By: John Mabery
Rating: 2/11

When thinking of some of the biggest musical disappointments of recent memory, Woods is definitely atop that list. This Brooklyn trio welcomes you in with a warm and dainty sound reminiscent of 1960s Britpop groups like Chad & Jeremy. But then, for some odd reason, they dump a big bucket of noise over their collection of folk tunes, and we’re left with a band that is trying to pull you in two different directions at the same time. To me, this analogy describes precisely how discomforting listening to Woods can be.Their newest offering, Songs of Shame (2009), opens with “To Clean,” featuring a guitar solo so agonizingly disjointed that it would make even Tom Verlaine want to jump off the Queensboro Bridge. And that’s well before the vocals kick in, which signal the true nail in the coffin for this band. A far cry from the lush falsetto of Justin Vernon, the vocal stylings of Jeremy Earle are painfully irritating and completely devoid of soul. Think of Miss Piggy if she was strung out on heroin. It’s a shame, because underneath it all, you can hear a band that is trying to pay homage to its folk forefathers. That is until they decided to be inventive. Unfortunately for us, and our ears, this band is not comprised of any world-beaters.

By Liz Levine
Rating: 5/11

A clear image comes to mind when one is presented with the band Woods: there’s their name, their label Woodsist, and the bucolic cover of their latest album Songs of Shame that features, well, woods. This all suggests to back-to-basics return to nature, which in Woods’ case translates into your classic home-recorded DIY rock. They shift between weird noise tape experiments and folky, simple-structured songs with 90’s guitar jam scratching around in the background. Singer Jeremy Earl won’t be starring on Broadway anytime soon, but his pre-pubescent squeal might appeal to those who prefer silly or strange vocals. All in all, Woods’ songs are more exciting than standard-issue pop rock, of which there is so much these days that even the well-written, well-made stuff out there can get boring quite quickly. They aren’t mind-blowing, but they will appeal to those who listen to so much music that they bore easily, or who prefer their tunes be random and heavily experimental.