No Age. K-West.

So No Age is playing for free tomorrow night, Sunday November 23, at Clark University in their Student Center. Clark's had some cool people booking shows there for at least the past couple years, as they've hosted many acts including the Black Lips, Girl Talk/Santogold, YACHT/Snakes Say Hisss, Fleet Foxes/Blitzen Trapper, and a Dirty Projectors show I passed on. More recently, a.k.a. this school semester, they haven't publicized anything really,and it's difficult to find out information about shows at non-local colleges/universities without an in there.

However, I caught wind of the pending No Age appearance months ago and it's finally tomorrow. No Age has been receiving mucho notoriety for their new (this past May) record Nouns (Sub Pop) heavily due to the concept of hype. Don't get me wrong, the record's killer, but these guys aren't necessarily heading some crazy plane-shift. Quick punk outbursts ("Teen Creeps") and airy ambience ("Things I Did When I Was Dead," "Keechie") are the easy descriptors, but there's no single rallying force behind these songs. They're loud (who isn't), they're young (who isn't), they're 'arty' (who isn't). So what's not to like, right?

Eh, wrong, but it's a momentary relief from stuff that sounds boring, I suppose. They were solid when they last played Cambridge over the Summer with High Places (who were awesome, as is their records) and Abe Vigoda (who I missed intentionally) downstairs at the Middle East. Other highlights from the record include "Sleeper Hold" (more punk) and "Impossible Bouquet" (more ambient), but nothing really compares to their first big deal track "Boy Void". Check em out at Clark U without paying.

Unrelated:



New Kanye West 808s and Heartbreak has officially leaked and gee, I have too many opinions on it. For such a high-profile release, it seems that one would be guided as to what it should sound like. This is not the case. This may stem from Ye's confusing career: One forgets he started as a producer, and a big-time producer at that, prominently cutting tracks for the likes of Jay-Z, but he went on to put out his own record, 2004's College Dropout. While he does rap on this release, the best verbal parts of the record come in the form of baller guest spots (Jay-Z, Ludacris, Talib Kweli, Mos Def). His 'rapping' career trajectory has been at a down-slant ever since, with Late Registration dipping to feature some fairly crappy guest spots (Paul Wall, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Brandy) along with the good (Nas, Lupe Fiasco). Graduation saw Yeezy really blowing it verse-wise (all of "Drunk and Hot Girls", rhyming "shooting stars" with "shoes and cars" in "Flashing Lights") while the utter end coming in the form of 808s and Heartbreak ("How could you be so//Doctor Evil").

One may ask: If Kanye's not rapping, what reason's there to listen? You've got to delve back in time to his producer proficiency. Every noise on the new record sounds perfect, save the over-driven drum sounds (which, in a good way, resembles "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails). This record has been compared to a sort of Thom Yorke-style Eraser offering, and it's eerily fitting, though the tempo is more downcast for the most part. The lowered tempo has never been Kanye's strong point, but hey, it's a "break-up" record, right? He's rumored to be returning to rapper form for his next record, supposedly due out next summer, but for now the dead of winter sees this release.

Song-wise, there's few losers. I kept myself from listening to the endless versions of prominently leaked "Love Lockdown," "Heartless," and "Robocop," to good effect. The final version of "Love Lockdown" is great, the drumming mimicking some sort of beautifully synchronized African drum-line. "Heartless" was way more fun than I could have expected a song called "Heartless" could be, almost reggae keyboard lines complimenting that omnipresent auto-tune perfectly (speaking of which, the auto-tune's really not worth analyzing. It's everywhere, unavoidable. Deal with it.). "Robocop" is probably the most glorious track, with skittering percussion throughout in addition to huge drum sounds, orchestral flourishes, and extra-terrestrial xylophone tinkling.

That's not even the meat of the record, however. The best tracks are "Paranoid" with Mr. Hudson and "See You In My Nightmares" with Lil' Wayne. "Paranoid" sounds like if James Pants produced a La Bouche track in 1992, which means its got warm synth tones but you can bang it in the club with all that cheesy, dated percussion. "See You In My Nightmares" hardly has the ability to fail with Weezy in the hook. It pulses and eases in until the climax where Mr. Carter gets vicious. "You think your shit don't stink//Well you are Mrs. P.U." Well put, Wayne. Most everything Kanye says on the record sounds terribly important and pressing, evidence of his apparent emotionally draining breakup. We can only hope Mr. West gets over it and reclaims his position as one of the best party figures in popular music.