Going to kick off a new feature on the blog entitled “Under The Radar”, which will feature overlooked releases from multiple unsung bands from years past.  Kicking off first is I Mother Earth and their debut disc, entitled “Dig”.

In 1993 (before I made my “career move”), I was living the high life as a record store (remember those?) employee in Cincinnati, Ohio.  As a music junkie you couldn’t ask for a better job-  stock CDs, chat up customers, listen to tunes all day, and sort through all sorts of promo goodies from the labels and other groups.  One of these other groups was Concrete Marketing, who would supply our store with promotional materials (posters, CD and cassette samplers, etc) every so often to market some of the newer hard rock/heavy metal releases at the time.  It was through one of these samplers that I got my first taste of Dig.

My first exposure to I Mother Earth was via their song “No One”, which I’d never heard anything quite like at the time:  a mix of soaring guitar, punchy bass, aggressive but melodic vocal, and a percussive attack unique to the metal/hard rock genre.  And one at almost seven minutes at that!  This song builds and builds with more twists and turns for those more adventurous listeners out there.  An aural treat:

Naturally, I had to grab the disc when it came out and was immediately hooked from first listen.  Manic funk, spacy/trippy jamming, guitar histrionics, mellow grooving, and flat out rock are only some of the words I can use to describe this thing, with much of it happening within EACH song!  I hear elements of Hendrix, Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, Pink Floyd, The Doors, and Santana weaving throughout as songs build and morph from one style to another.  Layers of cleanly picked passages awash in reverb suddenly switch to heavy distortion, with rhythm and lead work swinging between both.  Listen to how the mellow intro of “Lost My America” changes sharply to a heavy riff and then to smooth jazz as an example of how guitarist Jag Tanna deftly moves between the light and shade:

Or check out the build of something like “And The Experience”, where Tanna’s guitar swirls across a simmering bass groove (Tanna also performed bass on this disc) and drumwork of brother Christian Tanna until it explodes with funk frenzy around the 2:30 mark:

Are all of those changes too distracting?  How about “Rain Will Fall” for those that want non-stop jamming:

Or “Undone” for those that want something more laid back:

You get the point:  Dig, as a whole, has a lot to offer.  If you like heavy rock with excellent musicianship that can easily swing between light and shade at a moment’s notice, by all means get this disc.  They made one additional disc with lead singer Edwin (the quite excellent but less manic Scenery and Fish) before new singer Brian Byrne came on board for the next two discs (both quite good) until going on a self imposed hiatus around 2003.  Good news though!  The band has been performing live off and on since 2012 and may soon hit the studio.  Stay tuned to http://imotherearth.ca for the latest.