The Kaleidoscope - A Beacon From Mars

Wielding a battery of exotic instruments that once adorned a thrift-shop front window (bazouki, oud, vina, saz, doumbeg), the Kaleidoscope was every bit as multi-hued and subject-to-change as the telescope full of bright bits of colored glass the band was named after. If there had been a prize for the most eclectic psychedelic outfit, L.A.'s Kaleidoscope would have had it stashed on a shelf – between the hookah pipes and the bowling trophies – in the band's rehearsal space. Formed by multi-instrumentlists David Lindley and Chris Darrow, with a membership that also included multi-instrumentalist Solomon Fedthouse and multi-instrumentalists Max Buda, Chester Crill and Fenrus Epp (all the same person) along with drummer John Vidican, this wildly experimental outfit pioneered what would become the world-music genre by darting deftly between rock, folk, blues, Cajun, country, Middle Eastern, good-time ballads and Eastern European styles, with plenty of full-blown psychedelia on the side.