Search - Ladies :: They Mean Us

Canned Crow

Paul Aragon | Virginia | 08/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Ladies They Mean Us is a hard album for the unsuspecting listener to grasp, fans of Hella, and Pinback seem confused by thinking that the music contained in this disc is a marraige of the two bands, in reality, it is actually Rob Crows roots from his early days with Heavy Vegetable, and Thingy that the listener is hearing, only with better studio recording and astoundingly amazing drumming. ( I used to feel sorry for MR. Crows drummers in those early years for having to change time signatures 10 times in two minutes.)The album is a sort of Pictures at an Exhibition ala Modest Mussorgsky in that five of the first 11 tracks are merely minute long instrumental interludes that take us from one song to the next. The CD starts with Black Ceasar/Red Sonja which jumps right out of the box at you with its vivbrant cross strumming and bratty sing song melody which in effect sounds like some giant sized toddler is prancing on your head. It is the perfect opening in that it is immediate and in your face.

The CD can be broken down into three section, the first three tracks being the opening statement, after a short afor mentioned interlude, we are lead to Vacation Asphyxia Vacation which reaches an emotional high point that is the first major crest of the album. This track builds out of a mere stick figure of a guitar notes over Zack Hill's mile a minute rolling foot peddles, it is when the singing starts that the song spreads its mighty wings and flies in a non stop build up to its emotional summit. The first time I heard this track I was driving to the grocery store and nearly hit the median when Crow's underwater processed lyrics " Fire bakes birthday cakes!" flew out over an angry growling guitar. The wave dissapates and finally ends in a silent pause. This pause further supports the notion that the album is in three parts being that the only other pause in sound is between tracks 11 and 12.

The second section of the CD starts with track four " Empathy on a Stick", and ends with track 11 " And Them". this is the albulm proper, or bulk of the record.

Anyone familiar with Thingy and Heavy Vegetable has heard similar songs by Rob Crow in the past. Empathy on a Stick is not unlike SK5, or S.S. Eggshell from his Thingy Days, and track #8 "Nice Chaps Buddy" is simalar to Cotton Swab, and Love American Style from Crow's earliest days with Heavy Vegetable. Even the show off piece " And Them" which ends the albulm proper is just like 0+0, Semolina/Kessel Run, by Thingy, or MultiBall, from the 1994 Frisbee ablum by Heavy Vegetable. The point to all this is, is to show that The Ladies are not Pinback meets Hella as many have suggested, but in reality serves as an outlet for Rob Crow true musical aggressions that are so stymied by Pinback's gentle restraints.

What truely sets The Ladies apart from Thingy and Heavy Vegetable is its concise structure that is as air tight as one of Zack Hill's drum heads. Though the Thingy and Heavy Vegetable CD's are a must for any true Rob Crow fan, they are also unfocused due to having an average of over 20 tracks a piece. Many have criticized that They Mean Us is a bit too short, but Rob Crow's song style is built on hooks and thus tends to be very intimate experiances, which loose focus and direction when the disc is padded with too many songs. In contrast, The Ladies feels exact and precise which to me is not a bad thing.

Since an emotional high was hit durring the opening statement durring track three, this meant Rob Crow had to write a song that would surpass this crest either in power or in emotional gravity in order to pull this concept album off, track nine "So Much For the Forth Wall", is that song. So Much For the Forth Wall is what The Red House Painters might sound like if they could just shake the stagnant aura that permeates and ultimately hinders their music, instead, Crow managed to harness all the lilting spacious hauntingly beautiful qualities that The Red House Painters are known for, but without sacrificing the urgency that holds this albulm together. Instead, So Much For the Forth Wall flows with rich inspired musical depth that gives the listener goose bumps.

