Hi all,

Good news to report here.  FOUR VOLTS' debut album "Triple Your Workforce" has just been re-released on vinyl and CD on Germany's Little Teddy Records. 

The CD contains all the original tracks, plus a video for "Heartworm"--not available on the Kanine Records release.  The record includes an additional track "Anna the Marigold"--also not available on the Kanine Records release.

Copies can be purchased at: www.littleteddy.net

Happy camping!

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." - Hunter S. Thompson With that said, the new FOUR VOLTS CD, "Triple Your Work Force" can be ordered direct from Brooklyn's own Kanine Records. Go to the Kanine Shop. You can also find the CD at any Virgin Records. OR... if you hate Virgin (like me), get it from one of these fine places: NYC: Othe Music, Mondo Kim's/Kim's Underground, Rebel Rebel, Virgin Megastore Boston: Newbury Comics San Francisco: Rasputin Music, Mod Lang Atlanta: Criminal Records Providence: Armageddon Shop Austin: Waterloo Records Seatle: Sonic Boom UK: Rough Trade Japan: Warszawa

This little snippet appeared recently in Hybrid Magazine. Funny. "Four Volts - Triple Your Workforce Godzilla: Brilliant Synth/guitar hybrid rock, full of punk attitude and pop sensibilities. My favorite new band! Mothra: It's so damned cool! Ballsy and fun, reminds me of the Kinks. Rodan: Poppy indie post punk good time rock and roll. Gamera: Sometimes accidentally in tune. Snotty garage disco that you can't dance to."

Hi all, This review comes from a great music only site called "Drowned in Sound" (www.drownedinsound.com). Truly kind souls they must be, as they really liked the record! Read on: "Triple Your Work Force by Four Volts on Kanine Records Release date: 10th January 2005 If I tell you that they were almost sued by the makers of the Muppets over their previous choice of band name (Bunsen Honeydew, for the information of Muppets fans), and swooned over by such luminaries as Graham Coxon, Beck and the Television Personalities, this debut offering from New Yorkers Four Volts may have you halfway convinced before you hear a single note. But that would obviously make for a piss-poor review so let me ask you this: Remember all those nights that you spent getting high/drunk/laid listening to The Pixies? Well when these boys and girls did it, there must have been an instrument or two lying around. But not for a minute does ‘Triple Your Workforce’ sound like a rehash of the works of those that inspired it. The sound of the record is often a lot fuller than that conjured up by Frank Black et al, yet frontman Danny Tieman’s vocal delivery is no less ferocious and if it’s lacking in heart-bursting classics like ‘Velouria’, there is a lot here to indicate that, potentially, they could scale such heights. 'Sunday Night', for example, is a triumphant finish to an album that sounds like a great weekend. The jaunty rhythms at the advent of the album are the butterflies in your stomach at the end of the working week, and the record never ceases to be as fun as a Friday night wisely spent drinking too much, chasing the opposite sex and smashing the shit out of bus-stops. ‘Way In’ soars; ‘Hat Trick’ smoulders with measured Sonic Youth cool then explodes like they always threatened to, while ‘Rearrange Me’ is The TV Personalities if they lived up to their name by appearing on the OC; a rolling, rumbling bassline egged on by bowling, bouncing, vocals that shine with wistful nostalgia. Four Volts are post-punk pirates, fun but threatening, incongruous yet harmonious, inherently crazed yet still, at times, darn clever. Whilst plundering the treasure of those that sailed these waters before them, they put their own mark on what they find; the four-piece diving into pretty much all the various pools of post-rock and coming up for air with something that is to my ears unique. This is where they conquer as others around them fall. As most of their contemporaries are quite happy draining every last ounce of excitement from the late 80’s-early 90’s sound that they blatantly pilfer, Four Volts reclaim it as their own. Imagine Autolux having fun. Hard isn’t it? Well some of the vocal parts on this album taken separately wouldn’t be out of place on an album like ‘Future Perfect’; the laconic nuances of bassist/vocalist Lisa Cuomo in particular, but somehow here they just sound like more. This record won’t save your life, but the point is that it doesn’t want to. It is variously ethereal, (the white noise of ‘Outpost’), sexy, (‘Hat Trick’), and just damn plain silly, (‘I’m Not A Psychopath’), but never in an inane fat-man, pulling faces whilst telling a fart joke way. No; pop-punk, post-punk, post-rock, whatever; this entertaining debut shows how it can still sound essential today." From: http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/11444

