To be honest, I discovered No Age by accident. Usually accidents are a bad thing. Sometimes, they are happy. Either way, it describes an event where something has unintentionally happened. For example, "I accidentally threw up on my shoe while listening to this song by No Age." You see, I obviously would never want to do that, but it happened (not really, but I think it delivers a nice intro to this song review).
This is No Age's first release on Sub Pop, which was released today. I've always enjoyed Sub Pop. Currently, they have some of my favorite artists, including The Shins, The Postal Service, & Mudhoney (they have a new album being released in 2 weeks).
Pitchfork Media gave Nouns the highest rating ever - a 9.2! I was mildly excited at that point. I raced over to No Age's MySpace to see if they've posted any songs from the new album. Yes, they did! The track is called "Eraser." This song would be the basis if I should buy the CD and review the entire disc.
The song opens with a person speaking unintelligibly. My best guess: "Yes, yes, yes, but I owe ya. Be ready to..uh, kind of like, kind just..." But I like this, too: "Guess, guess, guess. Buy Iowa. Me and rabies favor. I kinda like Canada, too."
The distorted guitars kick in and immediately I'm feeling drained with every downstroke. It was as if all the crap (yes, that's a technical music term) that producers usually wipe clean with ProTools was left in and all the good stuff (another technical term) was taken out! At least there was some sort of tonal center to keep me grounded to reality.
I waited. Waited some more. I pondered if this was an instrumental. I feared it. Then the noise grew louder and I finally heard a voice. It suited the experimental nature of the band, I guess. Whatever they are experimenting, I'm pretty sure they have no hypothesis, but a lot of placebos. I think I need to be "experimenting" to really get into this type of music. My problem is that I've heard bands sound like this before at almost every local showcase I've been to, except No Age manages to somewhat pull it off...and I stress somewhat. Seriously though, I can understand why hipsters might enjoy this. Maybe Sonic Youth fans who've become tired of Sonic Youth would like this. But really, if you're tired of Sonic Youth, maybe it's time to stop listening to music.
I'm still confused with Pitchfork's high praise. Maybe I should get the entire disc. Maybe I'm missing something. The only thing I'm more curious about is Eraser's opening dialog! I must have listened to it 25 times now! The rest of the song just wasn't quite as intriguing.
I was hoping for some good Indie candy, and I wound up with garage asparagus. Yuck.
~robert
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