Search - Ram Dass & Kriece :: Cosmix (Dig)

Ram Dass aka Richard Alpert, and the late Timothy Leary, are cultural icons for their early days of pioneering experimentation with the mind expanding powers of psychedelics like LSD. They met and worked together at Harvard, where both were later let go for their controversial explorations. Timothy Leary continued to endorse and encourage mind expansion through pharmacology while Ram Dass traveled to India and embraced eastern spiritual enlightenment with his guru Neem Karoli Baba and soon thereafter began speaking and writing books including his most noteworthy guidebook, "Be Here Now." Ram Dass is now living on Maui and is much recovered from a massive stroke he suffered in 1997. Meanwhile, Down-under electronic DJ and performer Kriece has captured and taken some relevant, valuable dialogue from Ram Dass' earlier talks and mixed it with moving, chilled back electronica. Not since the late Terence McKenna's "Alien Dreamtime" album in the early '90s, has enlightened spirituality flowed so well with contemporary chill-out and this time each track is separate, a manageable length and broadcast friendly. For the most part, the music dominates, without diminishing the power of Ram Dass' messages. Without being overly preachy, Ram Dass' expressive words give new meaning and interest to this energized yet inspirational musical environment, while DJ Kriece's deftly selected grooves bring new life and focus to some universal and timeless spoken truths. As Ram Dass says, "This album represents a full circle for me. In the '60s when Tim Leary and I began exploring inner space with psychedelics, the music was always a groove that we could follow, a route to take us higher. Music was at the forefront of the expansion of consciousness and the counter culture. There was a group consciousness that evolved in some of the performances of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix and others, that was transcendent and brought a sense of unity and a feeling of deep love and joy. Later, when I made it to India, I was introduced to other music and sounds that vibrate with the cosmos, using it to get high. The music itself is the high and you just become it, like a surfer becoming one with the wave. This collaboration, produced by Down-under DJ and mixmaster Kriece, makes this blend of music and spirituality available to a new generation. Kriece has brought together the influences of World music, chanting, electronics and spoken word. I am honored he has used words I spoke, though it is only us talking to ourselves. This mixdown of mantra and electronica merges into One Love. As my guru said to me: 'Enjoy it All!'"