I really like this review. It's from "Lost at Sea" and certainly captures a current trend in music. Drink up! "Four Volts Triple Your Workforce Kanine Records Rating: 8/10 “If you’re enjoying it so much, then what’s the problem,” she asks, as she pours herself another glass of Riesling. “Nothing’s wrong,” he says as he finishes the last bites of his sweet potato polenta and wipes his mouth with the powder blue cloth napkin. “Maybe that’s your problem. You can’t enjoy anything if you don’t have anything to complain about.” “That’s unfair.” He picks up his wine glass, stands up and walks into the living room, looking out the window into the wintry night. “I don’t think it is. You take pleasure in bringing other things down, but you can’t find pleasure in the thing itself.” He finishes his glass and stares at the bottom of it for a moment too long. “Do we have any scotch?” “Don’t try avoiding the issue. Didn’t I see you nodding your head the whole time, from the second I put it on?” He walks over to the bar at the opposite end of the living room. He looks aimlessly at the array of bottles, picking each one up and pretending to examining it. “Answer the question. You were nodding your head, tapping your fingers on the table, even smiling, were you not?” “Yeah, maybe.” He pours a glass of Makers Mark a quarter-way full and sits back down at the table. “And did you not pick your head up, and tilt your ear that way you do when you hear a song you like, as soon as the first one came on?” “I guess.” “You guess, or you did?” She takes a sip of Riesling and swirls it around in her mouth several times before swallowing. “I did. Fine. It sounded like an early Wire song, okay?” “In a good way?” “Yes. In a good way.” He stares at her as he takes a long sip of the Makers Mark through tightly pursed lips. She picks the jewel case for Triple Your Workforce up off of the table and looks at it with a dramatically deliberate gesture. “Now correct me if I’m wrong, but you picked this case up several times to look at the names of the songs, right?” He stares at her, trying to look as coolly annoyed as he can, but he was never much of a poker player. “Right? I think it was the fifth one, ‘Andy Likes His Gravy,’ that made you laugh.” “At least something did tonight,” he mutters under his breath. She pretends not to hear him. “And I know you loved ‘Way In.’ You always love those boozy-sounding anthems, don’t you?” He looks at her up and down, trying to forget how attractive he finds that and crooked smile mischievous glint in her eye. “Well, don’t you?” “Yes, goddamnit, yes! I liked the anthem! I like the whole freakin’ album! A lot!” He takes the cloth napkin from the table and throws it on the ground. “It’s fun, it moves along at a great pace, it’s noisy in just the way I like! These guys are having a good time playing together, and it rubs off on you as you’re listening! Okay! Are you happy!” She takes a long sip of her wine, and smiles to herself. “I’m only happy if you’re happy. So, yes, I suppose I’m happy.” He picks the napkin up off the floor, folds it neatly and places it underneath his glass of Makers Mark. He looks at her and takes a deep breath. “Maybe we can listen to it again now?”" Can be found at www.LostAtSea.net/LAS. Click "Reviews". Click "Four Volts".

