ALBUMS
ALL ALBUMS AVAILABLE ON USB FLASH DRIVE AT LIVE PERFORMANCES
UNCHARTED
UNCHARTED
Released: 2017
The longest-awaited and longest studio release to date, Uncharted, explodes with original bone-cracking Viking melodies in “Nordic Twister” and a symphonic treatment of “Ice and Fire” (Game of Thrones main theme) including all the car-shaking rhythms voiced by world percussion (Tupans, Bodhran, Doumbeks, Frame Drums, et al) cementing the foundation of Tartanic under the lofty towers of the Great Highland Bagpipes. The Iberian heat of the “Galacian Carnivale” simmers with strings from virtuoso guest artists, lending their talents to Gordon Duncan’s “The Belly Dancer” in itself an opus magnus on bagpipes. “Velocity” lives up to its name and takes rightful place with nearly “an hour of power” (18 Full Tracks) into an epic and Uncharted territory of must-have music.
UNWIND
Released: 2023
On Thursday, April 13th, 2023, a day after Adrian's 51st birthday; John Edward Urdiales and Laureano Thomas-Sanchez, Great Highland Bagpipers with Tartanic and players in World Champion Pipe Bands in their own right, tuned their instruments and waited patiently while microphones were set.
This one-hour session was recorded in the Great Hall at the Sherwood Forest Faire in McDade, Texas.
In a room half the size of a city block, and 3 stories high on a stone floor, woven medieval tapestries
and heraldic banners on the cedar and oak walls hardly dampening the sound; two velvet chairs faced
the other near the center of the hall. With a microphone for drones above, and an ambient mic between
John and Laureano we hit “record.”
When the hour was up, as Adrian signaled for the last ten minutes, then five, then two, and finally one minute
until John and Laureano’s bagpipes took their last expiration for the day and the STOP button on
the laptop was pressed.
We were not certain who was the first to say anything out loud. But each of us still heard it and felt it. At the
very first we thought something went terribly wrong. Our own words--our very speech and every
syllable uttered sounded to ourselves and to each other like we were kids talking to a box fan. If you,
dear reader, have never talked closely (yet safely) into turning fan blades—stop what you are doing and
go do that now or this may or may not make any sense.
The effect faded after about five minutes. Even while mixing and mastering this version of a Tartanic
Two Bagpiper Meditation Drone album, I felt the same “talking into a fan” phenomenon for a minute
even after listening to the work in studio headphones for only 20 minutes.
In conclusion, we found the drone of the Great Highland Bagpipe, in the hands of some of the top
dedicated and talented players of the instrument, can help make moments of peace more accessible to
more people. We are proof.
UNCENSORED VOL. IV
Released: 2016
Space City Comic Con is another "Authorized Bootleg" of live performances from the 2014 (Disc 1) and 2015 (Disc 2) at Moody Gardens Hotel in the city of Galveston, Texas, and Houston's NRG Center, near the historic Astrodome. Over three days of out-of-this-world characters, workshops, celebrities and a rarte tour of NASA's Mission Control (the real one) propel the driving, unmatched wave of bagpipes and drums interspersed with Celtic comedy for all Earthlings.
UNCLE REMIX
Released: 2013
The popularity and demand driving EDM (Electronic Dance Music) through mainstream artists, DJs and other Independent musicians and producers has led many in search of that “New Sound” or “Spin” to incorporate into the latest positive mood-altering mixes in modern dance or club music.
Jack Off-Brand Records and Tartanic team up with DJ Phantom/Producer and Musician Vid Wegener for EDMayhem with total access to all source files and recordings from our Universal (2012) album. Resulting in a beat-tornado of bagpipes, and melodic free-form mountains and valleys of reeling sound holding captive the senses.
“Tater-vine growin’ w’ile you sleep.”
--Uncle Remus
From World Tribal booming drums with original melodies created by the Great Highland Bagpipes, this album reaches farther into the psyche of the EDM world to make your car shake and your heart go boom-boom, provided you have a sub-woofer.
UNIVERSAL
Released: 2012
Nearly an hour of the most cutting-edge studio recording of bagpipes of all-time! From studios coast to coast, taking both traditional and brand-new original tunes to an epic realm. From the haunting strains of “Ghost Hunt/TNT”, the bombastic “Thunderstruck” or the international sounds of “Afrokiltique” and “Haboob,” Tartanic’s 5th studio release has gained acclaim not only from fans, but the bagpipe world as well recording with today’s hottest talents from Simon Fraser University, The 78th Frasers and STES Alumni Band. Universal will take you to a whole new world of what is possible. Mastered at Pearl Sound Studios to ensure cars will shake and neighbors may call authorities.
