D Numbers sound like the Mario Bros crashing a tandem bicycle … on acid. Not really – the three-piece experimental psychedelic band from Santa Fe, N.M. eludes description, though writers at times make a game of mashing together labels like magnetic poetry.

“”I’m really super-amused by some of the things people come up with,”” guitarist and keyboardist Brian Mayhall said.

With influences like jazz, funk, progressive rock, old-time and computer music, descriptions of their multi-textured, clicky electronic sound can invoke the entire gamut of musical vocabulary.

Mostly, though, D Numbers are a dance band. “”We want people to move around when they’re inspired to,”” Mayhall said. “”We want them to dance.””

Instead of prototypical psychedelia, replete with meandering melodies and noodling guitars galore, D Numbers favor a simplified approach: repetitious riffs upon which layers of hypnotic Rhodes piano and synths are added.

“”I love improvisation and experimentation, but if it’s all over the place, it’s not gonna keep me in the groove,”” Mayhall said.

Mayhall, Ben Wright and Paul Groetzinger began their project in 2002, not as prospective band-mates but as close friends. Mayhall has known Wright since the days of little-league soccer, and met Groetzinger while studying music at the College of Santa Fe in 1997.

They have since toured with They Might Be Giants, Erase Errata, The Octopus Project and Prefuse 73, though a large chunk of their tour stops include, house parties, art galleries and anarchist collectives.

Having only recently released their debut album, Lightparade!, the band has quickly garnered all kinds of attention from the alternative press. But unlike the 8-bit math rockers with which they are often compared, the fellows of D Numbers are more inspired by early electronic composers like John Cage than by the Nintendo – or any family of consoles, for that matter. “”None of us have video games or cable,”” Mayhall laughed.

What they do have is a penchant for creating abstract, instrumental music that ranges from hyper – sometimes epic – to thoughtful and “”visceral”” (Mouse on Mars and Tortoise are among their top picks).

Instrumental music, Mayhall explained, leaves more up to the imagination. “”We’re not dictating how other people experience (our music),”” he said. “”And we really love that – we celebrate it.””

D Numbers perform 9:30 p.m. Saturday at Plush, 340 E. Sixth St., with The Runaway Five and Feel Good Revolution. Tickets are $5.