Experimental Outfit Taipan Tiger Girls Release “Live at the Melbourne Town Hall”

Melbourne’s Taipan Tiger Girls made an indelible mark on the independent music scene with two critically acclaimed and quickly sold-out albums under the banner of It Records: their eponymous debut Taipan Tiger Girls #1 in 2015, followed by Taipan Tiger Girls #2 in 2016.

With their sophomore effort, the group demonstrated a remarkable capacity for improvisational ingenuity, unshackling themselves from the constraints of time and expanding their sonic exploration. This album saw the introduction of a broader instrumental palette, including piano, organ, and bells, which augmented their already lush and immersive soundscapes.

Their third and final album, Live at the Melbourne Town Hall, stands as a testament to the extraordinary synergy and skill of these musicians. This recording captures the group at the zenith of their creative prowess, offering an exhilarating journey through improvisational brilliance and psychedelic expansiveness. It serves as a fitting finale to the band’s luminous, albeit ephemeral, moment of artistic transcendence.

Taipan Tiger Girls deliver a mesmerizing and otherworldly musical experience, fusing analogue electronics, percussive elements, guitar, and the imposing reverberations of the Melbourne Town Hall Grand Organ. This album, recorded live during Melbourne Music Week in 2017, captures the band performing at the peak of their creative powers before an enraptured, capacity audience in their native city. This release, a culmination of a brief yet blazingly intense artistic period, is a collaborative endeavour between It Records and Heavy Machinery Records.

Taipan Tiger Girls, an instrumental group known for their unyielding commitment to experimentation, is composed of a trio of seasoned musicians. At the helm is Ollie Olsen, a composer, producer, and a prominent figure in the electronic music scene, known for his work with bands like Whirlywirld, Max Q, NO, Third-Eye, and his involvement with the label Psy-Harmonics. Olsen’s innovative approach to music sets the tone for the group’s exploratory sound. Mat Watson, a drummer with a deep fascination for synthesizers, brings a unique experimental edge to the ensemble. His diverse musical background includes contributions to projects like Boredoms BoaDrum, E.S.G, ULMD, and Other Places. Watson’s drumming style, characterized by its inventiveness and complexity, adds a dynamic layer to the group’s sound. Lisa MacKinney, known for her work with Mystic Eyes, Hospital Pass, and Super-Luminum, contributes her talents on the feedback guitar and organ. Her experience across various musical collectives, especially in feedback-driven guitar work and her proficiency on the organ, enriches the group’s sonic landscape.

In Live At the Melbourne Town Hall, Taipan Tiger Girls are joined by special guest Bonnie Mercer, a guitarist with a background in Grey Daturas, Hospital Pass, and Breathing Shrine. Mercer’s experimental guitar playing complements the group’s ethos of sonic exploration. In this live performance, MacKinney takes on the historic Melbourne Town Hall pipe organ, adding a majestic and resonant dimension to their sound, further amplifying the group’s distinctive and avant-garde musical narrative.

In 2022 Ollie Olsen was diagnosed with Multiple System Atrophy, an aggressive and degenerative condition for which there is currently no cure. All proceeds from the sales of the vinyl and digital versions of this album will go to assisting Ollie Olsen and his ongoing medical care, with love and admiration from Heavy Machinery and It Records and all his fans who appreciate him for the seminal musical force that he is and all the wonderful music he has gifted the world.

Purchase the album via Bandcamp here. You can also find it via Apple Music here.

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