Mlumbo

Mlumbo was founded in the late 1980s by Robert Mbotto Ray and Zombie Ron Boggs as an escape from commercial music (they were then in a rock band managed by Mick Jagger's manager that included future Helmet leader Page Hamilton). To their surprise, early handmade cassettes began selling briskly at local record stores leading to radio play on over 100 U.S. stations and many rave reviews. Over the years, M'lumbo has released 8 albums and had tracks included on five compilations. They have done commercials, films and work for MTV and MTV 2. Their work has drawn countless enraptured reviews, received an ocean of comparisons to Miles Davis, Sun Ra and the Orb. Fans of the band include such disparate avatars as Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Brian Eno, Carly Simon, djs Olive and Spooky, Neil Young and Tom Waits. Group members have worked as sideman, directors, editors and sound designers to a host of world-class artists ranging from Abbey Lincoln to Luther Vandross, from Gil Evans to Pearl Jam. The group has given countless orgiastic and enthralling performances at both the old and new Knitting Factory and other N.Y.C. venues with opening acts such as Neotropic, Sean Lennon, Badawi, Mantronix, virtual reality inventor Jaron Lanier, Jojo Meyers Nerve, dj Muttamasik and Duncan Sheik, among others. Their shows draw consistent recommendations from Time Out New York and the Village Voice. From their origins as a "post-modern to a fault, brilliantly silly seven-piece jazz/funk/afro pop improvisarama" (Richard Gehr, Village Voice), they have metamorphosized into, first a smaller unit that "delivers upon the wasted promise of ambient music" (Alternative Press) and finally into the current line-up of six extraordinary musicians, two innovative and fast-rising filmmakers and one live soundman whose "audiovisual spectacle zeroes in on the fever dream elements of exotica" (Douglas Wolk, Village Voice). M'lumbo has spent the last five years cultivating a new style born from the underground "d8E" parties of the early 21st century. In the wake of increased police pressure and the completion of the scene's esoteric mission, Mlumbo has emerged to bring it's psychedelic message to a mainstream audience.