UNFAIRE
Released: 2011
Unfaire, is a dance album bringing bagpipes from the Highland moors and onto the dance floor—even further into the future of music—perhaps even to a nightclub nearby. Inspired by the new generation of dance club rave parties, this music has an unpredictable, up-tempo visceral appeal and may even serve as your personal sexy soundtrack.
UNBELIEVABLY STEAMED
Released: 2011
Uncensored Archives Volume 3: ''Unbelievably Steamed'' was recorded on Friday, May 27th, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dearborn, Michigan. dedicated to all our Michigan fans from the 2011 World Steam Expo, the Renaissance Festival, and Detroit Highland Games. this authorized bootleg without edits and without question captures the energy and essence of the evening. Thank you all who listen with love and love to listen out loud!
UNAVOIDABLE
Released: 2009
For an artist, a compilation of a body of work is Unavoidable. Since 2002, Tartanic is on a mission to “make bagpipes cool” to a vast cross-section of people, and not just to those with Scottish heritage, but to many diverse ethnicities and peoples who, in turn, embrace this union and pass it forward as our music transcends generational barriers now.
Tartanic has always striven for the evolution of the “old” becoming “new” with the first tracks on All Abroad, a home-burned CD, with “Glasgow (Ultra-Catalyst Mix)” to“Insurgenge” from Uncivilized; our latest studio effort to date—offering both contemporary dance-rave and traditional sonic endeavors.
The future is to bring bagpipes to a more palatable level in these multiple genres while maintaining an homage to what has come before us. Lindsay Davidson, whose composition “Sorrento” appeared on All Abroad, was produced in Poland with full orchestra and granted radio airplay for the concert.
Years later, Tartanic played “Sorrento”performing as a trio of musicians for a 9/11 Tribute, with a professional Union orchestra present for the ‘year and day later” event. From this example to many others (whom we won’t mention here for fear of leaving someone out) fusing rhythms of South America, the Middle East, Africa, India and even high-voltage electricity with high-tech audio effects to prove that bagpipes are at long last launched into the collective consciousness of the human psyche as a collaborative instrument of melodic musical innovation rather than a stand-alone novelty.
It is the goal (mission) of this compilation to not only reward all of Tartanic’s long-time fans, or even to develop and educate the new audiences we meet…but to best present an anthology of groundbreaking music; an evolution immortalized on the independent music and worldwide map for recording a range of sound that is unmatched by many and Unavoidable for all.
UNCIVILIZED
Released: 2008
Tartanic's 2008 studio release, "Uncivilized", captures the true range of all Tartanic’s musicians and then some. New expressions in dance, tribal, swing and even hip-hop fusions of Great Highland bagpipes and world percussion flow through solid engineering to bring an audio landscape full of uncharted terrain. Tartanic sails strongly with the wind at their back, and the music always at high tide.
Starting in late 2001, Tartanic began touring the United States branching out from Texas and in their current season in 2008, have been gracing stages in Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Dallas, San Antonio, and other cities in Southern California, Northern California, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arizona, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Mixing bagpipe classics like "Amazing Grace" with "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" and "Smoke on the Water," the act acquired quite a following. The show delivers comedy within a Celtic/World/Rock show. Even original and contemporary tunes screaming out on bagpipes are nearly overcome with the complicated thunder of all the drums. As Becca Bacon Martin of the Morning News in Northwest Arkansas wrote in article from a January performance in Eureka Springs, "It's like a rock ‘n’ roll unplugged bagpipe theater show without a plot,[Tartanic] is a fully audience-integrated show that goes against the usual band formula.” On Chicago’s WGN, Tartanic rolled out the rock for the WGN Morning News as a featured musical act in 2006. Now in talks for a film soundtrack on a major theatrical release, it appears as if the world will be “exposed” to these men—if not the other way around.
Dressed in kilts and sunglasses, Tartanic gives its audiences a barrage of sound from not one but TWO Highland Bagpipes, and three percussionists. Imagine one dancer, six drums, six drones, 18 notes, fast fingers, high comedy, flying bagpipes, taste-defying stunts and scorching hot music played at over 120 beats per minute with driving speed and high-volume, all brought to you by five men without pants.
