Weak Records

Huge thanks to DON CAMPAU for broadcasting Tobias Thomhave on his No Pigeonholes/Radio KKUP-FM show San Francisco! http://doncampau.podomatic.com

Thanks to TOM HAMILTON and CELTIC MUSIC RADIO for playing three songs by THE JESUS TACO and one by BOBBY VACANT & THE WORN on their MUSIC FROM THE LOFT show on Tuesday, February 12th. We love you Glasgow! http://podcast.canstream.co.uk/celticmusic/index.php?id=8298

TOBIAS THOMHAVE - RECORD RELEASE SHOWS! - ZUERICH, MARCH 21st and COPENHAGEN MARCH 24th  ----One of the most stunning and mesmerizing debuts of the last few years, Tobias Thomhave’s songs and voice are enchanting, haunting and heartbreaking all at the same time. The Swedish singer-songwriter wanders aimlessly through the world with nothing but a guitar and pen and keen childhood eye of innocence, yet never forgetting the tough reality of the broken sidewalk forest in which he wanders. Tobias’s lush, poignant work leaves you in the end feeling empty and numb, yet hopeful and happy to be alive. Please come and join us for a warm and atmospheric evening of celebration in honor of the official release of Tobias Thomhave’s new album Tobias Thomhave on Weak Records.
 

TOBIAS THOMHAVE -- The new album has just been mastered by Jason Ward in Chicago. The cover design by artist Maj Horn is in. Stay tuned for more details on the official release parties both in Zuerich and Copenhagen this coming March!

WEAK RECORDS has just signed Swedish singer/songwriter and Copenhagen-based TOBIAS THOMHAVE to WEAK RECORDS for a new album to be released in spring 2013. The forthcoming album is a heartbreaking mix of melancholic yet hopeful songs covering a lifetime of childhood yearning, love, life and everything therein. To get a taste of what it's all about, please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tez9D9J0jtk
 

THE SKINNY  (UK) - (March 14th 2012)
Album review by Sam Wiseman.
The world of Virginia Neon is one simultaneously familiar and alien, an American landscape of deserts and bars by turns seedy, lonely and tender. On songs like Nobody’s There, Bobby Vacant’s direct lyrical evocations of a transient existence, laid over effectively simple bass and drums, occasionally make him sound like Americana’s answer to Ian Curtis. Virginia Neon, however, never plumbs the emotional depths of Closer, with Vacant’s tone more melancholy and reflective than tortured.
That register suits the pared-down When You Burned My Eyes, which features fingerpicked guitar, banjo, and mournful Damien Jurado-esque vocals. Such moments represent the LP’s highpoints; Vacant is less convincing when he ups the tempo on pieces like Let It Come Down, a weirdly wobbly amalgamation of clattering percussion, slide guitar and gospel-style backing vocals. Virginia Neon makes no attempt to hide such blemishes; and they feel somehow necessary, part of the fabric of this capricious and commendably odd record.
 

SIC MAGAZINE -  (Feb 2012)  Opening like Adam Ant (‘Dog Eat Dog’, honest) it soon becomes evident that, in fact, this is a truly great Country Rock album. By complete chance I’d just listened to Johnny Cash American IV and several tracks here wouldn’t be out of place. ‘When You Burned My Eyes’ reminds me of (ex Kingston Trio) John Stewart, a beautiful story of longing.
‘Run’ is a shit-kicker albeit one that is redolent of ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ – though thankfully lyrically not musically. ‘St. Peter’s Island’ visits a porch that could easily be shared with Josh T. Pearson, showing the way of devoted love. ‘Snow in April’ bubbles with, almost subconscious at first, synth giving way to fiddle, cutting a line like Leonard Cohen’s ‘Dress Rehearsal Rag’.
Despite the Country Rock label I’m applying the use of instruments is inspiring; from sax on ‘Without You’ to little synth noises on ‘Nobody’s There’ (which sounds like it could be Australian, somewhere near the Go-Betweens or – more recently – Cloud Control). Among these tracks is acoustic stuff that may more commonly conjure up ‘Country’ – the whole is satisfyingly rounded. It all adds up to an album that works perfectly within the framework it sets up for itself. The fact it was recorded in Switzerland suggests a prophet shunned in his own land. 

