I had a brilliant Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup moment today.
I read last night in the L.A. Weekly about No Age’s upcoming “Eraser” 7-inch that’s going to have a cover of the Nerves’ “When You Find Out” on it (among other old school L.A. covers). I was kinda bumming, because that used to be one of my signature songs in one of the bands I used to play in, and I knew No Age would do a better job than I’d done.
Anyways, I looked up a No Age video on Youtube, then put my headphones on to listen–but forgot I’d already had Pandora on, playing my Desmond Dekker station. So when I heard No Age play, I heard it with an amazing rocksteady/ska bass line bumping up and down the scale, kinda busy, kinda rhythmic, but totally synching with the screeching and yelling of No Age.
And it was so much better than No Age on their own! Here, try it. Go to Pandora and create a Desmond Dekker station (or Alton Ellis, or whatever–or just play a Trojan Records box set if you have one nearby). Then while that’s playing, play this:
They’re two great tastes that taste great together, am I right? With a solid yet busy bass line, I think these guys would go from being noise followers to sound originators. In fact, if they learned some really good bass rhythms, they might sound kinda like a modern day version of one of the best eras of one of my favorite bands of all time…