No Age And An Object

OK, the last time I came across No Age I thought my CD player was going to fall apart. This was a band so chaotic and so destructive I felt lucky to have survived listening to them. But, on their new album An Object, something's changed. While previous efforts were darn near deadly, this record is not as aggressive, noisy, or catastrophic; it was such a change that it made me do a double take.

Sure there's lots of atonal noise and angularity going on here but there are surprising attempts at harmonies and melodies; it's quite shocking! Nonetheless, An Object is still a great record that veers in to aggression and craziness occasionally but has no problems down shifting into something else. I guess you could say that while An Object isn't as aggressive as previous efforts it is weirder than their other records. Within this album there are moody riffs and almost atmospheric sections and passages that will leave you stunned. It's all rather intriguing and is a rather uncharted development for this band but it works and works pretty well.

No Age aren't like many other bands. They seemingly seem to shift between chaos, dissonance, weirdness, and harmony with ease. An Object is all of these things in measured doses and while other records may have made you fear for your own safety this one will have you doubting your own safety. Simply put, weird noise has never sounded so cool. There's truly no age that you can put No Age in and I suspect that's the way they want it.

No Age And Everything In Between

Two years ago, No Age were bigger than sliced bread. This dynamic duo was so hot on the blogosphere during the spring and summer of 2008 that the thing nearly melted. The hype heaped upon this band was immeasurable and I’m sure the pressure that went along with such hype must have been unbearable. It really came as no surprise then, that when their album was finally released during that season of hype, they never quite lived up to all that was heaped upon them. While the hipster set gobbled the band up, the rest of us collectively shrugged our shoulders and asked, “Where are the tunes?”

Well, it’s taken them a second album but they apparently found the tunes they were looking for and crammed them all on their latest opus, Everything In Between. Everything In Between is a loud ruckus of proper indie rock that sounds like a wall falling on top your head. No Age have created a ear splitting frenzy of guitars and drums with gruff vocals that hit you flat on the face and knock you backwards. These guys don’t necessarily take a subtle approach to songwriting and you can hear just how direct they are on just about every song on Everything In Between. This is great noisy stuff that combines what would almost be the history of Sub Pop into a feeding frenzy of guitar work and songs that find melodies in all the wrong places. Whether its looped guitars, choruses screamed at the top of No Age’s lungs or super short songs No Age have managed to repeatedly figure out what makes a great indie rock song.

Everything In Between is everything their debut was not…meaning it’s really quite good! From the ambient guitar work of, “Dusted,” to the nearly lightning quick thrash of, “Fever Dreaming,” Everything In Between is the sound of a band that has matured into an indie rock beast. No Age has truly found their footing on this album and it seems as though there is no looking back at this point. Everything In Between is a fun reckless and ramshackle trip down the indie rock super highway that’s consistently great. If you like loud music to drive everyone around your crazy No Age might just be your new best friend.