Guitar Improvisations and Tashi Dorji are two early cassette-only titles from the renowned guitar improviser Tashi Dorji that were originally released a decade ago — this reissue marks their vinyl debut on November 3rd.

“Guitar Improvisations and Tashi Dorji are the first physical releases of my guitar improvisations. They were put out by a small local, now defunct, label called Headway Recording in 2012 and 2013. The friends who ran the label had heard some of my guitar music and reached out to me about doing a cassette release.

Guitar Improvisations was really my first recording of improvisation — in a semi-studio setting at my friend’s basement space. It really was a formative time for me because it felt like everything opened, as far as the possibilities of what music-making meant. Like improvisation walked in and then there was a volcanic eruption . . .

The self-titled session was recorded at a nice studio at the local university here in Asheville. I had some friends that were studying music there and had access to studio time. This session focused more on extended/prepared guitar ideas. My interest in percussive elements of sounds, timbre, harmonics, and dynamics plays a lot in this recording.”

-Tashi Dorji, 2023

The single from Tashi Dorji, "Iron Cloud", proudly exposes the metal roots in and textural approach to his playing. Mic'd carefully and experimentally, for added resonance, Tashi responds with astonishing physicality, creating a percussive bed he credits to the influence of gamelan music, with the tension of rhythm and the possibility of sound and silence, filling a sense of expanded space. Watch the self-directed video for "Iron Cloud" and prepare for these reissues to drop on November 3rd!

Tashi Dorji Tracklisting:

Iron Cloud
April
Macula
Sunder
Take Shape
Moves Southward

Guitar Improvisations Tracklisting:

Improvisation I
Improvisation IV
Improvisation V
Improvisation II
Improvisation VII

UPCOMING DATES:

10/5/23 at Duke Coffeehouse in Durham, NC* 
10/8/23 at Burlal Beer in Asheville, NC*
10/9/23 at The Pilot Light in Knoxville   TN*
10/29/23   Roulette intermedium   NY   NY^ 

 

*Duo w/ Dave Rempis
^Duo w/ Alex Zhang Hungtai