Aa: gAme (Gigantic Music)

Spazzcore’s all grown up. Kids who used to like hardcore and went to liberal arts colleges moved to Brooklyn, where they found inspiration in Deerhoof and common ground with noise-rock vets Oneida. What this initially produced was functionally unlistenable music, burst of undifferentiated noise without any real purpose. But lately, there’s been an evolution (or, depending on what side of the noise divide you fall, a devolution). Sister bands Parts and Labor and Pterodactyl have both shown more pop inclinations, with Parts and Labor (a fantastic band, let it be said, who always focused on melody) bringing in horns for their new album and Pterodactyl getting a respectful nod from Pitchfork.

As for Aa (aka Big A Little A), they’ve embraced the studio, letting themselves stretch out and get quiet, freed from the need to overwhelm an audience with sound, and in this way most closely resemble Black Dice. (If anything can ever be said to resemble Black Dice, but still, there’s a common sensibility among the disparate sounds.) Of course, this raises the same question that all noise-rock does: how the hell do you review it? Sonically, there are lots of small sounds (bells, interstellar synths, organs, possibly an opera sample), and placed in the noise-rock context of aggressive drumming and muted shouting, they sound fresh and new, and let the bigger elements stand out all the more. It’s a smart move, and on the whole very well done.

So what now? Songs? Well, they’re here, but they’re more collections of sounds than songs. Which isn’t to say they’re random collections of sounds, but they’re nothing you could, for instance, cover; certainly nothing close to Deerhoof’s meticulous compositions. As an album, though, it’s a total blast, almost unexpectedly so. The pretty parts charge into the loud parts without making you lunge for the volume knob, and ramp things up so that it feels like jumping on a trampoline: one moment you’re floating, and the next you’re pushing off with enough force to get airborne again. (www.sleeep.com)

By Michael Barthel

10/2007