Women - Women

Today, Women release their self titled album on Flemish Eye Records. Instead of putting in the effort to write a full review, here are some random sentences about it:



I like it, quite a bit actually.

I don't quite know why I like it as much as I do.

It's pretty lo-fi and sounds like it was self produced in a garage. Maybe it was. I'll look it up later.

It rocks, sometimes, but never really opens up to full chord strumming and consistent crash cymbal-ing, preferring instead to have multiple guitar riffs build over stick clicks or a kick drum, being both dynamic and minimalist.

The vocals and melodies are delivered with a we-only-sometimes-and-even-then-only-kind-of-give-a-fuck attitude. At times, their voices are pretty, with multiple reverbing harmonies, and sometimes they're almost talking the lyrics in fifths and barely sliding to each word with an almost No Age-esque effect... but I like these guys more.

Sometimes there are squeaky violins. And pretty bells. And noodley guitars. It's almost like the Ruby Suns took a left turn at the intersection of dream pop and math rock.

The guitar sometimes has a This is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About tone but with riff more befitting of Pinback or Faraquet.

Woodbine is 3:39 of a single note with increasing scratchy textures. Wei-urd.

Group Transport Hall is a 1:11 simplistic acoustic pop piece that sounds like a homemade Sung Tongs track but would never have been written by Animal Collective.

Black Rice and Shaking Hands are fantastic songs.

I want to post a few tracks here but don't know how. I'll direct you to their Myspace so you can at least hear Group Transport Hall and Black Rice.

I was going to end my sentences here, but I just Googled these dudes. I probably just should've just quoted their website, posted the link above, and not said anything at all:

"The debut album by Women was recorded by label-mate Chad VanGaalen over 4 months on ghettoblasters and old tape machines in his basement, an outdoor culvert and a crawlspace. Sometimes light and spacious, at other times eerie and dense with an ominous weight, this self titled album touches upon Velvet Underground, The Zombies or This Heat while not really having any obvious precursors – a lo-fi masterpiece cloaked in layers of vibrato and guitar wash.

Noisy and claustrophobic songs smash through junkyard trash brawls while others lift and soar across the landscape of 50’s-informed pop; a contradiction and an enigma, the debut album by Women will find its way onto summer bike ride mixes and the turntables of record store devotees."

That sums it up. You can download the full thing at this blog's post. I recommend it if you have the time and hard drive capacity.

Recommended for fans of: Dan's music, Greg's music, Erinrose's music, Tom's music, usually not my music.

Xoxo.