RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

Holy crap, I just got around to listening to some of the bands coming 
through this week. Nomo (Monday, Local 506, with His Name Is Alive) are 
freaking excellent gritty/funky large-band (well, 8 people, at least) 
Afrobeat.

The website says: "On New Tones home-made Detroit electronics and huge 
horn sections blast big band funk and riotous jazz. NOMO’s roots are 
firmly planted in the fertile soil of African polyrhythm and American 
free jazz, and bandleader Elliot Bergman’s tracks draw inspiration from 
cultures and generations wildly different than his home setting. . . .
“The New Tones recordings are more intricate and nuanced than anything 
we’ve released,” says Bergman. “The record features an arsenal of 
homemade percussion including the “electric sawblade-gamelan”, “no-tone” 
shakers, and the “Nu-Tone cymbals”,” he adds."

http://www.nomomusic.com/newtones.htm

It just hadn't occurred to me that HNIA would be touring with an 8-piece 
Afrobeat band, but Warn Defever produced their new record, so there you go.

I may have to haul my creaky ass down to the 506 (on a Monday, even) to 
see this.

Ross