Taper's Choice - Prog Hat (2025)

Prog Hat is Taper's Choice's debut proper studio album, released as a surprise on October 1, 2025. News of the record arrived via the inaugural edition of the band's newsletter, The Taper's Voice — a letter from drummer Chris Tomson addressed to the "Heads, Freaks and Wooks Of The Known Universe," announcing both the album and a winter tour.
The record was cut in just two days, with three to four takes per song. Despite the compressed schedule, the result is anything but rough: the density and intricacy of the arrangements clearly exceed what the "jam band" label might suggest. Production, mixing, and mastering were handled by Dave Harrington, with engineering by Pete Min at Lucy's Meat Market in Los Angeles.
Two long-standing concert staples finally receive their official studio treatment here. "Doner Wrap" had been briefly hinted at on the group's 2023 compilation but never fully documented; the nearly ten-minute version on Prog Hat rewards the wait. "The Dave Test (Yes)" — a twelve-minute centrepiece often positioned as a set highlight — translates its breakneck sequence of changes to tape with remarkable precision, confirming the song's status as a cornerstone of the Taper's catalogue.
The album opens with "Pino Botticelli," its knotted guitar lines and Harrington's Hammond organ giving the record's punning title immediate musical credibility. Closing track "Song Hat" is the newest composition in the set — a shorter, more song-oriented piece with a Pink Floyd–flavored atmosphere, bridging the band's past and the next chapter of their catalogue with easy confidence.
Prog Hat was released alongside the announcement of a busy touring stretch, marking the end of an extended hiatus and signalling a renewed creative momentum for one of the contemporary jam scene's most critically respected acts.

Tracklist:
1-1 Taper's Choice - Pino Botticelli [7:28]
1-2 Taper's Choice - Doner Wrap [9:50]
1-3 Taper's Choice - The Dave Test (Yes) [12:00]
1-4 Taper's Choice - Song Hat [5:19]