Cassette Review: The Nosuns "PAWRAWNAW" (ZyNg tapes)

[£5.50 // Edition of 42 // http://music.zyngtapes.co.uk/album/pawrawnaw-zyng015] 

One of the first things I can tell you about "PAWRAWNAW" is that it's a lot of fun to say.   I like to just walk around and shout it at people, although as I type this I have a bit of a sore throat which I assure you is not from yelling "PAWRAWNAW" at strangers.   If you watch "Rick & Morty" you're probably pretty awesome, but you probably also know that Rick has some nonsensical catchphrases and I just imagine "PAWRAWNAW" as being one of them, so in that way I do like to use it like "wubbalubbadubdub".

These songs are also all titled after character names, but that's something you just learn to accept as you listen to them.    You know, a lot of artists belong in genres of music but for The Nosuns I really believe that they belong more in a timeframe than a specific genre.  I remember when the radio was first sort of transitioning over after "grunge" and Mtv seemed to be airing some of their final music videos as they didn't seem to know what to do with themselves.    

From the idea of a song like "Stacy's Mom" to Wheatus (Who does not sing that song, contrary to what you might believe), The Nosuns would have just fit in so well in this group.   I remember going to a show at the El N Gee once and I don't remember who we were all there to see headline but there was this opening band with a "radio hit" and I remember just talking to their singer for a while about music, being on a big label, opening for a band that wasn't and that sort of idea.   The Nosuns could have been that band but I know that they were not.

Fuzzy rock, pleasant and then quietly plucked strings with heavy choruses are some of the things to expect from The Nosuns.   With elements of everyone from The Benjamins, Silversun Pickups, High Pop and The Clash to a just overall dreamy sense of twee, The Nosuns is one of those perfect rock bands for me because they just display what I like most about music both from the time when you could argue that I was being most influenced by bands surrounding me and in a modern sense as well.    The Nosuns are both my old favorite band and new favorite band, something which is hard to pull off but this cassette is rather impressive.