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Album Details

• Artist: Vietnam
• Album: The Concrete's Always Grayer On The Other Side Of The Street
• Label: Vice
• Year of Release: 2004
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2005-06-27

Vice gets a lot of bad press for trying too hard to be cool, or for trying to create their own cool ethos. And they should; if you have a plan on how to be cool, you just aren't. Still, it is hard to knock their roster. The Panthers, Death From Above 1979, and Vietnam deliver the goods and are, well, cool. For all the heated debate about Vietnam, you would think that they have released more than just this short EP. These earnest hippies who love their White Light White Heat are smeared across the web as derivative pap to the real deal. They fall somewhere in between. Clearly, "It Makes No Difference" is one the best songs of the year. While it features the Dylanesque vocal snide of Joshua Garret and the "Sister Ray" guitar riffing that makes for annoying repetition on other tracks, this weary ode to resignation could make it on an actual Velvets record. Or at least a Mudhoney one. "Too Tired and the bit too long "Apocalypse" take the Velvet route through more mundane territory, but overall this is a band that has major potential and yeah, is cool.

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