Hey all, Not entirely accurate, but who is? Pitchfork media gave FOUR VOLTS a decent review and can NOW also be seen on the FRONT page of pitchformedia.com: "Four Volts Triple Your Work Force [Kanine; 2005] Rating: 7.7 Buy it from Insound: http://www.insound.com/annex/searchlink.cfm?query=four volts&from=47597 This Long Island quartet began life under the moniker/cease-and-desist magnet Bunsen Honeydew. After two 7" singles, the loss of their original drummer, and a call from the lawyers, they reconvened under the less-imaginative-- albeit less litigious-- Four Volts. As befits a band who found inspiration in a Muppet, Four Volts sound extremely spirited, sometimes goofy, and occasionally hilarious. On their full-length debut, Triple Your Work Force, they play pop songs in the punk manner: loud, brash, and often sloppy, closer to the wildness of Animal than the scientist's bumbling nerdiness. That doesn't make them unique, but their relentless energy and sense of fun serve them much better than an undue emphasis on innovation. Triple Your Work Force displays the band's penchant for rowdy verses and big choruses: "Didn't You Used to Be Invisible?" kicks the album off with a pogoing beat closer to Big Audio Dynamite than the Clash. "Rearranged" is their frenetic explosion of 70s New York punk. "Mary Said" is a rousing anthem for bored newlyweds. The insanely catchy "Heartworm (Ooh Ooh Song)" contrasts Danny Tieman's increasingly manic delivery with an urgent guitar, handclaps, and Lisa Cuomo's harmonizing ooh oohs. Four Volts play up this contrast between abrasive lead vocals and calmer, almost cooing backing vocals, which enlivens "Bedlam on the Beat" and adds hefty tension to "She Muddied the Water". Songs like "Andy Likes His Gravy" and "I'm Not a Psyche-o-Path" (16 seconds of insistently chanting the title) prove that Four Volts aren't afraid of silliness in pursuit of searing lyrics and catchy choruses, but they pull a fast one and turn their gaze shoeward on late-in-the-album songs like "Hat Trick" and "Sunday Night". -Stephen M. Deusner, February 10, 2005"

Hi all, Four Volts' music was recently used by those kind, big-business monkeys, MTV for their show 'Made'--no joke! As well, they're the featured artist from that particular episode. You can view details from this episode at: http://www.mtv.com/onair/dyn/made/episode.jhtml?episodeID=81689 Click on "Music From This Episode" for other artists from this episode. ALLTHEBEST, BR

