DiS' Class Of 2009 #3: Women

DiS' Class Of 2009 is comprised of bands our core contributors really think you should be listening to. Simple as. We're not necessarily saying they'll 'blow up' or 'cross over' or any of that industry nonsense, but we are saying we think they're great and have a hunch at least some of you will agree...

Women

Residents of some twilit intersection between deafening noise and sunny, spotless melody, many of you will already be well acquainted with Calgary's Women on grounds of the 2008 US release of their self-titled debut album. Well, it's officially out in the UK this week on Jagjaguwar and there's an impending first British headline tour, so let's do a little restating of the obvious here. Women sound like no band you've heard and many bands you love, shades of Sonic Youth, Animal Collective and the Velvet Underground battling through their album's strange production and intentional obscurity. Rusty electronics and mumbled harmonies abound, sometimes propelled along by pristine tunes like 'Black Rice' - a song that'd have Brian Wilson retreating to his sandpit with envy - sometimes the blank throb of much harder moments like the remorseless 'Woodbine'. The juxtaposition of ugliness and beauty makes for a disorientating listen, poppy tracks melting away in under a minute, noise raging for what seems like an age. The beauty of this band is that they don't sound wantonly eclectic, more that in forcibly erasing any sense of identity in their music - I defy you to make out more than a line or two in any song - they've stumbled upon the perfect hiding place, an album that sounds like an eerily beautiful echo of itself.

• Debut album Women is out now on Jagjaguwar. Catch them live in the following cities next month...

February
13 Birmingham Hare & Hound
14 Glasgow Captain's Rest
15 Leeds Brudenell Social Club
16 Manchester Night & Day
17 London Madame JoJo's

Myspace.com/WomenMusic