Underskog

NO AGE (US)

No Age fra 2005, gitarist Randy Randall og trommeslager og vokalist Dean Allen Spunt, har sin opprinnelse fra bandet Wives. De er verdenskjente talismaner i DIY-art punkscenen i L.A, som har sitt episenter i The Smell, et alkoholfritt klubbhus (tidl. et meksikansk supermarked) hvor kunst, vegansnacks, svære bokhyller og musikk har inspirert til en kreativ bevegelse blant likesinnede lo-fi punkere og artister globen rundt.

No Age viderefører arven fra åttitallets hardcore punk med stor vigør, og gir musikken en naturlig tilførsel av dagens bråkepop, låtene er ofte uventede korte, noe som får hjerteklaffene i konsertstemning. Gitaren er disig og tjukk, ekko og heftig pedaltråkking, en brilliant vi-spiller-uten-bassist løsning. Bandet har spilt i svette kjellere, gjort show på gallerier, større arenaer, blåst ut veggene på Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) og herjet villmann på andre ukonvensjonelle lokaler utenfor USA. På reise er William Kai Strangeland Menchaca en del av line-upen.

Tospannet har utgitt haugevis av singler og Ep-er. Fullengderne fra No Age er “Weirdo Rippers”, 2007, “Nouns”, 2008, og årets “Everything in Between”. Forsmak og toformats singelen “Glitter” har allerede blitt en smittsom farsott. Men No Age har på ingen måte blitt kommersielle (noe som ofte skjer med blogfavoritter og fanzinehelter), selv om de er ved en korsvei, lever No Age fortsatt i sin idealistiske og rufsete ghetto.

“And Everything in Between is a bold step in their creative evolution. It is a culmination of reflecting upon life’s ruptures and triumphs; the process of moving through these moments banged and bruised, yet better off for the wear and tear. They’ve pushed themselves in challenging and different directions, deconstructing their weird-out pop songs while still maintaining their original aesthetic and intent. Everything in Between sees No Age expand on the emotional force at the core of their catchy song-writing through tone, structure, noise, and samples. And, it’s their best record yet.”

- Sub Pop Records

”...there’s a definite ambient edge to many of the tracks here, perhaps following up on the Losing Feeling EP. The instrumental Positive Amputation is as beautiful as its title is bizarre, atmospheric piano chords played sadly over a fuzz of My Bloody Valentine-esque guitar, while Katerpiller takes the Kevin Shields comparisons even further, with 90 seconds of beautifully shimmering guitar haze”.

- Music OMH, 4/5 “Randall tends to process his notes electronically, using pedals to inflate chords into sheets of glimmering noise that evoke the overwhelmingly distorted sound of bands like My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus and Mary Chain. Spunt’s drumming and delivery is blunt, reminiscent of L.A. punk rock from the eighties, which scorned pretension”. - Let it Rip, The New Yorker, blog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx_Cfo9nT34

http://www.myspace.com/nonoage

ABE VIGODA (US)

Abe Vigoda er et tropisk (sekkebegrep for en musikalsk smak assosiert med Afro-karibiske toner) punkrock band, noe a la “The biggest Cruise party to the Bahamas with post punk violence”. Basen er i Los Angeles og kidsa tilhører miljøet rundt klubben The Smell.

Bandets tredje langlengder, “Skeleton”, er et lovprist og bejublet album fra 2008. I fjor glimret de til med femspors EP-en “Reviver” (som inneholder en cover av Stevie Nicks), og 20. september ventes den etterlengtede skiva “Crush”.

“Abe Vigoda are bright and shining calypso punk. Shedding their no wave dissonance for tropical melody, has put them in opportune position to blast transcendent pop repetition. These kids are fucked, in the way that they can make a good record and play really good shows above all odds, like living in Chino, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles, where nothing grows”.

- olFactory Records

”...completely ‘super-psyched”.

- DrownedinSound

”...the four men of Abe Vigoda have become fixtures and disciples of that city’s Smell scene, younger vibe brothers to flag-carriers No Age, HEALTH, and Mika Miko. And while those bands have begun enjoying an impact farther outside the empty of downtown L.A., Abe Vigoda sound ready to be heard everywhere all at once”.

- Pitchfork.com

”...making topsy-turvy punk, with flesh sloughing off faces, bright colours bruised into the black night, vomiting rainbows, hoarse screams of delight and dehydration, and in this context Abe Vigoda fits well”.

- The Line Of Best Fit Podcast

Intervju: http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/2630521-discover—abe-vigoda

Intervju: http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/7578-abe-vigoda/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57M_InOY8a0

http://www.myspace.com/abevigoda