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Wooderson reviews round-up
Posted: 10th September 2012
Tagged: Wooderson
The love for Wooderson's debut album is universal, and it's available on LP and CD now.
Over the past couple of months there have been some fantastic reviews cropping up for Let The Man Speak so we thought it's about time we share them with you...
"What Let The Man Speak isn't is an album of unwieldy aggression bundled together in the name of keeping the DIY punk spirit alive. It's far more sophisticated than that, with its cleverly overlapping vocals and riffs far sharper and smarter than your bog-standard three-chord punk, under-pinned by a relentless, uncompromising energy." - Drowned In Sound
"The key to the success of this record is that it flows seamlessly from start to finish and creates something atmospheric for the listener: this isn't a big, shouty record but more of a considered and measured piece of work that delivers on many levels. For a debut release, there is no shortage in confidence and ability displayed within this record, and both Wooderson and Bombed Out Records should be extremely pleased with the outcome." - Punknews.org
"This debut is the culmination of a thousand night's listening and research - heads banging against bedroom walls to the sound of midwest America - and a DIY ethos that just won't quit. The guitar penmanship, coupled with the savagely attentive drumming give this record a strong sense of tethered energy... Wooderson sound like an outfit that have weaned themselves on 'real' punk their whole lives, but their instrumental abilities have pushed them farther than the limits of three-chord musical hopscotch, into almost math-y, complex territories. Reviving twenty-year-aged recordings of emotion and plying those template with the advances of today have helped coagulate something sharper, more refined than many of their influences would have been able to develop themselves." - The Quietus
"They peddle a blend of slacker-paced post-hardcore that's reminding me of a lot of bands from around the turn of the century...This Ain't Vegas, Fugazi, ...Trail Of Dead, At The Drive-In, Reiziger, The Van Pelt - there's elements of all these bands evident here, as well as a liberal dose of the brittle, frayed emotional UK DIY sound of bands like What Price Wonderland, Facel Vega and the like. While the energy of their live shows is ever-present, it's when they bring things down a notch on the Sonic Youth-meets-Fugazi nonchalance of ‘Mint Condition' that they shine the brightest, with queasily lilting bass grooves, playful drumming which makes good use of an absolutely cavernous booming floor tom, and ominously patient Rodan-esque guitar grooving building to a spare chorus with call-and-response unison vocals. I'm delighted to report that Wooderson have come up with the goods and produced an album which captures the energy and melody of their live shows. Let's hope we don't have to wait so long for the next one." - Norman Records
"Picked this album up at Out Of Spite XXII weekend, after watching these chaps play live and also watched a couple of the band see this album for the first time themselves, like kids at Chrimbo they were!, which was nice. They were aces live and this here record does not disappoint in any way, absolutely magnificent post-punk type stuff in a Fugazi styley. This type of music always seems to come across better live for me but this album totally holds it's own, really powerful and intense with great songs and amazing musicianship. All three outfield members have a go at singing which shakes thing up nicely. The guitarists work so well together, intertwining(technical term) and playing off each other and the songs go from quiet to powerful and empty to dense in a split second, the bass and drums are unbelievably tight, these songs have been worked on! Spot on production and excellent artwork and on awesome lime green vinyl, oof!!! " - Suspect Device
"Wooderson might not be a dissonant as, dunno, June of 44 or The Shipping News, but they do have the energy required (and more important, the sounds) to mess with the usual grooves we are trained to listen to by the dross emanating from Radio 1. Dissonant, but not overtly so. Hard hitting, but never overwhelming. Wooderson's Let the man speak is quite a solid release for a genre that sometimes doesn't get any recognition. Keep that music interesting, pals." - Sloucher Zine
"Refreshingly, Wooderson are transparent in their reverence for their forebears - our first point of contact was my tweeting ‘Wooderson: sound like Fugazi and named after one of the greatest movie characters of all time. Winner.' To which the reply came ‘You got our number'. There are no claims to be reinventing guitar music here, meaning that Let The Man Speak's 33 minutes play out as they should do, nine lean and purposeful shards broken away from something older and bigger, but not always better. Let's have a forward thinking year. Let's let the man speak." - Crack In The Road
"It's a brilliant specimen of how to do the ‘Repeater' era Post Hardcore sound perfectly. A lot of bands that seem to be so infantilised with that ‘sound' really don't know how to do it properly. Wooderson are different. Songs such as ‘Deluxe' and ‘Mint Condition' are stand out tracks. They've come to grow on me and I've really started to build a love for them. Throughout the whole record I keep finding little bits, whether it be a particular guitar line or a lyric, that draw me to it even more. All I'm trying to say, really, is that's it's a great debut from a great band.
Check this album out, and then after you have, check out their earlier work. I guarantee you won't be disappointed. It's going to stay in the CD player of my car for some weeks to come; it makes the drive to work a lot more tolerable." - Louder Than War