Aa

gAame

(Gigantic)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

Open up and say Aa! Okay, so that doesn’t work - at all - because these hyper New Yorkers go by the name “Big A little a” rather than “Aaaah!” Other than that, they aren’t big on words; they traffic in practiced experimentation, maniacal percussion and healthy genre cross-pollination. Sharing some of the same wild tribal bloodlines as Liars, Aa have taken another page from the Drum’s Not Dead playbook by putting together an appealing two-disc package for gAame--the music, and then a bonus disc featuring a music video for every song on the album, plus live footage that will leave viewers kicking themselves for having never seen the band in concert.

The Liars comparison is somewhat unfair, as that particular group of shapeshifters is setting the bar higher than the huge majority of bands can reach. Aa has yet to achieve that range of emotion and nuance, which results in gAame being more difficult to swallow in whole, given a slightly lackluster stretch toward its conclusion [though “Horse Steak” finishes the album on a noteworthy peak, blending the usual cacophony with a pulsing, grooving electronic minimalism].

Up front, Aa get it all right, keeping the runtimes brisk (aside from “Horse Steak,” the best songs all clock in under three minutes) and impressively channeling the spontaneity and sweat-flying of their live sets. Not everything is full speed ahead, and the ebb and flow of early tracks such as “Best of Seven” and “Flag Day” draws the listener in and makes the untethered explosions all the more invigorating.