The Scientists, Unsane, Pere Ubu, Pussy Galore, Dead Moon, Flesh Eaters, The Saints, DNA, The Gun Club, Poison 13, Flipper, The Wipers, Laughing Hyenas, Television, Roky Erickson, The Birthday Party, Beasts of Bourbon, SWANS, Rocket From the Tombs, Black Snakes, The Chrome Cranks
KIM'S VIDEO & MUSIC
124 1st Avenue
b/t 7th and 8th
NYC
ACADEMY RECORDS
96 North 6th Street
b/t Wythe and Berry
Brooklyn
PASSOUT RECORDS
131 Grand Street
b/t Bedford and Berry
Brooklyn
WORLDWIDE:
Available via LIGHT IN THE ATTIC (USA), FUSE distribution (Australia), CARGO (Germany), SHELLSHOCK & F-MINOR(UK), FOREVER CHANGES (Spain), SONIC RENDEZVOUS & CLEAR SPOT (Benelux), KARBON (Swiss), GOODFELLAS & ABRAXAS (Italy), SOUND POLLUTION (Sweden), RECORD SHACK (Austria), SCRATCH DISTRIBUTION & F>A>B> (Canada), KING INTERNATIONAL INC. (Japan)
"Woman play dark, confrontational, in-your-face noise-rock that sounds straight out of the Lower East Side, 1993. What sets it apart from its antecedents is how tuneful it is. All of the songs here have layers and layers of guitar, howling, screaming, roaring, veering wildly in and out of focus, but the parts all manage to be in the right place at the right time. Since this band is actually very tight, the out-of-control freakouts become all the more intense. This album is like a splatter film that’s at least half suspense: there’s lots of gore, but they save it for when they need it. And then you get buckets. The tunes are always front and center when necessary; ditto the unrestrained savagery. Heavy drums and equally heavy, distorted bass add a shot of molten lead to an already unsteady vehicle.
There are eight tracks on the album to annoy your neighbors with in the wee hours. The first, When The Wheel’s Red layers a firestorm of metallic noise behind a simple catchy warped blues tune, like the Chrome Cranks as done by Sonic Youth circa Daydream Nation with some death metal dude on vocals. Track two, Gaol In My Heart is a stomping dirge, very Honeymoon Killers with a little Syd Barrett thrown in – the band pulses and sputters and finally the flames emerge from within the stinky smoke cloud, then it goes into a circular Doors-ish motif that they run over and over behind the squall. The Perfect Night captures swaying neo-boogie blues through the warped prism of a cheap whiskey bottle and ends cold as if they had to cut something off, or the tape ran out. The fourth cut, E-A-T-D-N-A picks up the pace with some unhinged chord-chopping and a wicked hook at the end of the verse that sounds a lot like the late great Live Skull (it figures: indie legend Martin Bisi engineered the album, maxing out the menace in his signature style). Like the previous cut, it stops dead in its tracks. After that, Phosphorescent Glow welds a catchy garage rock hook to ugly Melvins stomp and some charbroiled Ron Asheton licks. The most accessible song on the cd, Fall Into The Fall motors along on a catchy, mean chromatic hook with a Silver Rocket vibe, saving most of the guitar torture for the end. Heavy Water is aptly titled, like early Sabbath with a feedback fixation. The cd ends with the sarcastically titled torturefest Icy Drone, which reminds a lot of Live Skull’s classic cover of the Curtis Mayfield hit Pusherman. Damn, there hasn’t been a band this twistedly good around here in a long, long time. Could somebody please get their labelmates the Chrome Cranks together again for another tour and put them on the road with these guys. Woops…with this Woman. As a special bonus, Bang Records has pressed a limited edition run of 500 vinyl albums in addition to the cd."
- LUCID CULTURE (NYC)
"It's a burning debut for these four ugly folks, perverting under a name related to women (as seems to be in fashion, lately). They are New Yorkers, go out for one of the filthiest labels on the planet (the Basque Bang!), and Martin Bisi sits behind the desk.
