RFI: Vietnam (the band) on Vice Records

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Just had to write a little blurb about the Vice Records tour this week (the Panthers, Death from Above 1979 and Vietnam) and was intrigued by the stuff I've read about Vietnam. Are they as good as what, say, Allmusic has to say (we've all been burned by Allmusic before, I fear....Ned's stuff notwithstanding). That album sounds really promising.

Would I digs it?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 12:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Well let's see; the last time I saw them:

After the first song, I thought... "well that was a lovely 'Perfect Prescription' tribute.

After the second song, I thought... "well, that was a little 'Sound Of Confusion."

After the third song, I thought... "well, that wasn't nearly as good as 'Playing With Fire.'

After the forth song, I left.

Do you digs?

― hector savage, Wednesday, 17 November 2004 13:59 (twenty-one years ago)

After the forth song, I left.

This part doesn't sound so promising.

And not that you should judge such things by their cover, but their album cover shows no immediate sign of greatness:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002C4IHW.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Live, they can be good, they can be bad, in a Verve/Dylan/VU kind of a way. Just don't listen to the lyrics. The record's not so hot.

― danh (danh), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow. sorry to hear that. I had high hopes.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

enjoyed their set at SXSW. we approached them afterwards to see if they'd wanna do a photo shoot/interview for Loose Lips, but once they worked out we weren't gonna be able to get them any cocaine they just sort of walked away.

― stevie (stevie), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Hahaha. Classy.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 14:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Still though, you might like them live. The first time I saw them play a full set with a drummer, it was pretty great. The songs move pretty well considereing what they draw from. They play a bunch, and I might have seen them one too many times.

― danh (danh), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

those dudes are from philly, which surprised me because the scene is pretty small here and i never heard of them. apparently they used to work at whole foods.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

They're actualy from Texas.

― danh (danh), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

too

― danh (danh), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Vietnam are FUCKING terrible...STAY AWAY!!!

― ddb (ddb), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

that cover is AMAZING. no shit

― JaXoN (JasonD), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

That cover is like a parody of a Vice Records band -- the "Do's and Don'ts" aesthetic, the moustache, the "it may be a polaroid, but TERRY RICHARDSON took it!" look...

I have always found it interesting that the "mini media empires" that talk the most shit about music have a damn hard time of it when they get into the game themselves.

i.e. Vice hates all the derivative New York poseur rock, so they give us... The Stills?
or
Buddyhead thinks all music sucks, so they unleash... Your Enemies Friends? Wires on Fire?

That said...
I actually like several of the Vice releases -- Chromeo, The Streets, even that Stills album... but the Vietnam one is disappointingly dull.

― Nostalgia for the Old Cineramadome (Ben Boyer), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 17:59 (twenty-one years ago)

a wee clarification: they moved from texas to philly to nyc.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

actually, the one with the darker hair, mike, was in lots of bands in texas. my personal fave, one that should've been huge, incidentally nothing at all like vietnam, which I have enjoyed live btw, the prima donnas. http://www.peekaboorecords.com/primadonnas/

― the ann, Wednesday, 17 November 2004 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Weird o rama - I liked that disc. Gene Defcon is funny. I never in 5 million years would have placed a member of that band in this one.

― Nostalgia for the Old Cineramadome (Ben Boyer), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 22:38 (twenty-one years ago)

they are so bad.

bad lou reed impression over shit instrumentation. faux-spacemen 3. the drummer is embarassingly horrible as well.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 22:54 (twenty-one years ago)

completely boring, typical vice records crud. (yeah, i admit i like chromeo a little, too)

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Thursday, 18 November 2004 05:22 (twenty-one years ago)

how can there be something typically vice records? they've put out maybe 8 records and some of them are great and some of them suck, but none of them sound too similar.

― Magic City (ano ano), Thursday, 18 November 2004 05:28 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, fuck that, i love the stills!

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 18 November 2004 05:37 (twenty-one years ago)

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