Digitalis now!
We are currently planning our 6th European tour for Sept/Oct 2008 (to Scandanavia, Netherlands, Italy, Croatia, Germany, etc)!
Many Thanks to Miguel and everyone at Constantino Recording!! In January 2008 we had the pleasure of recording with Miguel in Quimperle Bretagne France -- go record with Miguel!
ALBUMS
PLEASE INCLUDE $3.50 per disc for International Orders and $2.00 per disc for American. The Postal Rates Have Gone UP!!! Thanks to everyone who has supported our music!
2008
But god created woman /
Talibam! 7" vinyl, released June 2008 by Holidays Records from Italy. This is our first appearance on a 7", and we are very excited to split it with our friends BGCW who we toured with in Europe last year. Our side of this limited pressing features Talibam! with special guests Anders Nilsson (guitar), Mike Pride (voice) and Jeremy Wilms (guitar), and the single is hot!
Chewy Needs His Meat C40, released May 2008 by stop scratching from Birmingham U.K. This cassette tape is limited to 100 copies with handmade art and packaging, and was recorded pumped up on 4-track cassette -- we are glad to keep it on tape where it belongs in all its sweet analogue bliss!
Live + Live = ? C60, released February 2008 by No=Fi Recordings from Italy. This cassette tape is our first release of 2008! Side A = Talibam! live @ Trash ny NY (22mins). Side B = Talibam! live @ Tonic bk NY (30mins), limited 70 copies, Hand numbered, and with a beautiful Hand burned case.
We have 4 more new releases coming for 2008, including a CD featuring the first collaboration between The Peeesseye and Talibam!, a split 12" LP vinyl with Wasteland Jazz Unit for Thor's Rubber Hammer's Ecstatic Duo Series (Washington DC), a split 10" w/tba for Wallace Records's PhonoMetak Series (Italy), another limited edition cassette tape tba, and we are also working on our next full length album.
2007
Ordination Of The Globetrotting Conscripts CD, released July 10th 2007 by Azul Discografica (azd06). This is our first album recorded/mixed/mastered in a professional recording studio! With special guests Moppa Elliott, Michael Evans, Peter Evans, Jon Irabagon, Sam Kulik, Robbie Lee, Cooper-Moore, Anders Nilsson, and Jeremy Wilms! This CD and the Buns And Gutter CD are Talibam's first real CD releases -- not CDR's!
The Excusable Earthling 12" LP, released September 11th 2007 in the states by Pendu Sound Recordings. This is our first full length LP, and it catches us in a creepy introspection well-suited for vinyl dynamics.
Live at The Tonic, New York CDR. This is an unexpected summertime 2007 release of one of our favorite live shows -- we mastered it while on our recent tour of the UK. Out now in the UK on Blackest Rainbow (BRR20)! Limited to 100 hand-numbered copies and featuring hand-made packaging.
Buns And Gutter CD, released from France on Gaffer Records 2007 (GR012). This CD and the Ordination CD are Talibam's first real CD releases -- not CDr's! The music includes a 34 minute outtake from the evolvingear.com sessions, and a 2 minute no-wave outtake from the Ordination sessions featuring guitarist Jeremy Wilms. The package design is a tribute to our D.I.Y. colleagues.
Talibam! / Le Harmacy - Split Cassette Tape C30 (MT500001) 2007. $4.00. NYC FREEFUCKNOISEJAZZZ - ITALY FREEFUCKNOISEJAZZZ Available now on MT5 TAPES! Limited to 50 copies. Our half of the tape is made-up of outtakes from the Ordination sessions. 2006
Hungry Hungry Hemispheres CDr, Fair School 2006. This CDr is also released as Power And Terror by Kitty Play Records 2007, and was recorded live-on-air at radio station WUOG Athens GA.
Various Artists - Less Self Is More Self 2CD set, Tarantula Hill Benefit -- Ecstatic Peace 2006 (E107). Nautical Almanac's Tarantula Hill hub burned down March 2006 in Baltimore, MD. This is a benefit CD comprised of their friends and supporters, including Chris Corsano, Burning Star Core, Lo Vid, Trebville Exchange, Lee Ranaldo, Jessica Rylan, The Lum and Abner Of Morocco, Chuck Bettis, Talibam!, Carlos Giffoni, Aaron Dilloway, Jack Rose, Maria Chavez, Pengo, Leslie Keffer, Lexie Mountain, The Graveyards, Mark Morgan, Dj Dogdick, The Haunting, To Live and Shave In L.A., Howard Stelzer, Dreamcatcher, Mouthus, Nate Young Solo, Nautical Almanac+Leslie Keffer.
