Friday, August 08, 2008

Nomo @ Casbah 8.04.08

Since I don’t have a camera, I tried to make a picture collage to give the feeling of what it was like that night.

Monday night I made a late appearance at the Casbah, and was only able to catch the last band. Wasn’t really sure what to expect, the listing on the Casbah website said Nomo, and the comment was “HOT HORNS + HEAVY PERCUSSION” which could either mean really danceable or jam band from hell boring. Fortunately for me and everyone else who was there, it became a concert I will not soon forget. I knew something special was upon me when I noticed that at the merch booth, they had electric thumb pianos for sale. What band sells homemade instruments at their merch booth?… awesome!

When Nomo started playing, their groove immediately drew everyone inside, and let me tell you their sound was BIG: 3 horn players, bassist, drummer, percussionist, and 2nd drummer/guitarist. They also had the music to blast the dancing shoes off everyone there. Powerful horn lines carrying the melody just like groovy Stevie Wonder horns, amazing rhythmic interplay between the percussionist and drums which gave an Afro-Cuban funk feel.

But that doesn’t even do justice to the craziest parts of the show. While they were bouncing around on instruments, (which so many bands do these days, but usually don’t bring anything unique) two horn players started blowing into these long black tubes (synth horns). They were like horns from a Buck Rogers episode, and emitted the funkiest space-aged horn sounds to ever grace the human ear. These horn players tore the stage UP! And on the final song, the entire band entered the crowd as though we were all making music at a bonfire.

Each band member either had a horn or a percussion instrument and a hand clap rhythm swept the crowd only to be followed by a melodic chant which lasted for 10 minutes of pure collective musical ecstasy. If you dig funk/Afro-Cuban beats with amazing horn lines, this is the band for you. Also, if you are into making electronic music, this band sounds prime for great danceable samples.
-Dagart

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