Jazz Articles about Nomo

NOMO: Invisible Cities

by Jeff Stockton
August 2, 2009

Having started out in clubs around the University of Michigan as an octet (sometimes larger), enchanted by the Afrobeat of Fela (seasoned with a bit of avant jazz), on Ghost Rock (Ubiquity, 2008), NOMO emerged as much more inspired by the clanging junkyard percussion of Congolese Konono No. 1 and German eccentrics such as Can and Kraftwerk than by the work of John Coltrane or Charles Mingus. That was a daring record, simultaneously a natural step in this ambitious collective's ...

NOMO: Invisible Cities

by Chris M. Slawecki
June 15, 2009

Invisible Cities is NOMO's companion piece to Ghost Rock, comprising music recorded during Ghost's recording sessions and subsequent, supporting live performances. Cities uses many of the same musicians, structures, and approaches, but Bergman and NOMO seem to focus more on pulling traditional jazz sounds into, and pushing the boundaries of electronic rock out of, its swirling dervish mix.

For example, nothing on Ghost Rock sounds like Invisible Cities' opening, title track. Powered by the dual engines of a ...

NOMO: Ghost Rock

by Chris M. Slawecki
June 14, 2009

The initial sound heard on the opening “Brainwave" offers a first insight into the music of NOMO--the sound of composer, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Elliot Bergman “playing" an actual brainwave monitor. It's an important clue: NOMO finds music where other people find noise.

Ghost Rock is not an easy listen. It is inventive, challenging, and rewarding, and very often like an onion--each song grows through many layers, and they can be pungent enough to bring tears to the ears. ...

Nomo: New Tones

by Judith Insell
September 30, 2006

The Detroit-based NOMO begins New Tones with the sound of the electric kalimba, leading the listener to believe that they are in for an adventurous musical experience, but as the disc progresses, it takes on the feel of an endless dance track. To composer/arranger Elliot Bergman's credit, he incorporates electric saw blade, gamelan, farfisa organ, nu-tone cymbals, canister and various other percussion instruments into the music, but the sounds are not really used to create new soundscapes, ...

NOMO: New Tones

by Chris M. Slawecki
July 8, 2006

A band unlike most others, Detroit's NOMO consists of eight multi-instrumentalists led by Elliott Bergman, who plays tenor sax, bass clarinet, synthesizer, Rhodes keyboard, electric kalimba and more.

New Tones is a CD unlike most others, too. Captured in the studio by Warren Defever, the renowned yet enigmatic producer for Detroit's electronic/pastiche collective His Name is Alive, New Tones simultaneously explores electronic music, African polyrhythms, and American jazz and free jazz. “We blend minimalist keyboard loops, fuzzed-out bass, ...