Image of No Age courtesy of the No Age Myspace page
#16 Nouns by No Age (Sub Pop)
No Age reminds me of the early '90s. They come from the LA noise scene that centers around a venue known as The Smell, but their music is steeped in the sounds of the noise pop and lo-fi bands of a decade ago. The duo of singing drummer Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall do the LOUD-quiet-LOUD thing pretty well, dropping stretches of ambient loops and washes of feedback between crashing, noisy pop songs.
When their first major release, Weirdo Rippers, came out last year, I checked it out and found it to be a real odds-and-ends collection of singles - it sounded like the experiments of a band trying to figure out where they were going. It didn't seem like something I'd listen to much. Strangely, most people now refer to it as their debut album, even though I don't think it really was one. I prefer to think of Nouns as their real coming-out party. I got a Sub Pop promo CD earlier this year that had a pretty good song from Nouns on it called "Eraser", but it didn't raise my interest level much.
What changed my mind about No Age after I concluded I wasn't interested? This is one of the cases where I've had my mind changed by online discussion of an album. I don't think I got caught up in the hype around No Age - I still don't think they are the second coming of Pavement or anything. They sound more like a cross between New Radiant Storm King and Versus, two indie also-rans from the Pavement era. But the descriptions and discussion of the album in online music forums were so enthusiastic that I gave it a try. And their sound really works in the context of a cohesive album - the instrumental tracks are more interesting than I thought they'd be, and they provide a welcome respite from the pounding pop attack of the more upbeat numbers. The album has a good flow, starting and ending on real high notes.
The melodies are still a little too simple and repetitive - some of the best-liked songs on the album like "Teen Creeps" seem to have only one melodic idea that is repeated for the length of the track. And the last two songs on the record, "Ripped Knees" and "Brain Burner", have almost identical melodies - was that intentional? My favorite tracks on the record are those that combine the ambient loops with their melodic pop sensibility, like "Things I Did When I Was Dead". The squealing loop that comes in before the vocal is probably my favorite thing on the record, and it creates a bouncy but off-kilter foundation for one of their better vocals. Nouns is a great debut album, and I hope No Age builds on the mix of mood and attack found in their best songs as they go on. Their next album could be even better and more cohesive - it's one I look forward to.
"Things I Did When I Was Dead" by No Age
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