ThaMuseMeant is the Rockingest Anti-Folk acoustic gypsy-grass full of intelligent lyrics, beautiful voices, incredible musicianship.

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Contents

#		Title	Length	Sample
1		rubberball	3:04
2		unprotected	3:19
3		motorcade	4:22
4		Camille's last jump	4:15
5		Freedom's tears	4:46
6		never settle for less	4:38
7		wish you were beer	3:43
8		nowhere from here to go	5:55
9		exploding pen	4:06
10		Mad a gas car	4:32
11		next time you're driftin my way	3:28

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Description

ThaMuseMeant runs their tour rig on Bio-diesel.

ThaMuseMeant met in Austin, Texas back in '93 and moved shortly thereafter to New Mexico to start the band. There, Nathan, Aimee and Dave got Jeff Sussmann on drums. They had risen to folk-jam prominence by the late nineties and disbanded in 2000 after six self-released albums and thousands upon thousands of miles of touring. Aimee studied Jazz and traveled Europe. Dave met violinist Enion Pelta in New York and started an instrumental band with her in Oregon. Nathan hooked up with John Treadwell to create Frogville Records. In 2003, Nathan, Aimee and Dave got back together, this time, with Daves new wife, Enion, on violin. "Silver Seed" was recorded and released on Frogville to much critical and fan acclaim. They have just finished a new album, called "NEVER SETTLE FOR LESS" recorded over the last 2 years; just in limited release as of 6/06 and its a beauty.


REUNITED BAND TOURS AS STRING QUARTET

An Honest Tune FALL 2004 vol.5num4 -"Drive by Trucker" issue ppgs 86-87
Pilgrims by Daniel Gold


ThaMuseMeant rhymes with amusemeant. Carnival fun is just one of many reeling emotions in their original songs and live performances on a stage or a street corner. Now a Portland, Oregon based string quartet, the gypsy collective seems to follow their muse as a lifelong journey. They make music that is invigorating, lively and meaningful. At times, other-worldly.

Reunited in late 2003 following a three year hiatus, the new ThaMuseMeant affirms the spirit of their first eight years as a band: they play and sing as if they are compelled to, by angels or instinct. The band's ethereal world-folk sound revolves around the trio of Nathan Moore(guitar/vocals), David Tiller (mandolin), and Aimee Curl (bass/vocals). David's partner Enion Pelta (violin) makes her debut with the reconfigured band on their new studio album, Silver Seed (Frogville Records).

"At present we are calling ourselves a string band," said David. "A sassy string band - tattooed folk." The string quartet version is still able to satisfy the dancers with some percussive acoustic rythems from bluegrass and other traditions. Enion, a classically trained violinist from the age of three, is a capable improviser and blends styles with ease.

As before the hiatus, Aimee's striking voice and trademark warble takes center stage on many songs. David's fluid mandolin deftly traverses genres from bluegrass to jazz to Eastern European styles, and any jam inbetween. Nathan, who writes more good tunes a year than many bands do in a career, infuses every song with personality.

With the subtraction of drums and the addition of Enion's violin, the band turns in a new direction. It's decidedly less rock and jam, but still kin to the spirited music and improvisation that was always ThaMuseMeant. Sometimes serious, sometimes relaxing, the new songs still engage the listener. An exciting evolution in acoustic music is afoot.

They began in the early 90s in Austin, Texas and then Santa Fe, New Mexico. First playing acoustic songs on the street corner, the band members still enjoy busking in their current hometown of Portland. The trio became ThaMuseMeant with drummer Jeff Sussman, creating a unique folk rock blend. Aimee and Nathan took on dual roles as singer-songwriters, with harmony and loveable yodeling in the mix.

They played the H.O.R.D.E. tour, S x SW in Austin, and High Sierra in California, and befriended Leftover Salmon, String Cheese Incident, Greg Brown, The Slip, Keller Williams, and other contemporaries in the genre blending mid-90s roots revival. The original line-up released five albums and toured for eight years.

