Nouns

by 
AlbumMay 06 / 200812 songs, 30m 47s
Noise Pop Indie Rock Slacker Rock
Popular Highly Rated

In 2007, L.A. punk/noise duo No Age earned ink in the New Yorker, of all places, after releasing a collection of singles and EPs called *Weirdo Rippers*. Playing a type of particularly hazy, densely layered rock that sounds as if everything may fall apart at any given moment, drummer/vocalist Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall manage to create (and control) an amazing amount of pandemonium between the two of them. *Nouns*, their first studio full-length, has a more structured feel. “Sleeper Hold” and “Teen Creeps” are two fairly melodic tracks awash in waves of guitar feedback and effects. And there are moments of almost delicate art-rock pulchritude: the ambient “Keechie” and the twinkling “Things I Did” are sprung from Sonic Youth’s early experimental roots, and “Impossible Bouquet” is aptly named, a dark rose among the thorns. Fans of the rough stuff will dig the maelstrom that is “Errand Boy,” the punk rock of “Ripped Knees,” and “Miner,” with its pummeled drums and metallic guitars. “Here Should Be My Home” is the pop gem, buried towards the end, and along with “Cappo” and “Brain Burner” a good example of the influence of mid-‘90s indie pop demi-gods like Pavement.

No Age: the name alone suggests multiple meanings and possible interpretations—timeless, ageless, anonymous, free from restriction, something positive from something negative… a profound strength in its simplicity. Likewise, the Los Angeles duo consisting of drummer/vocalist Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall is many things at once even as it embraces its minimalism. No Age issued a slew of singles on a variety of indie labels in 2007, resulting in the tellingly cohesive compendium, Weirdo Rippers on Fat Cat Records later that year. That widely heralded release inspired such mainstream press as The New Yorker and the L.A. Times to feature the band’s ties to the underground scene surrounding the Los Angeles all-ages club The Smell. Recorded by Pete Lyman at Infrasonic Sound in LA, Harvey Birrell at Southern Studios in London, and at home by No Age, Nouns, the band’s Sub Pop debut, is succinctly all-encompassing, from the faux-simplicity of the title to the beautiful distortion of its sound, to the packaging that includes a 68-page full-color book packed with photos and art pieces (CD only). The record opens with a symphony of noise (both Dean and Randy use samples alongside their main instruments) and sometimes creeps, sometimes smashes through a sonic headlock befitting Daydream Nation-era Sonic Youth, Kiwi pop, My Bloody Valentine, and experimental noise. “No Age is a band,” says Dean. “Bands should be fun and exciting and they should push all the buttons at the same time. They should make you feel like you are going to explode and make you utterly confused and inspired at the same time.” And sometimes they do.

9.2 / 10

No Age follow their 2007 EP compilation, Weirdo Rippers, with an ambitious Sub Pop debut: Nouns is gorgeously thick-- a hazy, delirious expanse that's friendly and warm and, best of all, unpredictable.

F

Pop culture obsessives writing for the pop culture obsessed.

Divorced from all the talk about the return of the lo-fi sound, the scene revolving around the band's home base in L.A. (the Smell), and the group's rep as no-nonsense noise punks, you have the music of No Age.

Nouns will leave you wanting more.

9 / 10

No Age take their name from a compilation released on legendary hardcore label SST.

<p>(Sub Pop)</p>

3.5 / 5

8 / 10