After a brief sound check, Taarka was ready to show us just why they're the newest, hottest ticket on the festival circuit. The stylistic variety and expert musicianship that quickly burst from the stage was an experience to behold: blending elements from bluegrass, jazz, klezmer, Celtic, sufi, Afro-Cuban, gypsy and American folk, their instrumental sound left no stoner unturned. James Whiton's meaty double bass work propped the music on solid ground, busting walking jazz-style lines, syncopated rhythms, flowing slides and percussive slaps with rugged abandonment and a flair for the bravado, yet keeping it all neatly in the groove. Operating an extensive trap set-like percussion array, Jarrod Kaplan displayed a beaming smile while beating on djembes and dumbecs and shaking the shakers, underlying the multi-faceted music with the perfect beat and feel. David Tiller stood at the foot of the stage, alternating between a traditional and octave mandolin, molding the songs with accompanying chords and rapidly picked leads while Enion Pelta ripped through violent swaths of melody, Strauss-esque classical strains and quick playful jabs through her pan-dimensional fiddle playing. Their performance was a high-energy romp filled with jubilant peaks and breath-catching valleys, sudden impeccably calculated tempo changes, crescendos and mysterious explorations. At one point, the group broke it down to a nebulous chaos section, conjuring sounds reminiscent of a tortured sea creature being beaten with a bag of oranges. The band, appreciative of the fervor shown by the Tuesday night audience, gave a mighty performance that left few off their feet. I was so captured by Taarka's music that I was even able to ignore the gaudy, arrhythmic hippy dancing. - Maurice S. Teilmann, Synthesis.net