CD Review of Get Yr Blood Sucked Out by Viva Voce

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Buy your copy from Amazon.com Viva Voce:
Get Yr Blood Sucked Out
starstarstarstarstar Label: Barsuk Records
Released: 2006
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Raise your hands and say “Amen,” my babies! Viva Voce is going to save your mortal soul! This duo – made up of the essential rock elements “super awesome” and “ultra rad” (I believe the periodic table abbreviates these elements as SUAW and ULRA) – is about to open your eyes! Open them! Don’t be afraid. Okay, I have no idea what that means, but now that I have your attention…

The chick singing kinda sounds like a hot, stoned Juliana Hatfield, but cooler. Are the Lemonheads ever getting back together? Whatever. Moving on. (Editor’s note: New Lemonheads album drops September 26, sans Hatfield.) The dude sings too, but not until much later on in the record. He sings on a track called “We Do Not Fuck Around” and boy-howdy, he’s not kidding. The instrumentation runs the gamut from a slicker Velvet Underground-type sound to the Stone Roses when they were at their peak. It’s jammy without having to wade through smelly dirt children to get in the door at the club to see them. Did you hear that? That was the sound of thousands of college kids getting laid to this record.

Nothing makes me happier than opening up an album cover to find liner notes that read: “Written, Performed, Recorded and Produced by Viva Voce.” That is the way it’s going, kids. If you’re in a band and can’t record yourself and think that you need a label to give you a budget to record, you’re missing the frigging boat entirely. Also, any bands consisting of more than two members in today’s scene will either go hungry or get dropped because a label can’t afford hotel rooms for more than two people. It’s pure economics. I’m going to write a book on band economics. That would be a fun little exercise. No one would publish it, but who cares. I’ll stick it in a blog. For free. Milk and honey, my babies.

Okay, I told myself when I first sat down that I was going to refrain from verbally blowing this label, but holy shit. These guys are fucking incredible. They must have access to government tracking satellites or something, because Barsuk Records finds every great band on the planet and signs them up before anyone can say, “Careful, this plate is extremely hot.” It kinda makes me mad, but it’s hard to stay mad at them. They bring forth and share the music that makes the little girls cry. And I need a tissue.

~Josh Preston