The third album from Ann Arbor’s Nomo blends old school funk grooves, world music, and hypnotic, minimalist rhythms with electro bleeps and swells. The result is an album equal parts dance music (à la Fela Kuti) and pensive minimalism (à la Tortoise).
Most of Ghost Rock is built on juxtapositions of Afro rhythms played on a mix of traditional and homemade percussion instruments. Songs like “All The Stars” and “Round The Way” are hypnotic layers of polyrhythms with repetitive horn lines layered over the top, bringing to mind Kuti, as well as bands like Tuatara (R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck’s mid-'90s instrumental project) and the various side projects of Stanton Moore (Galactic). Electronic sounds weave in and out of the mix, nicely countering the traditional percussion/horn sounds with an experimental element (the bizarre synth that opens “Brainwaves” sounds part snake charmer, part out-of-control medical equipment).
The music works best when it’s at its most adventurous. The pitch-shifted mallets behind the bari sax solo of “Rings” create a dreamlike and dissonant texture that acts as a perfect counterpoint to the more organic sounds of African percussion and reggae-funk horns. “My Dear” layers dissonant sax screeches over a wall of reverb-y vibraphone and flurries of fuzzy synth sounds over old school funk guitar and drums. At the opening of “Ghost Rock,” trumpets and sax buzz between the speakers like a swarm of insects before coalescing into harmonized island-funk figures.
The album does drag a little. Most of the songs sit around the same tempo and dynamic level. The similar horn lines and hypnotic layers of percussion tend to make the songs sound the same. Though the minimalist loops that pervade create a hypnotic and often fascinating atmosphere, they also make it difficult to hold the listener’s attention. With a couple of notable exceptions (the screaming sax pinnacle of “Ghost Rock”), most of the songs never really take off towards a sense of climax.
This isn’t to say that Ghost Rock isn’t an enjoyable listen. If the funky guitar intro of “Last Beat” doesn’t make you want to shake your booty, then you should permanently retire your dancing shoes. When the beat drops out of the way through “Three Shades” and polyrhythms of bass clarinet and horns are left suspended in space, the music achieves a moment of hypnotic beauty that makes you melt right through your couch. The layers of instruments and sounds make for new elements to discover over repeated instruments, while the infectious funk beats and pounding mallets alternate your urge to dance with a desire to zone out.
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