Michael James Tapscott
“The Beasts of History” is the new album from Michael James Tapscott, a San Francisco Bay Area based musician, who since 2004 has recorded and performed as a member of Odawas, China, More Animals of the Arctic, Pacific Walker, and now under his own name. “The Beasts of History” is his full length debut for Royal Oakie Records, after releasing the “Michael, the Worst” EP in December 2022.
Nearly four years in the making, the album pulls from disparate strands of American ephemera to create a uniquely captivating collection of songs that pairs Michael’s vivid songwriting with country-rock guitars, ambient synths, field recordings, four-track cassette vignettes, lonesome piano balladry, and fretless bass solos. The eleven songs play out like Sam Shepherd’s one act plays, full of doomed anti-heroes and beautiful losers.
Produced by David Glasebrook, the album features contributions from a wide ranging cast of characters, including members of Odawas, Gospelbeach, Papercuts, Elephant Micah, Tarnation, Yea-Ming and the Rumours, and more. From the opening moments of sound collage “Reno News (Intro)”, to the cinematic noir of “Cheap Hotel”, to the psychedelic swirl of closer “Leopard Print Coat”, the album’s eleven tracks constitute a montage of outsider americana. They call to mind the small town dramas of Bobbie Gentry, the golden age pop of The Beach Boys, the lonely jangle of The Beau Brummels’ “Bradley’s Barn”, the echoing melodies of Lee Hazlewood, and the experimental ethos of ambient folk.
Michael James Tapscott has said that what sets him apart is the living document that trails behind him, a catalog of varied personas and rotating collaborators. Never has that been more apparent than on “The Beasts of History”, where Tapscott’s storytelling combines with the unique contributions of his collaborators to become something much more than the sum of its parts.
The Beasts of History
Michael, the Worst