New Monsoon
- Live at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival
By Kevin Wierzbicki
For those who have not heard New Monsoon
yet, the title of this disc may be a bit misleading. Like many acts who
appear at the annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival, New Monsoon is not a
bluegrass group. They are a big, seven-man group with lots of percussionists
and a penchant for long songs, mostly instrumental. So if one feels inclined
to try and fit them into a neat little box, the “jam band” appellation
will have to do. As such, their style is mostly taken from old school jammers---think
a mix of Santana and the Allman Brothers. The music perks along with Rajiv
Parikh and Brian Carey whipping up a world-beat frenzy on tablas and congas
respectively, hitting multiple crescendos until Jeff Miller suddenly jumps
in with an explosive electric guitar solo. Between Miller and Bo Carper,
New Monsoon does use traditional bluegrass instruments like mandolin, dobro
and banjo, but in songs that taste more of East Indian curry than they
do of backwoods moonshine. On some of the songs, you would swear there
are a sarod and a sitar in there somewhere.
Most of the music on Live has not been
recorded by New Monsoon before although they do reprise “Mountain Air,”
“Painted Moon” and “Velvet Pouch” from their 2003 album, Downstream. “Rock
Springs Road” is one of the vocal numbers and is done in a southern-rock
style complete with fluid guitar solos a la Dickey Betts. The jazzy “Velvet
Pouch” begins with some crazy (but impressive) nonsense scat singing; that
song is followed by a break for the band while Parikh solos on tabla for
three minutes. This effort sounds especially good for a live record; no
fluffs and mixed to allow every intricate note to resonate clearly.
CD Info
New Monsoon
- Live at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival
Label: SCI
Fidelity
Release Date:
3-15-05
Rating:  
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