SHUT UP, LITTLE MAN! The Complete Recordings now on iTunes!

Paraphrased from the (NEWLY RELAUNCHED!) SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! website:

The long-awaited, much-requested Complete Recordings of Shut Up Little Man! are now available digitally in seven separate volumes. The original recordings have been carefully edited and sound engineered for higher fidelity and clarity, so that every moment of audio savagery and drunken hilarity of Peter and Raymond has been preserved and represented. Unlike the short snippets on the popular "Best Of" album, the new Complete Recordings feature mostly unexpurgated dialogues, enabling the listener to get a truer sense of the putrid flow of an evening with the infamous duo-- the absurd barbs back and forth, the snowballing aggression, and the booze-laden verbal and physical exchanges. Each volume of the Complete Recordings is different and jammed with 74 minutes of Pete & Ray rants with disturbing and humorous one-liners not found on the "Best Of" CD.

iTunes is exclusively selling digital downloads of these titles between now and December 23rd. Own all seven!

Complete Recordings, Volume 1: "I Can Kill You From a Sitting Position"

Complete Recordings, Volume 2: "I Was A Mean Motherfucker in My Time"

Complete Recordings, Volume 3:"You Think Your Mother and Father Were a Couple of Boys?"

Complete Recordings, Volume 4: "A Night in the Stony Lonesome"

Complete Recordings, Volume 5: "I Don't Like All This Cuteness"

Complete Recordings, Volume 6: "Stop Stealing My Vokda!"

Complete Recordings, Volume 7: "The Peter and Tony Interview"

Stereogum Announces Upcoming MV & EE Release.

MV & EE sneak preview song download and feature on Stereogum today.

Prolific deepwoods Vermonters Matt Valentine (who played in the excellently ramshackle Tower Recordings) and Erika Elder are back with Drone Trailer. They're not shy about releasing recordings (together and apart), but the collections often show up in limited runs or on smaller labels. The forthcoming six-song collection Drone is out via the (slightly) easier to locate DiCristina. On it, the duo's backed by three-dude strong Golden Road, as you should be able to deduce after listening to the dense, full-band psych of cathartic opener "Anyway." We asked Valentine to unpack the lyrics. Let us know if it helps.

What inspired "Anyway"'s "anyway I can" theme? Y'know "space" was once the end all for the conqueroo ... Now that scene is a mere blip on the sonar of Spit James. We hinted at it sometime back with our "Meditations On Payday," that rub was as much Mississippi John Hurt as it was Rip Torn. Now we gotta go beyond nomenclature into some sorta '"any" "way" -- the "many are one" philosophy, you'd be as grateful as we if your "many" were a true singular "one," or one within a pair. It all gets in there anyway.

And, what was the spaceman's master plan? The spaceman could be Bill Lee. In his "space" the main aim to the end of the game is not allow anyone "on" base. That's the key, like salts to alchemists and the Masonic depth to baseball, turning "on" has always been where it is at. Tesla, the energy monopolies ... dig the idea of standing tall, as in the indian chief, or the inverse of laying low. You "can't stand" can be many rooms, mebbe the Velvets said it best ..."I Can't Stand It Anymore." Dig their castle, we are just a mere moat in this thing, swimming as best we can. This song is about a river and a life raft.

Drone Trailer is out 1/20 on DiCristina.

The Week That Was On Uncut's Year End Best Of List.

Larkin Grimm New York Times Review Yesterday (Sunday 11/30/08).

Larkin Grimm
Original Post

Combing through the singer-songwriter Larkin Grimm’s strange and deeply original new record, “Parplar” (Young God), you keep picking up rude shocks, some of them sung in a pleasant, cooing voice, over original and hypnotic combinations of different kinds of folk music. “Oh Mama, I’m a bad spirit, be my host,” she sings. And: “My hooks are sharp, my heart is cold.” And: “Damn the man in you.” And: “Who told you you’re going to be all right? Well, they were wrong.”

A lot of her lyrical images (and the arrangement ideas, like mariachi brass with fingerpicked guitar and synthesizer) seem to come from dreams. But her dreams aren’t utopian; they’re as complicated as real life.

Upcoming Grimm shows:
12/10 New York @ NY Housing Works Bookstore Café (w/ Michael Gira)
12/12 Richmond, VA @ Thanky Space
12/13 Greensboro, NC @ Green Bean
12/14 Greenville, SC @ Reverb
12/15 Athens, GA @ Tasty World
12/16 Atlanta, GA @ E.A.R.L.

