Full of vague lyrical musings and intentionally languid drift, the two latest jams from North Carolina galaxy-crafters Tasha Yar (who may or may not have dropped the hyphen from their name) represent some of their most resonant work yet. Not quite ever giving in to a sun-drenched psychedelic impulse, there’s a sense of the room, of the rehearsal space, in the two live-recorded cuts, and that makes the tracks sound even more organic. Drummer Tim Greene — who also represents the “front desk” of the band when it comes to mailing out the discs that periodically show up around here — warns that either or both of these freeform jams could turn into songs down the road. Nebulous space rock. What could be more appropriate?

Listen to the guitars and you might hear nods to Neil Young, but rather than sit and pick apart the pieces — which are presumably titled for when they were recorded: “7-25-13, 8:30 PM” and the less specific and bluesier-riffed “‘Bout Nine” — both cuts are far more satisfying to put on and let go, let your mind wander with the echoes, the bits of boogie, the “what did he just say?” and the leftover summer humidity. “‘Bout Nine” is nearly twice as long as “7-25-13, 8:30 PM” and has room for some swing, but it still winds up in hard-panning swirl running from one channel to the next. The crux of what Tasha Yar have sent through the post is in the hypnotic aural meander, and it arrives not a moment too soon.

In case this is the first you’re seeing of the name, over the last couple years, Tasha-Yar have checked in a couple times with updates on their progress and audio to serve as landmarks of this or that captured moment. As they have in the past, songs arrive on CD (a band after my own heart) in a handmade paper sleeve with a note from Greene explaining some of what was going down at the time. This one also seems to have a map of the jam room.

And if you’re wondering, “F.D.T-Y” is “Front Desk, Tasha-Yar.” Click either image to enlarge:

Right on. I always, always enjoy hearing from these cats, and with the permission to share the songs granted so explicitly — he put it in writing and signed it! — there was no way I was going to keep them to myself. What were you doing on July 25? Check out “7-25-13, 8:30 PM” and “‘Bout Nine” on the player below, and please enjoy:

[mp3player width=450 height=200 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=tasha-yar-july-25.xml]

Tasha Yar on Thee Facebooks

Tasha Yar on Twitter

Tags: Marion, North Carolina, Tasha-Yar, Unsigned bands

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 8th, 2013 at 1:49 pm and is filed under audiObelisk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.