Music Outpost

Djam Karet's name comes from an Indonesian word that roughly translates as "elastic time," and that's an apt description of their sound and vibe, which often transcends time signatures and genres and synthesizes classic progressive rock influences like Pink Floyd, King Crimson, and Present with myriad other sonic elements. Their musical journey has run the gamut from progressive to ambient to space rock to avant-jazz and Eastern drone music and they are far from done in their neverending quest to fuse the most disparate and eclectic musical brands into one beast.

Djam Karet began in 1984 at Pitzer College in California, where guitarists Gayle Ellet and Mike Henderson met bassist Henry Osborn and drummer Chuck Oken Jr and formed the instrumental core of the group. They started out playing extensive, improvised and guitar-driven jams around Southern California, but soon began laying down composed pieces in the studio with their first album, The Ritual Continues. Their second release, Reflections From the Firepool, was ranked by Rolling Stone as "Number 2 Independent Album of the Year" in 1987. After the turn of the century, the band began making the rounds at festivals, including ProgDay, NEARFest, ProgWest, and a headlining spot at Crescendo Festival in France.

They have now released 8 albums with Cuneiform Records plus many more on their label, HC Productions, and they show no signs of slowing down since their 19^th studio album, Regenerator 3017. Their last few albums have blended into their instrumental sound a heavy dose of jazz and fusion, and explores the mellower elements of the band's omnipresent atmospheric undertone. The swirling keys and punchy bass also recall soul, psychedelic rock and Southern rock, and no other band could seamlessly mix these seemingly opposed strains of music in the way Djam Karet does.

http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/djam.html

http://www.djamkaret.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djam_Karet