Revolver Guide To Bruise Cruise 2012.

Bruise Cruise Vacation from BRUISE CRUISE FEST on Vimeo.

Revolver bands performing, DJing, Conga Lining, Karaoking, and/or just plain hanging out at Bruise Cruise 2012:

Friday, February 10
4:50 p.m. Dirtbombs (Xanadu Room)
5:45 p.m. Thee Oh Sees (Xanadu Room)
10:30 p.m. Jello Biafra speaks (Conference Room)
3 a.m. Vivian Girls DJ set (Xanadu Room)

Saturday, February 11
8 p.m. Vivian Girls DJ set (Señor Frogs)
1:15 a.m. Jello Biafra DJ set (Señor Frogs)

Sunday, February 12
5:10 p.m. Quintron & Miss Pussycat (Xanadu Room)
9:30 p.m. Swam Stack Dance Party with Mr. Quintron

Vivian Girls Stage Plot.

Unearthed stage plot from a couple years back.

Bruise Cruise Kick-Off Party Flyer.

Rev Bands Playing Bruise Cruise.

Amazingly enough quite a few Revolver bands will be part of the first Bruise Cruise happening February 25th through 28th 2011. In The Red and Goner recording artists performing include; The Black Lips, Vivian Girls, Strange Boys, Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Quintron and Miss Pussycat. The cruise will include multiple concerts at sea, an island party in Nassau, Bahamas, open-bar cocktail parties, and a soul dance-off. Good times on the high seas.

Bruise Cruise - The Strange Boys from BRUISE CRUISE FEST on Vimeo.

Vivian Girls Acoustic Sessions.

Three Vivian Girls clips from an acoustic session recorded in Austria last June were posted on Stereogum a couple days ago. One clip features "When I'm Gone" off the band's upcoming album Everything Goes Wrong due out early next month. Vivs-out Here.

The Vivian Girls Say "Doot Dot".

Nardwuar unearths some interesting facts on the Vivian Girls.

Psychedelic Horseshit Dude Shovels Out Some Bold Words.

Wow, this interview is something else. Definitely a keeper. Copied in its entirety from the WashingtonPost.com.

SXSW Leftovers: Talkin' [Expletive] With Psychedelic Horse[expletive]

As I was talking to Psychedelic Horse[expletive] dude Matt Whitehurst on Thursday night outside of Soho before his band's set at Siltbreeze's SXSW showcase, I knew he was going off. But listening back to it as I was transcribing left me slackjawed and somewhat conflicted. His band plays fractured, damaged songs with snotty vocals and barbed hooks that, on record, sound like they were recorded using equipment that no longer exists. Much to his chagrin, that's a pretty popular sound these days. Bands such as Wavves, Vivian Girls, No Age and Times New Viking have become superstars on the indie scene by adhering a similar approach. This doesn't make Whitehurst too happy.

Without any prompting he was immediately hurling every insult in the book at those bands. (Except for Times New Viking, his friends. He tried to explain that one during the interview, judge for yourself whether his reasoning is sound.) Was he just putting on a show? The skeptic in me thought maybe it was all a work and it's all part of a plan to get some attention. Or maybe he truly is this angry at bands that he feels have appropriated something near and dear to him, who have sanitized it, stylized it, cashed in on it, and are now representing him as leaders of a lo-fi movement.

You could say that Whitehurst exists in a small bubble, one that he takes very seriously and is very protective of. He compares message board Terminal Boredom to Rolling Stone, calls Matador a major label and considers a band like Wavves - currently touring couple hundred seat venues - a big star. It's sort of a matter of semantics, but the point is that you start to realize that it really isn't a front, and he's just a guy who feels his scene and sound have been taken over by poseurs and he can't stand it and doesn't care who knows.

Some of the anger may be misplaced, but the you can't deny his passion. Usually if you hate something so much, it means you love something just as much, and there's something to be said about strong feelings either way and avoiding that boring middle. And he doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk. The last time I saw his band play before SXSW was for a dozen people in a musty living room at 12:30 a.m. on a Tuesday night. In the following interview Whitehurst comes off as a bit insecure, a bit shrewd, a bit childish, plenty lewd, a bit inconsistent, very often on-point and always, enormously entertaining and quotable. Good luck figuring out what every [expletive] is. He used some doozies.

Do you like coming down here and playing 13 shows in four days?

Yes. I just like playing with different people. It's always the same crowds when we go on tour and [expletive]. They wanna come out and see Vivian Girls or Wavves or some [expletive]. And we get up there and freak 'em out. So down here it's kind of nice. People don't know what to expect.

Vivian Girls, Wavves - why is everyone in a lo-fi band now?

I have no idea. I don't know. It became in vogue sometime in the last year due to a few figureheads talking a bunch of [expletive] on Terminal Boredom. And now it's exploded into this thing there where Wavves is getting $30,000 to [expletive] crank out this [expletive] generic [expletive].

There's a lot of one-person things now.

Right it's one person with GarageBand and a few chords and like -- Wavves to me sounds like [expletive] TV on the Radio. That band sucks [expletive]. It's one of the worst bands to get popular in a long time. They [expletive] trump No Age because I think it's worse than No Age. No Age is just like, [expletive]. It's really [expletive].

But you're playing at least one show with Wavves down here.

Three of them, yeah.

So how do you reconcile that?

