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HOT OFF THE PRESS (#16) – Women & Pit Er Pat
It’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for Nick Courtright’s weekly first glance at music discovered in the last seven days, whether it be just-released, just-leaked, or some long-lost gem that has remained under the radar. Click here for other recent editions of Hot Off the Press, featuring acts such as TV on the Radio, Deerhoof, Cold War Kids, of Montreal, Juana Molina, Crystal Stilts, Final Fantasy, Peter Bjorn & John, White Denim, and Grizzly Bear.
Women – Women
released October 7 on Jagjaguwar
Report Card: B+
Immediately bursting with ramshackling madman ambition, the inventive promise of Women’s first two tracks—the excellent though frustratingly brief “Cameras” and the boisterous “Lawncare”—announced Women as a major new-band-of-attention. And despite the near impossibility of effectively Googling the group, the delightful ugliness of their sound, what with people “singing” the same words over top each other, and in a slightly misaligned fashion (such as on late-album lynchpin “Shaking Hands”) makes them almost immediately endearing, and worth the digging it takes to find out these hooligans are from Alberta, Canada, of all places.
As an unfortunate downside to the album’s auspicious beginning, though, the promise of those two early tracks doesn’t find its way all the way through. True, Women’s back half (hold the jokes, please) is full of sloppy Beach Boys-esque pop numbers that are good at what they do, but aren’t necessarily anything we haven’t heard before. There is a very thick haze of early Animal Collective-ness populating this album, as you can almost see the two groups together—long before AC’s electro-obsession took full hold—bounding around a campfire in loincloths, shaking tambourines and scaring children. And, like AC or Akron/Family, the band sometimes wounds their own sound with needless instrumental sabotage, regularly neglecting actual songs in lieu of wasting precious minutes screwing off. That tactic, while effective transitionally, to this extent is nearly unforgivable on a record that comes in stunningly short at under a half hour.
All this may seem to suggest that Women aren’t a worthwhile endeavor, but that’d be missing the point. The point is that there’s an awful lot of good going on here, and that this is one of the more intriguing muck-rock debuts lately. But it’s kind of a problem when the listener wonders what would have been if only the band had invested some lasting effort into crafting some sense from all the crazy parts, such as they seem to do on the first two tracks, and standout “Black Rice.” Perhaps next time we’ll get that brand of attention all the way through.
Listen to songs by Women here
Pit Er Pat – High Time
released October 21 on Thrill Jockey
Report Card: C
What with their emphasis on scattershot percussion as their music’s driving force, and the sing-songy nature of Fay Davis-Jeffers’ voice, there’s always been something intriguing about Pit Er Pat. This intrigue, though, has been a bit muted, mostly because of the tendency of Davis-Jeffers’ voice to run dangerously close to the percussion’s beat (a parallel which sometimes robs it of its dynamism), or when the percussion itself tilts too near to hokeyness. But there can be a nice tone to it all, and for that, and for the band’s not-quite-ready-to-breakthrough status, Pit Er Pat has been a verifiable band to watch for a few years now, just to see if they could take that next step. And with High Time, we finally get the chance to see if that next step is there for them, or if they’d succumb to their own influences.
Shit, they succumbed. Or rather, they ended up falling a little flat, with Davis-Jeffers never driving her vocals beyond what we’ve heard from her before, and with the emphasis on percussion running thicker (and with more questionable taste) than on past efforts. But the big problem here is that while 2006’s Pyramids seemed like an album maybe ahead of its time, High Time, an almost uncomfortably ironic title, feels like an album that’s hit the shelves a good five years too late. While it’s difficult to quantify what it is exactly that makes it feel outdated, it sure as hell does—it may have something to do with the almost aboriginal nature of the rhythm section, which feels a little world music-y, and definitely can’t hold its ground next to today’s other successful international appropriators, such as Yeasayer. And while their last album has stand out tracks such as “Brain Monster,” High Time doesn’t have a single track worthy of incessant repeats—the closest here may be “Evacuation Days,” but it doesn’t quite get there. So, going forward, it seems the question to ask is not whether Pit Er Pat is ready for a big time breakthrough, but, unfortunately, whether they are primed for a rebound to their past, better days.
Listen to songs by Pit Er Pat here