Labels: New Monsoon

By: David Schultz

On their way to upstate New York to play a set at Warren Haynes' Mountain Jam, (one that would be delayed by an old style monsoon . . . well, really a torrential downpour), San Francisco's New Monsoon made a triumphant return to Manhattan's Mercury Lounge for a late-night Friday gig. From one perspective, New Monsoon appears to be in a state of flux: for starters, their two-man percussion section, once featured prominently in the band's mix, seems to be on indefinite hiatus. Rather than find substitutes for their recent East coast trip, New Monsoon shed the Indian raga and percussive hodge-podge and focused instead on the rootsy, bluesy grooves created by the group's founding member guitarists Jeff Miller and Bo Carper. A more permanent change to the rhythm section involves the addition of bassist Ron Johnson, formerly of Karl Denson's Tiny Universe. Johnson sat in with Monsoon during their last visit to the City, with the announcement of his joining the band coming a few weeks later. The absence of the percussion section worked wonders as Miller, Carper, Johnson, keyboardist Phil Ferlino and drummer Marty Ylitalo seemed to thrive with the extra musical space. If the streamlined, five-piece becomes permanent, New Monsoon will only gain speed with their sleeker, leaner configuration.

In comparison to their last metropolitan visit which featured a number of sit-ins, Friday night's show was a more insular affair, accentuated by Carper and Miller passing the guitar lead back and forth, exploring the contrasts between the electric and acoustic. Carper truly provides New Monsoon with a stylistic twist: he’s able to coax heavier and meatier riffs than you would expect from an acoustic guitar and by abandoning traditional bluegrass structure, he offers an intriguing serving of rock banjo. He's also an extremely social creature: in between sets, Carper never got more than ten feet from the stage, choosing to mingle and chat with the fans instead of retiring backstage.

The title of their upcoming album, New Monsoon V, may give a hint as to the band's future to those who like to read tea leaves. For those who prefer coffee, it might simply be a reference to the fact that it’s the bands fifth album. Prognostication aside, the selections New Monsoon previewed on Friday night proved to be pretty exciting, especially their rollicking run through "Alaska." Their current sound benefits greatly from Johnson's addition, his bass work providing a wonderfully funky, soulful dimension. Over the course of the evening, Monsoon covered Jimi Hendrix' "Freedom" and reinvigorated old favorites like "Patato's Mission." With Miller leading the way, they touched on rambling Allman Brothers style grooves, hit slinky sinuous Tom Petty vibes and even channeled the best parts of Bruce Hornsby & The Range. The one departure took place during an instrumental jam between Ylitalo on drums and Johnson playing an enormous African-style string and percussion contraption. Once the two had their beats syncopated, Ferlino, Carper and Miller jumped in and the band went into their final flurry.

As they straggled back to the stage for their encore, Ferlino acknowledged the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by noodling a bit of the opening riff until the rest of the band caught up. Their bouncy run through the jazzy-funk of "Greenhouse" to close the night was a bit removed from what came before but showed another side of the band. For many bands, lineup fluctuations can spell disaster. For New Monsoon, it seems like a gigantic step towards finding the right sound.

Labels: Live Reviews, New Monsoon

By: David Schultz

At last year's Brooklyn, New York edition of the Big Summer Classic touring festival, New Monsoon introduced themselves to good number of New Yorkers who knew enough to show up for their early afternoon opening set. Mixing bluegrass style strumming with Middle Eastern percussion, New Monsoon have crafted a distinctly singular sound. Just recently, the San Francisco rockers returned to the Big Apple as part of their co-headlining tour with their California counterparts Hot Buttered Rum for two shows at the Lower East Side's Mercury Lounge. For the Friday night show, New Monsoon took the stage close to midnight, energizing the crowd for close to two hours.

