Minimalists with miles to go
No Age – Goons Be Gone (Drag City)
I don’t know who the goons of the title are, nor do I particularly care to inquire. For one, goons will always be there for starving musicians, working stiffs and otherwise rational folk to despise. What’s more, Dean Spunt and Randy Randall have always kept their long-running endeavor in minimalism focused on sounds and sonic textures instead of lyrical particularities or melodic hooks. It’s why post-modern geeks adore them, why their worst ideas sound so extemporaneous, and why the full-steam-ahead rush of 2018’s Snares Like a Haircut is so invigorating and unpretentious. This follow-up splits the difference between their newly discovered fondness for structure with the oblique avant-punk that got them this far in the first place. It works because the latter is anchored by the former. For most of these 11 songs and 33 minutes, they chug along in as straight a line as possible. Ramshackle drums prop up guitars that aren’t near as girthy or developed as they otherwise appear while keybs, whirls, whooshes, swooshes, beeps, blips, loops and other studio trickery fill in the gaps. For a band that once lived and died by its primitive ideals, it’s encouraging to know there’s still a space for smart kids to learn, grow (which is different from mature, mind you) and still maintain their principles. Who knows, maybe they’ll start to have a little more fun along the way. GRADE: A-
Dehd – Flower of Devotion (Fire Talk)
I must confess to rolling my eyes after reading the backstory to this Chicago trio. Professional tattoo artist Emily Kempf and boyfriend Jason Balla use their fledgling career as an excuse to take a cross-country vacation and bring along neophyte drummer Eric McGrady to help pay for gas. Sounds insufferably twee. Were this another gooey Zoey Deschanel TV pilot, it would probably wind up that way. But Kempf’s warbled, throaty alto is too awkward and unvarnished for such niceties — imagine Brody Dalle without the nicotine habit. She brings the sort of gruff and endearing attitude too few women in rock find vital these days. It’s Balla who is the real softy here. He’s the one on guitar creating the sort of echoing dream-pop riffs that give young romantics purpose. He’s also the one who softly sings simple but reassuring lines like “I wanna make a difference in your life” and “We’re different, but better as one.” As for her, she sings “Loner,” about wanting to be one and later follows that proclamation with “I still love you even as I leave you.” Despite the seeming contradictions found in their songwriting, I never once get the feeling their love is on the fritz. The harmonies they share are too effervescent, and the brand of minimalism they evoke is too melodic and rhythmically consistent. I wish them well, and hope one of them keeps the drummer around after any breakup. Drummers need love, too, ya know. GRADE: A-
Sound 'Round 