Album Review - No Age

No Age – Nouns
[Sub Pop; 05/05/2008]

No Age popped up on the radar last year with their debut album, Weirdo Rippers, which held recordings of singles and EPs the band slogged out during the embryonic stages of their existence. Like many other lo-fi American bands spawning out of the woodwork these days, I thought it was a self-indulgent piece of music from a couple of LA bums from an underground skater scene. However, their sophomore album Nouns is a totally different proposition and if ever there was statement in indie pop music to turn a head, then there's no need to look any further than here.

'Teen Creeps' is the first of many highlights that Nouns comprises of, with its severing guitars sounding like a piece of metal been put through a welder in a workshop, while the uneven melody makes the track and clearly shows the intent the band aim to make during this affair.

'Caven' follows in the same vein with lo-fi noise that would've been welcomed if Kevin Shields had taken a bit more acid and had a little less money at his disposal in the studio during the late '80s. 'Sleeperhold' has more guitar sounds seeping out of the amplifiers with an unrestricted viciousness that pisses all over what No Age have created in the past.

Nouns is what music is about today. Their use of melody on Nouns was the absent ingredient during their last at bat, which as stated above, proved a sketchy outcome indeed. People will say No Age brim upon innovative, but in actual fact, they would be getting caught up in a thing that is better known as hype. It's easily constructed music that gains plaudits due to the freshness and ferocity that it's delivered with, however the main achievement of Nouns is the timing of its attack and not so much the overall ability. Still, a plus is a plus.

By Simon K