TAG: noise

Sep28

No Age – Everything in Between (Review)

No Age

Everything in Between

Released by Sub Pop Records


Schizophrenically experimental, noise, shoegaze, punk with some good old-fashioned rock n’ roll sprinkled throughout for good measure, forward-sounding Los Angeles natives No Age outperform themselves in their bright and stellar (in both the judgmental sense as well as stylistically in the sense of the intergalactic and interplanetary) third record Everything in Between (the first two were a compilation of collected singles on 2007’s Weirdo Rippers and their 2008 record, Nouns). A unique and energetic outfit, No Age sound like an upgraded, modified and well-kept out of date machine. With ...

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May06

Lazer Crystal – MCMLXXX (Review)

Lazer Crystal

MCMLXXX

Released by Thrill Jockey


Just when it starts to become easy to grab ahold of what’s going on with the blasts of hard-edged electronics Lazer Crystal dish out on their debut album, the trio from Chicago see fit to change it all up and launch things in another direction. Hybridizing bits of noise, industrial, mathrock, post-punk, techno, krautrock and synthpop, they have plenty of source material to work with, and they show little caution about ramming the sounds together until the pieces are correspondingly dented and tightly locked together. One moment the band ...

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Apr04

Love is All – Two Thousand and Ten Injuries (Review)

Love Is All

Two Thousand and Ten Injuries

Released by Polyvinyl Record Co.


Sweden's Love is All specialize in itchy, reverb-soaked art-punk that rarely sounds less than massive: even a plaintive cut like "Repetition" blooms into trilling regalia. On their first record, the coyly titled Nine Times That Same Song, the band played about with these sonic elements like a kid with new Legos. Here they're more careful, building tiny castles with those sax wails and subway-clatter drums, infusing moments of romantic keening (or delicious revenge, as on "Less Than Thrilled") into the din. Throughout Two Thousand and Ten Injuries, drums patter ...

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Oct27

Junk Culture – West Coast (Review)

Junk Culture

West Coast

Released by Illegal Art


The Illegal Art imprint has always celebrated judicious use of the sample, so Junk Culture’s soundscrap beats fit in that regard. But while labelmate Girl Talk flaunts well known sources in uncomfortably terrific contexts, this project from Portland resident Deepak Mantena resurrects bits of noise captured on a hand recorder for a glitchier and less straight ahead take on things. A lighting paced nine songs in 19 minutes, Mantena’s first offering is a blast to the headphones that brings to mind the off-kilter breaks of Flying ...

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