We made "Wavves Suxx" t-shirts with it spelled S-U-X-X. We got tons of people taking pictures with us in those. People are all into it. And actually Wavves came up to our drummer and our drummer had no idea it was Wavves. And Wavves took like six pictures with Rich with the "Wavves Suxx" t-shirt on. So, you know, that little [expletive]'s probably into it or something. And is probably like, Oh, it's like hip-hop, man!

People could know nothing about you but your band name and it would be pretty easy to figure out you're probably not going to be indie rock superstars.

I guess not. We'd love to be but I guess we picked the wrong name for that. We should have named ourselves Wavves. We'd be rich now if we would've. We're better than Wavves, he does the same kind of [expletive].

(Much, much more can't miss stuff after the jump.)

Your band is getting bigger in terms of members but the trend seems to be bands with one or two people.

Bigger and cleaner. Sounding like [expletive] is not ... that's the biggest [expletive] [expletive] crutch I've ever heard. Don't tell me lo-fi, and say, It's a choice and it sounds so much better. Yeah, it sounds cool, but it's only cool when you first start making music and there's the discovery involved in it. And like, distortion is a cool thing. But just because distortion is a cool thing doesn't mean you just record all [expletive] and pawn that off as being good music and you being a valid artist.

[Interruption for when an underage girl comes up to Matt and asks him to buy cigarettes for her.]

What? [She repeats.] Yeah, after this interview. (Ed. Note: Never happened, alas.)

Anyway, so if something sound's real, it sounds real -

Manufactured lo-fi! That's not cool. People can say "Magic Flowers Droned" is manufactured lo-fi if they want but I [expletive] mixed that record as clear as I could [expletive] get it. It was recorded [expletive] really [expletive] and was [expletive] - I was young and we just started the band two years before. I'm not Rick Rubin. But I wanna be. I want it to [expletive] sound like a [expletive] tight-[expletive] hip-hop production. We have enough [expletive] going on to where clean production is just gonna make it sound better, y'know?

If you have to [expletive] keep recording lo-fi then you're a [expletive]. Straight up [expletive] [expletive]. You know? You're hiding. You're hiding behind static. Which is cool, people have [expletive] done it for decades. But it's like a [expletive] easy way out. And you're not gonna [expletive] progress or grow into any kind of good band if you just keep on making lo-fi music.

If you write good songs you don't need lo-fi production, man. Good songs, no matter what kind of production are gonna be [expletive] good. So it's about the songs, not about the production. Production just weeds out the [expletive] idiots. It's like, people that are [expletive] [expletive] and know nothing about music, the first thing they notice is the production values. It's like, Oh, it doesn't [expletive] sound like Rihanna. And it's like, I want to sound like Rihanna because those people will listen to us and take it for what it is. Not like, Oh, this is static-y, it's like the Velvet Underground. And it's like, [Expletive] you. The Velvet Underground, that [expletive] is clean. That is clean as [expletive]! "White Light/White Heat" is a [expletive] album of beautiful, clean static. Clean [expletive] static. That's how it sounded in the room. I don't know, man. I [expletive] hate the new lo-fi [expletive]. Wavves, Nodzzz, Vivian Girls. That [expletive] sucks. It's [expletive] poseur [expletive].

Do you think it'll be fleeting, or will these bands maintain fans?

I don't know. Honestly I hope so because somehow if those [expletive] [expletive]-[expletive] bands, by default, are like the leaders of the lo-fi movement now and we're somehow under that umbrella because we made a lo-fi album. So it's like, if those bands [expletive] don't do good, I'm going to hunt them down and kill them because that's the end of us. They're [expletive] representing a bunch of good bands. Somehow the [expletive] bands get to represent the good bands. But it's like that all through [expletive] history. Psychedelic Horse[expletive] - I think we're better than Wavves, for sure.

I don't know, it pisses me off, kind of. We work hard and I feel like we're pretty sincere about what we do. And to have a bunch of [expletive] no-talent clowns come in and just take the easiest way out and [expletive] rip off - not necessarily even - I don't think that any of those bands are ripping off Psychedelic Horse[expletive]. That's like the furthest thing. I wouldn't pay them a compliment like that. I don't even think Psychedelic Horse[expletive] is that good of a band but it's like [expletive] leagues and years beyond any of Wavves and Vivian Girls and [expletive]. That's elementary [expletive]. Like, [Expletive] my [expletive]. I don't know. Just a bunch of poseur [expletive], honestly.

I don't care if people like Psychedelic Horse[expletive]. It's for me. It's for me to make music that I like. I don't give a [expletive] if anybody likes it. Those bands, they're all about like, Oh, we're girls! Or, Oh, we're skaters! Or, Oh, we're California bros! Yeah, but, can you write a good song? No. You [expletive] put a couple chords together - I don't know. I shouldn't be talking so much [expletive] in an interview about Psychedelic Horse[expletive]. But it's so prevalent now, everybody's getting a [expletive] about all these bands.

Well that's the thing, everyone is getting a [expletive] out of these bands. It seems like now more than ever people load up on a bandwagon.

Well what it is, is the people who have been blogging all this stuff and making this stuff popular. No one has the [expletive] [expletive] to get on Terminal Boredom and be like, No man, that [expletive] sucks. Because no one will [expletive] stand up to those people. People think that all those people who say all that [expletive] and blog on Terminal Boredom, that that's The Word. Like, I love Mike Sniper to death, and he's a friend of mine. But it's like if Mike Sniper says something, that's the [expletive] it. If Mike Sniper says you're good, you're [expletive] the next [expletive] Matador band. And that's [expletive]. Because Mike Sniper, just because Blank Dogs had a prolific career and it was mysterious at first, doesn't mean that he [expletive] should dictate what is good in music nowadays.

