Woe - Last Stop - LP (2004)

Labels: Some Records
Review by: Luke Younger

It hasn’t been that long since Woe put out their last (self released) l.p, but they seem to have another l.ps worth of stuff already! It’s really interesting to see how Woe have progressed over the years, from their original incarnation as a slightly off kilter jazzy post rock band to this – an all out noise machine. This is pretty heavy duty, filters in the red stuff! Six easy flowing jams, that most of the time sound like Sightings riding it out with Coltraine. Nothing is over measured, and they utilise organ drones, squealing sax and heavy distorted drums in a way which feels like it was performed with a sense of direction. This enables the tracks to retain a lot of the energy and emotion they clearly had when they were being jammed out, and it manages to come across without sounding forced either. Woe are very underrated, and worth more of your time than you could imagine. However, they are in the process of changing their name so when this comes out you probably won’t recognise it, but keep an eye on http://shoryobuni.f2g.net who will most likely be stocking it.