Menomena by Eric Freytag

Most music worth mentioning that has been produced (and is being produced) in the first decade of our new millennium is an unspecified mishmash of the genres that were formed in the 1900s. Music used to be far more region-specific and class-specific, with slight variations within the genres and less inclination to blend genres in a way that is delightfully common today. Greater access to the millions of songs that have been recorded allows for unprecedented growth among musicians recording new music today, and as new musicians experiment with sounds and genres that have never been combined before, bands like Menomena are formed.

Lumping Portland’s Menomena into genre classification does them a disservice and is an inevitably inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis. Anyway, what would the point be of calling them experimental jazz rock electro hop? The moment that label ever stuck the band would play a concert with 20 choir boys backing them (which they did at Bumbershoot 2007) and you would have to add another word to the already-outrageous label. Better to just call them marvelous music worth checking out.

Check out their studio album Friend and Foe, and you’ll experience a musical odyssey that is rich and dark one moment, lively and fun the next. When the low tones of “Running” make you feel cornered in pursuit, suddenly a cow will moo in perfect rhythm and harmony with the other sounds of the song. Snap out of your musical dream and you’ll be immediately aware of how unusual a Menomena listening experience can be.

Much of the band’s original sound is attributed to the distinctive compositional style derived from Brent Knopf (keyboard/vocals/guitar/glockenspiel). Knopf created a computer software program called Deeler that allows the band to improvise short ideas and use them as building blocks for broad, loop-based compositions that they then play live.

In a performance setting, Menomena attempts to utilize dense instrumentation without the use of backing tracks. In a live show they can be seen using an array of glockenspiels, saxophones, keyboards, guitars and anything else they feel like throwing on stage. Expect beautiful vocal harmonies, and prepare to be charmed and intoxicated by their particular take on jazz rock electro hop gospel.