Hype it Up: Nomo - Invisible Cities

(This column  - hopefully - will serve as a means to further the music of bands that are just outside the ears of mainstream listeners, but have something phenomenal going for them. Tuneful pop, abrasive noise and everything in between; if the music is good, hype it up!)

Nomo is a band that defies standard categorization. I realize that it is incredibly popular nowadays to eschew genre labels because - heck, what do they really mean anyway? But Nomo takes classifications like jazz, krautrock, and afrobeat, throws them down and tramples them with a 5/4-on-the-floor space disco beat and a dirty electric kalimba. They throw hot soul horns on top of the math-rockiest drum loops around, and bring the funk courtesy of a nonet that knows a danceable drum pattern is just as important as lucid musical lines. Combining influences as diverse as Funkadelic, Brian Eno, Alice Coltrane, Steve Reich, and Can, the Ann Arbor collective is releasing their fourth album on May 5.

The two tracks Nomo has released from "Invisible Cities" are definitely breaking new ground for the group, and - of course - they are quality collections of sound. The title track is a jazz-funk-fusion summer groove brimming with saxophone stabs and thundering trumpets, while 'Crescent' is a meandering psychedelic flute-based number. You can almost hear the nag champa wafting through the air! 

Invisible Cities was written primarily on the road, while Nomo was supporting their last album "Ghost Rock." Elliot Bergman - the primary composer, tenor saxophonist, loop creator, and producer - shows his skill as an arranger, creating the proper, precious balance of structure, and free improvisation. Each song has a catchy hook, and then goes off the deep end with wild improvisation.

And you know a band is cool when - in the span of  a five year career - they can put their own spin on Joanna Newsom, Moondog, and Sun Ra.

Check their myspace to hear their new and old songs!