And the future of music is [expletive] getting [expletive] by idiots on Terminal Boredom. [Expletive] kids that would be into cool music are listening to Wavves and No Age and thinking that it's really cool. So then there's [expletive] Wavves and No Age copy bands, like third generation, or actually it's like 10th generation [expletive], y'know? Kids are gonna start listening to that [expletive] and be like, Oh, this is cool, it sounds like No Age and Wavves. But it's gonna be even more watered down and we're gonna end up with [expletive] Britney Spears lo-fi.

Is it like the new grunge or something?

I hope it's like grunge or something like that. Because then maybe like someone will give us a couple thousand dollars to make a record and we can actually go into a studio and make an ambitious record. None of these bands getting signed to any of these labels have any ambition at all. It's like, they're comfortable writing two-chord [expletive] fuzzy pop songs. And they all sound the same. (Pauses to check cell phone.)

You gotta take a call? That's cool.

I gotta go smoke this joint with this dude. Can we go over there?

[We go over there.]

It seems like nobody wants to be the bummer on the party and say that something isn't good.
But the only way things get better, though, is if people have honest criticism. That's why music sucks today. All the honest critics that actually wrote good music criticism are [expletive] dead or got [expletive] sold. That's why music sucks. Because no one [expletive] has a [expletive] half a mind about [expletive] telling you when you [expletive] suck. The [expletive] first person that should've been on [expletive] Wavves and Vivian Girls and said they sucked was Rolling Stone. They should've been like, This is [expletive] [expletive]. [Expletive] this [expletive]. Rolling Stone? [Expletive] them! Those are important magazines. They need to [expletive] criticize instead of [expletive] [expletive].

Well Rolling Stone, that's been questionable for a while. You're on the cover then you get five stars the next issue.

Right. It's like being a homeless guy. If you [expletive] [expletive] you'll get money. But if you don't, you're gonna be a [expletive] homeless guy.

Honestly, with the bigger magazines you sort of expect that. But the whole thing was that blogging was supposed be more honest because it could be anyone and it could be anonymous -

Terminal Boredom is the new Rolling Stone. It's just as bad. The bigger heads on Terminal Boredom are ruining music today. Period.

Guy who he had to smoke a joint with: That [expletive] is idiotic. Idiotic!

Matt: That's Rob from Eat Skull. He'll be in the interview, too.

Rob: People who sit around [expletive] typing [expletive] on the Internet all day should be round up and shot.

Matt: I agree.

Dude, that's like, sort of my job.

Rob: Well, you can't fault a man for trying to make a dollar, dude.

Anyway, so you think this will make it harder for the "good" bands to break through?

Well now it's like if we make a record people are gonna be like, Oh, this Psychedelic Horse[expletive] record sounds like Wavves! Because it's lo-fi! No. No, it doesn't sound like Wavves. Wavves sounds like TV on the Radio, which [expletive] sounds like some really bad [expletive].

Yeah, I don't really get that band, they're not the worst.

It's just like Wavves if he had some black dudes and a full band.

I really do just think that people are afraid to be negative, unless it is proven from above that something sucks. Then it's fine.

Truth from above now is [expletive] Mike Sniper on Terminal Boredom. He's God. And I love Mike, Mike's the coolest dude, but it's like, that's why we have a government like we do. It has a balance of powers, there's checks and balances. If everybody is [expletive] [expletive] the figureheads of Terminal Boredom's [expletive] then music's just gonna keep getting [expletive] and it's gonna mask itself as good music and become a disease and kill the youth of America.

Rob: Oh, [expletive]. I didn't realize you were getting interviewed.

Matt: No, it's all cool, stay in.

Rob: Well, I think I gotta play.

Does that make you want to change what you want to do and sound like?

It was like that from the very beginning. I wanna make "OK Computer." You know? I wanna sound like Radiohead. I don't give a [expletive] about lo-fi. [Expletive] that [expletive]. It's stupid. It's a cop out.

So the new record will represent this?

We're trying to make it sound as good as it can. If someone would give us the money we could go into a studio and actually sound like Radiohead instead of trying to do it with lo-fi equipment.

But you have like five new releases coming out over the next few months, right?

Four. Four or five, something like that. Might as well do it, you know, while people will still want to actually put out Psychedelic Horse[expletive] records, which I don't think will be very long. Might as well put out as much [expletive] [expletive] as you can. Things aren't gonna be like they are for this long.

Do you think the inevitable backlash will [expletive] you over without ever having benefitted you?

No, because I don't even feel a part of it. We're just guilty by association. I don't personally feel part of it. We just get lumped in with it. It's inevitable that we're gonna get lumped in with that [expletive]. It's just bad for music.

Rob: You made up that name.

Matt: What? Psychedelic Horse[expletive]?

Rob: No, the name of the genre. (Laughs.)

Matt: Oh, [expletive]gaze. Yeah, yeah. You know what? No one's even made a [expletive]gaze record yet. It hasn't been accomplished. No one's [expletive] taken lo-fi to that next level and made a record as good as "Loveless" and "OK Computer" that is lo-fi and uses the medium in a way that's accessible to millions. I don't know. This took a pretty weird direction I guess. It's just all me going, [Expletive] all this [expletive].

