Little Women is a quartet from Brooklyn, New York whose album Throat has been lauded as one of the best albums of the year, and has even been deemed one of the loudest. Hearing this album, I have to agree to both statements. For a band to create such ruckus without the reliance of effects on any of the instruments, I have to give them that respect to begin with.
Orchestrations as tight and calculated as Glenn Branca, the bombastic nature and oomph of Zs, Throat is the only endurance race you will ever enjoy. The transitions between these tracks are almost seamless, and the interplay between the band stops abruptly and continues again, leaving the listener disoriented and unable to predict what will come. Little Women unleash all of their anger in the context of musicianship.
The first sequence is jarring, abrasive, and in terms of time signatures pretty ridiculous. Every instrument is played as loud as possible, and starts and stops all at the same time. Though I may have mentioned this before, this is orchestrated chaos. Each instrument if isolated would be playing its own song, however every instrument just so happens to be playing in the same rhythm. The second sequence consists of only the tenor and alto saxophones in the quartet. Menacing drones begin to slowly fade in, and after about three minutes they become quick blares that dissonantly harmonize. The third sequence, though it may seem completely improvised, is very tightly orchestrated and increases its tempo to the point where I become completely dumbfounded. It's really difficult to explain to a level of understanding without having you listen to it.
The fourth sequence is where the band showcases their range of music styles; this particular track goes in the same direction as a Tortoise song would, with a calming vibe that builds over its 11-minute time span into a beautiful crescendo. However, the off-kilter elements that were in the previous sequences are still heard. The next sequence seems completely drunk, stumbling over notes with a lumbering pace. In the sixth sequence, the band sounds like they're trying to finish off what's left of their instruments; strumming as hard as possible to snap the last two strings of the guitar, squeezing the saxophones to the point where they're misshapen, and tearing through the skins of the snare, appropriately leading into the final sequence which literally consists of the band's last breath.
Much like a noise piece, it's not a traditional listening as much as it is an experience. The particular experience conveyed on Throat is alienating, dissonant, and gritty... but I loved every minute of it. Though not entirely devoid of melody, Throat is the car wreck you continue to watch, the exploitation film that you hide from friends and family, the serial killer you insist on reading the Wikipedia page of. With prior listening to bands like Zs, U.S. Maple and Naked City, this album will cease to disappoint.
[Little Women Myspace]
[Buy Throat from AUM Fidelity]
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