I'm in over my head here...

I've been wanting to do a post about the Anti-Group for awhile now, but I've hesitated...mainly because I know that I'm stepping into territory for which my brain is ill-equipped to really discuss. Why? Because I know so very little about this band, even though I have a number of releases by them. They were one of those bands that little info seemed to exist about when I originally bought their stuff, and therefore, I never amassed any tidbits of information about them. Now, snooping around on the web, it sort of makes sense. Here's what I've figured out.

The Anti-Group (or T.A.G.C) was formed by Adi Newton, whom you may recognize as being a member of Clock DVA. I didn't know this until now, as the list of people involved usually was rather cryptic: on the Digitaria release, his name is one of eleven, and his first initial and last name are all that is given. He's also second to last in the list. And now, here's a quote from this site (apparently, originally from a press release for Digitaria's release):
This group has existed for the better part of ten years. Digitaria was originally released in 1987 on Sweatbox Records, following a mini-album released the year before, and a 12 inch single the year before that. Another single and a second album, Teste Tones, on Side Effects Records, followed close behind. Soon afterwards Sweatbox Records went to the great turntable in the sky, and Digitaria vanished from circulation, taking with it all the other Sweatbox releases. In 1991 Soleilmoon issued Teste Tones on CD with extra tracks, but until now the other records were out of print. Along with predecessors Cabaret Voltaire, and a whole host of following groups, T.A.G.C. have created a body of music that helped make Sheffield, England so well known for electronic music.

And I'll follow that up with another quote, written by Rolf Semprebon and taken from allmusic:
Initially conceived by Adi Newton of Clock DVA in the late '70s as a multimedia performance project, the Anti Group, later known by the initials T.A.G.C. (the C stands for "Conspiracy," "Collective," or "Communications") showcased Newton's more experimental side. The Anti Group didn't become more than theoretical mumbo-jumbo until after Newton departed Clock DVA in the mid-'80s. The loosely defined group, consisting of Newton with D.A. Heppenstall, D.F. D'Silva, B.R.D.L. Harden, Mark Holmes, Robert Baker, and Oskar M, debuted at the Atonal Festival in Berlin in February 1985, with a multimedia show called The Delivery that was later that year released as an LP. Also that year saw the release of the 12" single "Ha/Zulu" with help from members of Cabaret Voltaire. Whereas these early records cross-pollinated improvised jazz with industrial, each subsequent release, now under the T.A.G.C. banner, experimented in some new direction. The music on Digiteria, with many of the same crew as The Delivery, is based around ancient magic cults and tribal rhythms, whereas Teste Tones offered minimalist electronic experiments. The sound-and-visual project Burning Water, also from this time and released on CD several years later, offers a far more ambient sound.

So, there you have it. The release, Digitaria, from which this track is from, was apparently "Ambisonically encoded utilising SFM techniques and transcoded into UHJ - B Format for Stereo Ambisonic reproduction. A full 360 degree soundfield will be realised if a Decoder is integrated into the users system." One of my album releases actually comes with instructions on how to connect your stereo to simulate this effect. Their last album was released in 1994. Here's an Amazon link. It appears as though most of this stuff is only available used.

Here's a link that has all of the text from the booklet included with Digitaria, which, as the song is 23 minutes long, you should have plenty of time to read. Its, well, a bit esoteric. It actually makes Nation of Ulysses' liner notes appear to be a lite read. It goes into the Dogon mythology and the history of sound reproduction.

Also, beware this is a LARGE file, I actually lowered the bit rate to make it a bit smaller, but it still clocks in at around 21 mb. This is also the reason for only one song. It's a bit of a sonic journey.

T.A.G.C. - Blood Burns Into Water / Dog Star / Balag Anti / Chozzar Over Abyss /P Re - Eval REMOVED