In the Land of Women

Though their all-male membership totals naught but four strapping young Stampede City lads, Calgary quartet Women still trade by the name, uh, Women. And under the name, uh, Women, these men of the New Zero Kanada crank out some seriously delicious noise, a rattling kind of garage-psych bathed in the hum of tape-hiss.

Due for an October 7 release on the Secretly Canadian-pimped Jagjaguwar imprint, Women's self-titled debut album is all of 29 minutes long; a staunchly-rhythmic set whose bashed-out, in-the-red repetitions recall riffs ripped out on old German kraut-rock records, and by the legendary British post-punk outfit This Heat.

The LP was "produced" by fellow Calgarian Chad VanGaalen —who, not so incidentally, has a smokin' hot new platter, Soft Airplane, being served up by Sub Pop next week— over a period of four months. VanGaalen captured Women on an array of old ghetto-blasters and reel-to-reel recorders, rolling magnetic tape "in his basement, an outdoor culvert, and a crawlspace." The result is a righteous racket, and another entry in 2008's analogue-loving lo-fi revival.

Women Track List
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. "Flashlights"

Photo © [Lindsey Baker]