Taper’s Choice 
Two years on from their debut, a collection that culled the best from their Choice Tapes series, TC is back on record. While the live sphere will always be the purest form of the Choice, it’s always nice to see an official document of the goods. The seasoned group of musicians (featuring members of Real Estate, Vampire Weekend, DARKSIDE, and Arc Iris) are able to translate the jam from the stage to the studio, a trick that can prove dicey for some, but that TC pull off with panache. Prog Hat brings two certified fan favorites to the spools, giving an official release to set staples “Doner Wrap” and “The Dave Test.” The former is hinted at ever so briefly in the opening strains of their 2023 album, History of Taper’s Choice, and the band finally makes good on a full version here. They never quite stretch to the 20+ minutes under the live lights, but the nearly ten-minute version here leaves the listener locked in and looking for more.
The band opens up the the record with “Pino Botticelli,” rippling through the speakers on knotted guitar strands and enough of Harrington’s organ to make the record title more than just a solid pun. It seems on record the audience always passes “The Dave Test” (it’s denoted as a resounding ‘yes’) and the jam-gelled staple proves just why the song is often a centerpiece at shows. Like “Doner Wrap,” the run time is reigned in here, but the band makes full use of their twelve-minute tangle, running the listener through a vignette of changes with breakneck skill. They close out with a relatively new confection, “Song Hat,” which hasn’t cropped up in the live logs like “Pino Botticelli” has in recent months. A shorter shot than the average TC twiddle, the song slips back towards some of the more compact pop moments on their last album, bridging their past and future with admirable ease. The band also announces a run of dates to celebrate the album, including both East and West Coast runs and a stint at Big Ears. Gonna be a good year for the the Choicers out there!
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