It’s so refreshing to hear a record you can’t figure out in about 30 seconds. When the opener “The Green Line” came blaring out of my stereo, it seemed I was in for a noisefest and would need to head to the cupboard for styrofoam earplugs. While the track grabs your attention, the Chicago-based Bablicon rapidly venture in a multitude of promising directions. There’s the inexplicable blend of Eastern-sounding, sitar-miming drone with a bit of new wave, techno, march band, and jazz on the brilliant “Chunks of Syrup Amidst Plain Yoghurt.” “Francis Locrius” is defiantly jazzy, while “*;!:-” bows deeply to classical music of the modern sort, particularly Toru Takemitsu. In A Different City isn’t just music for your brain, it’ll have you groovin’ to the most unexpected sounds.