Pere Ubu Why I Hate Women CD

Named after a hypothetical and non-existent Jim Thompson novel, Pere Ubu's 13th studio album is one of the most interesting of their long tenure, and testament to the continually replenishing spiky ingenuity of group leader (and sole original member) David Thomas. WHY I HATE WOMEN examines a living slice of dread, as expressed by nervous drums, atmospheric guitars, and Thomas's anxiety-ridden singing. The jerky rhythms and vocals of the opening number "Two Girls (One Bar)" are like opening a door and being greeted by the entirety of the early 1980s no-wave scene. Ditto the unsettling swamp-fevered "Blue Velvet," which reverberates with David Lynchian despair and desire, and the hopped-up "Caroleen," which plays like a love song for troubled adolescents, without the emo bravado.

2006 album from David Thomas and his Ubu boys, old and new. Pere Ubu have really come out fighting with Why I Hate Women, racing towards all horizons at full tilt, pushing the experimental envelope further than ever, but also tightening up their trademark avant-punk attack. The rhythm section (Ubu's longest serving) of bassist Michele Temple and drummer Steve Mehlman is tauter and leaner than ever before. Robert Wheeler's bravura performance on vintage electronics has him coming over as rural Ohio's answer to Sun Ra, splattering analogue synth and theremin all over the music with wild, visionary abandon. Guitarist (and newest recruit) Keith Moliné veers between wayward sonic expressionism and disciplined garage thrust. At the eye of the storm is singer David Thomas, a true rock maverick at the height of his powers. His vocal approach shows a startling new melodicism, a plaintive purity of expression that cuts through his familiar repertoire of radical voicings and techniques. 11 tracks. Smog Veil. 2006.

Personnel: David Thomas , Michele Temple (vocals); Keith Moline (guitar, background vocals); Robert Kidney (guitar); Jack Kidney (harp, tenor saxophone); Andy Diagram (trumpet); Robert Wheeler (synthesizer, Theremin); Steve Mehlman (drums, wood block).

Recording information: Harvest Moon; Homer Page Farm; Suma Recording Studios, Painesville, OH; The Farm, Utica, PA; The Red Roof (Room 143), Willoughby, OH.

Uncut (p.119) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Ubu engage in their own highly stylised Americana. Highly mature, desperately riveting."
The Wire (p.59) - "[With] David Thomas's gloomily compelling rock-noir narratives, his braying, crooning voice now matured into an eerily versatile instrument."