In the absence of percussionist Rajiv Parikh, New Monsoon didn't venture deep into their Middle Eastern tinged repertoire. Instead, the New Monsoon 6 focused their set around Jeff Miller's classic rock guitar, Bo Carper's banjo and lap steel guitar and a smattering of guest appearances. The middle of show saw nicely compatible visits from Animal Liberation Orchestra's Dan Lebowitz on "Greenhouse" and Steve Adams on "Trippy Keys." Bassist Ben Bernstein tagged out to Ron Johnson of Karl Denson's Tiny Universe for "Another Day (In Purgatory)" and returned for a double-bass cover of The Who's "Eminence Front." The Who cover didn't seem incredibly tied in to the rest of the San Francisco band's set, especially in light of the set closing cover of the Allman Brothers' "Jessica." Following New Monsoon's set finishing run through "Buckets Of Rain" and the hoe-down worthy, banjo-heavy "Daddy Long Legs," the Brothers and Sisters classic came across as a tip of the hat to one of their apparent influences.

One thing New Monsoon brings to the table is an extraordinary sense of fun. About a year ago at the Big Summer Classic, they replicated the eerie spacey sounds from Pink Floyd's "Echoes" with a simple party balloon. About two-thirds of the way through their Mercury Lounge set, they brought out a dancer who gyrated to Brian Carey's bongo solo. The dancer didn't add much to the music, however she did add a sense of whimsy and fun that spread throughout the remainder of the set. They will keep the tour on the road until Thanksgiving and after a short break will rejoin Hot Buttered Rum for three year end shows at Cervantes Masterpiece in Denver, CO.

Labels: New Monsoon

At roughly 4:15, Umphrey's McGee, the Indiana based jamband took the stage at the Prospect Park Bandshell as part of the 2005 Big Summer Classic. The crowd, which was baking in the late afternoon sun, greeted the band by producing numerous beach balls and took great delight in batting them about while the band started to groove. The largest, a globelike green beach ball, made its way towards the sound booth and came to rest in an empty row. A squat bald overweight man came over and grabs the ball but rather than send it back amongst the crowd calmly pierces it with his lit cigarette. Fans O the Jamband: Welcome to Brooklyn!!

The Big Summer Classic is this year's top touring jamband festival. Finding its roots in Monterey and Woodstock, the Summer Classic's proper progenitor is the H.O.R.D.E. festivals of the mid nineties. Following the success of Perry Farrell's Lollapalooza concerts, John Popper and Blues Traveler created Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere. Gathering their musical comrades like The Spin Doctors, Widespread Panic and the Samples, the H.O.R.D.E. festival toured the country spreading good vibes everywhere.

Jamband festivals have maintained their link to their 60's ancestors by fostering social awareness and political activism. War protestors, environmental activists and marijuana decriminalization supporters gather with the purpose of rallying their brethren to support their cause and using the momentum to achieve social change. The politics and beliefs of the crowd were usually echoed back to them by the musicians on stage creating one big communal atmosphere of peace and love. It is in this respect that the Big Summer Classic separates itself. Despite an unpopular ongoing war in Iraq, Michael Franti was the only one to even mention it much less denounce it. The 2005 jamband crowd doesn't seem to want to their groove disturbed by the outside world.

That is not to say that there weren't some relics of the old hippie festivals. Concert goers were encouraged to proceed through the "Karma Wash" in which Karma technicians would ward off the bad vibes from your person through their proficient use of feathers and goodwill. Relix magazine had a prominent presence with spontaneous drum circles erupting between sets by their tent. Most entertaining were the twenty foot high inflatable Sumo wrestlers, the symbols of the tour, that towered over the back of the park grounds. Although there was a good smattering of tie dye, the clothing of choice of today's concert-goer seems to be a simple T and shorts.

Oh yes, there was also some music -- a lot of good music. With the sun beating down on the stage, the early arriving fans fell into two groups: those crushing up against the stage to get as close to the band as possible and those laying back on the lawn in the shade with a beer. As the concert progressed and the sun set, more and more people abandoned the lawn to the get closer to the music.