Prolific songwriters, the band played while riding in the bus on extensive tours. They constantly improved, reaching out to many genres and flavors in pursuit of songs with meaning and feeling. Traveling around the country, they blended their experiences into songs often composed on the spot. In 1998 they released the watershed Sweet Things featuring some of the best songs yet. Their first-last album was Grow Your Own on High Sierra records, which blossomed into extensive touring in 2000. At the end of the road, they got off the bus. When ThaMuseMeant's website announced they were breaking up, fans wrote online tributes. As the band parted ways, Nathan and Aimee and David recorded a heart-wrenching farewell album at a cabin in Colorado. Nudes features nine songs that engage the moment of change. Would a goodbye in song from the original acoustic trio - the founders and Austin street performers - foreshadow the next incarnation of ThaMuseMeant?


No one knew but the muse. After ThaMuseMeant dissipated in 2000, David formed TAARKA, which is still touring with Enion and Jarrod Kaplan. Aimee went to school in New York City, and spent time in Ireland. Nathan inevitably, traveled and wrote songs. In 2002, he got Frogville Records off the ground with artist friend John Treadwell (they'd had the idea since 1999). In addition to releasing a string of Nathan Moore solo albums in the last two years, Frogville is a grassroots music community recording several bands.

Another of Nathan's adventures during ThaMuseMeant's hiatus was a surprise recording with The Slip: Surprise Me Mr. Davis Nathan and the Slip share the skills of versatility and improvisation. Whether the font of inspiration comes from dream and spirit, or politics and drudgery, singer-songwriter Nathan Moore is in very close contact with his muse. He's like a streetwise troubadour. On a good day, he could come up with three new songs or more. Nathan remembers his repertoire of hundreds of songs. At a post show party or on the band's bus, he won't go long without picking up a guitar. A porch or sidewalk will do also. The songs often have layers of meaning, symbols and stories of our time. Song forms range from poetic romps and stream of consciousness, to protest songs and social metaphors. Nathan is political, but not bombastic.

He sings and writes songs as if he can't hold it back, but gracefully yields to fellow musicians and is a fine accompanist on acoustic guitar. He has written lyrics that Aimee sings, as well. The contrasting vocalists bring dramatic meaning to the story telling lyrics. It is a hopeful story, for this reunited band and the many fans who cherish their music and follow the muse. These fine musicians have many more songs yet to create as ThaMuseMeant.

Referred to by some as "Acid Folk," ThaMuseMeant has a sound, a feeling, a style all of its own. They have performed hundreds of shows including: dates on the H.O.R.D.E. tour, SXSW showcases in Austin TX., High Sierra Festival, & exclusive nightclub appearances across the nation sharing shows with Greg Brown, Leftover Salmon, String Cheese Incident, Sheryl Crow, The Tragically Hip, James McMurtry and many others. At the same time, they are also somewhat infamous street performers.


Building on the sweet jangle of bluegrass but tilting its face to absorb the rays of modern folkgrass, alt country and gypsy jazz, ThaMuseMeant entangles a crisp rural twang, a lazy front porch rumble, and a sneaky, creeping story quality of mischief, sinister parlours and shadowy, back corners of smoky pubs, all wrapped up within the unassuming voice of guitar, mandolin, fiddle and the common country folk get-up. Standing out as a favorite among the jam band and bluegrass scene, their ability to inject innovation into well worn, exhausted genres, especially with Amiee Curl's spooky, distinctive vocals, gives this gang of musicians the striking talent to light a fire under the ass of good, ol' time music.
"Silver Seed" Review from "CD Baby"


