the black angel's death song

No Age's Nouns (2008).

Carrying on the legacy that John Cale cemented during his time with the Velvets, experimental rock duo No Age (guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Allen Spunt) arrive with their incredibly assured sophomore release Nouns, a tightly-crafted collection of songs set against layers and layers of sound. To be perfectly honest, this particular type of rock or experimental music has never exactly been my cup of tea, but I decided to give it a try based on a few convincing recommendations. And while the opening track, a barely two-minute song with indistinguishable lyrics called “Miner,” did prepare me for the worst (though I’ve actually grown to like that song), there’s quite a bit of loveliness in what follows. I was even able to make out some of the lyrics after a while. The best of these songs—“Keechie,” for instance, which has more than its share of Enoesque ambiance—work wonderfully as part of the album, making Nouns as a whole quite a compelling listen, if not a collection of tracks that all stand out.