San Francisco based New Monsoon opened the show to an enthusiastic response. Possibly owing to its brevity, the band's 4 song set, heavy on percussion and middle Eastern rhythms, was the tightest of the day. Amidst band staples Blast and Daddy Long Legs, the band covered Pink Floyd's Echoes in its near 18 minute entirety, creatively employing a balloon and the sides of their drums to achieve the spacey interlude.

Umphrey's braved the mean spirited beach ball popping troglodyte but still played an underwhelming set. Distracting everyone from the music, the band marred their set by bringing out a horde of dancing girls in ill fitting bikinis and fishnet stockings to writhe around arythmically and unsexily.

Michael Franti and Spearhead attempted to enlighten as well as entertain. The Umphrey dancing girls were put to better use as they paraded throughout the crowd with placards containing aphorisms from the likes of Teddy Roosevelt, Alice Walker, Ghandi, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. Spearhead's set also contributed the only mention of the Iraqi war with Franti exhorting "Bush War 1, Bush War 2, Got a war for me and a war for you" during Everyone Deserves Music's We Don't Stop.

Musically, Spearhead brought the crowd to their feet with reggae infused socially aware songs like Yes I Will and Yell Fire. String Cheese Incident's Michael Kang joined the band halfway through the set, notably contributing his violin to a rousing version of Everlast's What I Got. In a stranger accompaniment, a large muscular gent with black militant shades joined the band -- for a flower arrangement solo, which didn't last long enough as it seemed there were some lilies to add to the mix.

Playing barefoot, Keller Williams brought his unique blend of acoustic guitar mastery and backing audio loops. Onstage, Williams is an overgrown child having fun with all his various bells, whistles and theremin. Like a talented and funnier version of Carrottop, he brings the instruments out at random intervals and adds them to the backing loop. The one drawback to the loops is that it is difficult to tell when Williams is playing and when you are listening to a recording.

Williams uses his technical and musical acumen to great effect and his "one-man band" is truly unique and something to see live. Quite likely, someone will eventually outdo Williams at his own game and gain a larger audience with a similar act. Hopefully, they will have the humility to acknowledge Williams as the progenitor of this inventive mix of man and machine. Until that time though, there is noone else doing this better

His set included his normal batch of eclectic originals as well as covers of Gin and Juice, Candyman and Fly Like An Eagle. The set also contained another standard of the jamband festival -- the seamless transition with the next act. As Williams wound his set down, he was progressively joined by members of the Yonder Mountain String Band. With the whole String Band finally on stage for the Steve Miller closer, Williams finished up, waved goodbye and without stopping the YMSB took off with an hour of their brand of bluegrass and country. The collaborations between the bands continued as String Cheese's Bill Nershi joined the band for last third of their set.

With the sun set, the show was closed by the undisputed headliner of the Classic, String Cheese Incident. While most of the Brooklyn crowd came to see the Cheese, a theory supported by the multitude of enraptured spasmodic arhytymic dancers, they failed to enthrall the entire crowd. String Cheese's studio sound is grounded in bluegrass but onstage their sound is reminiscent of Graceland era Paul Simon fused with an inspired jamheavy Miami Sound Machine with the whole conglomeration seeking Harry Belafonte's approval to use calypso.

This night, the band made some odd choices. In the musical equivalent of sitting LeBron James in the 4th quarter of a close game, Michael Kang, an amazing and inventive violin player, played mandolin and guitar for most of the set. The band was also ill-equipped to tackle their cover of Stevie Wonder's I Wish. Missteps aside, String Cheese does have moments where they command attention and did so during the closing tunes One Step Closer and Search. Frustratingly, the frequency of those moments pales in comparison to their predecessors like the Grateful Dead and Phish.

Bringing back members from Umphrey's McGee and Spearhead, SCI appropriately ended the show with an encore of the Beastie Boys No Sleep Till Brooklyn. Michael Franti came onstage mid song for a little free style before being joined by dancing trees who helped lead the crowd in a chant for MORE - TREES -- IN -- BROOKLYN!

Labels: Bill Nershi, Keller Williams, Michael Franti, New Monsoon, Spearhead, String Cheese Incident, Umphrey's McGee, Yonder Mountain String Band