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Things don’t sound too promising by the opening song Cameras. And I’m not wrong either.
Canadian outfit Women (it’s to fool ya..ho ho ho) are releasing their debut album on Jagjaguwar. These guys (yes, four men!) from Calgary are certainly fearless in their approach and methods to the extent they’ve used ghetto blasters and old tape players, though the results are interesting if nothing else, with track 2, Lawncare , a heavy drone-like monster proving the point, showing little if any musicality whatsoever. Later on there’s more. The same can be said of Lawncare too : thumping, on what sounds like bin lids, supported by reverbed and ghostly singing, if that’s the word.
Thankfully, and I mean thankfully, some semblance of, er, music appears. The clunky 60s Black Rice is welcome, even if it’s a respite. Nevertheless, it’s quite good and their most accessible offering so far, though I have no idea what the song is actually about.
It gets a bit bonkers again on the time-wasting and pulsating Sag Harbor Bridge. Then, Group Transport Hall finally opens the box with delights beyond your imagination: sadly it’s far too short at just over a minute….more more I cried.
I suppose you could call Shaking Hand alternative indie country rock, for the want of a better description.
It bangs along to frenetic pace, though lacks any kind of sincerity and conviction, however there are some delicious bursts of jangly guitar work, but the song doesn’t really go anywhere.
Ah... now comes something really good - Upstairs: a funky bassline and riff to call it accessible, something in the mould of Red Hot Chili Peppers even, only to spoil it with a ridiculous crescendo. Even more ridiculous (and totally pointless) is noisy trash January 8th, that unbelievably mixes into an even worse mess – Flashlights.
The verdict: Be careful….dodgy experimental rock.
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Cameras
2. Lawncare
3. Woodbine
4. Black Rice
5. Sag Harbor Bridge
6. Group Transport Hall
7. Shaking Hand
8. Upstairs
9. January 8th
10. Flaslights
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.