PIRATENRADIO / ROCKSTR MAGAZINE - (Dec. 2011) Die Hoffnung scheint er vor der Tür des Aufnahmestudios gelassen zu haben. So zumindest klingt es, wenn Bobby Vacant zu den grossen Themen in die Saiten greift: Die Strassen, die in der Nacht zu schlecht beleuchteten Irrgärten für Einsame werden.
Die Mädchen, die einem ein Lächeln, nie aber ihr Herz schenken. Manchmal steht die Stimme des Schweiz-Amerikaners dabei Fünf-vor-Chris-Isaak, ohne sich je in dessen Kitsch aufzulösen. Am Ende der Reise blickt man auf ein stimmiges, anrührendes Werk aus Americana, Folk und Punk zurück. Und gerne tritt man sie ein weiteres Mal an.

Bewertung: 5 von 6

Wer das mag, mag auch: Matt Boroff «Elevator Ride», Josh T. Pearson «Last Of The Country Gentlemen», Damien Jurado «Caught In The Trees»
 

NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY - (Dec 16th 2011)
Bobby Vacant and the Weary’s 2009 album Tear Back the Night is a high point in recent rock history, a richly arranged, sometimes crushingly intense mix of darkly lyrical folk-rock and more ornate, crescendoing anthems. Since then, Swiss-American songwriter Bobby Vacant has hardly been idle, going against the tide with an enterprising new label, Weak Records, who’ve so far put out an entertaining album of eclectic Americana rock by the Jesus Taco. And now Vacant has a new album, Virginia Neon, credited to Bobby Vacant and the Worn this time around (multi-instrumentalist George Reisch, a.k.a. the Weary being replaced by bassist/singer Brigitte Meier a.k.a. the Worn). It’s almost but not quite as bleak, considerably more diverse and a lot louder than its predecessor, juxtaposing quiet acoustic songs with some unexpectedly fiery, energetic rock. And where Tear Back the Night went for lush arrangements, this has much more of a DIY feel. Leonard Cohen fans will be salivating all over this record.
The best of the 14 tracks here include both rockers and quieter fare. Surprisingly, the one that stands out as an instant college radio hit is the funniest one. With a strikingly simple, distantly apprehensive bass-driven hook that goes jangly and irresistibly catchy on the chorus, Nobody’s There is a wry catalog of ways to get attention. That’s how it works on a literal level, anyway – all these songs are minefields of symbolically loaded detail. The Jesus Taco’s Brett Davidson’s Man or Astroman style surf guitar drives the rumbling southwestern gothic opening track, Lay Me Down, while Run, a vigorous, exasperated garage-punk escape anthem with a Diddleybeat bounce, wouldn’t be out of place in the Steve Wynn catalog.
Among the quiet songs, Snow in April evokes the David J classic Stop This City, with its torrents of spoken-word images and vivid late winter  milieu. The most intense track here is The Road, a hypnotic folk-rock song in a Tim Buckley vein:
I drove across the USA
I saw pain in every face
Headlights chasing down the dawn
Lost souls, every one
Carry on…
There’s also When You Burned My Eyes, whose wistful, almost sentimental vibe only adds to the title’s intrigue; the stately baroque folk of St. Peter’s Island; Without You, an interestingly funky take on Joy Division-esque gloom; Where You Live, a lullaby as a young Jonathan Richman might have done it; Shiny Pearl, an unexpected detour into acoustic soul music; Wild Wind Blows, an allusively menacing banjo tune; and Skylark, which mines a Pale Blue Eyes-ish Velvets vibe. It’s good to see such a tersely compelling songwriter holding onto the momentum of his previous album, with contributions from several artists including Per Blomgren (ex-Radio Dept.) on drums and luthier Tyko Runesson adding thoughtful melody and texture on about fifteen fretted, keyboard and wind instruments.

BOBBY VACANT & THE WORN - ´´Nobody´s There´´ featured on Don Campau´s No Pigeonholes Radio Marabu European December Edition http://doncampau.podomatic.com/ ;