Power through Bliss

In compressing this track to post here tonight, I noticed that the waveform for this track, despite its blown-out sound and ultra-loud fuzz bass, never clips or flattens out. This is an apt description of Nadja's sound. Granted this is ripped from vinyl, but whatever. I'm trying to make a point here.

Their sound has always been one of poetic contradiction - brutal, thrashing, pounding, almost obvious heaviness paired with hovering, dream-like eminence. It is a celestial event. Definitely one of my favourite sounds around right now. Not to mention the always poetic track titles and often conceptually-oriented albums.

Another great thing about Nadja is that even though they always sound so, well, "NADJA," they actually DO SOMETHING with that sound. They always push it some other direction, either heavy, soft, long, or short. Sometimes it's exactly what you want, other times it's not but you're so glad for it.

Which brings us to Long Dark Twenties; probably Nadja's first-ever "single." The first thing that came to my mind when I heard this was "OMG POP SONG," but at eight minutes that would be a stretch. However, compared to their 60-minute epic "Thaumogenesis" or their lengthy new album "Desire is Uneasiness," eight minutes is downright brief.

So what is the track like? Some kind of soothing dreamdroneshoegazedoomwhatthefuck. Hypnotic and dreamy and oh so heavy. Baker's usual growl is a gentle monontone, floating above woozy electronics. Buckareff's unstoppable, incongruously diffuse bass fills a mlllion cubic meters.

This is amplified further by the fact that it's based on a song by Paul Bellini, who you may know as one of the writers for the legendary Kids in the Hall. Yes, Nadja is so awesome as to cover the Kids in the Hall.

Get it on 7", if you can find it.