Revolver USA Podcast #13 Is Posted And Raging!

Podcast # 13 : This week you can here the delightful sounds of: Restiform Bodies, Absentee, Apache, Roots Manuva, Vivian Girls, and Zomes. Whole Lotta Love.

Sweet 'Enhanced' AAC Version: Here

Killer Mp3 version: Here

PODCAST UPDATES:
How to subscribe:

Paste the following feed into your favorite podcast aggregator: http://www.midheaven.com/audio/podcast/podcast.xml

Or, if you have iTunes installed on your computer click "subscribe"
here : http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=281174094

Or check out the new Revolver USA podcasts on our new podcast page : http://www.midheaven.com/audio/podcast/

TWTW #8 On Mojo's Top 50 Albums of 2008 List.

Mojo gives a top notch position to The Week That Was on their Top 50 albums of the year list.

Vivians on MTV.com.

Vivian Girls' Phantom Punk Packs A Punch, By John Norris
'Wild Eyed' Jersey girls made good are among indie-dom's 2008 successes.
Original Post

What's the secret to the appeal of the Vivian Girls? How have they been able to break through in an ever more crowded punk-pop field, grabbing the attention of blog after blog, booking gig after gig? What accounted for their debut album becoming a certifiable collector's item, only a couple of months after its release?

"I would say it's that we're really, really good musicians," the Girls' Cassie Ramone said, adding, "we're like geniuses of sound." "Kind of like, you know, virtuosos?" Kickball Katy concurred. "We all went to music college."

Uh, they kid. They may not have a Juilliard or Berklee diploma among them, but the Vivian Girls — whose ranks are rounded out by drummer Ali Koehler — have certainly got a sound. If you haven't had the pleasure of hearing them yet, think '60s girl group the Shangri-Las (God knows enough critics have) meets the reverb-loving indie pop of the short-lived Black Tambourine — though the VGs themselves cite Nirvana and their punk forebears the Wipers as their top two essentials. Whatever the ingredients, the result is a band that's gotten a ton of attention in indie and college ranks — first with the spring release of the single, "Wild Eyes," and then with their self-titled debut album, initially released by indie imprint Mauled By Tigers with a pressing of only 500 copies. The limited number created — to put it mildly — a demand. "We were originally going to only make 300," Cassie explained. "We thought, 'There is no way 500 people are going to buy this.' " How wrong they were. Within two weeks, the album had sold out, and, Katy said, they could hardly believe it. "We were high-fiving and were like, 'How is this possible?' " Then came eBay. "Yeah, someone sold it unexpectedly on eBay for $100," Cassie recalled, "and then suddenly everyone was selling it."

All good news for L.A.-based label In the Red, which re-released the Vivian Girls' album last month, to the tune of another 4,000 copies sold since. Need any more indication that the Vivians are catching fire? Try the list of indie names they have shared the bill with in 2008: Jay Reatard, King Khan, TV on the Radio, F---ed Up (who happen to have a song called "Vivian Girls") and, most recently, Deerhunter, a band that also likes some reverb. Matter-of-fact, it seems to be everywhere you turn nowadays — I've lost count how many reverb-lovin' acts I have talked to this year alone — but the Vivian Girls have developed as much a signature sound as any of them. It's been called "spooky" and "ghostly," a feeling certainly enhanced by the scary-drive-in-movie-complete-with-cheesy-bats-and-zombies look of their video for "Tell The World."

That resounding reverb really happened by accident, when the girls were recording their first demo back in 2007. "It was our friend Craig from the band Hunchback — they recorded it, and he was like, 'Oh, let's put some reverb on these backing vocals.' And then we decided to put 'em on all the vocals." The girls swear by the Holy Grail — an effects pedal not meant for vocals — which makes for a lot of sweet echo-y sounds, but also for lots of feedback when they play live, which causes the occasional run-in with sound men. "This guy the other day was like, 'These little girls are feeding back too much,' " Katy recalled, "so the whole time he kept turning off our mics!" As Cassie, not to be trifled with, put it, "He was a di--. But you know what? Feedback is sweet and it annoys people and we like that."