Have we raised the antennas?
Well, you're on the right track to become connoisseurs of the dirty swamp-noise-blues of Brett Schultz (vocals, guitar), Kristian Brenchley (guitar, vocals) Skeleton Boy (bass) and Alex Velasquez (drums), known as WOMAN.
This Woman is not very feminine. In fact the definition of "woman" could never be applied to this quartet, according to their sounds: Entering the record, you get a real feeling of falling into quicksand, sounds mixing as the atmosphere darkens and the air begins to saturate until becoming unbearable. And it takes you deep down, down to the bottom where slime regurgitates with all the knowledge of NYC noise, near and far: Deformed blues and noise like the cacophony of Pussy Galore, abused rock and existential urban paranoia from the Swans, the rough guitars and taste for the obscene from the Unsane. But there is not much violence in the strict sense, more like perennial desperation coming from these four obsessives, judging by the remains of the final sludge "Icy Drone" which fuses nuclear waste and scraps of indigestible NY sounds.
Definitely an excellent debut."
- SENTIREASCOLTARE (Italy)
"Flipper on too much LSD!"
- Steve DePace, FLIPPER
"If it comes to "sick and perverted" noise explosions New York would be the best place to go to. For several days I have had the opportunity to wander through this metropolis and can imagine where these kind of bands get their inspiration from.
This New York tradition fits Woman like a glove. These non-indigenous Newyorkers combine the best of Captain Beefheart, The Birthday Party and Swans (amongst others) with the greatest of ease which results in eight "unhealthy and carved down to the bone" noisetracks.
Woman is not the kind of band to sit back and relax to in order to enjoy an audiophonic experience. On the contrary. The Woman debut record leaves no room for nuance and grabs you by the throat before choking you to death. I am filled with a sense of relief every time I have managed to sit through the entirety of the record and take a mandatory five day break before playing the record again.
But one thing is for certain. After such a break . . . I WILL play this record again and again."
- PLANET TRASH (Netherlands)
". . . dirty rock riffs, huge rhythms and continent-sized slabs of guitar screech . . ."
- LAST TRAM HOME (Australia)
"NY City, or the megalopolis that Beat poet Ginsberg pointed to as the great Moloch of Amerikkka, just given birth to another one of these groups that should better be called "fingers of death", since the uneasiness and darkness it brings almost strangle you: WOMAN. From memory — save the Birthday Party or the violence of icy Unsane — we have never heard such choking rock, heavy and foaming with the anger of Walpurgis Night, guitar-drone like twisted barbed-wire, lascivious bass and guttural vocals amid corrosive drums ... "Give me a Woman" belched Lux Interior: his wish is finally fulfilled. The final schism of rock'n'roll in perspective . . . "
- ROCK HARDI (France)
"Let yourself get scratched by 'The Perfect Night' or fall into 'Fall into the Fall' and they'll drag you down with them!"
- PAISAJES ELECTRICOS (Spain)
"Woman, led by the twin vocal/guitar towers of Australian native Kristian Brenchley and Mexico City’s Brett W Schultz, and featuring the skinniest and coolest looking rhythm section in town, the black-clad Skeleton Boy and Alex Velasquez, remain one of the rawest, most brutal, and least compromised ensembles in the tri-state area. But don’t be frightened, its only rock’n’roll…"
-- NEW YORK NIGHT TRAIN
"Woman, the band split international-playboy-style between NYC, USA and Mexico City, DF, and led by an able Australian—Beefheart splatter guitar over caveman rhythm section and split ursine vocals; sounded like Link Wray catching up to Black Flag, or something from Nick Cave, too... Coming LP should be good—too-sick rock from two sick cities."
