Kid Congo
and the Pink Monkey Birds
Philosophy & Underwear

 

Grand Mal
Love Is The Best Con In Town

 

Kid Congo Powers
Solo Cholo

 

MC Trachiotomy
featuring Quintron
Rowdy Life

 

Dimestore Ensemble
S/T

 

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...

 

$ buy now $

 

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.

 

REVIEWS

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...

 

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