The Acid Reggae Xperience Band is Matt's freaky underground side project. Probably the best way to describe the band is to tell you about a recent show they did.

We projected the iTunes visualizer screen on the whole room with two projectors and had a friend film us and while he messed with the somewhat cheezy video effects (fades, fisheye, merges etc.) and projected it on a 15ft screen behind us. Automatic mood setting. Our lap top player was dressed up as Spiderman and threw candy into the audience from time to time while he was launching all kinds of samples, audio soundscapes, electronic textures. Matt hooked up a Line 6 delay box directly into the 7' Yamaha grand piano and played a Yamaha Motif through a Lezlie tone cabinet and another keyboard amp, mainly using the Rhodes patches. Matt wrote arrangements for the entire group, relying heavily on the three horns. Tunes like Steve Miller's "Fly Like an Eagle" using D'Angelo's "Brown Sugar" as the groove, a killer arrangement of "Autumn Leaves" (click to listen) using Angie Stone's "Brother" as the groove, how about a funky groove arrangement of Marley's "War" with massive reharmonization of that classic horn walk up that so totally defines the tune, we also took Ernest Ranglin's tune "Surfin'" (click to listen) to a dub maximum effect, and the group did Matt's original "Dragonfly Taxi" the POLITICALLY CHARGED lyrics appear below. (Uuuuh, yup, inspired by Jimi's "Spanish Castle Magic"!) (So: 2 singers, bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, tenor, trumpet, trombone, hand percussion, laptop computer.) Matt has a melodica that he velcro's to a mic stand and, using a rubber tube, he plays it with one hand, while using his free hand to play piano at the same time. Everyone has a blast with their various effects pedals. At one point the band broke down, and Matt started playing samples of George Bush and John Kerry that he edited from one of their debates during the last election. It's all about the VIBE, the communication between the band and the audience (who were raging from the minute the band took to the stage) and GROOVE, no fucking around, just groove! Posters for the show read: "Delivering a SOULution."

So, the group has been playing here and there, some at Berklee, but also now they're playing every other month at the Zeitgeist gallery (soon to change names to the "Lily Pad"), a bohemian art gallery in Inman Square in Cambridge, MA. Click on the performances link to see where they're playing next.

At any gig, Band members could include:
Danny Mo - Bass
M'talewa - Bass
Alex Alvear - Bass
Sean Skeete - Drums
Nathan Sabanayagam - Drums
David Jimenez - Guitar
Thaddeus Hogarth - Guitar
Matt Langley - Tenor
Max Ribner - Trumpet
Rob Vesnaver - Trumpet
Scott Flynn - Trombone
Mike Carerra - Laptop
Sarah Brindel - voice, spoken word
Jenifer Hirsh - Voice
Blaine Brown - Voice
Alex Beram - Percussion

DRAGONFLY TAXI

Well, I'm looking for that Dragonfly Taxi
That Jimi rode back in '67
I bet she could turn on less than a dime
How about a nickel?
What do you think she took for a fare,
Technicolor air?
Something about the trip back then
Really seemed to get you somewhere.

(2x) Dragonfly taxi - sky
Dragonfly please tell me why

Her wings are baby's breath stained glass
And her seats will touch the truth of you
But this box you've been trying to think your way out of
Has poisoned the morning dew.

Supersonic sound is how she gets around
Eyes crazy with bloodshot love,
And the billboard on her trunk reads:
"Not for money. No way."

(2x) Dragonfly taxi - sky
Dragonfly please tell me why

Lost on a street corner planet
You're miles from reality
Hail her, but she won't pull over
Too long now you've made her cry your tears.

She leaves a streak of green, purple, blue light
And last I heard,
Though you may not think it's right,
She was dancing with the cotton candy clouds.

(2x) Dragonfly taxi - sky
Dragonfly please tell me why

Well, it took 30 years later
I found that sad lady
Buried under a cross, a flag, a dollar bill, and a gun
Somewhere inside me and you

Hang on if you can sweet darlin'
Cuz that burnin' drag you feel every day
Let me say, "Ms. Dragonfly Taxi,"
Man, she is GOING to have her way!

-Lyrics by Matt Jenson and copywrite secured in 2004