Another 'secret' gig! Oh, I just love those. At first you're like, "why is everyone getting so excited about this 'Special ageless Guest' at this Upset The Rhythm gig?" Only to start grinning slightly when you finally (it took me at least a day) crack this immensely Beautiful Mind-level-code-breaking-knowledge-requiring-code and know that is actually LA homies No Age - No Age, ageless, get it? - who are playing. And because it is supposed to be secret, and they don't want everyone to catch on, the show's really cheap as well! What more could you want? Okay, a pony or world peace maybe, but let's be realistic, shall we (Truth be told, I would settle for the pony- ed)?Support is provided by Tqqundo frrrr, or whatever you get when you randomly slam your hands on the keyboard. The project is a solo venture by 18 year old Felix Lee, and is... interesting... So it's not my thing: he's just a bit too pretentious for my taste, with the pictures of African statues, the black cape and church bell he uses to create loops. No, definitely not my thing. SAUNA YOUTH I like though. They're a punk band, as simple as that. If they did the old 1-2-3 before each song they'd be the Ramones all over again. As soon as they start to play the singer disappears into the audience, only to emerge between songs to show that there is an actual person doing the singing and that it's not just a tape. They rather literally bring the house down with their final tracks when the crowd surfing singer's foot gets caught on some wires running along the ceiling. Difference with the 'real' punk era is that in this case the loose wires are neatly tied to the ones remaining on the ceiling by someone in the crowd. How very courteous.
I have seen No Age 1,5 before - the half time being at the Lowlands festival, when Franz Ferdinand ran past while I was getting drinks and no one warned about this fact (sorry! – ed) until they had found their way to the front of the crowd (ah, the fond memories!) - and when I was in LA I took the obligatory picture of the back of the Smell which features on the cover art of their collection of EPs known as Weirdo Rippers. I guess that place is starting to become the Abbey Road for hipsters (not just because of No Age, but of all the amazing bands that emerge from The Smell). So all in all you could say I'm a bit of a fan.
As their second album is coming up, No Age bring a mix of old and new, and geez, I'm really looking forward to that new album now. The new tracks neatly fit in with the stuff from Nouns but may be just a bit more melodic, if you can discern any melodies underneath the layers of noise that is. All the songs you'd want to be there are on the set list: 'Teen Creeps', 'Eraser' and 'Everybody's Down'. The LA duo keeps insisting on us being an amazing audience, which I guess has something to do with their performance at the Underage Festival (you have to be under 18 to get in there) just a day earlier. It's always nice to see people you can actually trust appreciate your music, and I can personally vouch for 14-year olds years having untrustworthy tastes in music.
While SAUNA YOUTH got the audience involved by involving themselves in the audience, No Age choose the opposite strategy and get nearly half of the gathered crowd on to the tiny elevated space in the front of the room. It does signify the great atmosphere of the night, as well as the culprit of having a singing drummer: once people appear on the stage, Dean Spunt disappears. At the same time, the only sign of Randy Randall's continuing stage presence is his hijacked guitar. Ah well, duo's brilliant looks weren't the reason people were there anyway. So how long do I have to wait now till I can hear this brilliant new album then?
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten