The Mantras

New Releases:

Grateful Dead - Spring 1990: So Glad You Made It (2CD) - features 20 live performances hand-picked from five shows by David Lemieux, the band's archivist and the collection's producer.

Similar to 2011's Europe '72, Vol. 2, the two-disc set is a showcase for the best of the 1990 tour. The original artwork, which was created by New York artist Wes Lang (a lifelong Dead Head), showcases his elaborate drawings throughout the liner notes as well as on the cover, which features an ornate Indian skull headdress. Lemieux penned the compilation's liner notes, which provide background about the selected performances.

For those familiar with the Grateful Dead's glorious live performance history, the spring 1990 tour represents an important zenith, one fully equal to the golden ages of Europe '72 and spring '77. During this truly epic three-week spring fling, the band played as good as it ever had, with energy, sophistication and joy.

Recorded during the Grateful Dead's 25-year anniversary, the band - Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Brent Mydland, and Bob Weir - played as though it was on a mission to prove something. The pieces just fell into place that spring - impassioned vocals, the Brent/Jerry mind-meld, the MIDI expansion of the band's sonic vocabulary, and a bunch of new tunes and choice revivals.

Despite the space limitations inherent in a two-disc set, SPRING '90: SO GLAD YOU MADE IT vividly reflects the diversity of songs played during this tour. It spotlights newer material ("West L.A. Fadeaway" and "Blow Away"), classics ("Beat It On Down The Line" and "Morning Dew"), rarities ("Easy To Love You" and "Attics Of My Life"), epic jams ("Scarlet Begonias" > "Estimated Prophet"), and choice covers with Sam Cooke's "Let The Good Times Roll" and the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time."

The powerful and revealing sound heard throughout the collection is the result of work done by the band's longtime audio engineer John Cutler, who originally recorded the shows, and Jeffrey Norman, who mastered each show to HDCD specs.

Coming Soon:

Medeski Martin & Wood - Free Magic CD - For its latest effort, MMW dip into their archives to present a collection of recordings documenting their first-ever acoustic tour in 2007. The set, stretching out over five expansive tracks, captures the three intrepid improvisers--keyboardist John Medeski, bassist Chris Wood and drummer Billy Martin--exploring the telepathic hookup and deep groove sensibility that has defined MMW since its inception in 1991.

"There's a rhythmic and sonic connection that we have," says Martin of his MMW colleagues. "Listening is the most important thing for us. We're having a conversation when we're playing. The dynamic range is much greater in the acoustic setting. When we play electric, everything is turned up to 11 and it's screaming. But with John on piano and Chris on upright, we can play with a much more nuanced touch. It's a very different world, but I love it."

Last Week:

The Avett Brothers - The Carpenter CD - The Avetts are back, produced again by Rick Rubin, with the much-anticipated follow-up to I and Love and You. The twelve songs on The Carpenter continue the band's exploration of the human condition. They will pull at your heart and make you stop and think. One moment filled with sunshine and happiness, the next sorrow and regret, they are always beautiful, always honest. Poetry from the soul. Fresh off the road and speaking from their hometown of Concord, North Carolina, Scott and Seth Avett agreed The Carpenter feels different to them, deeper, more meaningful, more starkly reflective of their own hopes and fears, than past efforts. They are wiser now, and more clear-eyed about the fragility and finiteness of life. The writing for The Carpenter reflects the brothers' journey toward growing older and the unavoidable realities that await.

Marco Benevento - TigerFace CD - Over three previous studio albums, pianist/sound-sculptor/songwriter Marco Benevento has set forth a vision for instrumental music that connects the dots between Explosions In The Sky and Tortoise on one side, Brian Eno and Brad Mehldau on the other.

On his fourth studio recording, 'Tigerface', the 34-year old artist takes the next step forward in this evolution. Benevento paints his songs in a myriad of sonic colors, shimmering in acoustic piano, synths and analog keyboards. The tunes themselves conceptualized from seemingly every wisp of melody, hook and cadence that's ever tickled his ear.

Upcoming Events:

Sept 22-23 - French Broad Fall Fest - Hot Springs, NC

Sept 28-29 - Sautee Jamboree - Sautee, GA

Oct 5-7 - Hardly Strictly Bluegrass - San Francisco, CA FREE!

Oct 5-7 - Jam-O-Rama Rage-O-Thona - Lakeland, FL

Oct 11-13 - YMSB's Harvest Music Festival - Ozark, AR

*Nov 10-13 - Bear Creek Music & Arts Festival - Live Oak, FL

*Look for the HGMN Booth at these events

Video of the Week:

The Mantras perform at Gnarnia The Festival HD w/pro audio

Thanks for reading! Treat yourself to some good music this week.
- Lee Crumpton

New Releases:

Jatoba - Death, Fire & Picnic Tables CD - This debut album from Vermont's hottest groove-grass band is a smorgasbord of genres. Featuring the best of acoustic and electric music, these 10 tracks deliver ripping guitar leads and gritty vocal harmonies over punchy rhythmic improvisation, beat-boxing, and high-energy bluegrass tempos.

Jatoba is a Vermont-based acoustic trio with a distinctly unique sound. Their music consists of quick, high-energy bluegrass tempos, thumping rockabilly bass lines, and soaring three-part vocal harmonies, as well as punchy rhythmic improvisation, effects-driven guitar solos, beat-boxing, and even the occasional sitar interlude. The band delivers a live show which encompasses all of these aspects, as well as improvisatory jams, seamless flow, and effective crowd interaction. A rebellious response to typical jam grass, Jatoba has something that listeners of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy.

