Samsara

From: Brighton

Influences: The Abyssinians, Gomez, Carlos Casteneda, Nick Drake, Ali Farka Toure, Gregory Isaacs, The Police, Skatalites, Tool, Ernest Ranglin, Sublime, Bad Science, The Specials, The Wailers, Pentangle, Desmond Dekker, Manu Chao, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, James Brown, Cat Empire, Max Romeo, Ben Harper, Ska Cubano, John Martyn and Ani DiFranco.

Profile: Brighton six-piece Samsara are heading out on a summer tour to promote their new album The Great Unravelling, which was released on iTunes last month. The national tour will see the band teaming up with the likes of The Wailers in Brighton, and taking on support slots with former Special Lynval Golding’s latest band Pama International, and Zion Train.

The six-piece combines the rhythms of reggae with latin, ska, folk, gypsy and jazz to create a pop beast of their own. They’re already a fixture on the UK festival scene, having played this year’s Secret Garden Party, and they also have dates at the Small World Festival in Kent and Wales’s Sheep Music Festival booked later in the year, plus a slot at Concorde 2’s Alternative Notting Hill Carnival on Monday, August 30.

Riverman (right click on the track to download, left click to stream)

Website: www.facebook.com/ samsarasounds

MySpace: www.myspace.com/samsara5

Email: samsarauk@gmail.com