(Doug Martsch covering a Smiths song that isn't "Reel Around The Fountain")

It's been a while since we've heard anything new from a member of the Smiths, so it's perfect timing for a new Smiths covers album... especially one with tracks interpreted by the Wedding Present,  Doug Martsch (Built To Spill), The Rest (one of my favorite new Arcade Fire-ish Canadian bands), Katy Goodman (La Sera, Vivian Girls), and Tanya Donelly.  This latest tribute will be released on American Laundromat Records this Fall and they are still adding folks to the track listing... which currently includes:

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What do you get when you put a blonde, a redhead, and a brunette on a stage with three mics, a drum set, a guitar, and a bass? You get the lo-fi garage rock of Vivian Girls’ Cassie Ramone, Kickball Katy, and Ali Koehler—Duh. No, but seriously, Vivian Girls are way more than a group of cute girls making music in Brooklyn, they are a group of talented young ladies whose surf-punk transcends rockabilly with three part harmonies that make you feel like you’re in the 20’s.

They harness a similar aesthetic as Mika Miko but theirs is coated with more shoe-gaze fuzz allowing them to become more dynamic, bringing their punk up and out of the limited market ability of that genre and making them more of the female equivalent of The Black Lips. I feel like Vivian Girls started to get buzz around the time I left New York and I never got to see them play live, so you can bet I won’t be missing their show during Bumbershoot on Sunday at 6 pm on the Broad Street stage.

This video to the recently-added-to-Bumbershoot Vivian Girls' song "Moped Girls" was filmed in Seattle when the band was here last month to play at Neumo's. It is a really cool video to a really cool song. It was recorded by local filmmaker Brady Hall.

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We caught up with all three Vivian Girls to talk about their new, forthcoming record, touring and playing both house parties and Coachella.

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Hotter-than-a-red-hot Brooklyn trio, the Vivian Girls, will be gracing our fair Neumos stage tomorrow, Thursday the 30th. There has been a shit ton of press and hype surrounding the Vivian Girls, and it's all true. They will deafen you with fuzzy punk rock and sex you up with their unsuspecting feminine wiles.

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Let's admit it: There has been a wave of near-deafening hype behind the Vivian Girls for over a year now. Then admit this: All that love is well deserved. The Vivian Girls have knocked the socks off a lot of really smart people who have good taste in music for a reason... they really are that good.

You should go see the V Girls when they play Neumo's this Thursday, April 30th with Abe Vigoda and The Girls (which makes sense to have them on the bill for so many design and sonic reasons)... and we're happy to say that we could help you get there with some money left in your pocket to pick up a cd or t-shirt at the merch booth.

Enter to win a pair of tickets to see this Thursday's show courtesy of Three Imaginary Girls. Email us at tig @ three imaginary girls.com with your name and the subject line "VGirlsGirlsGirls" by Tuesday, April 28th at 9a PST.

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When I asked the very intelligent and capable talent buyer Eli Anderson of the soon-to-be-reopened Crocodile Cafe, I was expecting a list of ten records he liked. Instead, he had sent me several well-written lists and deserves countless bonus points because he even showed his work.

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at Nectar

I was pleasantly surprised that they sounded much more like Tiger Trap than I had imagined.

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Being a band championed by the collective blog world is a blessing and curse.

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