No Age – “An Object”

BY JACK DANIEL BETZ

No Age are stylized to an almost absurd degree. Whether you like them or not, you have to admit, it’s extremely easy to pigeonhole them. I can imagine a hilarious, millennial, D.I.Y./lo-fi-themed version of “Spinal Tap,” sending up bands like No Age and Wavves, and making a lots of money in the process. You could almost reuse all of the same volume jokes.

To do an effective parody, all you would have to do is leave your guitar by the amp to create feedback, have minimalist drums,  jaded, sleepy, flat vocals, and absolutely no change in dynamics ever. This doesn’t mean the music sucks though, it just means that it involves a delicate formula that can get grating without the necessary care. The problem here is that the band doesn’t seem to be doing anything new, 3 years later.

Too much material on the album seems ad libbed and shoddy, especially in the case of the album’s longer songs. “Commerce, Comment, Commence” seems to be the band’s best attempt at covering a slice of Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music.” Given that “Commerce. . .” is the longest song, and is a rambling, aimless 4 minutes of unexciting grinding and feedback, with the occasional murmured lyric, it reflects rather badly on the album as a whole. While the longest track doesn’t always have to be the best or the most interesting, it’s really going to stick out when that longest track is a complete fucking waste of time. Experimentation is one thing, but when there’s no payoff, and no clear resolution, and there doesn’t seem to be anything artistic or deliberate about those two facts, you have to wonder if they even tried on this one.

“Running From A-Go-Go” is similarly lackluster. It sounds like there couldn’t possibly have been more than one take — there’s no feeling and no following where the band is going. It’s just a weird lack of direction or art. It would simply be fruitless to go through most of the other 11 songs and say they all suffer from the same problems, so instead, I’ll recommend the one song I actually like. “I won’t be your generator” includes all of their trademark characteristics, but is organized and reflects some planning, rather than just blind, unthinking id. There is a distinguishable melody, the lyrics are mostly easy to make out, and the beat is something listeners can feel.

No Age are not an incapable group of musicians, but this is definitely their least interesting album so far.