Let's Push Things Backward

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Garrett Kamps of the Village Voice pours some cold water on the band Vietnam, whose debut album is out now.

[Link]
Vietnam give new meaning to the phrase, "I was in the shit." Here we have four bearded, longhair types from Brooklyn (sigh), who live in, like, a commune (oh boy), subsisting on a diet of cigarettes (just guessing) and some '70s rock reco—no wait! That's the whole problem. These guys think they're ripping off Derek & the Dominoes, but they're actually jacking the Black Crowes; they don't sound like the Velvet Underground, they sound like Brian Jonestown Massacre, like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. This is nothing like the oft-cited Spaceman 3. Taking Drugs to Make Music That Sucks is more like it.

Vietnam was cut in Los Angeles—100 percent analog, broseph!—which is fitting, as not since George Thorogood's Bad to the Bone has an LP sounded this hamstrung by the devil's dandruff. In his naively toe-curling Dylan-goes-electric dickless yawp, Michael Gerner sings about characters he must have seen in a Scorsese flick: "Money and class are just a pain in the ass for me/But if you stick it up my nose, I sniff it up and glow in the ecstasy." Easy now, Rimbaud.

Throughout, guitarist Josh Grubb slathers on the reverb the way shitty cooks use too much butter, sounding more like Eric Johnson than Eric Clapton. You almost have to feel bad for the folks who showed up to sing (why, Jenny Lewis?) or play organ and horns; the rhythm section, at the very least, can keep time. "Gabe" approaches a boogie, but it also contains these soon-to-be notorious lyrics: "How many times can a man slip through the floor/And man, how many times can a man ask 'Once more'?/And tell me how many answers do you have, señor?" If you stripped away all of Vietnam's contrivances, you'd be left with nothing but tape hiss, 'cause, like, it's fucking analog, señor.

Dead Flowers contributor Jake Drake responds to the article with this:

wow, that was an odd read. I guess he didn't get it.
The best record I've heard for years.
He must be a Death Cab For Cutie fan.

I would say I'm sympathetic to both sides. While Vietnam are no doubt talented ("Welcome to My Room" did end up on my best of 2006), one wishes that talent had been used more to present something fresh and original. Instead, we get a precise replica of the late 60's and early 70's, whether it's their music, their look, or even their name.

In all honesty, we've come to expect this from New York, where retro is very "now-tro". Try and name New York bands that aren't stuck in a year at least two decades past and you'll inevitably come up with a pretty short list. At least Vietnam do it right.