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Rating: My second review on DeBaser, this time about the Canadian duo Death From Above 1979.
I'll tell you without beating around the bush that this is an indie rock album, and one of the best in the genre, despite being relatively unknown.
I think the best way to analyze this album is to place it in its historical context, without being influenced by everything that would happen afterward, in indie music and beyond.
It's 2004, and You're A Woman, I'm A Machine emerges as a highly innovative product.
Indie rock hasn't yet exploded as a mass phenomenon, Whatever People... by Arctic Monkeys (considered a milestone in the genre) isn't even in its embryonic stage (it will be released in 2006), and you hardly hear about "independent" music, although - certainly - the term is slowly gaining traction.
The Canadian duo manages to craft a sensational album, starting from noise influences (Pixies, Liars), garage, alternative (White Stripes, Queens Of The Stone Age), sometimes approaching the post-punk of Fugazi's Red Medicine.
The result is a "dirty" rock, made of continuous riffs (the bass replaces the guitar with effects), lo-fi recorded drums, and a sharp voice.
Turn It Out opens the album with a rush of distorted and adrenaline-filled sounds. Saturated sounds, hard-hitting drums, and a voice that alternates between more relaxed moments and others that are intense and anguished.
Romantic Rights is the album's manifesto: a simple yet brilliant riff that holds up the entire structure, with fast and powerful drumming (the same sound that the Arctic monkeys would later abuse). The voice starts whispered, then grows more and more, almost to a scream.
Going Steady slides by, introducing the next track Go Home, Get Down, one of the more punk tracks, with 2 minutes of uninterrupted bass-guitar and a voice that never lowers its tone.
Blood On Our Hands, on the other hand, is more funk and melodic. In the middle, synth echoes can be heard, enhancing everything, and the song ends with a short electronic outro.
In the following track Black History Month, it seems like you're listening to the future LCD Soundsystem (whose first album will be released a year after You're A Woman, I'm A Machine). The rhythm, in fact, is slower, and the inclusion of electronic loops and the sound of a cowbell makes it almost an early Daft Punk Is Playing At My House.
The final part of the album (Little Girl, Cold War, You're A Woman, I'm A Machine, and Pull Out) doesn't add much to what has already been said, always offering the same formula and thus becoming perhaps a bit repetitive, if not for the irresistible outro of Cold War and one of the riffs of Little Girl that - I swear! - reminds me of Green Day.
Sexy Results is the track that closes the album and can be considered a masterpiece. On the usual bass-drum base, synth electronic sounds, percussions, maracas, a cowbell solo (I hate to repeat myself, but I bet James Murphy has listened to this track more than once!), are added, making it a perfect dance-punk piece, fast-paced and catchy.
In conclusion, in short, You're A Woman, I'm A Machine is a fundamental album. Fundamental for having best synthesized the sound of many 90s music scenes, and fundamental for having been a precursor to many 2000s music scenes.
A must-listen.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Romantic Rights (03:15)
Your romantic rights are all that you got,
Push'em down son it's more than just lip,
C'mon girl I know you know what you want,
C'mon c'mon now and give'em all shhhh
You're beating walls now you just won't quit,
You play with shapes but they just won't fit,
I know you love me you don't know what you like,
You're watching TV I stay up all night.
I don't need you, I want you
South Carolina kid is heating things up,
His wounds are bleeding and we're filling the cup,
This game will save us if we don't die young,
C'mon c'mon yeah, have a little fun.
Come here baby I love your company,
We could do it and start a family,
She was living alone, unhappily
We could do it, it's right romantically.
I don't need you, I want you
11 Sexy Results (05:52)
Résultats sexuelles
Les résultats sont super sexuelles
Sexy girl meet me in the bathroom
Sexy girl call me on the phone
Woman friend take me to your bedroom
Let me show you how I am full grown
Sexy woman call me to your office
Sexy woman meet me after work
I wanna show you how I handle business
I wanna show you how the mail-boy flirts
My man wants to buy you something
He wants to take you out for dinner and dancing
My friend wants to take you out then home
Then home alone
Sexy woman call me to your office
Sexy woman meet me after work
I wanna show you how I handle business
I wanna show you how I work, work, work.
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Other reviews
By nin83
It’s pointless to mention that the Italian public seems not to have noticed much the noise that the two Canadians are capable of creating.
Rough guitars, piercing vocals, gratuitous use of synths compose the explosive mix all presented with the sole purpose of creating a good bit of noise.
By santi_bailor
ITALIANS AND ITALIAN WOMEN (especially) THIS ALBUM IS CRAP!!
STANDARDIZATION. CONFORMITY. MORAL: don’t be afraid to say what you think, to distinguish what you like from what you can’t stand.
