Mondo Garaj is the debut studio album and fourth album by the jazz/rock/funk/fusion/jam band Garaj Mahal.
Recorded in late 2000 and early 2001 at In The Pocket Studio in Sonoma County, CA, then subsequently mixed/mastered over 2001 and 2002 at Talcott Mountain Studio in Simsbury, CT, The Plant Studios in Sausalito, CA, Phelps Studios in San Francisco, CA, and Fluffland Studio in San Anselmo, CA, and finally released in 2003 on Harmonized Records as the band's first studio effort (after three live discs), Mondo Garaj captures Garaj Mahal in its relative infancy. Keyboardist Eric Levy had recently joined, and although he's prominent on these songs, his contributions have grown considerably since. In fact, only two songs from this album appeared on any of the subsequent live discs. But with musicians of the caliber and experience of bassist Kai Eckhardt, drummer Alan Hertz, and Fareed Haque on guitars, there is nothing tentative about this recording. Sounding like a combination of Return to Forever and the Mahavishnu Orchestra in their '70s heyday, Garaj's jazz-rock fusion requires chops and innovation to stay interesting and avoid aimless noodling. They succeed, and even though the primarily instrumental cuts average seven minutes each, they never become repetitious or overstay their welcome. All four musicians are extraordinarily talented, but each adds his own instrumental prowess without hogging the spotlight. Not surprisingly, Haque's guitar, especially his "sitar guitar," takes center stage and infuses an East Indian feel to songs like "Beware My Ethnic Heart." But he leaves plenty of solo space for Levy, whose fleet-fingered synthesizer work — reminiscent of Jan Hammer — trades licks with speed and precision on the opening funky workout "Mondo Garaj." Michael Kang (musician) of The String Cheese Incident is featured as are DJ Fly Agaric 23 and DJ Roto (a.k.a. musician/journalist James Rotondi) who add turntable scratching, loops, and samples to keep the sound contemporary, but this is really a showcase for the jaw-dropping talents of the four bandmembers. The band gels on all the tracks, but shows what it can do on "Hindi Gumbo," which features Haque's acoustic sitar/guitar solo. Nothing takes the place of seeing the band pull this off live, but Mondo Garaj provides a snapshot of how these four gifted individuals — each of whom could be a band leader in his own right — combine into a fine-tuned unit.
The preview night had hundreds of people stopping by. Fly Agaric flew in from Amsterdam to maintain the audio component of the show, Chromatouch assisted with the animated projections and the Jibbering crew were in full effect. The gallery had invited a photographer along called Brett Wilde, who took some great photographs.
John Sinclair - Words Vincent Pino - Guitars, Effects Steve Fly - Drums, Turntables, Production.
RECORDED AND MIXED BY Tim Eggmond at EI COMPLEX studios, AMSTERDAM. Monday 4th January 2010.
JOHN SINCLAIR and his AMSTERDAM BLUES SCHOLARS
We kicked of 2010 with a live recording session at the EI COMPLEX studios, Amsterdam. After our initial session last year - tentatively titled 'Doctor Marshmallow Cubicle' - we returned in 2010 with special guest, John Sinclair, to record six poems as a trio.
Starting at roughly noon, Vincent and myself recorded two sets of music, follwed by 3 sessions with John Sinclair starting around 5 PM through until 8. We made two passes on "It smells like Sulphur here" playing a little slower on the second cut, and the poem in honour of Jimi Hendrix "Scuze Me While I Kiss The Sky" is repeated twice by John, capturing our groove and giving us a healthy double-dose of the poem. The other tracks were spontaneous creations, unplanned grooves, built from feeding back with John a little before we played and listening to him while we played, in our headphones. The poems we recorded together were:
SMELLS LIKE SULPHUR HERE HUMPHF PANNONICA SCUZE ME WHILE I KISS THE SKY FAT BOY FRIDAY THE 13TH
Shortly after the session I handed the freshly cut tracks to John, whom promptly programed some of them into his underground radio show to stunning effect, that you can listen to on show 304 now.
I went back to the the studio again yesterday, wednesday 13th January, and picked up the earlier part of the session where Vince and I let loose on some Marshmallow mayhem. Open Source Democracy (b)- DOCTOR MARSH... by flyagaric23
The results have been chopped into 15 Tracks, some are available here, at my soundcloud account, now, free.
We plan to modify parts of these sessions further and produce an album, including turntable parts, bass, and other instrumentalists, plus we will record - new fresh - material in the coming months.
contact flyagaric23 @ gmail . com Please visit these links for more info and feedback from the artists.
Back in 2003, mid summer i was on the road with some of the finest musicians and innovators along the west coast musical environs. Alan Hertz, Tal Morris, Liam Hanrahan, Eric Levey and myself - on the road.
Staying in roadside Motels, smoking Buddha and playing a thousand different tunes, seeing the Northern California landscapes, eating the food and enjoying the company, cutting my teeth with some playing mutherfuckers. Listen to one set from the tour here at the great ARCHIVE.org.
