The notorious No A.G.E is back! A guitar/drums duo (Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Spunt) with a penchant for self-recorded samples, No Age are mostly unconcerned with things like space or pause, and Goons Be Gone is gorgeously thick-- a hazy, delirious expanse that's both comforting and disorienting.
Listening to Goons Be Gone, it's hard to comprehend how just two people can manage to make so much noise while still sounding so subdued and mysterious-- it's easier to imagine Randall and Spunt spewing these songs underwater, bursting forth from some colossal California quarry rather than a tiny, stuffy art space a few blocks from L.A.'s skid row.
The first single "Turned To String" comes out swinging with crisp rhythm riffs setting the cruise control to FAST; a tempo that Dean and Randy do what they can to slow down with internal rhythms and orchestrally billowing guitar harmonics - yet they never actually break stride. Goons Be Gone is so cacophonous, so fertile, and so ripe with sound that parsing out the samples and effects and various layers of guitar is nearly impossible; besides, it's way more satisfying to just close your eyes and just enjoy it.
Ultimately, it's part of No Age's allure that Goons Be Gone is so difficult to figure out, that it manages to be so big while coming from a place so small: All you'll know for sure is that you want to listen longer. Maybe forever. Goons Be Gone drops on June 5th, listen to "Turned To String" above and turn it up.
