Album Review: Tape Loop Orchestra - London Bootleg

In preparation for the long gestating new album from the Tape Loop Orchestra (which I have been assured will be out very soon), Andrew Hargraves, the man behind the outfit, has released another bootleg recording from one of his sporadic live performances under the moniker—taken from an October 2012 show at Union Chapel, the London Bootleg follows the previously self-released, extraordinarily limited edition live recordings that Hargraves issued in 2014 and 2015.

Already out of stock from his website (sorry, but again,extremely limited edition) the effort pulls together a very solid, skeletal, and very haunting live set, as well as a previously unreleased TLO track, “Aim Straight For Those You Love.”

Musically, the live set featured here is very similar to a bulk of the material found on the previously issued Rome Bootleg, and you might be asking yourself, how many copies of roughly the same thing do you need?

Well, that is the beauty of something as unique as the Tape Loop Orchestra. It’s like live theater; it will only be this way the one time, which is what makes these bootleg recordings so essential. Each performance captures a moment in time, and how those loops sounded in that precise moment. It’s also fascinating to hear how these textures and soundscapes eventually all made their way into Hargraves’ last “studio” album as the TLO—2012’s In A Lonely Place.

Described as a piece pulled from the “archives,” “Aim Straight For Those You Love” is a lot more ominous and chilling in sound and feeling, which is a sharp juxtaposition when compared to the warmth and comfort from the pieces found on In A Lonely Place, as well as the 2014 one-off “Yesterday, This Would Have Meant So Much To Us.” Flanked by textures of static, flutters of string arrangements fight for their place in the piece against a droning sound that casts a very long shadow over a majority of the composition—with things only clearing up and finding a somber, plaintive resolution well after the seven-minute mark.

Around this time last year when I reviewed the Rome Bootleg as well as the odds and ends collection Eye Beams, I described the music as being a “heartbreakingly beautiful, cathartic listening experience.” I suppose I would not go that far this time around with the London Bootleg, however it is still a worthy listen. As a composer of ambient and experimental music, you would be hard pressed to find others who are doing what Hargraves is doing with the Tape Loop Orchestra, and it would be even harder to find people who are doing it this well, and this live recording continues to cement that fact.

London Bootleg is already out of print, but you can buy a marked up copy on Discogs.