Customer Reviews

Live From the Telluride Bluegrass Festival

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This is one amazing band! The fact that this was recorded live at the Telluride Bluegrass festival shouldn't fool you into thinking this is another bluegrass/newgrass band. These guys ROCK ala Allman Bros/Santana/Dead/Pink Floyd etc! Electric and acoustic guitars are surrounded by an amazing rhythm section of drums, congas, Indian tablas and a killer bass player, and supported by an excellent keyboardist. This show is an excellent snapshot of a band destined to greatness (probably sooner than later). Get the album and look for them playing live in your area. They're touring nationally, and the venues are going to get bigger and bigger as people get hip to what these folks can do with Rock/Funk/Bluegrass/Indian/Latin/Jazz grooves. My pick for best live album recorded in 2004.

New monsoon live is incredible! Buy this album! And go see them live. The samples here are not long enough to really get a true idea of how they sound so I suggest you check their webpage to hear longer sound clips.

They are a difficult band to describe because they have so many influences and are classified in so many genres of music. They play the kind of music that makes your feet move and your heart sore.

Their three percussionists provide latin(Congas, Cajon), north indian (tablas et al), and rock/jazz (drum kit) influences and one plays a didjeridoo. Their keyboardist/ pianist provides rock melodies, jazz improv, space jams, funk and an accordian on rare occasions. The two guitarist provide blues, classic rock, sitar and bluegrass sounds with acoustic and electric guitars, the banjo and the dobro. And the bass player helps hold it all together with incredible bass lines that flesh out their sound and vibrate your soul.

Imagine Santana, the Allman Brothers, a tabla/ sitar duet, latin jazz artists, and bluegrass musicians playing together for over 1500 concerts and you have an idea of how new monsoon sounds live.

Ditto to the other reviews! The most unusual sound from a banjo...like giving Vassar Clements and Rahvi Shankar a banjo and seeing what they can do with it. They segue so easily from a bluegrass sound to eastern to jam to... This is 'world' music.

The words "Telluride Bluegrass Festival" may fool you into thinking that this is simply a bluegrass or newgrass band, but in reality, New Monsoon are a multifaceted sonic storm that incorporates more stylistic influences than any band I know to be touring today (with the possible exceptions of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and The Mars Volta). The acoustic and electric energies of rock and bluegrass are incorporated by the fiery string work of Jeff Miller and Bo Carper. The three piece percussion section provides a sophisticated world rock sound. Bo Carper's sitar like usage of the banjo may be the most intriguing use of the instrument since Bela Fleck started pushing boundaries with the Flecktones. Perhaps the most criminally overlooked aspect of New Monsoon's sound is the incredibly wild yet tasteful keyboard playing of Phil Ferlino. An apt description was made when a reviewer said that Phil sounded like Brett Mydland (of Grateful Dead fame) but with more skill.

This is a band that must be experienced live. Even for the smallest audiences, they play with more energy and inspired improvisation than almost any other band currently touring. Do not miss them, they are worth every ticket price, and their tickets are usually dirt cheap.

New Monsoon have a sound of their own, which I consider to be great. They play some blue grass, footstompin a rockin good old jam band tunes. The CD is worth its cost and more.

I would love to be able to see them in concert some time.