***CHECK STOCK!!! Received an 8.0 rating from Pitchfork. In the past two decades, TASHI DORJI has traveled a long road, recording several dozen albums and touring the world, playing his guitar solo and in collaboration with inspired others. Gifted with a sensitive ear to the clarion call of intuitive artistry, he is forever picking up his instrument and reaching through it to find new sounds. In this, he has distinguished himself among those who listen to improvised music as an incisive, distinctive player of moments. In this music, admission to the kingdom is determined on a daily basis by what’s played. Tomorrow is a new journey. Every time is. This title of this record, though. Stateless. It’s about more than just playing your way into somewhere. It invites us to perceive the hair-raising truth that these are free pieces in more ways than one. Like a sculptor, Tashi flecks away at the guitar, percussive strikes discovering the shades of folkish melodies within, while continuously shaping other contours. A resourceful and vigorous use of techniques suggest discourse and discordance. The scraps and ricochets begin to add up, shots to the head, grazing the side, exposing ribs that grin dully red. Yet moments of his bluntest touch yield fluidly to lithe feathering, or pivot to a quiet focus on selected strings, which threatens to rise up before a moment of gentle subsiding. This is improvisation: the songs playing through Tashi, beyond choices or preference. The result only of sitting and playing, no thoughts in that moment. Yet even the shreddiest, pluckiest, out-of-mindest moments, feel guided, led by a hand from beyond.