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WOMEN
U.S. Album Press, May-August 2008 (Flemish Eye Release) THE ALBUM Recorded by label-mate Chad VanGaalen and the band members, the 10 song, self-titled album by Women is an explosion out of the gates for this young band. Sometimes light and spacious, at other times eerie and dense with an ominous weight, this debut flirts with the noisy beauty of the Velvet Underground and effortlessly toys with the intricacy and playfulness of Deerhoof as crude percussion beats out a pulsing tattoo of clatter. The album was recorded over 4 months on ghettoblasters and old tape machines in Chad’s basement, an outdoor culvert and a crawlspace. 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 party iPod mixes and the turntables of record store devotees. File beside Deerhoof, under VU, or above This Heat, Swell Maps or Swans. THE BAND The stage set-up at a Women performance could well be perplexing to an uninitiated viewer. With samplers, drum machines, 3-4 amps, a full drum set (including a seemingly random stack of drum pads) and cables snaking everywhere, the stage resembles a cross between a jam space and a garage sale. But when the band comes out on stage and begins to play, somehow, amid what should be bedlam, the most astonishing thing occurs - actual songs emerge through the din. A headlong collision of the pawnshop with the synthetic becomes, through the filter of the band, something resembling pop music. Barely. Friends since childhood - two of them brothers - the band has an intuitive rapport that seems to transcend speech from years of playing together. Despite their youth, the members of Women have an extensive musical CV, and have collectively toured North America and Europe in various projects. Members have played and toured as part of Chad VanGaalen's band, and two members moonlight with Absolutely Kosher artists Azeda Booth. Praise for WOMEN - S/T (Flemish Eye Release)
"...a carefully crafted experience meant to be taken as a whole." -Cokemachine Glow “…they sound like the missing link between the Velvet Underground and the Liars” 90/100 –Geek Magazine "Every track on Women serves a purpose to the overall stereo image, resulting in a debut that sets the bar very high." -Tiny Mixtapes "...straddles the 1960s' divide between the Warhol crowd's speed-addled New York cynicism and the echoes of psychedelic San Francisco that bubbled up across the pond in the fey, catchy pop of UK groups like the Zombies." -Pitchfork Media ("Black Rice" track review) "For Alberta avant-pop group Women, the noise that encases their melodies is not merely an accoutrement, but a sincere exploration by itself." -Paper Thin Walls "...they can hold their own as mad scientists or pop architects." -Skyscraper "They have real promise." - PopMatters "Women have made a very startling and serious debut." -Anthem "It's a very interesting little record." - Said the Gramophone "'Black Rice' is the standout; and, like VanGaalen's best songs, it gets better with each listen" -Gorilla vs. Bear "With their self titled debut Women have managed an Album with a capital A." -Forest Gospel "Weird , wild, and occasionally disorienting." -Detour "With a debut like this Women are definitely proving themselves to be a band to watch." -The 405 "Few songs make me nostalgic for time periods I didn’t exist in. 'Black Rice' somehow accomplishes that task." -Degueulasse "The Beach Boys, Cosmic Rough Riders and now Women, yep at last we have a beautifully formed hat-trick of bands with which to soak up anything the summer can throw at us." -mp3hugger "It's like a good hangover" -A Limerick Ox "...the entire eponymous debut from these Canadian neo-psychs is a narcotic journey from New York to San Francisco and back again. Circa 1968." -My Big Mouth Strikes Again "Women are able to integrate a diverse range of influences without becoming a sum of them. Rather, they’ve adopted and coalesced them as a loose framework for their own prevailing ideas and, in turn, have crafted a damn fine record." -Chickens Don't Clap "To say their sound is lo-fi is an understatement." -The OCMD "The sound of sunbeams in stereo, rivers of reverb and long hissing corridors with blood on the walls." -Souls on Tape "...barbiturate-blissed, sun scorched..." - Transparent Magazine "Theirs is not a jarring eclecticism; it flows like a well-planned mixtape." -Rose Quartz "...effortless, infectious, tuneful, and drunk..." -The Georgetown Voice "... a pretty damn fine noise." -Burning World "...both lo-fi and epic sounding at the same time" -Gimme Tinnitus WOMEN - S/T was also covered by -Lost at Sea -Instrumental Analysis -Electronic Voice Phenomenon -Quick, Before it Melts! -Burnt Waffles -Indie Muse -Sickpill -See What You Hear -Friction NYC -The House of Leaf and Lime -Stereo Subversion -Whatchumagenre -Tuneage -Kofi's Hat -Bros Win Forever -Covert Curiosity -Stranded in Stereo -Boston Phoenix -Fluxblog
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