That includes one fan at a recent show — apparently uninitiated to the Girls' love of feedback, reverb and vocals buried in the middle that are often indecipherable, he decided to weigh in. "Your sound guy sucks!" he yelled. "Oh really?" replied Katy. "I don't think so. He rules. I think it's maybe you that sucks." Enough said.

The Vivian Girls' path to this point was, in their own words, a "musically incestuous" one that began in 2002 and traversed New Jersey — from high school in Ridgewood, where Cassie fronted a lo-fi/novelty band called Upholstery; down to New Brunswick, where Katy and Ali formed the "surf/ riot grrl" band Four Way Milkshake, and later, a poppier duo, the Pot and the Kettle; to Brooklyn, where, as a student at Pratt Institute, Cassie joined the punk trio Bossy. "The best band in the world," Ali said. She moved to Germany for school just before Katy, Cassie and original drummer Frankie Rose formed the Vivian Girls, who made their live debut in May of 2007.

"Beef" is something you generally encounter in hip-hop circles, or metal, maybe, but not with fledgling indie pop-punk bands. Yet the VG's did have a slice of beef this summer, when Frankie — who came up with the band's name (after Henry Darger's hermaphroditic warrior princesses, of course) and appears in credits and photos on the album — abruptly left the band just as Vivians buzz was reaching a fever pitch. The girls firmly decline to talk about the split — "Can we just move on? Next question!" — but it apparently had to do with Frankie doing double-duty with the Vivians and another of Brooklyn's finest new bands, Crystal Stilts. In any case, as a replacement on drums, longtime friend Ali proved a quick study. "I pretty much knew all the drum parts," she said. "I had been listening to them for so long already, going back to their first demo."

If there was a turbulent patch, it is decidedly in the Vivian Girls' rear-view mirror, as they spend a huge amount of time on the road. They're already looking forward to the May 2009 release of their second full-length album, about half of which they estimate is already written. "We listen to Cassie's demos on an iPod in the car," Ali explained, "then make up harmonies and stuff." Or, if they have a day off, "We go to the music-equipment store in town and 'practice' there. Everyone gets really mad, but we don't care," Ali added. Before 2008 is out, the girls will play a UK tour, and, to wind up this most momentous of years, a New Year's Eve show in Jersey with Yo La Tengo and the Feelies. Now that's a Garden State triple bill.

The Vivian Girls' debut album is out now.



Upcoming shows:
11/28 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (w/ King Khan & BBQ Show)
11/30 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (w/ King Khan & BBQ Show)
12/02 London, UK @ Brixton Windmill
12/03 London, UK @ Old Blue Last
12/04 Nottingham, UK @ The Social
12/05 Liverpool, UK @ Club Evol
12/06 Glasgow, UK @ Captain's Rest
12/07 Leeds, UK @ Cockpit
12/08 Coventry, UK @ Colosseum
12/09 London, UK @ Madame Jojo's - White Heat
12/10 Manchester, UK @ The Deaf Institute
12/12 London, UK @ Vice Kills Proud Galleries
12/13 Bristol, UK @ Club Kute at Cooler

Krallice and High On Fire Free Show in Los Angeles.

Metalreviews.com Reviews Metal Music By Metal Band Pussygutt.

PUSSYGUTT - She Hid Behind Her Veil ...
20BuckSpin
Funeral Drone
1 songs (46'25")
Release year: 2008
Original Review


The young label from Olympia, WA, 20 Buck Spin, surprised me before with their extreme groovy death metal from Japan Coffins and now they have done it again with an obscure drone/doom act Pussygutt. With the moniker like this one could have expected some “scream bloody gore”, yet Pussygutt lays down some of the most profound and somber music I have heard in a while. And they do it with only bass and drums, as well as low frequency manipulations and violins making an appearance about half way into this one monstrous 45 min long track.

My feeble mind is separating this work by Brittany McConnell and Blake Green (who reside in the remote location outside of Boise, Idaho) into roughly three parts-movements. At first, we have the climbing wave of distortion periodically crushing, almost in relief, releasing lower sonic frequencies and waves of flickering cymbals. Throughout all this the melody is there, only it is crawling somewhere so deep and so slowly, you have to make an effort to uncover its inevitable tidal wave. Later, things climb deeper, if that was possible, into a crusty dungeon, from which eventually violins pull out this giant, turning the track into one pensive crusher, which is both classical music and funeral doom in approach. Regardless of the description you pick, in repeating its violin motions, She Hid Behind Her Veil … will suck the joy of life out of you until the last dying vibrating detuned violin melodies disappear.

