Brainchild of Memphis native Nicholas Ray (also a former member of Golden Triangle, ’68 Comeback and the Limes), Viva L’American Death Ray Music has been chugging along since the late ‘90s, pushing against the walls of VU-inspired garage choogle into abstract dimensions reminiscent of the Fall, and moreover of late’70s/early ‘80s UK DIY rock, punk, and experimental music. Clouds of synth, hiss and fuzz gracefully frame their hybrid glam/punk/dub sounds across five full-lengths, with a new one coming soon via Mexican Summer. Behold! features four original tracks: the persistent, galloping “One Hour,” the blazed-out “I’m Killer Yelo” (remixing a track from their double LP Sangre Libre), the coldwave-inspired menace of “Out of the Pink,” and the chiming, guitar-based instrumental “Behold! Pt. 1.” Like all of their releases, Behold! A Pale Horse is but one small piece of the VL’ADRM puzzle, and your frantic search to complete will reward you with an understanding of one of the most interesting and exciting bands on the underside of American garage rock in the past two decades.
-Doug Mosurock
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 simiens and sings at breathlessly low decibels.Brendan Spenglar, keyboard/guitar,Also a writer of prison sitcoms, friend/enemy to all arthropods and connoisseur of cake like cookies the world over. Nicholas Ray,singer/guitarist(The Limes,Golden Triangle,68 Comeback),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 decernable experience in the art,he none the less harbours 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 derilect 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
VIVA L’AMERICAN DEATH RAY MUSIC- A New Commotion…
I may be on dangerous ground here but I’m in a lonely place. The savage innocents are bigger than life. So knock on any door and run for cover because the new rebel without a cause, the king of kings in Viva L’American Death Ray Music, Nick Ray, has returned with a new disc that is not unlike the true story of Jesse James; rife with lusty men and their party girls. A bitter victory, to be sure, but hell…they live by night! - Zulu Records
.
