Lest it be left unsaid: NOMO may make you get down, but they are serious dudes. A glance at bassist Matthew Golombisky, who has f-holes tattooed on his forearms, or baritone saxophonist Dan Bennett, who plays his instrument like he’s operating heavy machinery, will tell you exactly that. Not that they’re overly studious: These guys are the jazz heads at every music conservatory who’d rather be trading solos with Fela Kuti.

The great Nigerian bandleader’s mid-’70s Afrobeat casts a large shadow over NOMO’s often electronic take on the genre. The Ann Arbor, Mich., group — currently a sextet led by alto saxophonist Elliot Bergman — played an electrifying, hour-plus set last night at DC9, and it was easy to pick out other influences, too, from fusion-era Miles Davis to the recent ambassadors of Afrobeat coming out of Congo, the Saharan, and Lisbon, Portugal. Everything blended seamlessly but each component remained distinct — less like a melting pot, as Bergman suggested in an interview last year, and more like, say, an overstuffed sandwich.

Read More “Electricity And Weight: NOMO @ DC9″ »

Remember Chopteeth? BPB reviewed ‘em back in October during the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival. They cook. They dance. The Korgans are fat. The horn section is beastly. And the protest (”Struggle”) generally takes a backseat to the party (”Upendo”).

Their LP is called “Afrofunk Big Band.” It’s great. And without giving too much away, I can say that it’s a prime candidate for the 2008 iteration of our Year-in-Review Top 10 List. What’s not surprising about the disc is the quality of the playing—they’re aces, and we’ve know that for a while. But we didn’t know they had the composition to match the chops. (Much of the credit goes to guitarist/singer/principal songwriter/recording engineer Michael Shereikis, though Anna Mwalagho contributes some songwriting alonside her exultant vocals.)

So remember, folks: weigh your blessings. And check out the clips below.

“Struggle”:

“Upendo”:

“Fogo Fogo” (the lone Fela joint and the album’s only cover):

The fifth track, “Dog Days,” is available for free download on the Chopteeth website.

As promised, some stills and vids from Friday night:

La Timbistica:

Chopteeth:

Fertile Ground:

…and the Chopteeth videos…

“Struggle“:

Nice horn bit:

Trouble viewing? Check out the YouTube versions here and here.