Pere Ubu - Why I hate Women [Glitterhouse Records - 2006]Why I Hate women is a gyrating mix of odd angled punk to avant rock, with synth shudders and David Thomas distinctive vocals- which wonder from spoken to odd singing that goes from heartfelt to sneering to strangely cartoon like. On First listen the tracks seem relative simply(and strange), but grow in depth and charity with each new play. Things start off in fine fashion with Two Girls(one Bar) -with it’s uptight bassy opening and 'dragging a corpse in a bag' electronics, before Rippling into thermin burnt chorus. Soon it sails back to more dragging and waving electronics, and wrong sounding guitars, that almost as if the pitch is slowly been altered. Thomas singing wobbles and judders , It's almost he's inebriated by the tracks odd sound. Blue velvet enters with lo-budget spacey synth drone- before it’s joined by mournful blues tinged drumming and slow guitar curls. HereThomas mixes almost spoken word with 'trying to sounding hopeful' singing- he mummers about “lost luggage, broken keys and empty rooms” as the electronics stretch and pull threatening to explode, then the lights seem to dim as the track wonderers towards early mourning bar room hours. Bizarrely Thomas singing could almost mistake for Avant raps Dose one. Mona is off kilter punk cum odd shaped pop- rippling and cascading with synth screeches and burns. Thomas sounding almost tuneful amongst the almost perfect chaos as he intones “Mona, my Mona she comes to me from Californian” One of this years odd joys- that often seems to be try to pulling the songs apart from within, as Thomas masterful leads the chaotic way with his wordy and varied vocals.A fine and inventive albums from one of Americas true odd originals- still sounding great after all these years. Roger Batty
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