No Age
Everything in Between
Rating: 3.8/5.0
Label: Sub Pop
It’s a seemingly simple formula to make a No Age: Guitar, drums, samples and maybe some shouting. However, the result – gloriously ferocious noise punk- transcends the sum of its parts. No Age’s last album, the beloved, explosive Nouns, opened with “Miner,” a bit of droning that gave way to an audio shotgun blast. And then the damn thing never, ever lets up. It was like every song on the record would burst into flames as soon as it began.
No Age brought a fire extinguisher into the studio for their strong yet calmer follow-up. As if to (wisely) state that this album is not quite like the last one and to prevent being dismissed as “more of the same,” Dean Spunt and Randy Randall open Everything In Between with slower, surprisingly introspective tracks: first, “Life Prowler” (“And when I reach into/ Myself my past comes true”) then, “Glitter” (“Thoughts allude me/ I’ve been wondering/ When is it my turn to get a win“). It sounds like these teen creeps might be taking a look in the mirror, which sounds like I’m slagging them, but it’s an effective departure even though most will probably prefer the faster bits.
I don’t want to say that No Age has matured. For them, “maturity” is a bit of a misnomer- plus, it makes it sound like their earlier stuff was somehow undeveloped or incomplete. Rather, this is pretty much the same No Age that melted your earbuds on Nouns two years ago. This becomes clear immediately as “Glitter” ends; the band, seemingly chomping at the bit, jumps into the punk-as-fuck “Fever Dreaming” where the only intelligible lyrics are the loops of screaming that serve as the song’s chorus. Oh, and that part where Spunt shouts, “Fever Dreaming!” over and over.
More accurately, Everything In Between shows No Age becoming better ringmasters, having figured out how to tease different levels, tempos and effects out of their trademark noise, besides loud/fast/awesome. On “Positive Amputation,” guitar buzz actually feels somber thanks to just the right piano sample. And, in another band’s hands, “Common Heat” would have been a stripped-down acoustic track, but in No Age’s hands, it simply sounds like a stripped-down acoustic track compared to the record’s louder, faster stuff.
Now that you can hear what they’re saying, No Age’s weakest component seems to be the lyrics. A more appropriate name for the band would have been Teen Age — just listen on “Common Heat” as the band yelps, “I’m in trouble“. The borderline teen skate punk of “Valley Hump Crash” grows to a perfectly nonsense chorus of “Catalina, take my hand/ I don’t want to take you to another land.” Then there’s “Sorts”: “La la la la la/ Without you/La la la la la/ With the truth.” However, this is forgivable and even preferable- No Age is a band you listen to while kicking stuff over, not choosing which Morrissey-like witticism would look best as a tattoo.
Where Nouns ended with “Brain Burner” — imagine what a song called “Brain Burner” sounds like and that’s exactly what “Brain Burner” sounds like — Everything in Between finishes off with “Chem Trails” (not a Beck cover), a fast, bouncy track in which Spunt laments, “Lost my foresight.” Hopefully such a lyric doesn’t predict a further mellowing out on the next record. Maturity is overrated.
by Danny Djeljosevic
Key Tracks: Glitter, Fever Dreaming, Valley Hump Crash
