Unlike just about every other band on earth, NOTHING is at its best when it closes itself off and spins into oblivion.
By nature, shoegaze bands often sound weighty and miserable, but Nothing's nine new songs unsurprisingly wear their grim nature on sleeve.
Everything that Nothing have recorded so far has been worthy of your attention; Dance On The Blacktop is no exception.
What initially feels like a watered-down sequel to a totally unique album reveals itself to be an impressive demonstration of dream-pop art brut.
On their third album, the Philadelphia shoegaze band’s tried-and-true arrangements are not terribly original, but they are deeply felt.
Dance on the Blacktop is not a new Nothing, it's just Nothing in new clothes, and it is probably a Smashing Pumpkins T-shirt.
Dance is best enjoyed when you accept its familiar pleasures - it bursts with pure deliverance, coming from a band that refuses to hang in life support.
By now, NOTHING has mastered the heavy shoegaze toolbox; Blacktop tweaks the style but doesn’t meaningfully depart from what the band has already accomplished.
On Dance On the Blacktop, NOTHING burrow into the filth and double down on the harsher elements of their sound, with mixed results.
Nothing’s moments of respite, whether dips in energy or detours into other bands’ music, never let Dance on the Blacktop become whole.
It's an adequate shoegaze album, even though towards the end kinda misses the point a bit, it's a flexible listen with a melancholic theme. Also the album cover is awesome, the band is fine, I saved 3 of the 9 songs on spotify.
This kind of shoegaze doesn't really catches me. I sense a monontony which more bores than absorbs, which more lulls than seizes. Some songs such as "Us/We/are" which makes me think of .... I can't remember of what, or "I Hate the Flowers" are pretty nice and I think the band did a good job ... maybe I need a second attempt but I'm not motivated yet.
Very you’ve heard it before core shoegaze, seemingly Siamese dream influence, solid listen but hard to consider it anymore
1 | Zero Day 3:57 | 55 |
2 | Blue Line Baby 4:30 | 73 |
3 | You Wind Me Up 3:59 | 65 |
4 | Plastic Migraine 4:44 | 80 |
5 | Us/We/are 3:34 | 70 |
6 | Hail on Palace Pier 4:48 | 55 |
7 | I Hate the Flowers 4:21 | 82 |
8 | The Carpenter's Son 7:45 | 80 |
9 | (Hope) Is Just Another Word with a Hole in It 5:48 | 70 |
#6 | / | Kerrang! |
#16 | / | Revolver |
#32 | / | Noisey |
#42 | / | The Alternative |