The music industry's got no brains, they said BOTH OF YOU ARE BARRED
Following the intervention of two anonymous guerilla philanthropists from Montevideo, 'Coventry' -the final Vichy Government album- is, much against expectations, going to come out properly-ish. The release date is Monday 10th October, 2011 AD (with the usual caveat that a million things can -and usually do- go wrong in the interim). It will be available on CD, iTunes, and other digital emporia, courtesy of Rare Breed Discs (yup, our record label is named after a Go-Betweens B-side, and I do indeed wank off to this fact).
Gigs: Friday 21st October at The Lexington, London. Support from Gyratory System and If..., DJ sets from The Quietus and Jo Bevan. £5, live acts start at 8:30.
Wednesday 16th November at The Electricity Showrooms, London. Support from Quimper.
Below is the 'Coventry' press release.
Press releases. You hate reading them, and fuck knows I hate having to write them.
But we seem to have made another new album by mistake, so here we are when we
would both much rather be down the pub.
Coventry is the fourth Vichy Government album; or the fifth, if you count the A-sides/
B-sides/flotsam compilation Vanity Publishing. It has some guest appearances from
some talented friends of ours; Gyratory System play a bit of trumpet and saxophone,
and Jo Bevan (who runs the Black Plastic night and sings in If....) does a bit of
singing. Angular Records' co-founder Joe Margetts produced the album and gave it
a little more spit & polish than usual. It's probably more accessible than the 18-song
double album we made last time around. But apart from that, it's essentially more of
the same, only less so.
For the benefit of the overwhelming majority of music lovers who have never heard/
heard of The Vichy Government, that more of the same consists of Andrew Chilton
crafting wilfully glib pop tunes on a Yamaha Portasound and crap drum machine,
and Jamie Manners reciting nonsensical spoken-word doggerel over them in his
irritating Belfast accent.
Arguable highlights on Coventry include; not-very-recent atheist-bashing single 'The
Man Delusion', revolution-bashing opener 'Turn On, Tune In, Vote Mugabe', 'Siberia'
and its sequel 'Iberia', David Seabrook homage 'I'm Jack', and big-budget
number 'Oranges Are The Only Fruit'.
The Vichy Government have been doing this for about nine years. They stopped
being fashionable about seven years ago- such is life. They were categorised
within 'The New Cross Scene' when the NME stumbled across Angular Records'
early compilations and decided they were cool. Vichy then joined most of the other
unsignable bands on Filthy Little Angels, who released three albums (Carrion
Camping, Whores in Taxis, and aforementioned double-album White Elephant). They
have supported the Scissor Sisters and The Auteurs, and been supported by The
Long Blondes.
If you have no intention of listening to the album after reading that, I don't blame you.
If you have nothing whatsoever to say about it after listening to it, I don't blame you
either. Based on our usual reviewers, here is some fridge poetry to help you along.
WEIRDOS SYNTHPOP DUO CULT OBSCURE CASIO SCOTTISH ACCENT
QUIRKY SIMPLISTIC MINIMALIST TWEE SATIRICAL HARRY POTTER
ARAB STRAP EMBITTERED GRATING OFFENSIVE PRETENTIOUS TUNELESS
SAMEY MONOTONOUS TIRESOME SHITE TOTAL SHITE INCINERATE
Coventry will be released around October, maybe. The Vichy Government
play live at the Portland Arms, Cambridge on Monday 3rd October and the
Electricity Showrooms, Hoxton on Wednesday 16th November.
TRACKLISTING
1. Turn On, Tune In, Vote Mugabe
2. Flytipping
3. The Nudes of Modigliani
4. Kids in North Korea
5. Siberia
6. All The Young Dudes
7. St Jamie of Islington
8. Oranges Are The Only Fruit
9. I'm Jack
10. The Man Delusion
11. Iberia
12. We Are Now At War With Germany
For more information on THE VICHY GOVERNMENT / high res photos contact:
Joe Margetts 07963 619588
rarebreeddiscs@gmail.com
http://rarebreeddiscs.tumblr.com
Carrion Camping
Whores In Taxis
White Elephant
Vanity Publishing