Kids Like You & Me
9/24/2010
link
"1. “You Can’t Find Me” A
2. “Dinner And A Movie” B
3. “Dirty” B+
4. “Party Town U.S.A.” B
5. “It’s Such A Drag” B+
6. “I Want To Strangle You” B+
7. “She’s Mine” B+
8. “Black Is The New Black” A-
9. “Real Good Time” A-
10. “Dislocated Shoulder” A
Comments: Good stuff. To me, it’s rather run of the mill rock and
roll (appropriate title) that plays like your (above) average
power-pop/garage rock revue. Not too much on here blows my mind, but
there are a lot of fun listens to be had. I’ve read about Black Lips
comparisons and that’s simply not appropriate or fair. These guys are
more Nobunny than Lips. Lyrically and musically.
Grade: B+ (88)"
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Cactus Mouth review
Cactus Mouth
9/23/2010
link
"It can be cool to listen to all the new sounds that the music scene has to offer. People are always pushing genre envelopes and creating new sounds. While it’s great to stay on top of all that stuff, sometimes you want to just listen to some good old fashioned rock-n-roll. Forget all these new microgenres. Stop worrying about staying ahead of the curve.
Woozy Viper can give you just that. Their slightly fuzzy brand of old fashioned garage rock is really refreshing. These two dudes craft some pretty effective throwback music somewhere between the likes of Ty Segall and Kurt Vile. Very simple song structures. Simple but groovy, man.
Their album Rock & Roll (fitting title) is available for free download on the band’s website. It’s a rollicking good time so do yourself a favor and get on it."
9/23/2010
link
"It can be cool to listen to all the new sounds that the music scene has to offer. People are always pushing genre envelopes and creating new sounds. While it’s great to stay on top of all that stuff, sometimes you want to just listen to some good old fashioned rock-n-roll. Forget all these new microgenres. Stop worrying about staying ahead of the curve.
Woozy Viper can give you just that. Their slightly fuzzy brand of old fashioned garage rock is really refreshing. These two dudes craft some pretty effective throwback music somewhere between the likes of Ty Segall and Kurt Vile. Very simple song structures. Simple but groovy, man.
Their album Rock & Roll (fitting title) is available for free download on the band’s website. It’s a rollicking good time so do yourself a favor and get on it."
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Electric Comic Book review
Electric Comic Book
9/18/2010
link
"Woozy Viper return
It’s a damn shame that Woozy Viper do not (supposedly) perform live. After their first album was released to absolute mystery last year, the Meseke Brothers had the ear of several bloggers, including myself. I mean, I found out about the album from a business card stacked up at the Standard, a convenience store in Brooklyn. Plain white with the Woozy Viper website on the back, and the horror-movie style blood-drip font logo on the front. So it makes me wonder how they’ve managed to get the attention of bloggers in, say, Istanbul, let alone California or anyone else in America, for that matter. That’s perhaps one half testament to the speed of information these days, and the other the reality being that these guys are just that fucking good.
And they are! They are!
So imagine my joy when I get an e-mail giving me a heads-up that there’s new Woozy Viper material out there, once again, for free and available for download.
After an album of straight forward rock and roll (on electro-acoustic guitars and one drum kit, I think — I don’t know, I don’t have that good of an ear for technical stuff, so if the guys are reading this, please let me know what it is you cats are using), self-titled and released with no kind of publicity beyond it’s own quality, their second album, titled Rock and Roll, opens with the same kind of good humor found in the first. “You Can’t Find Me” opens up with a riff that can be described as tough, lean, and sexy all at once, and lyrics that sneer with a tongue in cheek at the same time. “Dinner and a Movie” is even simpler than the first track, a rockabilly tune that sounds like Hasil Adkins a little calmer.
The album seems to go on in that kind of pattern, where all songs are straight forward rock and roll, but with a few more complicated tunes taking turns with the simpler ones. It’d be easy to write this off as just more of the same; however, the self-titled first tune is apparently more of a blues album, full of straight acoustics and more laid-back tempos. Rock and Roll is full of barn-burning lo-fi (seriously — it sounds like the television is on in the living room at the beginning of “Black is the New Black), which these guys have mastered when comparing to the first’s cleaner sound. There’s no indulgently long jams like “The Switchblade Song,” but tons of smirking, snarky rock to make it one of finer releases this year that you can listen to with friends, just as much as dance to it. A title like “Party Town U.S.A” could be a sarcastic retort to pop tunes, or it could be a legit party tune, or both. A unique and catchy vocal melody says “yes.” “I Want to Strangle You” has plenty of that dangerous lover grit, from the head-nod rhythm to the slick bass line, and the psych lead guitar, in addition to the lead singer’s delivery, which is more assured this time.
