Tomorrow, Benjamin Verdoes releases The Evil Eye on Brick Lane Records. For Verdoes, a founding and continuing member of the Seattle-based internet sensation Mount St. Helens Vietnam Band (MSHVB) on Dead Oceans, it is his first venture into solo territory. I doubt I’m the first to say that Verdoes is just as powerful here as…
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band is back with their first new material since their 2010 sophomore LP, Where The Messengers Meet. “Warm Body” is off the new MSHVB EP, due out on Dead Oceans in the near future. The track is on the softer side of what we’ve heard from this Seattle band, but it…
It is happening again. After two dormant weeks of doing virtually nothing (OK, very little is more like it), evenings this week were spent spinning vinyl by The Smiths and painting Andi’s sewing room in preparation for putting in the bamboo flooring this weekend.
Dead Oceans announced yesterday the sophomore release by Portland’s Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, titled Where The Messengers Meet. The album, out August 3, hits about a year and a half after the band’s self-titled debut. That album came in just outside our top 10 album of 2009 thanks to angular, erratic, and often hauntingly…
2009 is a tough year to judge. I’ve checked out more albums this year than any year in the past. Well over 1,000. And there have been quite a few great ones as well. When this list began, it had 110 albums. I abandoned my top 33 and 1/3 for 45, and then said “screw…
When I compiled my original Best Of 2008 list last December, it was a snow day. The sky dropped about a foot, maybe a foot and a half of fluffy white stuff and we lowly sub-compact drivers could go nowhere. Between ranking albums and locating album art, I took a stroll around town with my…
It hasn’t been all too long since Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band released their first video for a track off this year’s excellent self-titled debut LP, out now on Dead Oceans. In “Albatross, Albatross, Albatross” the band alters tempo and volume for a song both erratic and astounding. Signature to Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band…
Destruction has never been so catchy, as proven by Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band in their video for “Cheer For Fate”. The song, as noted in my review of their self titled Dead Oceans LP, the song originated from the group’s debut, Weepy EP.
Four of the eleven tracks on the latest release by Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, actually their debut full-length, are not exclusives. These four can also be found on their Weepy EP and include opener “Who’s Asking”, “Cheer For Fate”, “Anchors Dropped” and “Dull Reason”. But, to be honest, I could care less. Mt. St….
There’s a low buzz in the air. You can only hear it if you listen hard—very hard. But it’s there; it’s quiet now but it’s gaining in ferocity, gaining in momentum. Pretty soon it will dominate all. The buzz is that of people talking—the good ol’ word of mouth style of promotion—about Mt. St. Helens…
