No Age has something new with “Weirdo Rippers”

Primal duo No Age have been driving LA, and other psych-rock receptacle cities and towns, into a frenzy. A recent live performance at Aemeba record store in Hollywood produced a sea of the hip and the curious flooding the streets in front of the store waiting for the doors to give way to the deluge. And its no wonder. The band (made up of guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/singer Dean Spunt) has a new full length disk, Weirdo Rippers, made up of previous parts that has the sound of something brand new, no easy feat in todays over saturated marketplace. Combining highlights from a series of five vinyl only EPs (on five different labels no less) the disk doesn’t feel disjointed because the music seems to inhabit a space near that as it is. Waves of distorted guitar turn abruptly into staccato chunks before erupting into chanted hooks. And yet like My Blood Valentine fed through Pavement’s speakers there are extended moments of sonic beauty. Opening track "Every Artist Needs a Tragedy" follows this pattern for nigh 3/4 of its time, melting guitars over washes of snare and cymbal before finding a defined groove, and distorted vocals near its end. "Semi-Sorted" follows suit. "Get Hurt" pays partial sonic debt to Pavement’s first disk with its stuttering drums and over distorted vocals. "Everybody’s Down" is a highlight with driving guitar groove, Spunt’s vocal lamenting the state of….well, everyone. "Everybody’s down/Every soul in every town’s/ Got me going/Ooooh". Like Times New Viking, No Age have taken lo-fi to its natural extension and in doing so, under the intentionally frayed sounds, they find the real heart of rock ‘n roll beating. And its human.