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JRE Thug Rock

No Age - Nouns
(2008)

 Reporting by Keyan Reid

Lo-fi. What a stupid idea. I mean, what does that really say when the going trend is to make an album’s mixing and recording quality sound as deliberately amateurish as possible? It’s really pretty lame. I don’t think there’s a valid counter-argument out there either. [Modus' Argument - please see "The Unicorns" album "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?"] Yeah, the whole lo-fi scene has definitely produced some good music, but as a movement or a genre, it’s conceptually retarded.

In the case of Nouns, the newest album from No Age, lo-fi is flatly a detriment. When I first started listening to these guys, many a track caught my ear. I was getting the vibe early on that these guys were going to grow on me and become something I would get into. But the appeal of Nouns was destined to climb early to a high water mark, then decline just as quickly as it had ascended.

There’s a lot of songs with distinctive sounds that are catchy and pretty cool, but almost unanimously, the mixing and recording quality takes something away from them. “Eraser” starts off with a light and happy sounding melody that will subtly grab your attention. “Things I Did When I Was Dead” has a mellow, haunting flow to it that will get stuck in your head. “Sleeper Hold” has a bit of energy to it and you just might find yourself singing the chorus aloud every now and again. But still, these songs all feel sabotaged by the deliberate and unwarranted lo-fi aim No Age shot for.

Exacerbating that sentiment are songs like “Keechie” and “Miner” that really just become aggravating noise. And, you know what? When I slap down $12 for a CD, I don’t want it to sound like a radio caught in a fucking blender. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. Maybe, just maybe, some cool sounding music would be a good thing to offer.

I hate that this album did so many things right, only to sideswipe itself in the name of following a genre. There are genuinely good songs, but the garage-band-home-recording effect is simply bullshit. It’s a disservice to what these guys could’ve accomplished. Again, the lo-fi scene has produced some good stuff, but it simply doesn’t suit these guys.

Keyan Reid
Professional Hero
JRE Thug Division, Core Elite

Rating:

• Eraser
• Things I Did When I Was Dead
• Sleeper Hold
• Errand Boy