VIVA
L'AMERICAN DEATH RAY MUSIC
Who is
VivaL'AmericanDeathRayMusic?
Jeffrey
Bouck, drummer/percussionist (Lithops, Polyphonic Spree),
and a designer chef who specializes in cooking in confined
spaces. Harlan T. Bobo, bassist (The Limes, Timothy Prudomme),
who also cooks, but mainly for himself and occasionally
Shawn, is stricken with night blindness yet he still is
able to construct mechanical simians and sings at breathlessly
low decibels. Nicholas Ray, singer/guitarist (The Limes,
Valentines), is graced with the gift to work just about
any job, some of which are hard to actually classify as
'jobs' and although he has no discernable experience in
the art, he none the less harbors the belief he would make
a good shoe maker.
So
why do these men with such prodigious and nebulous skills
bother to steal away into the dark night after night to
play "music" to trodden and often malicious groupings
of various size? And why do they gather in living quarters
and various "studios" to record there musings
as it were" Nicholas states, "we do these things
for the large sums of money we receive". But are we
glibly to be lead to believe that this gathering of minds
is simply for the temporal venture of "moneys".
Possibly,
But
I believe there is more to this strange case.
Come
along shall we. What
is VivaL'AmericanDeathRayMusic? For
this question we shall put aside the obvious ramifications
of their elongated and lofty title and their trepanacious
and often-shifty social-politico ideas that they align with
said title and concentrate on the musical. First
off there appears to be no easily definable method for there
music. They make tumbling attempts at grandiosity while
taking awkward stabs at virulent pop. They are magazine
collage artists whose finished products are as much murky
as they are obvious. They willingly throw themselves into
derelict and hopeless improvisational alleyways to emerge
relatively unscathed at the other end. They embrace and
invite the listener to converse with them and then leave
them standing awkwardly alone as they move on to talk to
someone they are more acquainted with. They make music for
people who believe they are listening to music of their
generation. They
are truly ninjas at play in the fields of the Lord.
-The
Robot
Headquarters 2004
|
NYNT
RECORDINGS |
Release
Date:
September
2006
Viva
l'American Death Ray Music
In the Meantime CD/LP
The
long-awaited fourth LP by this dynamic Memphis trio,
VLADRM here accentuating their dub, no wave, and post-punk
tendencies while keeping the other hand groping into
the future, In The Meantime... is by far
their most abstract, raw and skeletal effort to date.
Includes some of the final recordings made before
the tragic fire at Memphis' legendary Easley McCain
Studio. Instantly catchy but also a creeping addiction....
. Go
here for more...
|
LIVE
DATES |
|
SOUNDS |
"Needle
to the Heart of the Matter"
from In the Meantime CD/LP
|
LINKS |
Misprint
Records Death Ray site
VLADRM
on Myspace
NYNT In the Meantime...
Page
|
PRESS
CORNER |
In
the Meantime... one-sheet
Hi-res
photo
Bio (pdf)
|
BOOKING |
Scott
Winland, Blackout Booking
winland@frognet.net
|
Hey,
rock star--Don't wait longer
to get your
bass guitar or maybe a couple
of drum
sets. Visit samedaymusic.com for all
your musical
instruments. You'll get what you want
and what you need--fast. |
|
They
sound like Television and have the drummer from the Polyphonic
Spree. Rather obviously, they are ace.
-
2006 NME review of In the Meantime
Memphis'
Death Ray have made a fantastic record of manic echoes:
the vocal acid of Lou Reed; Jerry Harrison's churning garage
organ in the early Modern Lovers; Andy Mackay's sequined,
squealing sax in Roxy Music; the crusty fidelity of old
Sun 45's. With fun like that, who needs radios?
-
David Fricke, Rolling Stone
Sexy
rock chic from Memphis with a touch of Let It Bleed-era
Rolling Stones and White Light White Heat Velvet Underground
-
Rolling Stone
They
should have be the Cutest Band in Seattle. Oh, except they're
from Memphis.
-
Three Imaginary Girls
“Die
Band Viva L’American Death Ray Music retten unsere
Seelen”
–Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung
Int'l
Press for In The Meantime...
|