Various Artists - Getting Rid Of The Glue LP, Pendu Sound Recordings 2006 (PSR-0016). This is a compilation of NYC-based bands, including DIRTY CHURCHES | SPIN-17 | K.P. | BIG A little a | FESSENDEN | EAGER MEEK | MIALESSOT W/ DANIEL CARTER & OLD GHOST | MARIA CHAVEZ | TALIBAM! | EXCEPTER.
2005
Self-Titled debut CDr, evolvingear.com 2005 (EE13cdr). This is our first official release, thank you Chris Forsyth!
Thanks to WIRE Magazine for their Oct 2007 full page review of our 'Ordination' CD: "...Talibam! have created an eclectic, muscular rock/noise-inflected Improv all their own." "...things fall apart wonderfully...out of sheer exuberance and pure adrenalin pushing the musicians and the music up to and over the edge." "The energy level is worthy of Borbetomagus, but it spills out in all directions, from demented free noise polka to post-Prog funk chorale...The cumulative effect of it all is pretty mindblowing...Talibam! could well be the most exciting improv outfit you'll hear all year...this is more a point of no return than a point of departure...the view from the cliff top is magnificent." -- thank you to reviewer Dan Warburton!
"Ornette Coleman playing on Soft Machine's Fourth in hell"... Talibam!'s brand of shitstorm skronk is grounded in more intelligent thought and dynamic group exchange than many of the more hyped transmissions from the contemporary American 'noise' underground." - Tiny Mix Tapes Dot Com
"The music matches the mania of the packaging perfectly as the duo let loose a …blast of sonic sludge that gleefully destroys everything in it's path, as if on a mission." - Edwin Pouncey, The Wire
"Agro-improv troupe Talibam! will surely harsh your mellow. A cross between noise-rock, free-jazz and unabashad fuckeduppedness, Talibam! is audio terrorism at its most playful. Led by drummer Kevin Shea and the hideous gurgles of what might be Speak & Spells (Matt Mottel, synth) suffocating under distortion pedals." - Chris Weingarten, Village Voice
Matt Mottel's visage should be familiar to anyone who's been going to shows in NYC in the past 8 years. He's been hanging around NYC clubs since he was like 16, and dropping electric mind bombs with his synthesizer in those clubs nearly as long with folks like Awesome Color, Deerhunter, Akron/Family, Kenny Wollesen, Chris Corsano, Ras Moshe, Cooper-Moore, Sean Meehan, and his new band Shadow Maps.
Kevin Shea's drumming and stage gymnastics have been gazed at with wide wonder through his membership in bands like Storm & Stress (Touch & Go), Coptic Light (No Quarter), People (I and Ear), Peter Evans Quartet (Firehouse 12), Sexy Thoughts (rcarchives.com), Mostly Other People Do The Killing (Hot Cup), etc.
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that my new album Afrikan Machinery is out now on Tzadik Records. Check out some of the tracks on my profile! You can buy the CD here, here, or here. It's also available on iTunes.
Best Wishes, Lukas Ligeti
Ada Nuki - s/t (9tx CD, 29'26'' - Whosbrain 'o8) - Giorgio Maniglia (formerly of Logan, currently also in Microwave with Marge) screams and beats hard drums while Stefano Spataro (Ritratto di un Mattino) burns bass guitar strings and sings out. Recorded by omniNDIEpresent Fabio Magistrali, released by french label/collective Whosbrain, these nine tracks are pure abrasive percussive matter: after initial Burzum where it seems like Maynard James Keenan is at vocals inside a syncopated metal box, - voices turn later crazier and even spastic (Sakara Bondage made remember of Ex-Models), frenetically, - then think of the bluster of Dale Crover through a distorted/noise vibe, - and You'll get closer to the explosive fantasy of Lo Gnomo as well Polistirolo's short bluesy apocalypse; on the other side, Plastic French Mozarela sounds punk and nuclear. Special guests: Michele Maglio (aka Psichic, formerly head of Psychotica rec and Logan) plays guitar on several tracks, while François Régis Cambuzat translated in french the lyrics of Maçon and C'est Comme Chier Son Aime.
Thanks so much for your friendship, John
