"M'lumbo takes the familiar and makes the earth slide." – New York Newsday
"It's Mickey Mouse, The Stanford University marching band, Santana and Syd Barrett rolled into one...borders on genius." – Baltimore City Paper
"M'lumbo makes world music for some world other than Earth." – Dirty Linen
"To approach a merely adequate description, try and imagine a combination of Miles Davis, Sun Ra traditional African music, and early Bonzo Dog Band...very exciting, filled with unbridled energy and humor. The musicianship is superb and the arrangements exceptionally creative." – Alternative Press
M'lumbo was founded in the mid-80's by Robert "M'botto" Ray
and "Zombie" Ron Boggs as an escape from commercial music
They were then in, amongst other things, a "rock" band managed by Mick Jagger's manager
that included future Helmet leader Page Hamilton.
To their surprise, early handmade cassettes
began selling briskly at local record stores leading to radioplay on over 100 U.S. stations
and many rave reviews.
They have since been featured on over 300 public, college and progressive radio stations worldwide (including syndicated shows featuring their music); have done commercials, films and work for MTV , MTV 2, Chrysler, Mini Cooper, and Hyundai; and have drawn countless enraptured reviews, received an ocean of comparisons to Miles Davis, Sun Ra and the Orb, and praise from such disparate avatars as Simpsons' creator Matt Groening, Brian Eno, Carly Simon, DJs Olive and Spooky, Neil Young and Tom Waits, and have influenced some bands along the way (Sex Mob, Either/Orchestra).
They have given countless orgiastic and enthralling performances at both the original and second Knitting Factory, recently played the third (Brooklyn) location, as well as numerous other N.Y.C. venues such as Joe's Pub, S.O.B.'s, and St. Anne's Cathedral, with opening acts such as Neotropic, Sean Lennon, Badawi, Mantronix, virtual reality inventor Jaron Lanier, Jojo Meyer's Nerve, dj Muttamasik and Duncan Sheik with constant recommendations of their shows by Time Out New York and the Village Voice and feature articles in The New York Daily News, New York Newsday and New York Press.
Over the years in its different incarnations the band has released albums on labels such as Warner Brothers, Staalplaat and World Domination. Group members have worked as sidemen, directors, editors and sound designers to a host of world-class artists and clients ranging from MTV to Chrysler, ESPN to Abbey Lincoln, Mazda to Luther Vandross, Methodman to Pacha Massive, Gil Evans to P Diddy, Pharrell to Pearl Jam.
"M'lumbo's boho splendour! forget the Lounge Lizard's fake jazz, this is fuck-jazz; highly accomplished and highly irreverent at once 'Psychotronic' skit-skatting through the musical spectrum in a hyperactive-inspired burst of creativity and rhythm" (B-Side) "Imagine a collision between Tackhead, Eno-era Talking Heads, Bill Laswell, 70s Miles Davis... Mere words cannot do justice to convey the musical construction that you are going to hear" (Dead Earnest)
For the past few years, they have been combining forces with guitarist and now member Page Hamilton, the “six-string virtuoso” (Time Out New York) who founded and leads the wildly influential and Grammy-nominated band Helmet; with Grammy Award winner Jane Ira Bloom, the possessor of “one of the most gorgeous tones and hauntingly lyrical conceptions of any soprano saxophonist” (Pulse); and with the eclectic and virtuosic Gary Lucas, “one of the best and most original guitarists in America” (Rolling Stone).
The fruits of these collaborations can be heard on their recent releases Celestial Ghetto,
Tuning In To Tomorrow
Popular Science, on the last of which they returned after long hiatus to wild reinterpretations of famous pop-culture “standards”.
"Every so often, you find something new that delivers unexpected pleasure! Total zaniness that WILL transport you to M'lumbo's own Twilight Zone! " – The Boston Herald
"On The Nine Billion Names Of God, M'Lumbo offers up the latest chapter of their luminous journey through cinema, dreams, electronica, accoustica, humour, terror, sprituality, jazz, world, acid rock, drum'n'bass, classical and forms unknown, with each moment stamped, ineluctably and seamlessly by M'lumbo's wild post-everything originality. " – Sheigi Katanabe, New Tokyo Musical Express
"Wild, Wild Stuff! Suitable for anyone with an ear for pop culture and new ways to implement it. Infectiously Wonderful! Both familiar and alien at once! Designed to draw you in,bounce you around, and leave you hoping for more in the future. Who are these guys?? " – Mike Gunderloy, Factsheet Five
"Brilliant in both the studio and live, M’lumbo’s audiovisual spectacle zeroes in on the fever dream elements of exotica " – The Village Voice
"This crazy gem of a release skit-scats all over the musical spectrum in a hyperactive-inspired burst of creativity and rhythm. " – B-SIDE
"M'lumbo rolls all their eclectic styles into one zesty stew. Where do these guys come from? Or, should we ask, who brought them to Earth? " – REFLEX
"Top-notch, delivers on the wasted promise of ambient music. " – Alternative Press
"M’lumbo works as a kind of large band multi-voiced paean to retro-futurism. … These folks are into something. " – Gapplegate Music Review
"If you've ever seen the painting of Jean-Michel Basquiat and other neo-expressionists you know what my mind sees when I'm listening to M'Lumbo. Some familiar images that are surrounded by washes of color in different intensities, patterns, and combinations. This should probably be filed under jazz but it is about nine times that. … [T]he colors and textures are all part of the whole and it is all quite amazing. — " – Sea of Tranquility
and "Zombie" Ron Boggs as an escape from commercial music
They were then in, amongst other things, a "rock" band managed by Mick Jagger's manager
that included future Helmet leader Page Hamilton.
To their surprise, 
.jpg "M&';lumbo at S.O.B.&';s 2")
