Tashi Dorji

Bhutanese-born guitarist Tashi Dorji explores numerous techniques with his freewheeling improvisations, including alternate tunings and atonal experiments. He began releasing cassettes of solo acoustic improvisations in 2009, and eventually made the move to vinyl with releases like 2015's Appa. He also started performing on electric guitar, and became an active collaborator, issuing efforts with artists like Tyler Damon, Shane Parish, and Aaron Turner. Drag City began releasing Dorji's music during the 2020s, including the politically charged we will be wherever the fires are lit in 2024. Tashi Dorji was born and raised in Bhutan, where he was exposed to classic rock and metal through bootleg cassettes, and he began playing guitar as a teenager. He moved to Asheville, North Carolina, as a foreign exchange student in 2000, and became involved with the local punk rock scene, which radically changed his perspective. From there, he got into free jazz and experimental music through hearing John Zorn and Derek Bailey, and he began developing his own improvisational styles. Starting with 2009's Solo Improvisations, he began releasing cassettes of his music. A self-titled compilation appeared on Ben Chasny's Hermit Hunt imprint in 2014, and Blue Twelve, Dorji's first electric release, appeared the same year. He formed the duo MANAS with drummer Thom Nguyen, and began issuing cassettes and LPs in 2015. Dorji also released the solo effort Appa (Bathetic Records), and shared a split LP with Marisa Anderson (Footfalls Records). VDSQ Solo Acoustic, Vol. 13 appeared in 2015. Dorji released collaborations with guitarist Shane Parish and drummer Tyler Damon, as well as a split LP with violist Eyvind Kang. Another compilation of Dorji's early cassette recordings, Collected Works, appeared in 2016. Dorji remained heavily collaborative, issuing sessions with Mette Rasmussen, C. Spencer Yeh, Aaron Turner, and others, in addition to performing with Dave Rempis and Tyler Damon as Kuzu, and forming Kogarashi with Patrick Shiroishi. Stateless, Dorji's first album for Drag City, appeared in 2020. Dorji collaborated with Ian McColm and Frank Meadows on The Power of Water, issued by Trouble in Mind in 2021. Astral Spirits issued Master of Time, a collaboration with Susie Ibarra, in 2022. Sciamachy, with percussionist Michael Zerang, was released by Feeding Tube Records in 2023. A Mouth at Both Ends, a collaboration with Joe McPhee and Bill Orcutt, was issued by Orcutt's Palilalia Records. Drag City reissued two of Dorji's early cassettes, Guitar Improvisations and Tashi Dorji, on LP for the first time. Ere Guitar, a trio recording with Elliott Sharp and Sally Gates, appeared on Intakt Records in 2024. Dorji also released Gnash, with saxophonist Dave Rempis, on Aerophonic Records, and the solo acoustic effort we will be wherever the fires are lit on Drag City. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi