I owe the guys of Garaj Mahal an apology.

I got their disk, Live Vol. 1 over a year ago and hung onto it, but somehow it got buried in my office. Not that such an event should come as a surprise to anyone who’s ever seen my office, but those are the risks one takes when dealing with me in search of a few nice words to say.

When I recently rediscovered Live Vol. 1, it was like a revelation of sorts. Of course I’d played the disk when I first got it, and I meant to review it at the time, but in the meantime, I’d forgotten just how good the disk is.

Precisely what label one can affix to Garaj Mahal is beyond my abilities as a musical taxonomist. I’ll describe their artistry as Indo-rock-fusion – a compelling mélange of traditional Eastern and modern Western styles spiked with an energy that is infectious.

If it is true that lyrics are merely a trick to get people to listen to mediocre music longer than they otherwise would, Live Vol. 1 is proof that good music requires no such gimmickry. Recorded at the Great American Music Hall in August of 2002, Live Vol. 1 is mostly instrumental, making it a superlative choice as either the soundtrack to whatever you happen to be doing at any particular moment, or a reason to simply sit back and listen.

Four of the album’s six tracks exceed ten minutes in length, with the opening track reaching an epic 17:37. Never do the selections ever slip into monotony. Instead, Garaj Mahal seem to feed off the energy of an audience that is clearly enthused by the band in a sort of perpetual motion scenario.

So, to Garaj Mahal, sorry it took so long. And to 2Walls readers, sorry for denying you word of this record for so long.