Grade: A. Stellar straight-forward album of great rock and roll, that is less tribute and more like the real thing. The Mesekes still keep it stripped of excesses, and still manage a dark, sexy sound. Even on poppier tunes like “She’s Mine” still have a certain dark psychedelic quality going for it. No, you may never find Woozy Viper out in public (and know it), but hopefully, they’ll keep churning out great underground albums like this. Please, please, please, go check them out, download their album, and donate to keep them afloat!
And you can do that here.
Here’s a sample, “You Can’t Find Me” off of Rock and Roll. And thank you to Woozy Viper for giving me the permission to put this up, as well as just making a damn good record. Thanks, guys."
9/18/2010
link
"Woozy Viper return
It’s a damn shame that Woozy Viper do not (supposedly) perform live. After their first album was released to absolute mystery last year, the Meseke Brothers had the ear of several bloggers, including myself. I mean, I found out about the album from a business card stacked up at the Standard, a convenience store in Brooklyn. Plain white with the Woozy Viper website on the back, and the horror-movie style blood-drip font logo on the front. So it makes me wonder how they’ve managed to get the attention of bloggers in, say, Istanbul, let alone California or anyone else in America, for that matter. That’s perhaps one half testament to the speed of information these days, and the other the reality being that these guys are just that fucking good.
And they are! They are!
So imagine my joy when I get an e-mail giving me a heads-up that there’s new Woozy Viper material out there, once again, for free and available for download.
After an album of straight forward rock and roll (on electro-acoustic guitars and one drum kit, I think — I don’t know, I don’t have that good of an ear for technical stuff, so if the guys are reading this, please let me know what it is you cats are using), self-titled and released with no kind of publicity beyond it’s own quality, their second album, titled Rock and Roll, opens with the same kind of good humor found in the first. “You Can’t Find Me” opens up with a riff that can be described as tough, lean, and sexy all at once, and lyrics that sneer with a tongue in cheek at the same time. “Dinner and a Movie” is even simpler than the first track, a rockabilly tune that sounds like Hasil Adkins a little calmer.
The album seems to go on in that kind of pattern, where all songs are straight forward rock and roll, but with a few more complicated tunes taking turns with the simpler ones. It’d be easy to write this off as just more of the same; however, the self-titled first tune is apparently more of a blues album, full of straight acoustics and more laid-back tempos. Rock and Roll is full of barn-burning lo-fi (seriously — it sounds like the television is on in the living room at the beginning of “Black is the New Black), which these guys have mastered when comparing to the first’s cleaner sound. There’s no indulgently long jams like “The Switchblade Song,” but tons of smirking, snarky rock to make it one of finer releases this year that you can listen to with friends, just as much as dance to it. A title like “Party Town U.S.A” could be a sarcastic retort to pop tunes, or it could be a legit party tune, or both. A unique and catchy vocal melody says “yes.” “I Want to Strangle You” has plenty of that dangerous lover grit, from the head-nod rhythm to the slick bass line, and the psych lead guitar, in addition to the lead singer’s delivery, which is more assured this time.
Grade: A. Stellar straight-forward album of great rock and roll, that is less tribute and more like the real thing. The Mesekes still keep it stripped of excesses, and still manage a dark, sexy sound. Even on poppier tunes like “She’s Mine” still have a certain dark psychedelic quality going for it. No, you may never find Woozy Viper out in public (and know it), but hopefully, they’ll keep churning out great underground albums like this. Please, please, please, go check them out, download their album, and donate to keep them afloat!
And you can do that here.
Here’s a sample, “You Can’t Find Me” off of Rock and Roll. And thank you to Woozy Viper for giving me the permission to put this up, as well as just making a damn good record. Thanks, guys."
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The Needle Drop review 2
The Needle Drop
9/16/2010
link
"This New York rock ‘n’ roll duo has just released their second album. It doesn’t have the highest fidelity, but the sound is nothing fans of the Velvet Underground, Sonics, Seeds won’t be familiar with.
And the price: Free. Just head to the band’s website and download all 10 tracks for nothing more than a mere click–but do keep in mind you are free to donate to the band if you’re enjoying their stuff. The donate link is at the bottom of their site’s front page. Download and let me know if you dig."
9/16/2010
link
"This New York rock ‘n’ roll duo has just released their second album. It doesn’t have the highest fidelity, but the sound is nothing fans of the Velvet Underground, Sonics, Seeds won’t be familiar with.