Well, you know, beef is in now, apparently.
It's just I'm annoyed by it. I have to [expletive] see it all the time and I'm [expletive] sick of it. I don't wanna have to [expletive] play with Wavves with his [expletive] gelled hair and his [expletive] skateboard buddies. It's like, [Expletive] off, man.

Well I guess originally lo-fi was about the complete lack of image -
That's all it is now. Lo-fi was kind of cool because the music was different and fresh. But now it's like a thing. It's like clothes. Like, I'm just wearing lo-fi clothes, because that's what's hip right now. This blank [expletive] that has no value in it at all and no passion or spirit. And as long as its stylized, like the logo on the record is something you can put in an American Apparel store, thousands of people are gonna buy it.

OK, so how about Times New Viking. They're your friends, they've done three albums that were all very lo-fi, so -

Yeah, and I've been trying to talk them into going hi-fi. And I think it's like, they're in a position where they could really - they are on Matador Records. They could be making some crazy [expletive] [expletive] with the money that they get and make an ambitious record. But they wanna keep doing the lo-fi thing. And that's kind of even more bad ass because you're on a major label and they want to keep making lo-fi records because it's like, [Expletive] you. We could be going hi-fi, but we don't want to. We're on a big label and that's what everybody does once they're on a big label. So like, [expletive] that [expletive]. Everybody starts sucking once they get on a label. We're gonna stay lo-fi and stick to what we know and keep making good music.

And they might not become the biggest band in the world but in [expletive] 20 years every Times New Viking record that you listen to is gonna sound [expletive] sweet as [expletive] and people are never gonna be like, Times New Viking started to suck. Every one of their records is gonna be like, that [expletive] record was tight. And you know what? It [expletive] came out on a major label. And that's even tighter.

You're doing the Siltbreeze showcase tonight, and it seems like there's a bit of a comeback for labels, where you can trust something will be good if it's on a certain label. But then there's the other aspect which you were talking about before.

There's so much music being made now. It's so easy, it's so [expletive] easy to find good music. It's everywhere. There's a million [expletive] good bands and half of that million no one has ever heard because they don't play out of their bedrooms, or [expletive]. Or they don't make tapes or anything. The best [expletive] is something that people have never heard. It's unfortunate the way things are.

Music has turned into a commodity. It's something that's part of like - I'm sounding like a total hippie right now - but it's like this spirit and it's part of everyone. It's something that connects with everybody on a very basic level and it's something everyone can relate to. And it just sucks that it gets boxed up. And the fact that it got boxed up in the first place, people started making boxes instead of expressing their spirit. It's just a bummer.

But it's fun, though. Everyone should [expletive] make music. Do crazy [expletive]. Just make music and hand it out to everybody. Do [expletive] crazy things. No one's [expletive] wild anymore. Nothing crazy happens. No one tells the truth because everyone's so afraid of what everyone else is gonna think, and their image. Everyone's afraid of being pretentious. And it's like - pretension is necessary to advance art. And honest criticism is necessary to advance art. Failure is necessary to advance art. And everyone's so afraid of all of those.

iTunes NEW digital titles from Vivian Girls, Papercuts, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Papercuts' new CD/LP "You Can Have What You Want" (Gnomonsong) will ship on April 6th, but you can download it now exclusively on iTunes with a bonus digital-only track.

Vivian Girls' "Surf's Up" single is also now available digitally - only on iTunes through April 21st.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart's "Young Adult Friction" single is also now available on iTunes, as is Crystal Stilts' "Love Is a Wave" 7".

For a complete listing of Revolver USA exclusive titles available for download from the iTunes Music Service, emusic, and AmazonMP3, please visit our Downloadables page.

REVOLVER SXSW EVENTS - SATURDAY MARCH 21ST

SATURDAY MARCH 21ST
AKRON/FAMILY
3/21 Waterloo Park side stage - Mess With Texas 6:55 PM

BLACK LIPS
3/21 Waterloo Park main stage - Mess With Texas 8:20 PM

CAUSE CO-MOTION
3/21 Spider House Cafe: Courtyard Stage - SXSW party 3:00 PM
3/21 Waterloo Records - SXSW in-store 4:00 PM
3/21 Ms. Bea's - Woodsist Records party 7:30 PM

CHAP
3/21 Urban Outfitters - SXSW in-store 2:00 PM

CLIPD BEAKS
3/21 Mohawk SXSW Panache showcase 10:00 PM

CRYSTAL STILTS
3/21 Spider House Cafe: Main Stage - SXSW party 5:45 PM
3/21 Ms. Bea's - SXSW Woodsist Records party 10:30 PM

DASH RIP ROCK
3/21 Austin TX Continental Club - Mojo's Mayhem free show

DEATH SET, THE
3/21 Waterloo Park - Mess With Texas 2:30 PM

DMG$
3/21 Speakeasy - Turbo Crunk 11:00 PM

EAT SKULL
3/21 The Music Gym - Victim of Time.com showcase 5:45 PM
3/21 Ms. Bea's - Woodsist Records party 9:30 PM

EFTERKLANG
3/21 Emo's - The Agency Group showcase 10:00 PM

GOLDEN BOYS
3/21 Spider House Cafe: Courtyard Stage - SXSW party 4:00 PM
3/21 Beauty Bar Backyard - SXSW show 12:00 AM

HUNTER, JANA
3/21 Co-Lab - IndieHouston pary 12:40 AM
3/21 Beauty Bar Backyard - SXSW show 8:10 PM

