Bloody Ripper

Weirdo Rippers
No Age
Sub Pop, 2007
4.5 stars

Noise is back, and with it are the ripped jeans, flannelet shirts and long hair that made up the '90s grunge aesthetic. Los Angeles' No Age are at the front of a wave of acts trying their hand at post-grunge at the moment, but they stand out with a sound as much about distorted guitars and garage drumkits as it is ambient surf-rock atmospherics. These guys have a really full sound for a guitar/drums two-piece, and though its eleven tracks have been cut from five EPs issued last year, Weirdo Rippers is incredibly coherent as a whole. The DIY feel of these album does a good job of disguising how thought-through and clever the songs really are, and you can bet this is no mistake - as visual artists themselves, these guys would know all about manufacturing disorder. Either way, it's just exciting to listen to a band that's hitting all the right notes, and Rippers is proof of a band at the top of their game. Hopefully they've saved some game for their first 'real' LP Nouns, due May.

Artwork: A