Tea Leaf Green
The longer one lives the greater the number of scars and
scrapes one accumulates. It’s the same with a band, where the years build up
layers one could never have expected when they set out in a van back in the
day. So it is with San Francisco’s Tea Leaf Green, whose own journey began as a
jam-minded party on legs in the late 1990s and now finds them some of the Bay
Area’s most thoughtful, dedicated craftsmen. As sharply carved and musically
robust as any rock unit today, TLG have harnessed their surefire live prowess
and ability to seize an audience into a bustling, emotionally dense,
ear-snagging studio form with In The Wake (in stores May 14), a complete vision
that represents the great skill and open-minded invention in this quintet -
Trevor Garrod (keys, vocals), Josh Clark (guitar, vocals), Scott Rager (drums),
Reed Mathis (bass, vocals) and Cochrane McMillan (percussion) – placing them
alongside contemporaries like Delta Spirit, Everest and Dr. Dog in marrying
honesty, artistry and grit in music that hums with bruised but unbowed life.
Toubab Krewe
Some music cannot be found on a map or within iTunes
categories. Some music is so original it seems snatched from the great,
invisible substrata that runs below all human activity, a sound aching to be
born without a flag or fixed allegiance – free, questing, overflowing with
immediate, tangible life. This is the music of Toubab Krewe, the vibrant
Asheville, NC-based instrumental powerhouse that creates a sonic Pangaea that
lustily swirls together rock, African traditions, jam sensibilities,
international folk strains and more. While nearly impossible to put into any
box, it takes only a few moments to realize in a very palpable way that one is
face-to-face with a true original who recognizes no borders in a march towards
a muscular, original, globally switched-on sound.
Toubab carries echoes of African greats like Ali Farka
Toure, Orchestra Baobab and Salif Keita, no doubt picked up during the group’s
travels to study and live in Guinea, Ivory Coast and Mali. But what truly
differentiates Toubab Krewe from other Statesiders inspired by African music is
how they innovate on what they’ve learned instead of simply recreating
tradition. Toubab Krewe carves out a new trail honoring the African originators
they admire by making something alive and contemporary.
Mountain Standard Time
For Mountain Standard Time, there is one focus: making good,
honest music. The organic process of expression—from heart to hands to
ears—preserves the integrity of the finished product. While the band spends an
exhaustive amount of time crafting and perfecting their material, they don’t
pay any mind to the rules and confines of genre. With elements of Bluegrass,
Prog Rock, Latin and Americana, attempting to categorize the band can be challenging.
MST coined the term “free grass” so that they could stop focusing on labeling
their music and stick to what they do best: playing it.MST brands its own style
of "Rocky Mountain FreeGrass," blending acoustic guitar and mandolin
with keyboards, electric bass, and drums. The members of MST migrated to
Colorado from different regions of the country, bringing wildly diverse musical
backgrounds and influences along with them. Their paths eventually crossed in
Nederland - a small, Colorado mountain town steeped in bluegrass music. Musical
relationships were forged through the camaraderie of late-night jam sessions
that characterize the music scene of the Front Range. Shortly after meeting,
MST grew quickly and performed all over Colorado and across the country, with
appearances at Wakarusa Music Festival, 10,000 Lakes Festival, Summer Camp
Music Festival, and NedFest, among many others.
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