No Age : Nouns

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/noagenouns.jpg" alt=" " />No Age shows both youth and experience on their sophomore release, <i>Nouns</i>. ...
7.6 Sub Pop
2008 

No Age : NounsNo Age shows both youth and experience on their sophomore release, Nouns.  After last year’s FatCat release of Weirdo Rippers (itself a collection of the band’s inaugural EPs), Los Angeles’ No Age jumped to ever-more-essential indie imprint Sub Pop for their follow-up LP. The rock that Randy Randall and Dean Allen Spunt give on Nouns is still way fuzzy, but manages to be less and more grown-up than ever.

Unlike the constant static of Weirdo Rippers, Nouns is more of a hodge-podge of spirits, from oceanic waves of post-rock instrumentals like “Keechie”, “Errand Boy”, and “Impossible Bouquet” to upbeat, catchy, garage-rock fuzz, such as “Here Should Be My Home”, “Sleeper Hold”, and single “Eraser”.  In general, it is the latter that is the superior side, as No Age already have the high-minded elements down pat; what’s nice and new about Nouns is the fun.

But No Age try more than two directions on their new record.  The younger side on “Eraser” expands into a bigger arena with the following “Teen Creeps”, while the band goes jangly and high, respectively, on back-to-back finishing tracks, “Ripped Knees” and “Brain Burner”.  The older attitude is present in the pressing noise-rock of opener “Miner” and garage-rock procession of “Cappo”.

However, like with the rest of Nouns, the more kid-rocking tracks are the best, with the wise old experimental rock feeling somewhat indulgent and unnecessary.  Like Merlyn in T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, No Age are aging backwards, from overdone experimentalist noise-rock to youthful fuzzy indie-rock.  But unlike the star-crossed Uther Pendragon, the best is yet to come.

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