NICO is an Enhanced CD companion to the home video LETTERS FROM A PORCUPINE, and is playable on either a CD-ROM drive or a standard CD player. A portion of the proceeds from both NICO and LETTERS FROM A PORCUPINE go to benefit MAP (the Musicians Assistance Program). Blind Melon: Shannon Hoon (vocals, acoustic guitar); Christopher Thorn (acoustic & lap steel guitars, guitar, banjo, Mellotron, bell, tambourine); Rogers Stevens (acoustic & electric guitars, Hammond B-3 organ, congas, shakers, background vocals); Brad Smith (flute, acoustic bass, bass, dumbek, congas); Glen Graham (Mellotron, drums, hi-hat, congas, dumbek, percussion). Producers include: Blind Melon, Mike Napolitano, Mike Kelsey, Andy Wallace. Engineers include: Blind Melon, John Burton. Named for the late Shannon Hoon's infant daughter, NICO is a collection of outtakes, previously-unreleased originals and a pair of covers. Blind Melon was regularly pegged as a happy-go-lucky, hippie throwback act, but this collection exposes a band that bristled with creativity. Among the discoveries here that show Blind Melon to be more than a back-up band for the Bee Girl are "Glitch," a hypnotic percussive song that evokes the Master Musicians Of Jajouka. Blind Melon's creative spark was surely a restless one. "Letters From A Porcupine" is a musical message left by singer Hoon on guitarist Christopher Thorn's answering machine. An impromptu session in Hoon's hotel room toward the end of a 19-month tour produced "Life Ain't So Shitty." The band's version of John Lennon's protest song "John Sinclair" shows off a major influence; a Steppenwolf cover ("The Pusher") provides some eerie foreshadowing.

• Genre: Rock
• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 06/01/2018