The following comes from freewilliamsburg.com: "February 01, 2005 Four Volts Being threatened with a lawsuit by The Muppets might not generate the typical rock star mystique most bands desire. Few heavy rockers want the image of Fozzy, Kermit, and Miss Piggy associated with their band. Nevertheless, New York rockers Brian Rayman, Danny Tieman, Lisa Cuomo, and Than Luu were asking for trouble when they named their band after the bald Muppet scientist, Bunsen Honeydew. You know, the puppet in the white coat who terrorizes Beeker. The copyright holders caught wind of the band and they dodged a lawsuit by renaming themselves Four Volts. However, having The Village Voice blame them (in part) for the closing of Coney Island High may have added a little edge to their reputation. Reportedly, one of their shows was so loud and abrasive it brought in multiple complaints that led to the ill-fated club's eventual demise. Over the last couple of years, Four Volts have secured the reputation as one of New York's best live bands. The buzz has expanded with a four star review in NME, a critics choice write-up in Time Out London, and air play by John Peel. The band has even released several tracks on Transcopic, Graham Coxon's (Blur) label. Four Volts are noisy enough to satisfy anyone longing for lively post-punk anthems. But it's their hooks and pop sensibility that will keep their music ringing blissfully in your head after you press the stop button on your iPod. They've been compared to everyone from Jesus and Mary Chain, to Blur, to My Bloody Valentine but soon people will be comparing new bands to Four Volts. Their just-released debut record, Triple Your Work Force, was produced by Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Cibo Matto, Boredoms) on Williamsburg's newest label Kanine Records. It's an impressive debut. You can see Four Volts live every Wednesday in February at Pianos. We interviewed Long Island natives Danny Tieman and Brian Rayman via email in late January 2005. ************ Where did you meet? What's your role in the band? Brian Rayman: I went to high school with Danny. Been doing Four Volts for a year or two now. Danny Tieman: I'm learning how to play guitar, how to contort my body on stage, and how to sing. I met Brian in High School. He was one of a whopping few friends I could count on. One of Django Reinhardt's mutated hands. Lisa Cuomo plays bass and sings. Than Luu plays drums and sings. Has your music ever gotten you laid? BR: Never. It usually scares the ladies away! DT: Ha ha -2/4 of Four Volts are virgins, but I'm not saying who. How did you get involved with Blur's guitarist Graham Coxon? DT: Well we played this show at Coney Island High — if anyone remembers it before it closed down. We were threatened at that show by management because we were too abrasive and loud. Ha. Really, people couldn't order their drinks, etc. But anyway, some girl came up to us after the gig and was like "I know a good label for you guys, send them something." She claimed she knew Graham, so we thought "ohh shit, big in." But she didn't. In the end he wound up hearing our demo, and after quite awhile they released a 12 inch single/ep and we toured over there after that. The press material states that "their fan list includes Calvin "K" Johnson, Beck, Blur and the Television Personalities." You must be great self-promoters. How did you hear they were fans? BR: We met Calvin at a show in Williamsburg. He said he loved us and danced like he meant it! Super sweet guy. Graham from Blur released a Bunsen Honeydew record — which showed up in a photo of Beck's record collection. No joke! And we've befriended Sportique over the years — who are a great band and include former members of Television Personalities. They said they like us. I'll take their word for it. Oh, and as for "self-promotion", we're the f-ing best. Watch this one: we're the music industry's "best-kept secret". Just ask Beck, Blur or Calvin Johnson. DT: Actually we only aim to have the world's most famous and celebrated musican's as our fans, no one else. We're retarded like that, that's how things work for us, it's not intentional in any way. Ha When did the copyright holders of "Bunsen Honeydew" discover you? Did they have lawyers contact you? BR: A couple years ago. I think they found us from the record released on Transcopic. We were contacted and told to stop by Jill Peterson. That's Jill Peterson of the Henson Corp., now owned by Disney. That's JILL PETERSON: 1416 North LaBrea Ave. Hollywood, CA 90028 Phone: 323.802.1500 Fax: 323.8802.1825 DT: Yah they threatend us pretty good. They ordered a cease and desist actually. They tried to strong-arm us to surrender the domain name bunsenhoneydew.com. Well, we didn't (ohhh noooo) but we did let it expire when we changed the band name. The funny thing was they were claiming we were defiling the goodwill/nature of their name/muppet. But funny enough... if your feelin' kinda randy (and your boss isn't around) see what's become of "cyber good will." Hats off to the law crew at Henson, heh heh. Can anyone say Italian porn??? [note, the site is under construction] Do you guys ever hang out, or do you see too much of each other at practice/shows/in the studio? BR: What? We hang out all the time! We even hang out with the people who did the [CD's] artwork and Martin, who recorded the record. We're all friends. DT: We all want to get surgically attached — we're just not sure who would fit where — and how we'll use the potty — we all have shy bladder, but we're mapping things out. Any pop vices like the O.C. or Elimidate? BR: Ha! I think we were played on MTV's Made. DT: Yah, I watched that episode, when it was on last week — funny I think the O.C. seems very late 90's which is odd... 90210 is infinitely cooler. What band would you be most honored to be compared to? BR: Hmmm... For me, maybe Roy Orbison?? If that's aiming too high, then The Buzz — a 60's group with one single, but well worth it. DT: Most honored...oh man....that's crazy. Bands who survive thru time, and keep their cool I guess... the very few who manage to do it. Maybe TVP's or Sonic Youth? Who was the first band you ever saw live? BR: Either Judy Collins with my dad or the Beach Boys after a Yankee Game with the fam — I can't remember. DT: Depeche Mode, was my first real concert. I was 13. I squeezed into my sister's Doc Martin's, which were about 3 sizes too small. My feet were like lil' loaves of bread bakin' in there. What's you favorite New York restaurant? Bar? BR: We ate at Moto the other day. That was good! Favorite bar? They're all the same to me. DT: I know this is sick, but I've been on this insane San Loco kick, and Vegetarian Paradise will always hold a special place in my heart. Is Four Volts a better live band or studio band? BR: Studio. DT: Live, more intense. for sure. Do you guys ever get fucked up before going on stage? BR: Sometimes we fuck each other up. Does that count? DT: Than and I did jumping jacks once before a show, before we were told to stop But Lisa is really the only one who drinks before shows in general. I knocked two teeth out at a practice when I was completely sober. You know what I mean? I hate the word "succulent." Any pet peeve words? BR: "Succulent" sound gross! I hate it when a person says "negatory". DT: I really really hate the words: meal, nest, snack, panties, puss, cuss...and many more. What's next? BR: More shows? Tour! I'm psyched to record again. DT: Lots of live shows... build up our fan base, you know the works!!!!! Extra Credit: What's on you iPod playlist (real or imaginary)? BR: Suicide, the dB's, XTC, Paul McCartney and Throbbing Gristle. DT: Johnny Cash, Mum, Husker Du, Psychic TV, The Beatles, Libertines, Swell Maps, Rebecca Shiffman, Jacques Brel, Wire. -- Interview by Robert Lanham Posted by freewilliamsburg at February 1, 2005 02:10 PM"

