Stream: No Age, ‘Turned to String’

Kevin Bronson on February 26th, 2020

0

Randy Randall and Dean Spunt have been strafing eardrums and pushing boundaries for two decades, the past 15 years as No Age. Their noise-rock has been the music of nonconformity, artillery fire for outsiders, stuff that causes blisters and then pops them. Not to mention soundtrack cool stuff like this.

After releasing their first three albums (“Nouns,” “Everything In Between” and “An Object,” all which you should own by now) for Sub Pop, No Age reined in their pugnacious sound ever so incrementally on their 2018 album “Snares Like a Haircut.” They continue that tack on their new single “Turned to String” — though not so much that its 3 1/2 minutes of layered, overdriven cacophony is ready for AOR airplay or anything. It’s just, dare we say, prettier than a lot of their early catalog.

It’s the first single from their forthcoming fifth album, which has a title that should be 2020’s political slogan, “Goons Be Gone.” The album is out June 5 via Drag City. At this point, the City of L.A. ought to issue a proclamation recognizing the duo as pillars of the DIY scene. The ceremony could be at a skate park. Or somebody should rename the Smell after them. At the very least, we should buy the damned album.

||| Stream: “Turned to String”