Enter the exotic realm of Djam Karet, where lyrics are unnecessary. Where guitars dominate, elevating ears to dizzying heights. Where glorious music rules, adding sparkle to the darkest night.

The band's name, Djam Karet (jam care-RAY), comes from an Indonesian phrase (popularized in an Harlan Ellison story) meaning "elastic time" or "the hour that stretches". This notion ideally fits the band's mind-expanding music.

DJAM KARET: The Ritual Continues (CD on HC Productions)

After three years of gigging the southern California college circuit, the band released their first album in 1987. Of the 65 minutes on this disc, only two songs are studio recordings, with the rest sampling Djam Karet's live performances.

Guitars (with emphasis on the plurality) wail with searing notes, ecstatically shrill and passionately evocative. Guitar-dominated, the music is also rich with lively percussion and cooking bass. Keyboards are present too, slickly slithering amid the rabid mix. But it's the guitars that truly grab your attention, their savage pyrotechnics burning permanent memories into your psyche.

The tuneage is awesomely bewitching, an unparalleled fusion of power guitar and electronic trance.

DJAM KARET: Reflections in the Firepool (CD on HC Productions)

In 1988, Djam Karet began to utilize the recording studio as a tool in the process of creating their music. A year later, they released "Reflections in the Firepool".

Guitars: electric, acoustic, steel, six-string, twelve-string. Lots of guitars, crunching and wailing and growling. They're crunching with the intricate drumming. They're wailing with uncommon passion. They're growling with the sultry bass. They're in your face, they're in your ears. They're incredibly captivating.

For 66 minutes, Djam Karet will dazzle you with breathtaking instrumental performances. Their music, energetic and intelligent, will entertain your mind as powerfully as it compels your rhythmic sense. If you play it loud enough, their dynamic music will amaze and hypnotize your neighbors.

DJAM KARET: Burning the Hard City (CD on Cuneiform Records)

In 1991, Djam Karet released this 70-minute CD in tandem with their "Suspension and Displacement" release. Each of these albums represented a different side of the band's evolving sonic personality.

This one displays the band's harder side, with raucous guitar frenzies and gripping rhythms. The guitars keen and ululate with tireless vigor, blazing with a dazzle that rivals staring at the sun. Intensity is as strong a keynote here as the sinuous nature of the music. The percussion forcibly drives these peaks of brilliance, with dark basslines adding reins of guidance. Additional synthesizer sweeps lend the fire an astral airiness.

This unbridled power is harnessed and applied so capably to these songs, producing memorable melodies and unbelievable epic riffs.

RealAudio samples:

Feast of Ashes
Burning the Hard City

DJAM KARET: Suspension and Displacement (CD on Cuneiform Records)

In 1991, Djam Karet released this 70-minute CD in tandem with their "Burning the Hard City" release. Each of these albums represented a different side of the band's evolving sonic personality.

This one displays the band's more ambient side: with atmospheric auralscapes tinged with a lurking intensity. Here, the guitars share the sonic stage equally (and joyously) with synthesizers and soft percussives. Processed guitars swim in thick schools, each succulent note shimmering with fertile enthusiasm.

Far from passive, this music has numerous passages that exhibit teeth-grinding severity.

Shortly after this, the band drifted apart.

RealAudio samples:

Dark Clouds, No Rain
Angels Without Wings

DJAM KARET: Collaborator (CD on HC Productions)

In 1994, Ellett and Osborne (with Henderson on the side) brought Djam Karet back to life for a collaboration project.

Collaborations...cool! And look at the list of people involved: Walter Holland, Kit Watkins, Jeff Greinke, Steve Roach, Marc Anderson, Carl Weingarten, and Loren Nerell...it reads like a who's-who of the American electronic scene. Each of these guests contributes their own spin to Djam Karet's guitar oriented ambient electronic music--from Watkins' ethereal flute to Roach's arid atmospherics.

Many of the tracks on this 72-minute CD also feature the prominent augmentation of ethnic percussion and aboriginal wind instruments, giving the music an earthier air. Synthesizers literally outnumber the guitar this time. But rest assured, when the guitars speak up, their crashing voice cannot be ignored.

DJAM KARET: The Devouring (CD on Cuneiform Records)

By 1997, the full quartet reformed. As if the band's earlier music hadn't already scorched the ceilings of heaven, this new sonic incarnation burned like a stellar nova.

Guitars still dominate, their chilling electric wail more in-your-face than ever. The dynamic drumming is hard-pressed to keep up. The bass has mutated, becoming more hyperactive and intricate. The presence of keyboards are no longer incidental, becoming a regular feature in the compositions, with richly rewarding result. This expansion of sound only increases Djam Karet's addictive appeal, giving the power rock a touch of contemporary classical sensibilities.

The structure of this music on this 70-minute release is quite complex, and potentially more intentional, exchanging the band's improv edge for well-positioned breaks and planned interplay.

RealAudio sample:

Lights over Roswell

DJAM KARET: Still No Commercial Potential (CD on HC Productions)

This wondrous sonic gem is a limited edition CD, self-released by the band in 1998 to display the band's proclivity for improvisational compositions.

Do not be deceived by the chaotic or atonal illusions implied by the term "improv," for the music on this 70-minute CD is tight, melodic, and blazingly brilliant. Nor should you be mislead by the CD's seemingly self-deprecating title; this sonic genre may possess "no commercial potential" for any major record labels, it may never get radio airplay in a Top 40 market, but the music itself shines with such an absolute appeal that it transcends the need to fulfill any corporate requirements. Djam Karet's music exists for the sake of the band's sonic expression and the sake of all discriminating audiophiles everywhere.

Blazing guitars, rumble bass, and intricate percussions are enhanced by the use of keyboards throughout, and didgeridoo on one track. The music is rich with flowing riffs, strenuous dynamics fused into compelling rhythms. The guitars screech with maximum sustain, the cries of tortured strings wavering in the clouds like undulating invisible snakes. Music like this literally burns with a sonic fury.

For the finale, the band delivers a 29-minute epic piece which explodes with fiery authority and locks onto your focus like a psychic laser.

Click here for Matt Howarth's review of Djam Karet's "Live at Orion" CD.

GARDNER & GAYLE: Music for Televisions (CD on Emerald Pondscum Productions)

In 1993, Djam guitarist Gayle Ellett joined forces with multi-instrumentalist Gardner Graber to produce music for use on two television programs ("Surfer" and "Powder" on ESPN). These 73 minutes represent the choicest material recorded by the pair.

There is a vivid sense of kinetics to this instrumental music, as sharp melodies and passionate performances excellently convey the rush of downhill racing and conquering the sea waves. Nimble fingers drive the slick guitars to cavort in the spray of percussion, bass and keyboards. All of these delightful factors are compressed into compact songs to deliver maximum rush effect.

TANEGA & HENDERSON: Hybrid Vigor (CD on TH Music)

In 1996, Djam's other guitarist Mike Henderson recorded 53 minutes of superb music in collaboration with percussionist Norma Tanega.

While the guitars mainly involve acoustic strumming, there are some incidents of astral electric warcries, rarely venturing to any overt outbursts. The percussion is compelling, gripping without being frantic, luring you in with sinuous interweaving rhythms. The blend of these strings and impacts is a remarkably enhanced minimalism, producing emotional melodies which appeal as much to the head as they do to the feet. There is often a comfortable ambience to these songs despite the compulsive drumming.