INDIAN JEWELRY
3/21 The Independent Load / Dull Knife showcase 12:00 AM

INTELLIGENCE
3/21 Spider House Cafe: Courtyard Stage - SXSW party 6:30 PM
3/21 The Music Gym - Victim of Time.com showcase 5:00 PM

MATTHIAS, JOHN
3/21 Tap Room Cortical Songs 2:00 AM

OCTOPUS PROJECT
3/21 Emo's Main Room - The Agency Group SXSW Showcase

OH SEES, THEE
3/21 Beerland - SXSW party 5:00 PM
3/21 Ms. Bea’s - Woodsist Records party 9:00 PM

PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART, THE
3/21 Waterloo Records - SXSW in-store 1:00 PM

PEEL
3/21 Okay Mountain Gallery - Autobus Records SXSW Party
3/21 Smokin Music - SXSW Showcase

PORT O'BRIEN
3/21 The PureVolume.com House - SXSW party 7:30

PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT
3/21 Spider House Cafe: Courtyard Stage - SXSW party 3:30 PM
3/21 The Music Gym - Victim of Time.com showcase 6:30 PM
3/21 Ms. Bea's - Woodsist Records Party 8:00 PM

PYGMY LUSH
3/21 The Radio Room (medium stage) - Slip Productions and Lovitt Records 2:15 PM

RUSTED SHUT
3/21 The Independent - Load / Dull Knife showcase 11:00 PM

SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
3/21 Urban Outfitters - SXSW in-store 5:00 PM

SILVER SCOOTER
3/21 The Radio Room (main stage) - Slip Productions SXSW Party

STRANGE BOYS, THE
3/21 Beauty Bar Backyard - SXSW show 11:00 PM

THUNDERHEIST
3/21 El Soy Y La Luna - M for Montreal / T for Toronto 1:30 PM
3/21 1107 N. I-35 - Perez Hiton showcase 9:05 PM

TYVEK
3/21 Beerland - X! Records/Sweet Rot Records showcase

VETIVER
3/21 Waterloo Park - Mess With Texas 3 1:35 PM

VIVIAN GIRLS
3/21 Mohawk Patio - Hot Freaks party 2:00 PM
3/21 Waterloo Park main stage - Mess With Texas 3 4:35 PM

WOODS
3/21 Ms. Bea's - Woodsist Records Party 10:00 PM

Whoa, Coachella Might Actually Be Halfway Decent This Year.

The fable goes that many many years ago Coachella was actually a cool underground event. Basically a bunch of LA hipsters would haul generators into the desert and spend a weekend making a whole lotta racket. But no original idea can escape the clutches of exploitation for long. In a reality short amount of time the mellow camping hootenanny metamorphosed into an ultra-commercial-corporate-friendly-$99-a-day-ticket monster festival that it's known for today. Last Friday's lineup announcement was somewhat of a shocker. It appears that someone behind the scenes made a conscious effort to make 2009 the year to win back some indie credibility. Sure, there are some major insiders performing (it doesn't get any bigger than Sir Paul McCartney), but there's also some major head scratchers like: Throbbing Gristle, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti & Superchunk. Fucking Superchunk! Not to mention a handful of Revolver bands will be playing this year. Lets hope the experiment works. The complete lineup can be found here.

Revolver bands scheduled to play Coachella 2009:
Beirut
The Bug
Drop The Lime
Genghis Tron
Hercules And Love Affair
Vivian Girls
Themselves

Two Unreleased Vivs' Songs Posted On Laundromatinee.

Two unreleased Vivian Girls tracks captured at Laundromatinee sessions.


Vivian Girls~Surfing Away from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.


Vivian Girls~I Have No Fun from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

Upcoming Vivian Girls live dates:
01/11 New York, NY @ KIDROCKERS at The Living Room
01/14 Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s (w/ Titus Andronicus)
01/20 Brooklyn, NY @ Danbro Warehouse (w/ Fucked Up, Pissed Jeans)
02/06 Diksmuide, BEL @ 4AD Muziekclub (w/Crystal Antlers)
02/07 Rottedam, NL @ RoTown
02/08 Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
02/09 Antwerp, BEL @ Trix
02/10 Metz, FR @ Triniaires
02/11 Strasbourg, FR @ La Laiterie
02/12 Limoges, FR @ Woodstock Boogie Bar
02/13 Paris, FR @ Point Ephemere
02/14 London, UK @ Proud Galleries
02/15 London, UK @ Carling Academy Islington (w/ Black Lips)
02/19 New York, NY @ The Apollo Theater (w/ M. Ward)
02/20 Philadelphia, PA @ rocadero (w/ M. Ward)
02/21 Washington, DC @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue (w/ M. Ward)

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/

Vivian Girls Dusted Reveiw, A Shit Load Of Press Links & More Live Dates (in that order).

A few words from Dusted on the Vivian Girls.

Dusted Reviews Artist: Vivian Girls
Album: Vivian Girls
Label: In the Red
Review date: Sep. 29, 2008

Just weeks after Mauled By Tigers dropped the original LP-only release of this, the Vivian Girls self-titled debut, the record was trading for near triple-digit sums as collector dweebs scoured every last nook and cranny for a copy they could flip on some dumb chump. Obviously, the inevitable backlash wasn’t too far behind, and the grumbling that this Brooklyn three-piece, with only a two-song single to their name, was somehow undeserving of the press, praise and inflated market value began to pick up.

