Idolator

No band makes me more confused than No Age. I don't get them at all. Nouns is track after track of one minute of drone followed by some flailing punk guitar and mediocre singing. And the reviews are generally rapturous. I just don't get it. It seems to be music, but a complete absence of songs.

I don't know. I was still idifferent after hearing their album a few times, but catching their sound in the context of this video, I'm intrigued...

They confuse me too, but because this music seems right up my alley, but for some reason I can't get interested. I don't dislike them, I'm just indifferent. Lo-Fi is the big buzz word these days(again), although bands like No Age, Times New Viking, and others are Lo-Fi in a totally deliberate way. Maybe therein lies why i'm uninterested.

i had a comment about No Age, but i sneezed and everybody forgot who they were.

if it's out on sub pop and pitchfork gave it a 9 or more, i'm probably going to hate it. that's not a hard and fast rule, but it saves me a lot of time and money.

@westartedthis: That made me smile. I think i've been subconsciously following your theory the past year or so, but I like the way you put it. Fleet Foxes are currently proving the rule.

i don't get it either and really don't get why it was on mtv

I don't want to start a metathread on "hype is losing its hype", but I fear that's what's happening with No Age. They're not my favorite band or anything, but their two albums are decent. If anything, they remind me of Lync, if Lync were trying to channel Bugskull, kinda. Otherwise, more mining of excellent forgotten 90s indie brought back and praised. No Age are one of the better bands on the hype wagon.

@brownham: It was on MTV simply because Pete Wentz was trying to get some indie cred.

"Weirdo Rippers" was a huge grower for me while "Nouns" has kind of plateaud quickly. Not that I don't love both albums and try to catch the band every chance I get, but they're probably a little overrated.

I think Matt on fluxtumblr nailed it a few weeks back when he called them a glorified local punk band. Now, to me, that's what most great rock and roll is (maybe I'm also biased because I bike past the Smell every day and the "weirdo rippers" painting on the front still makes me kinda giddy.) However, I can see where (particularly if you're coming at it from a poptimist angle where you're a little freer to lionize heavily workshopped melodies and production for it's own sake) No Age would be easy to write off for that same reason. There's also a fairly solid arguement one could make that there shouldn't be such a thing as punk band that gets a 9.2 fronm Pitchfork. Either way, they create an inexplicable rush for me that's pretty unique to them, and I have a feeling that I'll probably still be spinning "Nouns" regularly a year from now.

for what it's worth, i'm a huge fan of Jay Reatard, who is also kind of just a glorified local punk who doesn't deserve the hype.

also, why isn't everyone listening to Bottomless Pit? talk about mining great forgotten 90s indie rock - the band features half of Silkworm!