Good News for Modern Punk
Nov. 24th, 2010 11:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janradderIt's a common misconception that punk rock equates with an inability to actually play your instrument. Some, in fact, play far better than any mainstream rock musician (hello Mike Watt). Not to say that all punkers are virtuosos, but many are (or, at the very least, they're damn good at what they do). That said, there's a certain attitude in punk -- the explosiveness, the volume, the energy, the fuck-you, or I-don't-give-a-shit stance -- which sometimes gives the impression of musical incompetence. To me, punk is at its best when it straddles those two lines of musicianship and ineptitude. For example, you've got a guitarist who can pretty much make his guitar do whatever he wants -- scream, sing, wail, cry, rage, howl, destroy, shred -- and you combine him with a drummer who pretty much just beats the living shit out of his drums -- sort of like, "you got your chocolate in my peanut butter." That would be No Age.
In person, said guitarist looks a little like he could be Thurston Moore's ugly little brother (plays a lot like him, too) while the drummer looks sort of like some dork who sat in the back of your school math class reading Dune under the table. Sonically, think of Dinosaur jr. and Sonic Youth mating and giving birth to a child who grew up listening to nothing but Black Flag and 80's Manchester bands. Visually, they 're a bit of a psychedelic mind screw -- not as much as the Butthole Surfers are, but then, no one is as much of a mind fuck as the Surfers, but they definitely have fun messing with your head.
So you've got loud guitars, loud drums, lots of distortion, pounding, throbbing beats, brain fever inducing visuals played out on a white backdrop behind the band, crazy synthesized effects, and intense wall-of-noise freakouts. Add to that slam dancing in the crowd, an awesome cover of Black Flag's "Six Pack" (and yes, for a moment, it felt a little like 1986 in the pit), and leaping, shaking, sweaty bodies in nearly constant motion like overheated atomic particles and you have yourself a show that put the punk back in punk rock. Which is something sadly missing in much of today's music. They certainly bring it live, whatever "it" is, and that's something not a lot of bands do now. Do yourself a favor and go see No Age. Now. Then thank me in the morning.
As an aside, local (meaning Minneapolis) punks, The Blind Shake, played one of the best sets I've seen from an opening band in a long time. Picture three bald guys playing cro-mag punk, รก la Sebadoh's Eric Gaffney, with plenty of jumping, leg kicks, and knocked over mic stands. Good stuff.
In person, said guitarist looks a little like he could be Thurston Moore's ugly little brother (plays a lot like him, too) while the drummer looks sort of like some dork who sat in the back of your school math class reading Dune under the table. Sonically, think of Dinosaur jr. and Sonic Youth mating and giving birth to a child who grew up listening to nothing but Black Flag and 80's Manchester bands. Visually, they 're a bit of a psychedelic mind screw -- not as much as the Butthole Surfers are, but then, no one is as much of a mind fuck as the Surfers, but they definitely have fun messing with your head.
So you've got loud guitars, loud drums, lots of distortion, pounding, throbbing beats, brain fever inducing visuals played out on a white backdrop behind the band, crazy synthesized effects, and intense wall-of-noise freakouts. Add to that slam dancing in the crowd, an awesome cover of Black Flag's "Six Pack" (and yes, for a moment, it felt a little like 1986 in the pit), and leaping, shaking, sweaty bodies in nearly constant motion like overheated atomic particles and you have yourself a show that put the punk back in punk rock. Which is something sadly missing in much of today's music. They certainly bring it live, whatever "it" is, and that's something not a lot of bands do now. Do yourself a favor and go see No Age. Now. Then thank me in the morning.
As an aside, local (meaning Minneapolis) punks, The Blind Shake, played one of the best sets I've seen from an opening band in a long time. Picture three bald guys playing cro-mag punk, รก la Sebadoh's Eric Gaffney, with plenty of jumping, leg kicks, and knocked over mic stands. Good stuff.
