pronounced "zhahm ka-RETTE"
American progressive rock band from California founded in the early 1980s. Often compared to King Crimson and Pink Floyd, over the past quarter century they have released a wide variety of music, from lengthy instrumental jams full of wildly soloing electric guitars to quiet, meditative electronic music. In general, though, their music can be characterized as very spacy and unfocused, which, depending on one's musical taste, can be either a good thing or a bad thing. This should not be taken to imply, however, that they are a laid back band. Even their most langorously electronic album, Suspension and Displacement, is rather ominous, foreboding, and paranoid for much of its length. And any band that names an album after a quote from the introduction of H.P. Lovecraft's famous short story The Call of Cthulhu ("...we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.") is assuredly not one which produces the cheeriest of music.
According to the band, their name comes from a Balinese phrase that means "the hour that stretches", which both their fans and their detractors might agree to be an accurate summary of their unfocused and somewhat improvisational musical style.
Discography:
McMusic for the McMasses (1982)
No Commercial Potential (1985)
The Ritual Continues (1987)
Reflections From the Firepool (1989)
Suspension and Displacement (1991)
Burning the Hard City (1991)
Collaborator (1994)
The Devouring (1997)
Still No Commercial Potential (1998) (limited edition CD)
Live at Orion (1999)
New Dark Age (2001)
Ascension (2001)
A Night For Baku (2003)
Live at NEARfest 2001 (2004)
Recollection Harvest (2005)
Members (as of this write-up):
Gayle Ellet: Guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, etc.
Mike Henderson: Guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, etc.
Aaron Kenyan: Electric bass, keyboards, synthesizers, etc.
Chuck Oken, Jr.: Drums, percussion, synthesizers, production, sampling
Henry Osborne: Electric bass, guitars
thanks to the New Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock (http://www.gepr.net/) for information.