Japanese Review 2004.09.20
ThaMuseMeant audition " Silver Seed "
From 1 number, it is different already.
The basis is acoustic, but the tune making, is unique.
Also quality of voice of the vocal is good, is and, genre dividing impossible (?Jp?word is) with, in addition to being good, you do not release either performance, with the ear of the person who is heard as nailing. Without song there is also an in strike. Already, don't you think? it increases from traveling with the atmosphere of the music brigade itself which continues to perform music to traveling -.
8 numbers " Nothin Much ".
Already, passing, laughing surged. (All right?)
Without song it is the in strike, but don't you think? you can hear sufficiently. It was defeated in this. The major media advertised and the which sows it is not being the first-rate artist of the result, concentrating on music, the result which it continued to pursue, in the first-rate artist, had served to some . It is such feeling. This band, one after another, keeps making tune already, is is not, probably will be? There is a that much, power. Also the musical instrument being used in various ways, don't you think? you do not grow tired, -. What music you hear already grew tired. Even, there are no kind of times when you can hear therefore it is. The kana which with with the heavy listener who is said, it is better is not, - with, thinking, it is the exactly album in one. In former music, we would like to keep hearing the splendid kind of album which can be heard even with the person that you are already sick, even from this don't you think? is. As for audition this Www.cdbaby.com When the audition of the ThaMuseMeant, viewing is possible, it is dense this Www.frogvilleplanet.com The person where the genre name, Americana becomes matter of concern 13:06 | Posted by slow CD



http://www.jambase.com/headsup.asp?storyID=5657

ThaMuseMent: Silver Seed
"I know a song can be a prayer. I know a song can be a sword." ThaMuseMent have hammered out a great collection of both. Dropping the drums and strapping on the strings, the band reunited after a three-year break to produce this set of wandering tunes that feels like an acoustic version of Bob Dylan's Desire. Much of it is sad and plaintive in the way gypsy music can be; each smile hard won, every mile felt beneath bad shoes, happiness, if it comes at all, "sweet as the wind blown through" the lips of your love. They find new meaning in well-worn phrases, further proving that Nathan Moore is a songwriter to be reckoned with. His vocal foil, Aimee Curl, may remind you of Edie Brickell or Victoria Williams, capital "Q" quirky but in a way that adds a nice twist. The longest piece, "Protest Song," is a smart, lonely outcry for the common folk, something in the true spirit of that sandal-wearing Jew who got nailed for speaking up. The tone of Silver Seed is similar to '80s Loudon Wainwright albums with Richard Thompson, an acoustic rustle befitting the thoughtful lyrics. In addition to Moore's guitar and Curl's upright bass, there's Enion Pelta on violin and David Tiller on mandolins and banjo. After Moore's strong showing with The Slip earlier this year on Surprise Me Mr. Davis, this comes as a double pleasure, back country folk for city dwellers, the shining gem of something newly mined with old tools. *** Find my ramblings & an archive of articles at http://www.denniscook.com/



Stereo Review July 1998

Walking down Austin's Sixth Street one night at a recent South by Southwest Music and Media Conference, I happened across some buskers who were playing a killer "Matty Groves" as well as an original called "My Death Comes a Callin'" that included yodels to die for. A proper gig the next night confirmed my first impression: ThaMuseMeant, from Santa Fe, deserves to make a million hatfuls of coins.

The easy way to peg the quartet is to say it's a jam band, but this is laser-focused, song-oriented jamming. And although the band's name may seem awkward, it's an apt description of the amusement you get each time the four bring a song to a close, having gone exactly where the muse meant them to go. You'll find "Matty Groves" on their first album, 1995's Live at the Mineshaft Tavern, and "My Death Comes a Callin'" on last year's Breakfast Epiphanies, but the band hits its stride on Sweet Things. The many highlights include the slinky hook of "The Man with Saleable Eyes," the tough picking of "Innocent Again," and the loping twang of "I Love You (Oh Well)."

Most of all, the album shows how each member of a quartet can be equally indispensible. Nathan Moore is the acoustic-guitarist, co-vocalist, and songwriter, and he's a master of poetic reveries but also partial to direct lines like "Lord, if I know anything at all / It's that life is such a long fall / You can try flying, but you're better off / Just looking down for something soft." David Tiller is the multi-instrumentalist, dazzling to no end onmandolin. Jeff Sussmann is the drummer, holding everything together with quick hands. And Aimee Curl is the bassist and, as the other vocalist, the band's secret weapon, trumping Natalie Merchant and Edie Brickell with a voice both fresh and old-timey, as if recalled from a long-ago radio show. That said, here's hoping she doesn't get The Big Head and leave the band, for ThaMuseMeant is indeed a band and a marvelous one at that.