Pere Ubu
-
Why I Hate Women
published: 15 /
10 /
2006
Label:
Glitterhouse Records
Format: CD
Irrestible, nervy latest album from durable Cleveland art punks, Pere Ubu
Review
In 1978 the all American kickback began. The original Pere Ubu line up released 'The Modern Dance', an edgy, nervy kind of record that was the first in a surge of white paranoia. Headed by Ubu and Devo, America began hitting back at pop singers who attempted to sound like black soul artists and even the burgeoning New Wave that exhumed funk as the US East coast began its long climb into prosperity after the dirge of the mid 70's.
For Ohio residents Pere Ubu and Devo, and to a lesser extent California’s the Residents, nothing could be further from reality than the funk and good times that were steadily reappearing. They were in the rust belt. The huge industries of Ohio and Michigan could no longer compete with a free market global economy and unemployment was rife. So Ubu set about exploiting new electronic music technology and deliberately sounding as white as possible as a way to expose their alienation from the mediated east coast semblance. Ever since their conception Ubu have traded on this peculiar whiteness and, despite various line up changes, have returned to form with the startling 'Why I Hate Women'.
‘Two Girls (One Bar)’ opens proceedings with a stabbing, Morse code drumbeat, succeeded by David Thomas’s haunted wailings, creating a bizarre juxtaposition of the melancholic and the desperate. 'Why I Hate Women' keeps the electronic squealing first heard on ‘Non Alignment Pact’ on 'The Modern Dance', a kind of piercing noise that reaffirms their separation from the mainstream. Probably one of Ubu’s best track in years is the death knell ‘Blue Velvet.’ Much like the film one may suppose it is named after, ‘Blue Velvet’ is a small town deformity, where the irrational subconscious can be heard in Robert Wheeler’s synth hostility, and whose remorse comes with echoes of Lynch and Badalamenti.
That’s not to say that this record is of limited scope however. ‘Caroleen’ is an unrepentant early 90's wig out and ‘Flames Over Nebraska’ is a tentative step into electro country death. Pere Ubu have spent their entire career trying to scare off their audience and to enforce their separation from reality. Their quest to be devoid of feeling and to purge themselves of popular culture has made them a quite irresistible force.
Track Listing:-
1
Two Girls (One Bar)
2
Babylonian Warehouses
3
Blue Velvet
4
Caroleen
5
Flames Over Nebraska
6
Love Song
7
Mona
8
My Boyfriend's Back
9
Stolen Cadillac
10
Synth Farm
11
Texas Overture
Band Links:-
http://www.ubuprojex.com/
https://en-gb.facebook.com/official.ub
https://twitter.com/ubuprojex
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pere_Ubu
Label Links:-
http://label.glitterhouse.com/
https://www.facebook.com/GlitterhouseR
https://twitter.com/glitterhouserec
https://www.youtube.com/user/Glitterho