« squashlings | Main | Shere Khan and his (implied) monocle »
January 11, 2006
we've got movie sign...[updated w/ more comments]
Big A little a. Or, maybe 'ah'? I think the band prefers the former, but I think it'd be more fun (and confounding) to say to someone, "have you heard the new AAAH?". Aa are percussion-centric, with 3 or 4 drummers (I think) going at once; they make the kind of music that I imagined (and wanted to hear) when I first heard the title of the new Liars album, "Drum's Not Dead". More similar to Excepter though in execution, Aa gets their kicks not through flu-infected synths (which JFR and co. seem to dig), but via heavy, unpredictable beats, and gravity-warped vocals. I think I love this band already, and I've only heard a few of their songs.
'Thumper' is a burner, a weird jar of noises put in a windowsill and let to steep in the sun. It's the kind of song that you would play if you were getting pumped up to go out and hunt woolly mammoths (a good thing, all around). 'Thumper' is actually one of the band's newest songs, and is as of now unreleased (but it should be on the new album, whenever that comes out). You can hear one of the band's other newish tracks over on their myspace page here, and watch a live video from their last concert of 2005 here (which, trust me on this one, is amazing. If you do nothing else, even if you don't download 'Thumper' go and watch the video, cause it's impressive).
If you're in NYC, you can catch Aa playing at Northsix on February 3rd. Also, their website is chock full of very cool Marcel Dzama/Odilon Redon(the early charcoals only)-esque artwork, populated mostly by spectrally thin tribal women wearing lion and bear pelts on their heads (how has that not caught on as a fashion trend?).
One more thing: the band has an LP (in the strictest sense) out now on Narnack Records, which you can buy right here.
**Notes about the band's name, from readers much more worldly and intelligent than I am**
Species says: Here in Denmark, the A with a little circle above it (the symbol doesn't work on this blog) used to be spelled 'aa', or 'Aa' as in 'Arhus' (imagine the cap A with a little circle at the top!)/'Aarhus', where I live. It's pronounced a bit like 'oar', as in the things you row a boat with.
Figment says: I don't think this is where the band took its name, but one of the two types of lava flows is aa. Pronounced "ah-ah." It's the very chunky kind. As opposed to pahoehoe, the flowy sort.
Thank you, Species and Figment, for your great comments.
Just recently, Dan Selzer shared this hit of info about Aa:
"I actually think the band name came from there being two guys in the band whose name starts with A, maybe both Aaron? I know one of them is Aaron, whose a super nice guy I run into at the corner bodega sometimes, and I seem to remember one of them is really tall the other not so, thus Big A and Little A. Maybe I'm making this up."
This last one seems the most likely, although I'm still kind of rooting for the lava explanation.
Posted by Kevin at January 11, 2006 12:30 AM
Comments
neato. i liked the big a little a ep. was wondering if they were coming out with anything new.
Posted by: jaime at January 10, 2006 11:21 PM
Here in Denmark, the A with a little circle above it (the symbol doesn't work on this blog) used to be spelled 'aa', or 'Aa' as in 'Arhus' (imagine the cap A with a little circle at the top!)/'Aarhus', where I live. It's pronounced a bit like 'oar', as in the things you row a boat with.
There is also a (very good) English band called A.
Posted by: Species 8472 at January 11, 2006 08:54 AM
Thanks for stopping by, Jaime (love your site, by the way)- someone said that Aa are mixing the new album right now, and that it should be out on Narnack soon.
And thanks for for the pronunciation tip, Species- I'm going to add that to the entry...
Posted by: Kevin at January 11, 2006 10:12 PM
I don't think this is where the band took its name, but one of the two types of lava flows is aa. Pronounced "ah-ah." It's the very chunky kind. As opposed to pahoehoe, the flowy sort.
Posted by: Figment at January 12, 2006 03:50 AM
I actually think the band name came from there being two guys in the band whose name starts with A, maybe both Aaron? I know one of them is Aaron, whose a super nice guy I run into at the corner bodega sometimes, and I seem to remember one of them is really tall the other not so, thus Big A and Little A. Maybe I'm making this up.
Posted by: dan selzer at January 15, 2006 11:23 AM
Cool- thanks for the comment, Dan. I appreciate it.
Posted by: Kevin at January 16, 2006 10:13 PM