Who Killed Vinnie Miller ?

I just got an email from beggar's today plugging his record which I guess is finally out. They sat on this for a long time. I haven't heard the whole thing, but the 7" was disappointing based on the starry smooth hound song that was on Anakin all those years ago. Is it good? Is it bad? It seems to me that 4ad is burying him.

he's touring the west coast with the M*untain G*ats in late May - 4ad released the album shortly after they received it.

(and the album is ace, btw)

who are you? who are these goats you speak of? will they rawk my world or will they make me cry?

I just may go.

anthony you're joking right? I am in a permanent state of exhaustion and can no longer tell when people are joking. I played with Vinny last month at the ICA and he was so good - really absorbed in his songs. Can't wait to see him seven or eight times in a row. I'll post tour dates sometime within the next few weeks.

I am joking (not about probably coming though, I probably will).

in his own words:

"my debut album was released on 4AD/Beggars this Mon to deafening silence in UK print media. 50 albums hit the mat every week, journalists are overworked and underpaid creatures with a finite amount of listening energy being constantly harrassed by press departments whose jobs depend on those column inches in the sundays. monday morning the next 50 hit the mat and so on. there is SO MUCH music out there that sorting the wheat from the chaff can be a precarious business and i certainly won't be the first or last artist to sink under a wave of apathy, it happens. life's not fair like that.

this is scary for a number of reasons: most other territories look to the UK for the lead in what UK releases to write about. if they don't catch the vibe from the home turf it's on to the next one - in short i'm staring obscurity in the face, twist or bust."

and whaddya know? he speaks in idioms...

probably doesn't help that he's a semi-recluse with no manager

well, UK press is one thing - the rest of the world's quite another, and an artist's first album often takes quite a while to find its audience. People might think I'm just repping my label by saying so, but I really do think Vinny's album speaks for itself & will sit well with people who like outsider-singer-songwriter-weirdo stuff: which happens to be a pretty big audience at the moment (vide Devendra's great success, Coco Rosie's warm reception esp. in continental Europe, et al), relatively speaking.

Wouldn't usually talk much about stuff I'm close to, but I really believe in Vinny's album & think it's pretty premature to say much about how the album's being received.

Vinnie, you're wicked, mate, don't be down hearted yet. Any way, word of mouth is considered the best form of advertisement. Get talking to people-which I know you do well already-and network yourself, young grasshopper!