Audio By Carbonatix
By No Age standards, last night’s 45-minute show at Modified Arts was an epic. After all, the the Los Angeles-based noise-pop band’s last album, the critically-beloved Nouns, clocks in at only 28:17. Though it normally feels a little short for a headliner, even at a small club, 45 minutes was about perfect for No Age: the band doesn’t need (and wouldn’t benefit from) a minute longer.
Coming out of the scene surrounding The Smell, an experimental arts venue in L.A., the two-piece band won over both Pitchfork and Rolling Stone last year with their experimental mix of shoegazey indie and stripped-down punk. Live, they erected a wall of noise that didn’t leave much room for drummer/singer Dean Allen Spunt’s vocals but had plenty of melody from Randy Randall’s rattling guitar as they played through most of Nouns. Things started slowly with some sound problems, but, by the closer, “Miner” the (gentle) mosh pit had reached through most of the venue, making me move. By that point, I’d enjoyed what I had, but it’d been just enough.
Then, the end. Excellent.
Critic’s Notebook:
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Last Night: No Age and The Goat at Modified Arts.
Better Than: Hella but not sBACH.
Personal Bias: Hmmmmm. None really?
Random Detail: The best-slash-most-awkward moment of the night was the two seconds of dead silence after Randall asked the audience to give terrible opener The Goat a hand. The audience seemed stunned, but quickly recovered to give the socially-appropriate polite clap.
Further Listening: Check out Wavves, who is coming to town next Monday. Similar sound, but Wavves takes things a little further, and makes even catchier melodies.
By The Way: I couldn’t even summon a polite clap for The Goat. Oof, they were awful.