The strange thing about all this is that the hype, valuation and subsequent rebukes of that status couldn’t have happened to a more unassuming bunch. Formed a couple of years back in Kings County, the Vivian Girls are hardly an original proposition, obviously indebted as they are to airy shoegaze and driving indie-punk, pursuing an overall aesthetic that’s already been mapped out by folks like Black Tambourine, Tiger Trap and a bunch of other bands that popped up on labels like K and 53rd and 3rd back in the day. If anything, big money prices have been transparently based not on the music the band plays, but on the bet that their overall style would be the next thing geeks would salivate over, and the resulting criticism a refutation not of the quality of the tunes, but of the values people assigned to them.

Really, then, it’s hard to imagine how anyone whose heart isn’t made of burnt coal could have much of a problem with the 10 songs the Vivian Girls cooked up for their debut. Though far from perfect, they flit by in an instant, all washes of trebly guitars and nervous vocals that leave enough heartwarming traces to warrant subsequent returns. Check the way the ladies tumble through “All the Time” and its percussive chorus, or how the moody pulse of the kick drum and a needling guitar accompaniment carries the climax of “Tell the World.” Likewise, “Where Do You Run To” sports some nifty three-part harmonies that carry its rote thump up a few levels. And it’s sincerely doubtful any other bands have wrung as much out of the word “No” as these three have on the crashing song of the same name.

All told, the Vivian Girls are yet another example of this latest “Buy first, ask questions later” school of record collecting, one in which the speed with which a band’s material disappears seems to move drastically faster than the discussion surrounding the music itself. It’s no fault of their own, however, as much of what they have released has ranged from mostly decent to fairly great. Now, with the widespread availability of this debut album, that discourse should be able to catch up, and allow these three to shift from the latest in a series of bizarre eBay bank-breakers to a pretty good band clearly capable of some amazing things in the not-too-distant future.

By Michael Crumsho

Media Blitz - Vivian Girls UK press links:
Times Online
This Is Fake DIY
The Lipster
NME.com
Playlouder
Drowned In Sound
The Dreaded Press
Soundsxp
Dirtyzine

And lastly, more live dates:
10/16 Brooklyn, NY @ Harket Motel (w/ Fucked Up)
10/17 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar (w/ Fucked Up)
10/18 Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbary (w/ Fucked Up)
10/19 Washington, DC @ Rock And Roll Hotel (w/ Fucked Up)
10/26 New York, NY @ Cake Shop (CMJ showcase 12:00 AM)
11/08 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (w/ Deerhunter, Times New Viking)
11/09 New Haven, CT @ Bar
11/10 Boston, MA @ Paradise (w/ Deerhunter, Times New Viking)
11/16 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echoplex (Part Time Punks Festival)
11/17 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
11/18 Los Angeles, CA @ The Smell
11/20 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
11/22 Portland, OR @ Backspace
11/23 Seattle, WA @ Nectar Lounge
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

In The Red Label Profile In NME.

A Whopper 8.5 Vivian Girls Review On Pitchfork Today.

Vivian Girls: Vivian Girls
[In the Red; 2008]
Rating: 8.5

In a year when Brooklyn buzz travels around the world at lightspeed, you can probably count on one hand the number of new bands that, when the hype settles, are more than inconsequential collections of postures and exhausted second-hand styles. Vivian Girls, an all-female trio who've become overnight sensations among critics and underground rock fans, are seemingly candidates for one of those emperor's new clothes-type reveals-- after all, they hail from said borough and perform lo-fi garage rock that taps a number of fashionable historical, ideological, and aesthetic wellsprings (C86! Slumberland! Olympia! Nuggets! Spector!). They deflect the knee-jerk criticism the most effective way possible, though: with an armful of kick-ass songs.

Vivian Girls' 22-minute debut for the California-based garage-rock imprint In the Red is actually a reissue of this spring's 500-copy run on the tiny Mauled by Tigers label. The original release sold out in 10 days, amping both the band's mystique and the record's exchange value: A vinyl copy ended bidding at $68 on eBay a couple weeks ago. So far, Vivian Girls seem to be taking their subcultural celebrity-- not to mention the summer departure of drummer and band founder Frankie Rose for brother band Crystal Stilts-- in stride. In the intentionally dorky video for "Tell the World", Cassie Ramone, Kickball Katy, and Ali Koehler address the camera, poised and unsmiling, even as they pantomime the usual humiliating music vid motions.

The band's lyrics are just as purposefully passive. In his intro to Rhino's superlative box set, One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found, critic Gene Sculatti locates the enduring popularity of 60s girl group music in its effect: "This music was, like a moving symphony or free-floating jazz jam, mainly about a feel, a sound. It had words, yes, but they were never intended to get in the way of the overall impact of the record." Punk credentials aside, Vivian Girls are clearly simpatico to that gentler era's agenda. According to the band, the album is somewhat conceptual, its 10 tracks evenly split between love and heartbreak. "No", an angry thrash-and-bash propelled by a single lyric (guess!) is easy to place. But the LP is rarely so transparent, and Vivian Girls mainly get their message across with a murky wall of noise. Try to pry the lyrics of cacophonous openers "All the Time" and “Such a Joke" from their shoegazery feedback, thudding bass, and tambourine rattle and you'll be missing the point.

