Mickey Hart & Planet Drum - Supralingua

Very detailed...

It's so refreshing to hear music so vibrant and detailed. It's so easy to let your mind wonder and put your self some place else with this CD. May 14, 2008

A peak at prelanguage sound and Electronica

Mickey Hart Serves up something very different again. This time bridging the gap of ancient and cutting edge "tribal" music. This sounds less spontaneous to me because of sampling. I'd like to hear an album like this all improvised in real time because I believe RAMU could shine in this setting, but you'll probably have to settle for a live show. September 26, 2005

Strong & Vibrant Heart Beat of the Planet ...

Mickey Hart combines indigineous voices, chants, and traditional instruments with contemporary and shaminstic drumbeats to create a special CD very aptly named "Supralingua" ... which to me, means, super voices and super music. At times, add to this, the the sounds of nature ... for instance, drops of water or the ambience of the rainforest. Take the voices of the Gyuto Monks (Buddhist) mix them with the didjeridu, flutes, Chinese erhu, add a def drum beat, mixed in with metal percussion, cluster drums, and bongos ... all played by world-class musicians and you have an idea of track #1. This CD reveals a newly emerging creative path for music, showing us how traditional and contemporary instruments combine, to reveal an existence where the journey is never quite complete ... but is continually evolving. Listening to the CD is a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Erika Borsos (erikab93) November 4, 2003

Great Effort!

Incorporating his computer operated drum machine "RAMU", Mickey sets the tone for another compelling album. Though not as awe-inspiring as his previous "instrumental" efforts, the album is still a sound to experience.

The album's tone is more upbeat, with a lot of percussion as well as (mentioned before), the RAMU (computer processed instruments such as vocals, roto toms, bells & whistles, etc.).

The songs are greatly constructed, but it is not a CD to chill out to. It is an album to groove and dance to. A little more latin-flavored too. Amazing stuff here.

So, if you're into a CD that has a little more meat in the sound, get it. If you're looking for a CD to take you on a journey, I recommend some of Mickey's previous efforts as well as Spirit Into Sound.

Enjoy! August 14, 2002

Good, but it's no PLANET DRUM

I haven't heard Mickey Hart's most recent cd, SPIRIT INTO SOUND, but of the three Hart cd's just prior to this one (PLANET DRUM, AT THE EDGE, and MYSTERY BOX) I think this one is the least compelling.

This cd is definitely "good", but the other three are "very good" to "great". I'm not sure if it is the production techniques or RAMU, but there are many things on this cd that just sound completely artificial. Even without knowing that there are samples being used you can tell many of these sounds are computer-driven, the notes and phrases of the triggered samples just do not start in a natural way. It makes some of these songs sound like they were cut-and-pasted together.

This cd was always mentioned as having no real words and as being designed around a sort of "new vocal language" but listen to DAMAWOO and then compare it to ALEKE (track #14) on the cd THE SPIRIT CRIES: MUSIC FROM THE RAINFORESTS OF SOUTH AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN. There is much more than just a passing similarity between the two.

While I do think this cd is good it does not have the ancient, trance-like, dreaming-mind qualities of of the original PLANET DRUM cd, and just the way this one was recorded makes it sound a bit stale. I think with SUPRALINGUA Mickey was going for something that was part "World Music" and part "club music". If you want a cd that is more "electronic-groove" sounding then this is the one for you, but if you want one that is more "mind-altering" then the original PLANET DRUM is the cd you want to buy. April 30, 2000

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