SunnO))) comparisons clearly can be made, but She Hid Behind Her Veil … is more than pure amplifier worship. A few other reference points which came to mind are Asunder and Nadja, but the latter is electrically sizzling drone, while Pussygutt on this album ventures into the funeral drone territory, if there is such a thing. If not, well, I just invented a genre.

This foreboding extreme music is obviously not for everybody, but if you think today is the last day on Earth and the sun will not rise tomorrow, sample She Hid Behind Her Veil … as this requiem will provide you with both soothing and crushing way on the way to the void.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums Take It To The Streets.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums support Lykke Li on North American tour Feb 2009.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums has been announced as tour support for compatriot Lykke Li on the Swedish artist's North American tour in February 2009. If that seems like a long way off, the Swedish duo are also playing a handful West Coast dates in December. All dates can be found below.

The pair has a busy extra-curricular schedule: Andreas has toured and recorded with artists as varied as Andrew Bird, Loney, Dear, Neneh Cherry and Mats Gustafsson. Mariam has recently recorded with Susanna & the Magical Orchestra, and is working on a noise solo project under the name Variam. Both are also writing music for theatre productions.

Remaining 2008 shows:
12/05 Transmission, Vancouver, BC
12/07 Neumos, Seattle, WA
12/09 Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
12/11 Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, CA
12/12 Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA (with Radars to the Sky)

2009 dates:
02/02 Webster Hall, New York, NY (with Lykke Li)
02/03 Music Hall, Brooklyn, NY (with Lykke Li)
02/04 Club Soda, Montreal, PQ (with Lykke Li)
02/06 Phoenix, Toronto, ON (with Lykke Li)
02/07 Metro, Chicago, IL (with Lykke Li)
02/08 Varsity, Minneapolis, MN (with Lykke Li)
02/11 Commodore, Vancouver, BC (with Lykke Li)
02/12 Hawthorne, Portland, OR (with Lykke Li)
02/13 Showbox, Seattle, WA (with Lykke Li)
02/15 Fillmore, San Francisco, CA (with Lykke Li)
02/17 Glass House, Pomona, CA (with Lykke Li)

The Fine Taste Of Aquarius Records.

Tobacco was deemed record of the week on Aquarius' weekly email blast. Oh yeah!

TOBACCO "Fucked Up Friends" (Anticon) cd/lp 14.98/14.98

Tobacco would definitely be a strange name for a group. But it's an even stranger name for a -person-, except when you realize, that person is in fact the twisted mastermind behind the cracked electro pop of aQ faves Black Moth Super Rainbow. In our review of the most recent BMSR record, we compared their sound to Air covering Daft Punk, but with a bunch of junky old equipment, busted up amps and rickety swap meet synths. What's not to love?!?!

For Mr. Tobacco's first solo foray, he actually sticks pretty close to the Black Moth template he created, but does manage to give that sound a little twist. The instantly recognizable fuzzed out gritty synths, the stuttery crunchy crumbling beats, the chopped up vocodered vocals, the blissy eighties sheen, all in full effect, but up the hip hop vibe a bit, mix in some ethereal female vocals, some borderline cheesy (but still kick ass) cop show theme song groove, handclaps, fluttering flutes, soaring cinematic faux strings, even some rapping at one point (courtesy of Aesop Rock, who took BMSR on tour earlier this year), and we're slipping into Fucked Up Friends territory. A few of the tracks are instant classics, sounding sometimes like a more sunshine-y hip-hop flecked Goblin, other times like a more lo-fi synth heavy Boards Of Canada, and once in a while like an LSD dosed Daft Punk doing the soundtrack for a nature special on Yo MTV Raps all about jellyfish or mountain goats or those weird fish that glow in the dark. WTF?! But par for the course with Tobacco and his Black Moth Super Rainbow. And while there does seem to be a bit more hip hop happening here, it's essentially another gloriously fractured and fucked up BMSR record, which is just fine with us!

An Excuse To Post A Shirtless David Duchovny Photo.

Jucifer poster on Showtime's Californication!

Upcoming Jucifer shows:
11/18 Orlando, FL @ Backbooth
11/20 Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits
11/21 Tallahassee, FL @ Engine Room
11/22 Tifton, GA @ The Lamplighter Pub
11/28 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
11/29 Raleigh, NC @ Volume 11