Without risking pastiche, the band gets plenty of mileage from its sonic references. "Tell the World"s frantic beat recalls the jittery, chaotic rhythm of Black Tambourine's "Throw Aggi Off the Bridge", while the Girls' flawless, calmly executed three-part harmony counters with the satin-shoed professionalism of the Crystals. The lyrics-- this is one of Vivian Girls' few completely legible songs-- are as ambivalent: "I'll tell the world about the love that I've found," they enthuse, giving public voice to teenage infatuation (an evergreen girl-group subject), while at the same time raising the Spector of out-of-whack control issues: "He sees what I see/ He feels what I feel." (Not convinced? Switch out the gender of the pronoun and singers.) The end result is phenomenal, one of 2008's best songs. The sweet jangled "Where Do You Run To" is almost as great, making pining at home seem not so bad, all things considered.

The trio nabbed its name from the heroines of outsider artist Henry Darger's magnum opus, In the Realms of the Unreal. A sorority of vaguely fetishized hermaphrodite messiahs, Darger's Vivian girls are some of the most slippery, troublesome figures in contemporary art, making the band's appropriation a clever bit of self-mythologizing. The final track on their album, "I Believe in Nothing", purportedly endorses nihilism. But it puts the lie to its own message with heavenly madrigals and a hooky refrain that'll burrow into your brain and replay like a mantra until you do, in fact, believe in something. Even if it's just this really awesome new band.

Lots of live dates:

10/3 New York, NY @ Rocks Off Concert Cruise
10/4 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY @ Bard College
10/5 Montreal, QC @ Les Divan Orange (Pop Montreal)
10/11 Queens NY Silent Barn record release show
10/12 Boston, MA @ Great Scott (w/ Fucked Up)
10/13 Danbury, CT @ Heirloom Arts Theatre (w/ Fucked Up)
10/15 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (w/ Fucked Up)
10/16 Brooklyn, NY @ Harket Motel (w/ Fucked Up)
10/17 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar (w/ Fucked Up)
10/18 Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbary (w/ Fucked Up)
10/19 Washington, DC @ Rock And Roll Hotel (w/ Fucked Up)
10/26 New York, NY @ Santos' Party House (w/ Jay Reatard)
11/8 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (w/ Deerhunter, Times New Viking)
11/9 New Haven, CT @ Bar
11/10 Boston, MA @ Paradise (w/ Deerhunter, Times New Viking)
11/16 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echoplex (Part Time Punks Festival)
11/17 San Diego, CA @ Casbah (w/ Love is All)
11/18 Los Angeles, CA @ The Smell (w/ Love is All)
11/20 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill (w/ Love is All)
11/22 Portland, OR @ Backspace (w/ Love is All)
11/23 Seattle, WA @ Nectar Lounge (w/ Love is All)
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

Vivians Girls Press Roundup and More Tour Dates.

Apparently the writers have something to write about. Below is an astonishing Vivian Girls press report update. And this is sure to be just the beginning.

*** Recent Breaks
- The Vivian Girls will have a full page "Breaking Out" feature in the next issue of Spin.
- To coincide with Goner Fest in Memphis this week, the Vivian Girls are on the cover of this weeks Memphis Flyer with a full feature!
- Their video received it's premiere on Pitchfork:

*** Confirmed Features
- Sadie Magazine
- Exclaim!
- Rolling Stone New Music Blog
- Feature and photo in last weeks Time Out NY.
- Girl About Town- Royce Epstein
- The Fader- Q and A- Maud Deitch
- Band top ten on DustedMagazine.com
- Pitchfork- guest list- Tyler Grisham
- Under the Radar- Mark Redfern
- Interview- Martha Tuber- interview
- Spin- buzzcatcher- Jennifer Edmondson and David Marchese
- Time Out NY- Hank Shteamer
- Baltimore City Paper- Michael Byrne
- Alarm- Jamie Ludwig
- Blurt- Eric Rasmussen
- Agit Reader
- Nylon
- Paper magazine- Alexandria Symonds
- The Trip Wire
- Tiny Mix Tapes interview
- Cover story in the next issue of Maximum Rock N' Roll.
- Brooklyn Rail- Kate Silver
- The Commercial Appeal- Memphis-Bob Mehr
- The Memphis Flyer- Andrew Earles
- CMJ- on the verge
- Color Magazine- Saelan Twerdy
- UK fatures in NME, Dazed And Confused and Plan B.

*** Confirmed Reviews
Dusted- Michael Crumsho per Otis Hart
Venus- K. Tighe
Uber Drivel
The Portland Mercury
Paperthinwalls
The Brooklyn Paper
My Big Mouth Strikes Again
Eye Weekly- Dave Morris
Nylon- Cristina Black
Dusted- Doug mosurock- already reviewed two singles
The Advocate- Kurt Reighley
Stereogum- Brandon Stosuy- gum drop track premiere in august
Allmusic
Tokion- Maxwell and Jay
The Onion- DC- Doris Nhan
Express Night Out- Meg Zamula
Under the Radar- Mark Redfern
Time Out NY- Hank Shteamer
Metro Pop- Andrew Steinthal
The Stranger- Eric Grandy
Perfspot
NY Times- show review - Jon Caramanica
The Daily News- Jeffrey Sisk
West Ender- Michael White
The Daily Texan- Brad Barry
Columbus Alive- Melissa Starker
Chicago Reader- Kevin Warwick
The New Gay
NY Times- Jon Caramanica
Washington Post
Coke Machine Glow
Village Voice
Time Out NY
Giant Magazine- Aaron Richter
Boston Phoenix- Liza Weisstuch
Emusic- Yancey Strickler
Paper Magazine- Alexis Swerdloff
Blender- Chris Ehrmann
Bust- Laurie Henzel and Sara Graham
Magnet- Matt Fritch
Venuszine
CMJ
V- T Cole
City Pages- Mike Kooiman
Knoxville News- Randall Brown
Philly City Paper- Patrick Rapa- w/ photo
Creative Loafing- Chad Radford

