Tarsius releases sophomore album ‘Culture Cow’ on limited wax

Watching Jay Gapasin and Diego Mapa perform as Tarsius, one can easily discern they were always meant to play and prosper together.

Since the two immensely talented musicians forged their duo back in 2012, they’ve created a sound that’s distinctly theirs; compelling, mesmerizing and body-moving. From endless local and international bookings to counting Four Tet and Laurence Guy as fans, it’s only been uphill for the accomplished pair.

The height of the pandemic didn’t deter Gapasin and Mapa, even using the downtime to release their sophomore album, Culture Cow, through streaming services.

“For this album, we made click tracks. Various metronome guides with different BPMs and recorded Jay playing drums on them and making loops. We kept that as a library and embellished them along the way. In our debut, 'Primate', I made all the tracks and Jay played drums over them. With 'Culture Cow', Jay and I already shared in the production duties on all of the tracks. We also have ones that are purely electronic and has no recorded acoustic drum elements,” Mapa shares.

Further maintaining their gift of keeping fans on their feet, Tarsius recently announced the limited vinyl release of 'Culture Cow', with only 100 physical copies made available.

“We really designed the number of tracks and length of the album thinking that maybe one day we will be able to press it,” Mapa explains. “This press was almost two years in the making: the turnover of the design, mastering, test pressing and waiting time from the plant. It took that long to complete the product. The real delay is the pressing time with the plant because they seem to be overwhelmed with orders. But on the creative side, there was never a delay.”

Ahead of their official launch party towards the end of the month, the duo has opened reservations for listeners and collectors to get their copy as early as now.

Stay in the loop with Tarsius by following their Instagram here.

[Images via Afro Visuals, Handout & Tarsius]

Samantha Nicole is Mixmag Asia's Philippines Correspondent, follow her on Instagram.