Placing the show off song " And Them" at the end of the album proper, gives me the feeling that a light bulb went off in MR.Crows head, I can even hear him thinking. " Of course the show off song has to be placed at the end to finalize the songs, why didn't I think of this before? What a imbecile I've been all these years!" Yes, And Them is pure showmanship, and Rob Crow may have the fastest strumming in the history of guitarmanship, the strumming in this song is as fast as a hummingbirds wings, and unlike the past Thingy and Heavy Vegetable albums, it is properly placed and closes out the second section of the CD with perfection.

Does the record end here? No, its instead time to take a deep breath and say a few Hail Marry's, because after the pause, the real stroke of genius unfolds. Track 12 is 12 minutes long, it is called Mandatory Psycho-Freakout and it is quite possibly the best trip out piece since the early 70's. I think this track is misunderstood as being some kind of Zack Hill concocted Hella section. In my oppinion, this is Rob Crow's love of the early albums of Can that has inspired this monster. I can only wish that Rob Crow would of used this type of format before for some of his great hooks, because having a giant tapestry of floating psychosis is the perfect vehicle for his singlular and unfinshed hooks to lay on like so many beetles and grasshoppers caught in a giant spiders web. What holds this massive trip out together is the opening Buddhist chant theme that fills the air with an endless mythical space. Since much of this album has abrasive white noise and arid tones, it should be no surprise that this track goes off the deep end at the nine and a half minute point, but like Aumgn from Can's great Tago Mago Album, it also separates the men from the casual listener who will probably run for the door covering their tortured ears. It is the payoff after this peak of psychosis that is so great and interesting, because Rob Crow actually loosens the strings of his bass while playing it to the point that it sounds like the strings are barely hanging on, and not only does he continue to play this flabby strung bass, but him and Zack Hill rock out to it with ferocious abandon until finally the spacious Buddhist sounds take over as the music desolves into a drum riff. The punchline to the CD is also reminiscent of Can, this time the great Bel Air from future days, in that the last sound is a blurb on the bass, except in this case it is funny rather then heart felt, and ends with Zack Hill and Rob Crow laughing.

I conclude by saying that this album is not without a few flaws, but I think in the long run, it is a modern classic deserving of the highest honors, just be prepaired to hear acrid and unpleasant sounds mixed in with all the melodic beauty.

"

Daddy take your longhead off and stick it to the bedpost lam

K. D. Kelly | sf, ca | 04/09/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If I say the words, "Mike Patton," and you go, "Oh, he used to be OK before he got all weird," this band is not for you. Click the "back" key and prosper elsewhere. That's not to say The Ladies are a noise band (though they have noise sensibilities); like Patton and co., this duo play music like they're rock climbing: tense, fully exerted and searching for (and finding) footholds. The Ladies remind me of those midwest psych-garage bands from the '80s on labels like Homestead and Touch and Go -- think Daddy Longhead or "Zen Arcade"-era Husker Du. But then the drummer sounds like he's listening to Slayer on headphones while he plays. And some of the songs are almost sickly sweet, like some alt-folk singer got lost and showed up for the taping, particularly evident on the obviously tongue-in-cheek "Non-Threatening." It's like that first album by Fear Factory: it was death metal meets sappy ballad interrupter and it used to drive me crazy. But here it works for the most part. "They Mean Us" is out to get you, and it grabs hold of your ears and leaves bruises."

Great mathy indie rock with a post-punk feel, great stuff

Jim S. | NY, NY USA | 02/08/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I heard the advance of this and it is great, or at least most of it is (see below). Rob Crow and Zach Hill are incredible together and apart. The descriptions says: "More adventurous than Pinback, and more accessible than Hella, The Ladies prove to be the best of both worlds." This is definitely on the mark - I love Pinback, but sometimes it can be a bit slow or plodding, and I am not a big fan of Hella, but the drumming is impressive - combine them and throw in some "rock" and you get some good stuff. I actually liked this better than what either of them has put out recently. It reminded me (at various parts of the album and to varying degrees) of Pinback (obv.), Hella (duh!), Don Cab, Faraquet/Medications, Slint, Built to Spill."