And the price: Free. Just head to the band’s website and download all 10 tracks for nothing more than a mere click–but do keep in mind you are free to donate to the band if you’re enjoying their stuff. The donate link is at the bottom of their site’s front page. Download and let me know if you dig."
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
yvynyl review
yvynyl
9/8/2010
link
"Been diggin’ on the lo-fi jams of Brooklyn’s Woozy Viper for some time now. They trump the surfy rock n’ roll Americana sound like your favorite old pair of blue jeans. Wouldn’t you know it, they’ve just dropped a new album that you can grab free on their website. Get it."
9/8/2010
link
"Been diggin’ on the lo-fi jams of Brooklyn’s Woozy Viper for some time now. They trump the surfy rock n’ roll Americana sound like your favorite old pair of blue jeans. Wouldn’t you know it, they’ve just dropped a new album that you can grab free on their website. Get it."
Monday, September 6, 2010
No Genre Mid-Year Report - Best Albums #25 Woozy Viper
No Genre
9/6/2010
link
"Mid-Year Report – Albums
#25. Woozy Viper – s/t (self-released)
I’m tempted to say that the songs are deceptively simple. But that’s not right. These are simple songs. But what was ever wrong with simple? The Ramones were simple. The Dead Milkmen were simple. Most of the best of Loud Reed was simple. Simple never steered anyone wrong. Simple is refreshing these days. Check out “Rent,” a cow-bell driven jam about, um, how much it sucks to pay rent. Then there’s “King Kong,” an ode of sorts to, um, King Kong. Sample lyric: “He tried to steal the girl even though he couldn’t fit it in the girl.” And guess what “Love Scented Candles” is about. This album is so free of bullshit that it completely disarms you."
9/6/2010
link
"Mid-Year Report – Albums
#25. Woozy Viper – s/t (self-released)
I’m tempted to say that the songs are deceptively simple. But that’s not right. These are simple songs. But what was ever wrong with simple? The Ramones were simple. The Dead Milkmen were simple. Most of the best of Loud Reed was simple. Simple never steered anyone wrong. Simple is refreshing these days. Check out “Rent,” a cow-bell driven jam about, um, how much it sucks to pay rent. Then there’s “King Kong,” an ode of sorts to, um, King Kong. Sample lyric: “He tried to steal the girl even though he couldn’t fit it in the girl.” And guess what “Love Scented Candles” is about. This album is so free of bullshit that it completely disarms you."
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Jungle Rot review
Jungle Rot
9/5/2010
link
"The mysterious weirdos behind WOOZY VIPER have released another venomous album into the world and it's completely free.
"ROCK & ROLL" is a fitting title for the album, which runs the gamut of rock n' roll sounds, from Stones-y struts to Sun Records echoed out rompers.
Download the album at their website below and shoot them an e-mail to let 'em know you like it. This will be a personal favorite of mine for a good while."
9/5/2010
link
"The mysterious weirdos behind WOOZY VIPER have released another venomous album into the world and it's completely free.
"ROCK & ROLL" is a fitting title for the album, which runs the gamut of rock n' roll sounds, from Stones-y struts to Sun Records echoed out rompers.
Download the album at their website below and shoot them an e-mail to let 'em know you like it. This will be a personal favorite of mine for a good while."
Friday, September 3, 2010
Hindustan Times review
Hindustan Times (India)
9/3/2010
link
"Legally Free
Here’s a confession. I’m a sucker for interesting band names. So when Obscure Sound, an mp3 blog that I get feeds from, suggested Woozy Viper, a New York city duo that makes Sixties kind of mod music but with a contemporary twist I was definitely up for it. Woozy Viper can remind you of Black Lips or MC5 or even the Pixies but their music is far from derivative. I sampled three songs, King Kong, Look Out! and The Switchblade Swing before discovering that the band’s debut album is downloadable for free. They have a style that is as classic as it is modern. And their songs don’t take time to grow on you."
9/3/2010
link
"Legally Free
Here’s a confession. I’m a sucker for interesting band names. So when Obscure Sound, an mp3 blog that I get feeds from, suggested Woozy Viper, a New York city duo that makes Sixties kind of mod music but with a contemporary twist I was definitely up for it. Woozy Viper can remind you of Black Lips or MC5 or even the Pixies but their music is far from derivative. I sampled three songs, King Kong, Look Out! and The Switchblade Swing before discovering that the band’s debut album is downloadable for free. They have a style that is as classic as it is modern. And their songs don’t take time to grow on you."
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