-- Chris Ziegler, The District Weekly
"I've become so jaded these days about going to shows. If a band doesn't, well, destroy me with their live set, I'm just so not interested. And that doesn't mean that the band in question has to consist of a bunch of crabby, hollerin' loud-ass dudes, mind you. But it uh, kind of helps. Which brings me to WOMAN. The best recommendation I can give: I turned to Pinkie at some point during the set, with an insane grin plastered on my face and hollered "WHY DOESN'T EVERYONE LOVE THIS!?!?" "Because they're stupid and have no souls," she astutely replied. We have a tendency, it's true, to kind of crush out on loud, squally swampy blues bands with tight rhythm sections (check!) and dudes who holler (they have two, even!) -- I'm sure this is surprising to no one at this point. But the thing about WOMAN is that ... well, for all the dark and dangerous poses, they're just balls out wicked and fun. Though, I guess that part when Skeleton Boy threw his bass, with the pickguard covered in blood, across the stage at the end of the set was kind of dangerous... Anyway, frankly, after the spring I've had, I needed a good time, and WOMAN delivered."
-- Cindy Hotpoint, The Rich Girls Are Weeping
"There is a raw, untamed quality to WOMAN that might seem dangerous to most people in this disinfected society. The band produces an assault of dark and shamelessly uninhibited songs that are not for the weaker of the species." -- SWAMPLAND MAGAZINE
"WOMAN is a Death-Squad - WOMAN is the dope-antidote-Gonorrhoea for antechrist humors - Full of elation EvZone Heat- Full of Erogenous Decadence From Ancient Proto-Romantism Bad Apple Souvenir to The New Fall-Krachic-Growing Pale World - Seeking Drive for our Poor Urban Pubic Bone Lost Contemporary Souls"
-- Blackbird M. L. Bone
"WOMAN. Now that's a good name. I can't believe no one's ever thought of that before."
-- Pete Townshend, The Who
"WOMAN sucked. I think the whole band was on heroin."
-- some asshole from Cleveland
WOMAN hails from Ed Koch's New York City and to hell with the rest.
WOMAN has supported none other than KID CONGO POWERS of The Cramps, The Gun Club, and Nick Cave's Bad Seeds; Australian swamp-sleaze-rockers THE BEASTS OF BOURBON, upon their first return to U.S. soil in 16 years; East Coast garage-psych legends THE CHEATER SLICKS for their much-heralded 20th anniversary tour; the one and only JON SPENCER's latest combo HEAVY TRASH; and, most recently, defiled the opening slot for reunion of NYC scum rock veterans THE CHROME CRANKS.
WOMAN has pierced eardrums across New York City at venues like Mercury Lounge, Glasslands, Cake Shop, The Annex, and Union Pool. Tours have taken the band through Cleveland and Columbus, OH; Las Vegas, NV; Boston, MA; and Los Angeles, Long Beach, and San Francisco, CA. It has also played live to radio audiences on San Jose, CA's KFJC and Columbus, OH's CD101.
Recorded with Mr. Martin Bisi at Brooklyn's legendary B.C. Studios, the WOMAN debut LP is OUT NOW on BANG! RECORDS.
Yes, the Vinyl of youre album has just arrived in Australia, I'm gonna pick it up today ... Hope the Tour of the States is going well guys! it's bloody hot here allready! Ok L8R b,.;'`'"`+,.;+-'`_.<';+.,;`~!
Hey you guys are great, any plans of coming to Melbourne? I would love to see you live, Otherwise I will be in New York next year, will have to look for you then,
Hey WOMAN, well, everyone who's heard your album LOVES YOU! any chance of a tour down here to Australia, we'd all love to see you live! Hope Your all well & having a good one! cheers! bruce ,.;..~!
my messages are down, but if yr wondering, i got a demo copy on cd from the importer. they are just round the corner, don't ask me how it was so quick. mighty powerfull stuff. ouch, my head hurts ... will be 1st in line to grab the vinyl. L8R B ..,./';-+~!
Congratulations on a fine album, bloody brilliant stuff!!! Thanks to BANG! bless em, just got it today. you guys are wonderfull!!! Many Thanks!!! B ..~,.:'"+_*,.;'"..'!
Look what came in the mail today! Seriously, I can't believe we're gonna be in North Carolina when you guys invade DC. Ah well--we'll see you sometime soon for sure...
