"RAMU is an acronym for Hart's personal database, "Random Access Musical Universe" ... [Hart has] become a world music guru and a champion fixer for the Library of Congress, rescuing or recording treasures like "Music For The Gods: The Fahnestock South Sea Expedition", Tibet's Gyuto Monks and the Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji. "RAMU" is a distillation of so much it is impossible to give it credit in a brief space ... What he conjures from the Dead and the deceased alone is remarkable, whether Jerry Garcia or Babatunde Olatunji. The album begins with "Auctioneers". It wraps around field recordings of a tobacco auctioneer, made by Alan Lomax and John Becker, made in Tampa, Florida in 1944. Zakir Hussain, as does Hart himself, adds a new level of rhythmicality ... What emerges from the sound collage is extraordinary. As the tale unfolds, traditions and genres bend and blur. The Mickey Hart/Robert Hunter song "You Remind Me" is typical. Sung by Avey Tate, it opens withthesitarist Niladri Kumar (...) but also includes talking drum (Sikiru Adepoju) and sarangi (Sabir Khan) and more, all interwoven with field recordings from Peru ... Original sound, archival recordings, spoken word and treated sound permeate this whole project with a spirit of adventure".