And more live dates:


9/24 Nashville TN Exit/In
9/26 Memphis TN Gonerfest at High Tone
9/28 Atlanta GA E.A.R.L. w/ Tyvek
9/29 Knoxville TN Pilot Light w/ Tyvek
9/30 Charlottesville VA Outback Lodge w/ Tyvek
10/1 Baltimore MD Ottobar w/ Tyvek
10/3 New York NY Rocks Off Concert Cruise
10/4 Annandale-on-Hudson NY Bard College
10/5 Montreal QC Les Divan Orange Pop Montreal
10/11 Queens NY Silent Barn record release show
10/12 Boston MA Great Scott w/ Fucked Up
10/13 Danbury CT Heirloom Arts Theatre w/ Fucked Up
10/15 New York NY Bowery Ballroom w/ Fucked Up
10/16 Brooklyn NY Harket Motel w/ Fucked Up
10/17 Baltimore MD Sonar w/ Fucked Up
10/18 Philadelphia PA The Barbary w/ Fucked Up
10/19 Washington DC Rock And Roll Hotel w/ Fucked Up
10/26 New York NY Santos' Party House w/ Jay Reatard
11/8 New York NY Bowery Ballroom w/ Deerhunter, Times New Viking
11/9 New Haven CT Bar
11/10 Boston MA Paradise w/ Deerhunter, Times New Viking
11/16 Los Angeles CA The Echoplex Part Time Punks Festival
11/17 San Diego CA Casbah
11/18 Los Angeles CA The Smell
11/20 San Francisco CA Bottom Of The Hill
11/22 Portland OR Backspace
11/23 Seattle WA Nectar Lounge
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

Vivian Girls: NY Times

Latest In The Red singing the Vivian Girls get a nice show review (which includes thorough details on what the band was wearing) in the New York Times.

Music Review | Vivian Girls
Punks, but Really Romantics at Heart
By JON CARAMANICA
Published: August 21, 2008
Original post

During the 20 minutes it took Vivian Girls to set up their gear at the boxlike performance space Death by Audio in Brooklyn on Wednesday night — fiddling with guitar strings, asking for more volume in the monitor — a melodic mix was playing over the sound system: Cyndi Lauper’s “She Bop,” Elvis Presley’s “(You’re the) Devil in Disguise,” Heatwave’s “Boogie Nights” and Rupert Holmes’s “Him,” a spectacularly schlocky yet effective soft-rock number. To this last song, particularly, Vivian Girls’ bass player, Kickball Katy, was bopping her head.

In May Vivian Girls released their self-titled debut album on vinyl on the Mauled by Tigers label, generating a minor blog-hype storm; it will be reissued on CD in October by In the Red.

When Cassie Ramone (in a weathered Graceland T-shirt) and Katy (in a paint-splattered T-shirt bearing the name of the Portland punk band Wipers, given to her by a fan) sang together, they were strong, and the effect could be spaghetti-western soundtrack. But the two were even more effective when Katy sang
forged ahead with the main melody.

Throughout, Ali (in a Closet Fairies T-shirt) was precise and tart in her playing, adding a needed anchoring heft, especially on “Damaged.” Though this band’s songs are short, they are also dense; no matter how quickly it moved from song to song here, the music never felt rushed.

“I Can’t Stay,” a recent seven-inch single, was aggressive and sharp, with lyrics about, of all things, being faithful: “You are a perfect match, but he’s my other half/He always treats me right, and that’s why I can’t stay/Tonight.” And midshow, Vivian Girls performed a cover of the Beach Boys’ “Girl Don’t Tell Me,” roughing up its clean melody just enough to sound as if they might not be paying tribute, even though they were.

Not much later, exactly 24 minutes after the band began, the show was over, a hot, sticky blast. It left the impression of having gone on for far longer, and not just because it took almost that long for the members of the band to pack up again.

*A version of this article appeared in print on August 22, 2008, on page E17 of the New York edition.


Playing live a few weeks back.


There are plenty of opportunities to catch the band live this year:
08/30 Brooklyn, NY @ McCarren Pool w/ Sonic Youth, Times New Viking
09/02 Brooklyn, NY @ Death By Audio
09/06 New York, NY @ East Village Radio Festival
09/12 Swarthmore, PA @ Swarthmore College
09/19 New York, NY @ Cake Shop
09/20 Princeton, NJ @ Terrace Club
09/21 Philadelphia, PA @ Danger Danger Gallery
09/24 Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
09/26 Memphis, TN @ Gonerfest at High Tone
09/29 Knoxville, TN @ Pilot Light
10/01 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
10/03 New York, NY @ Rocks Off Concert Cruise
10/12 Boston, MA @ Great Scott
10/13 Danbury, CT @ Heirloom Arts Theatre
10/15 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
10/16 Brooklyn, NY @ Harket Motel
10/17 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
10/18 Philadelphia, PA @ Rock And Roll Hotel
11/08 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom w/Deerhunter, Times New Viking
11/10 Boston, MA @ Paradise w/Deerhunter, Times New Viking