No Age - Snares Like A Haircut (2018)

Los Angeles experimental lo-fi drum-and-guitar duo No Age are Dean Spunt and Randy Randall, ex-members of hardcore band Wives. Through assorted indie labels, No Age released limited runs of vinyl-only EPs before collecting many of those tracks for the singles collection Weirdo Rippers, issued by U.K. label FatCat in summer 2007. The record's cover pays respect to the Smell, a venue/art space they felt was partially responsible for the livelihood of both No Age and Wives. The duo is also known for its videos, performance art, and visual art, as well as curating an exhibition that included works by Devendra Banhart and others. The band moved to Sub Pop in 2008 and released its full-fledged debut album, Nouns. Partly recorded at Southern Studios in London, Nouns saw the band add a pop flavor to its hardcore punk assault and was widely critically acclaimed, charting highly on many best-of-year lists. The group's sophomore effort, Everything in Between, followed in 2010, and in between albums and tours they remained busy with other art projects, including a performance alongside video artist Doug Aitken and actress Chloë Sevigny of the multimedia installation piece Black Mirror on the Greek island of Hydra in June 2011.

In 2013 they recorded their third album, An Object, a conceptual work as much about the process and texture of music-making as about the music itself, with every single aspect of production and design handled by the bandmembers themselves. The band went on tour, issuing a cassette (the four-song An Object Tour Cassette), then contributed covers of the Gun Club's "Sex Beat" and Black Flag's "Six Pack" to the Thirty Three and a Third and a Third - 333: The Half Mark of the Beast box set in 2014. That same year they had two songs released with issue 24 of the elaborately packaged periodical The Thing Quarterly. Though No Age continued to play shows, they didn't issue any additional music until 2016's self-released 7" single "Separation"/"Serf to Serf." A full slate of shows followed in 2017, as did more recording. With the support of a new label, Drag City, No Age released their fourth album, Snares Like a Haircut, in early 2018. ~ Kenyon Hopkin.