Jatoba - bumper sticker

Coming Soon:

Conspirator - Unlocked - Live from the Georgia Theatre CD - The Disco Biscuits Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner's alter-ego CONSPIRATOR will be rocking their way onto your stereo, the dance floor and your hearts.

You thought this was just the Year of the Dragon but barring the Mayan prediction coming true for 2012, this should be Conspirator's year as well. With the recent addition of virtuoso guitarist Chris Michetti and a rotating cast of some of the country's best drummers - Darren Shearer (the New Deal), Mike Greenfield (Lotus), KJ Sawka (Pendulum) and Adam Deitch (Break Science, Pretty Lights) - Conspirator has reached another level. As a full band, the music is hitting new highs and killing in the live show.

Get ready for Unlocked: Live From The Georgia Theatre on CD and digitally this April plus a host of tour dates blowing through the country. The album - recorded 10.06.2011 at the historic Georgia Theatre in Athens, GA - is a collection of live electronic rock bliss, delving, twisting and diving effortlessly between house, dub-step, drum and bass, and electro.

Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad - In These Times CD - The album contains 12 tracks mixed by Atlanta-based producer Billy Hume (Nas, STS9, Ludacris, Josh Ritter), and dubbed by the band's long-time engineer Joel Scanlon. Guests appearances on the album include Hawaii's The Green and John Brown's Body's horn section. In These Times comes as the follow-up to the group's lyrically-driven roots Americana album, Country, which came out earlier this year.

"I think it would be fair to say that this is the album that long-time Panda fans have been waiting for," says drummer Chris O'Brian.

Trampled By Turtles - Stars & Sattelites CD - Trampled By Turtles has been building momentum on the road since the 2010 releaseof their last record, Palomino. They ve sold out 95% of the shows played in 2011 as well as playing the main stage at divergent festivals such as Coachella and Telluride. Melding rock, punk, and indie influences, TBT is breathing new life into a traditional music form. The momentum of this band combined with their diverse appeal and the gorgeous new album, Stars and Satellites, is sure to make 2012 the year of Trampled By Turtles.

Ohmphrey - Posthaste CD - OHMphrey, a jamband supergroup, which features three members of the prog rock/veteran jam band Umphrey's McGee (keyboardist Joel Cummins, guitarist Jake Cinninger and drummer Kris Myers), and OHM guitarist (former Megadeth guitarist), Chris Poland and bassist Robertino Pagliari (a.k.a. "Pag").

OHMphrey's latest effort, the unforgettable, and soon-to-be-classic, Posthaste, finds these five extraordinary artists creating instrumental music with a unified voice - once again. The album's seven original instrumental compositions, and two bonus live tracks ("Firestarter" and "20/20") recorded at Winston's in San Diego in 2009, never meander. Simply put, Posthaste contains some of the most thought-provoking, elastic and heavy jam band music this side of A Live One, Space Wrangler, and Under the Table and Dreaming.

Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls CD - In October 2011, the Shakes gave a performance at the CMJ Festival in New York City that earned a glowing review from the New York Times. Jon Pareles described the band as "a thunderbolt dressed in bluejeans," with music that's "aching when it's slow and growling and whooping when it's fast." NPR named them one of the best bands of 2011, while MTV called them one of the top bands to look for in 2012.

Now, with expectations at fever pitch, the Alabama Shakes have delivered Boys & Girls. Overwhelmed by the response they've already received, there is one perception of the band that they want to challenge. "A lot of people think we're a soul revival act," says Cockrell. "That's an honor to me, classic R&B is my favorite kind of music, but everybody has their own influences. Brittany is way more into rock and roll--she likes things pretty amped up most of the time."

Last Week:

Papa Grows Funk - Needle in the Groove CD - With the release of Needle in the Groove, the fifth CD by New Orleans' booty-shaking funk band, Papa Grows Funk, the band has elevated its inimitable groove to new funk heights. Co-produced by New Orleans' musical legends, Allen Toussaint and Tom Drummond, the CD keeps PGF's hot jazz lineage alive while funkifying towards the future. The song, "Do You Want It," captures the essence of classic '70s funk and is destined to be a hit.

Snarky Puppy - GroudUP CD - Snarky Puppy's 5th album was recorded and filmed live in-studio in HD in front of a 40-person audience. "It was, by far, the craziest thing we've ever done. We literally built a studio in a Brooklyn warehouse- in 3 days. Then we brought in 20 musician sand played 6 sets over 3 nights for 40 audience members each set... and it turned out better than I ever could have hoped." (Michael League) We saw this band perform last year at Bear Creek and have been enfatuated ever since. - HGMN

Upcoming Events:

*April 19-21 - Wanee Festival - Live Oak, FL

April 20-22 - Early Bird Festival - Garretsville, OH

* Look for the HGMN Booth at these events!

Video of the Week:

The Mantras - Man You Rawk! 3/3/12 Charlottewith w/ Kofi Burbridge-Flute. Dopapod members Rob Compa-Guitar, Neal Evans-Percussion and Eli Winderman-Keys. Tim Palmieri from Kung Fu-Guitar

Thanks for reading! Treat yourself to some good music this week.
Lee Crumpton