Nothing People – Soft Crash (2010) [S.S.] // Grade: A-

Sacramento’s surreal electro-garage Nothing People may be rad on, like, a billion different levels—not least of which being their ability to put out back-to-back great records that don’t really sound the same—but maybe the coolest thing about them is just how much they sound like California. We’ve seen this before, even with some Nothing People references: Chrome had a certain sun-damaged vibe, plus I Am Spoonbender—that bright, restless, try anything once and not give a fuck thing that permeates every corner of the Golden State from Che Café northward.

But Soft Crash isn’t the California of legend, all sun-soaked glamor and surf-freckled kids in board shorts and anklets; this is pulp California, the sci-fi and B-movies, the careening anarchy. All manner of dark alleys, you know? Whether it’s the gruff, visceral thump of “Marilyn’s Grave” or the paranoid, lo-fi electronics jittering around “Avoiding Needles”, the album is filled with the sense that something weird, and maybe awful but also maybe freaky and awesome, is lurking just around the corner.

And though Nothing People are at their best, you know, pretty much always, they’re really perfect when they fuse their nervous proto-punk and carefree-ish garage into one song. Sure, Soft Crash skitters to both extremes a little more than Anonymous or even last year’s Late Night—the dark moments pitch black and langorous, the freneticism straight-up manic—but tracks like the slow burn of “It’s Been A Bad Day” pull everything together into one creepy, expansive whole. Another one destined for the 2010 Best Of lists.

- Rue Sauvage