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LP
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SPITTLEJ 516LP
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"Taco" means "octopus," "kite," and even "bunion" in Japanese. Bald men or men with shaven heads, as well as red-faced, staggering drunks, are also referred to as "Taco." It's a word that appears in a lot of slang and sayings. Taco is also the name of an '80s music and performance collective whose performances were like nothing before or since. The Japanese band Taco, formed at the beginning of the '80s, is a loose group/collective of varying members that belongs to the post-punk alternative music movement. The network of members were all friends and acquaintances of Harumi Yamazaki, ex-member of Gaseneta and Taco's central member. Taco can be described as a band of guerrillas who, over the years, continued to connect, collect, interrupt, and scatter while sending out into the world music and sounds that can best be described as transient. Taco also performed without Harumi, and so it is as though the band is an anonymous group of mercenaries. Taco's first album was released in 1983 and had a huge impact on Japan's underground music scene as an anomalous and collaborative album involving various participating artists (the stars of Japan's underground music scene!) and Harumi, who provided the lyrics. Although each track represents a reverberating conglomeration of sounds created by this transient local network, common to all the tracks are Harumi's expressive lyrics. However, because of another incident in which the records were recalled due to the scandal caused by some of the lyrics, only a limited number of people actually own a copy of the album. Taco's second album, released in 1984, features a live recording of a performance that was held at the end of 1982. This is an album which effectively conveys the power of Taco's astounding and legendary live performances, as well as Harumi's inflammatory, sensational, and masochistic presence on stage. Her mutterings and screams, which practically ignore the detached beat, confront the audience like an overwhelming groundswell.
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