''RAMU'' is an album by drummer

Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...

. It combines traditional drums, electronic percussion, sampled sounds, and vocals. It was released on November 10, 2017. The title of the album refers to the Random Access Musical Universe (RAMU). This is a

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

that combines a sophisticated drum machine with Hart's extensive library of sound samples. The RAMU is one of the many musical instruments heard on the album.

Critical reception

In ''

Relix ''Relix'', originally and occasionally later ''Dead Relix'', is a magazine that focuses on live and improvisational music. The magazine was launched in 1974 as a handmade newsletter devoted to connecting people who recorded Grateful Dead concert ...

'', Justin Jacobs wrote, "... on his latest solo release, ''RAMU'', Hart's created a deliciously meandering, melodic exploration, with a whole cast of more contemporary voices adding some ecstatically fun spice to the global drum experience. It’s like "Drums" and "Space" with an all-star backing band of internationals and aliens.... Thankfully, this 12-song collection is total, free-wheeling fun — all lunging rhythms, slithering jazz, bubbling beats, stacked vocals, and foggy atmospherics." Pablo Gorondi of

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

said, "There's plenty of movement on Mickey Hart's 14th studio album, as the Grateful Dead drummer extends his prolific solo career centered on his amazing approaches to percussion, knowing expeditions into world music and the cross pollination between music and sciences.... the powers of ''RAMU'' stem from Hart's ability to calibrate layers upon layers of rhythms and melodies from bountiful sources — fine tuning instead of Auto-Tuning." In a ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' interview of Hart,

Andrew Leonard Andrew Leonard (born 1962) is an American journalist who writes feature articles for ''San Francisco'' and contributes to Medium. From 1995 to 2014 he wrote for ''Salon.com''. He has also written for ''Wired''. Career Leonard is credited with coi ...

wrote, "Hart mixes the old – samples of blues recordings captured by Alan Lomax, snippets of never-before-heard Jerry Garcia guitar – with percussive, pulsating electronica. You'll want to put on your highest-end headphones to listen to it."

Track listing

#"Auctioneers" (

) – 2:41 #"Wayward Son" (Hart, Robert Hunter) – 4:08 #"Big Bad Wolf" (Hart, Tarriona "Tank" Ball) – 5:09 #"The Lost Coast" (Hart) – 4:24 #"Who Do You Think You Are?" (Hart, Hunter) – 3:54 #"You Remind Me" (Hart, Hunter) – 4:08 #"When the Morning Comes" (Hart, Ball) – 1:53 #"Jerry" (Hart,

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...

) – 3:39 #"Wine Wine Wine" (Hart) – 3:59 #"Nacare" (Hart) – 4:58 #"Spreading the News" (Hart, Hunter) – 3:38 #"Time Beyond Reason" (Hart, Hunter, Garcia) – 4:42

Personnel

Musicians *

– traps, RAMU, beam, percussionscape *

Sikiru Adepoju Sikiru Adepoju (born 10 November 1950) is a Nigerian percussionist and recording artist, primarily in the genres of traditional African music and world music. He plays a variety of instruments and styles. Background A master of the talking d ...

–

talking drum The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitc ...

* Tarriona "Tank" Ball –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Oteil Burbridge Oteil Burbridge is an American multi-instrumentalist, specializing on the bass guitar, trained in playing jazz and classical music from an early age. He has achieved fame primarily on bass guitar during the resurgence of the Allman Brothers Band ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author and narrator of films, theatre, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films such as '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' Cr ...

–

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

synth guitar A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical instrument systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities. Overview Today's guitar synths are direct descendants of 1970s devices from manufacturers (often in partnersh ...

*Samuel Goodman –

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

Jason Hann Jason Hann is an American percussionist and DJ. Career Hann is a member of a band called The String Cheese Incident. He is a former member of the band EOTO. He released a solo album in 2005 called ''Rhythmsphere Vol. 1 - Djembe Furia''. Hann al ...

– additional traps *

Giovanni Hidalgo Giovanni Hidalgo a.k.a. "Mañenguito" (born November 22, 1963) is a Latin jazz percussionist. Early years Hidalgo was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he received his primary education. His grandfather was a musician, and his father, José ...

– vocals, bata,

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...

s * Zakir Hussein –

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

madal The madal ( ne, मादल) or maadal is a Nepalese folk musical instrument. The madal is used mainly for rhythm-keeping in Nepalese folk music. It is very popular and widely used as a hand drum in Nepal. The madal has a cylindrical body with a s ...

Sabir Khan Sabir or Sabbir Khan may refer to: * Sabir Khan (musician), Indian sarangi player * Sabbir Khan (Bangladeshi cricketer) (born 1978), Bangladeshi cricketer * Sabir Khan (Indian cricketer) (born 2000), Indian cricketer * Sabbir Khan (born 1976), In ...

–

sarangi The sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument played in traditional music from South Asia – Punjabi folk music, Rajasthani folk music, and Boro folk music (there known as the ''serja'') – in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It is ...

Steve Kimock Steve Kimock (born October 5, 1955) is an American rock guitarist. He was a member of San Francisco Bay Area bands Zero and KVHW. His tone and some of his playing approach has been compared to Jerry Garcia, who was a friend of his, and he has ...

– guitar, lap guitar *

Niladri Kumar Pandit Niladri Kumar is an Indian sitar player and music composer. Early life He was born to sitar player Kartick Kumar, a disciple of Ravi Shankar. He started learning sitar under his father at the age of four. Kumar gave his first public per ...

–

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

, zitar * Charles Lloyd –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

Babatunde Olatunji Michael Babatunde Olatunji (April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003) was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist. Early life Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Niger ...

– vocals *

Avey Tare David Michael Portner (born April 24, 1979), also known by his moniker Avey Tare, is a musician and songwriter who co-founded the American experimental pop band Animal Collective. He has released three solo albums, as well as three collaborative ...

– vocals *Sekaa Jegog Yuskumara –

gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

Production *Produced by Mickey Hart *Co-producer: Michal Menert *Associate producer: Reya Hart *Recording engineers: Nic Pope, Tom Flye, Adam Tenenbaum, Boris Gladkihl, John-Paul McLean, Jason Mills *Sound design: Mickey Hart, Michal Menert, Adam Tenenbaum, Boris Gladkihl *Mixing: Mickey Hart, Nic Pope, Michal Menert, Zakir Hussein *Additional recording, mixing, and production: Bassy Bob *Arrangements: Mickey Hart, Michal Menert, Zakir Hussein *Archival: "Decibel" Dave Dennison *Mastering: Chris Gehringer *Photos:

Jay Blakesberg Jay Blakesberg (born December 1, 1961) is an American, San Francisco-based, photographer and film maker. Biography His suburban youth was spent mostly in Clark, New Jersey, where he first discovered a passion for taking pictures. As a young teena ...

, Atiba Jefferson, Camille Lenain, Susana Millman, John Werner *Cover illustration:

Stanley Mouse Stanley George Miller (born October 10, 1940), better known as Mouse or Stanley Mouse, is an American artist who is notable for his 1960s psychedelic rock concert A rock concert is a performance of rock music. During the 1950s, several Ameri ...

*Package design: Jacob Lerman

References

{{Authority control Mickey Hart albums 2017 albums Albums produced by Mickey Hart