Music
An Object
On their fourth album, this L.A. duo sound bigger and more extravagantly expressive than two scuzz-punk dudes should. Art smarts lurk behind all the bashing, and the new songs rip and ruminate by turns, as rays of effects-laden guitar and brisk drums shift rapidly between soft and hard, hectic and calm. "I am the patient spider in the web," singer-drummer Dean Spunt yells in the opener, "No Ground." He and guitarist Randy Randall sit back in wait and strike from there, with solemn dirges (the cello-streaked "An Impression") set among fist-pump anthems ("Lock Box"). It's moodier and murkier than No Age albums past, but no less galvanizing.