No Age brings the noise, earns the praise

No Age is currently riding high as the darling of the L.A. underground, but it wasn't so many months ago that the noise-pop duo felt a sense of victory simply from being able to release music.

"Our scheme was to release five different EPs, on five different labels, in five different parts of the world -- vinyl-only, of course," singer-guitarist Randy Randall says. "Could we actually pull that off? We spent all this time designing record covers, getting things ready, and did it. We thought, 'This is it. We've infiltrated.' We go the feeling we slipped in through the back door."

Songs from those EPs were culled to make up No Age's debut album, "Weirdo Rippers," which set the blog world abuzz and earned plaudits from Pitchfork. Not long afterward, Randall and drummer Dean Spunt were signed to Sub Pop, for whom they already have five songs recorded for a follow-up album. "That was a complete surprise," Randall says. "Somebody told us they had heard our music and seen us live."

What they heard is spastic pop blasted by Randall's distortion-fed guitar and Spunt's punk rhythms and punctuated by fleeting bursts of beauty -- gorgeous chord progressions or melodies that are gone before they have the chance to get stuck in your head.

"Our goal is to write great pop songs like Squeeze or the Ramones, but do it in a way that makes sense to ourselves," Randall says. "We do have the avant-garde noise aggression of a Screeching Weasel ... but it's like we only want to write the good parts. If it goes on too long ..."

No Age's experimental approach, first heard when Randall and Spunt were members of the band Wives, earned them a faithful following among the sonically adventurous patrons of the downtown venue the Smell, an all-ages, volunteer-run room where the volume and -- thanks to bands such as Anavan, Health and Abe Vigoda -- the sense of daring are always high.

"It's a funny thing," Randall says of having graduated to larger venues, "no place feels too big. It's like we always have our friends with us. Wherever we go, we just bring the Smell with us."

||| No Age opens for Battles on Tuesday at the Music Box @ Fonda.

||| Download: "My Life's Alright Without You."

Photo by Jennifer Clavin

Monday, Oct. 29

Tegan & Sara and Northern State play the Orpheum (it's sold out); Queens of the Stone Age play the Nokia (it isn't). ... Castledoor ends its residency at the Echo, with Frankel and a solo set from Aaron Espinoza (Earlimart) starting things off. ... Oliver Future's residency closes with warm-up from Steve Barton & the Oblivion Click. ... Aushua's ends its stand at the Silverlake Lounge with strong support from In Waves and We Barbarians. ... Pop Noir and Maxeen finish up their co-residency at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa. ... And Hazelden and Radars to the Sky highlight the Indie 103.1 night at the Viper Room.

Tuesday, Oct. 30

Heavy hitters everywhere: Thurston Moore at the Echo, Regina Spektor at the Wiltern, Broken Social Scene at the Orpheum, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists at the El Rey ... or, if you're in the mood for something mellow, Chris and Thomas at the Hotel Cafe.