__NOTOC__ Mushroom is a musicians' collective based in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. The group's sound has been described as a "diverse and eclectic blend of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...

, R&B,

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

Krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

History

The group was founded in November 1996 by drummer Pat Thomas. Thomas is known for his work as a percussionist, record producer,

music journalist Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

and editor of ''

Ptolemaic Terrascope {{Infobox magazine , image_file = pto.png , image_size = , image_caption = ''Ptolemaic Terrascope'' logo , editor = Phil McMullen (1988–2005) Pat Thomas (2005-07) , editor_title = , staf ...

''. His credits as a producer of

reissue In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions. Reasons for reissue New audio formats Reco ...

recordings include albums by

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), better known by her stage name Dusty Springfield, was a British singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano voice, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop mus ...

Television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

, and for

Omnivore Recordings Omnivore Recordings is an independent record label founded in 2010. It specializes in historical releases, reissues and previously unissued vintage recordings, as well as select releases of new music, on CD, vinyl and digital formats. Omnivore R ...

, artists such as

Game Theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions. It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science. Initially, game theory addressed ...

. Thomas is the author of the book ''Listen, Whitey: The Sights and Sounds of Black Power'', a 2012 work of African-American cultural history centering on the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...

, with a concurrently released CD and double LP recording of speeches and

protest song A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for protest and social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre. ...

s. Mushroom released its first recording in 1997, a 12" single called "The Reeperbahn," described by critic Fred Mills in ''Magnet'' as a recording that "could fool a blindfolded test applicant into thinking its 25-minute psych blowout was some long lost

epic from the early '70s. Let the band's wah-wah guitar, feedback violin, volcanic bass, jazzbo percussion, and tape loops take you down the fabled motorway, never to return to the place you once knew." "The Reeperbahn" provided the basis for CDs released in 1998 in Holland and Germany. In 1999, the band released ''Analog Hi-Fi Surprise'' in the United States and Germany, followed by a European tour, by which time keyboard player Graham Connah had exited and was replaced by Michael Holt. Toronto music magazine ''Exclaim!'' wrote that the band "dish out the tastiest psychedelic funk you're ever likely to encounter. The groove's the thang as these tasty tracks cruise on Rhodes-driven jazz, ambient beats, surf riffs, and post rock textures. The band brew all these elements into a mixture that travels the outer realms of progressive funk. Like

Tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

jamming with the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

Soft Machine Soft Machine are an English Rock music, rock band from Canterbury, Kent. The band were formed in 1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. Soft Machine were central in the Canterbury scene; they became o ...

exploring the

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. As one of the two flagship groups of George Clinton's P-Funk collective, they helped pioneer the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, ...

catalog, these loose open-ended excursions raise the art of fusion to a new plateau. While each track works a groove toward heady epiphany, the album as a whole refuses to stay locked into any one genre.

Booker T Booker T or Booker T. may refer to * Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), African American political leader at the turn of the 20th century ** List of things named after Booker T. Washington, some nicknamed "Booker T." * Booker T. Jones (born 194 ...

-styled organ gyrations, rock guitar virtuosity,

Bootsy Collins William Earl "Bootsy" Collins (born October 26, 1951) is an American bass guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s before joining the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, Collins established himse ...

funk ups, ambient jazz, electronic beats, and Krautrock trance all make a stand, but the bottom line is that this is music that will move you, and then some." The band then recorded ''Foxy Music'' (2001), which included trumpeter Jon Birdsong (known for his work with

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

). '' Q'' magazine in England wrote, "On the ''Foxy Music'' CD, the band steer away from determined psychedelia in favor of a friendly looseness to their playing. Jabs of electro-trombone and flute cluster alongside churning organ and splintered Rhodes Piano. Beck's trumpeter Jon Birdsong also turns on a great big blubbery blast of tuba, while musical director Patrick O'Hearn's clattering drums have an automaton rotary action that sometimes recalls ''Can'''s

Jaki Liebezeit Jaki Liebezeit (born Hans Liebezeit; 26 May 1938 – 22 January 2017) was a German drummer, best known as a founding member of experimental rock band Can. He was called "one of the few drummers to convincingly meld the funky and the cerebral". ...

." As of 2015, the members of Mushroom were Pat Thomas (congas, bongos, drum kit), Ned Doherty (bass), Erik Pearson (flute, violin, effects, acoustic and electric guitar, electric sitar), Dave Brandt (congas, bongos, vibes, djembe, gongs), Josh Pollock (acoustic guitar, vocals, megaphone electronics), Alison Levy (vocals), Ralph Carney (woodwinds/horns), Gram Connah (keyboards), Matt Cunitz (keyboards), Tim Plowman (guitar), Dan Olmsted (guitar), and Dave Mihaly (vibes, percussion). Mushroom's current label is 4 Zero Records.

Discography

Albums

* ''Cream of Mushroom'' (1998, Normal) * ''Alive and in Full Bloom'' (1998, Inbetweens) * ''Analog Hi-Fi Surprise'' (1999, Clearspot; 2002, Weed) * ''Hydrogen Jukebox'' (1999, Timothy's Brain) * ''Compared to What'' (2000, Weed) – with Bundy K. Brown, Faust, Gary Floyd * ''Leni Riefenstahl'' (2000, Aether) * ''Foxy Music'' (2001, InnerSPACE) * ''Oh, But They're Weird and They're Wonderful'' (2002, Return to Sender) * ''Mad Dogs & San Franciscans'' (2003, Black Beauty; 2012, A Records) * ''Glazed Popems'' (2004, Black Beauty) * ''Really Don't Mind If You Sit This One Out'' (2006, 4 Zero) * ''Joint Happening'' (2007, Hyena) * ''Yesterday, I Saw You Kissing Tiny Flowers'' (2007, 4 Zero) – with Alison Faith Levy * ''Naked, Stoned & Stabbed'' (2010, 4 Zero) * ''I Don't Remember Yesterday. Today It Rained'' (2011, 4 Zero) * ''Songs of Dissent: Live at the Make Out Room 8/9/19'' (2021, Alchemikal Artz) * ''Messages from the Spliff Bunker'' (2024, Heyday Again)

Singles and EPs

* ''The Reeperbahn'' (12" single) (1997, Belmondo) * ''Gas, Grass Or Ass - Nobody Rides For Free'' (CDr single) (2007, 4 Zero) * ''Psychedelic Soul on Wax'' (EP) (2016, Little Mafia)

External links

* * *

References

{{Authority control Musical collectives Musical groups from San Francisco Musical groups from Oakland, California Jam bands 1996 establishments in California Musical groups established in 1996 Psychedelic rock music groups from California