Together, the sound is undeniable—even miles away.
UNLEASHED
Released: 2008
Live. tribBal. rAw. junGle. Punk. CeltIc. Power. scrEam. Sexy. krunk. drive. thunDer. dirRty. loUd. booM. faSt. hot. rock. world.
Headlining the 159th Highland Games at Historic Greenmead in Livonia, Michigan; Tartanic does it again! Bringing you techno-rave-punked-out-rock-and-roll-tribal bagpipes with humour, dance, and a severely theatrical presentation; Tartanic finally provides a live recording that takes you into the the action ... the spectactle ... the experience is nothing short of ... Tartanic.
"Unleashed" is by far the most professional live recording of “rock ‘n’ roll bagpipes” the band has ever released, giving amazing sonic quality to the raucous show. The new studio release, "Uncivilized", captures the true range of all Tartanic’s musicians and then some. New expressions in dance, tribal, swing and even hip-hop fusions of Great Highland bagpipes and world percussion flow through solid engineering to bring an audio landscape full of uncharted terrain. Tartanic sails strongly with the wind at their back, and the music always at high tide.
UNSTOPPABLE
Released: 2007
TARTANIC is a band on the edge that fills a much needed niche in Celtic music performance, taking tunes out of the session and into the sensational with their own brand of humor and theatrics. This is not just music...this is an interactive spectacle brought to you by ... MEN WITHOUT PANTS!
Even the strict laws of the Fire Department cannot hold TARTANIC at bay as they take live performance to heart and create a high-energy pulse at 120 beats per minute and beyond. Celtic music from Scotland, Brittany and original contemporary compositions is melded with rhythms from around the world and propelled into the musical world of the future. Mixing the time-honored traditions of the Great Highland Bagpipes with a bevy of drums featuring world percussion from Arabia, Africa and America, TARTANIC has produced an explosive musical fusion.
UNCENSORED
Released: 2007
UNCENSORED ... is an authorized bootleg recording of one live, unedited performance at the 158th Annual Detroit Highland Games at Historic Greenmead in Livonia, Michigan on August 4th, 2007.
The sheer volume of our sound sends the audience into overdrive. For this reason, the instrumental balance is pure grunge-punk. While there are imperfections in the overall quality, coming to the fore is the uncompromising energy of our show and our audience. From dancers, moshers, screamers and free-flowing beer, we pulled no punches to deliver to you the live experience demanded by you, our fans.
reviews:
author: Teresa Marshall
I have been enjoying this cd very much. I love your comedy too. I saw u at the Michigan Ren Festival and wanted to purchase the cd then but didn't get a chance to. You are alot of fun to watch.
author: SHERRY SALVESEN
We have been waiting for this CD for over 6 months now and it was worth the wait. If you like Tartanic, you have to own this CD!!! It is some of their best work and words.
UNMISTAKEABLE
Released: 2005
Here's what people are saying about Unmistakeable—Tartanic's followup to Unthinkable:
author: Kevan Stanton
I first saw these guys 2 years ago at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. I sas them again last year and just had to get a CD. I bought one of the CDs that they were selling at the Festival, and while it was good, it had a more new-age sound than what they were playing at the Festival. When I found this CD on CD Baby I was estatic and as soon as it was available again, I snatched up a copy for myself. This CD was exactly what I was looking for and truly is the next best thing to seeing these guys live.
UNTHINKABLE
Released: 2004
Tartanic marries music from two of the most prominent folk traditions in Western Europe—Scotland and Brittany—and sets it to world drumming. While staying true to our roots in the Highland bagpipe tradition, with the inclusion of traditional competition sets, we add some progressive hits that'll have you dancing in your seats.
The meat of the album, however, is the sampling of Breton dance tunes. A stylized and lazy An Dro set sends us to Brittany, and the lively Ronde and fast-paced Plinn melodies get you moving. It's hard to miss the contribution of the bombard, an ancient instument native to Brittany, in these sets.
Blending these noted musical traditions in a singular style demands equally innovative percussion. A driving bass from the bodhran complements the unyielding pulses of the doumbek. This combination of multiple styles results in rhythms any dancer is sure to find a groove in, regardless of dancing tradition.
The past is present, new is old. While some keep ancient and modern squarely in their places, to us, this is unthinkable.
U N I T Y
UNITY
Released: 2022
Our BOX SET of fourteen albums spanning the 22 year music catalog of the legendary TARTANIC.