35th Parallel, 'The Green Vine'

This duo of brilliant percussion and string conjure to music the "mystical realism" that Gabriel Garcia Marquez brings to literature. 35th Parallel produce what Indiana Jones might find on one of his epic travels in the east, what Aladdin might hear from a rooftop, dully echoing far off in the stale moonshine of an Arabian Night. On their Web site they dub their style "MediterrAsian jazz" blending "global musical forms with flavors of ambient soundscapes and modern electronics." And among it's numerous praises, their album 'The Green Vine' was listed amidst the top ten Vermont albums of 2003 by the Burlington Free Press and Seven Days." - William Funsch