"FUG CUE 7 By John Fortunato FOUR VOLTS JOLT BIG APPLE Getting together in Half Hollow High School, guitarist-vocalists’ Brian Rayman and Danny Tieman began exploring musical possibilities within the confines of a Long Island basement. Soon after, with bassist Lisa Cuomo and drummer Theo Cataforis (replaced by Than Luu) in tow, Bunsen Honeydew (a moniker clipped from The Muppets) was born. When Muppets copyright holders Henson Corp. threatened legal action, the youthful quartet, whose Lower Manhattan gigs gained favorable attention, quickly changed their appellation to Four Volts, opening for venerable indie artists the Futureheads, British Sea Power, and Blur’s Graham Coxon. On electrifying debut, Triple Your Workforce, Four Volts counter clamorous multi-harmonic deluges and cleansing melodic buoyancy with harsh 6-string distortion, fusing fuzzy shoegaze contortions to angelic sing-along mantras. Showing a great affinity for brutally raw ‘70s punk, the beat-driven “Rearrange Me” soars skyward with a bouncy ‘ba-ba-ba’ chant and screechy dual guitar blear while the adenoidal “Didn’t You Used To Be Invisible?” proves too extroverted for the emo pack’s piss-y suburbia moans. Indubitably, the neurotic anxieties and decadent romanticism of enduringly mod Brit-pop eccentrics Television Personalities truly inform Rayman’s muse. “Growing up, I heard lots of Dylan and Simon & Garfunkle. I still respect them, but it doesn’t come through in my music. The Beatles influence my songwriting and the Buzzcocks and Modern Lovers do as well. But my all-time favorites are the Television Personalities,” Rayman admits. “They have a new recording coming out that I’m excited about. But I also love Joe Meek’s sound affect recordings (such as the Tornadoes’ classic instrumental “Telstar”). Syd Barrett got me into that stuff. He was Pink Floyd’s mastermind in the early days. But I still love (the post-Barrett) Dark Side of the Moon.” Fiery feedback riffs enforce “Bedlam On The Beat” and “Hat Trick,” both bringing to mind late ‘80s shoegazers My Bloody Valentine and Jesus & Mary Chain as well as doomed post-punk contemporaries, the Libertines. But a more impressionable noise-pop source seems to be Sonic Youth and the Boredoms, whose former producer, Martin Bisi, worked on Four Volts debut. “He’s a good friend of ours and an all-around great guy, born and raised in New York City. He started out working with Brian Eno in the early ‘80s, which inspired his style.” Rayman continues, “He records in an old concrete-walled war artillery basement with no foam or padding. That’s how he got the Sonic Youth and Swans sound. I think it’s impossible to record with Martin and not get that density and unwashed sound.” Perhaps the buzzing “Way In” best represents Bisi’s technique, with its frantic static-y friction and off-key clattered chatter surrounding a lucid guitar figure in a tumultuous setting. Yet the super-perky cuddle-core power pop pearl “Heartworm” sticks out like a sore thumb thanks to adorably catchy ‘ooh ooh’ choral climaxes, bittersweet symphonic sweeps, and deliciously sanctimonious wing and a prayer philosophizing. “I wanted a Ronettes-like melody line,” Rayman offers. “The song becomes more aggressive as its character darkens, trying to end it all screaming ‘it’s getting hard to sing this song’ then ‘it’s getting hard to see your face’ because everything fades as he leaves this world. So he says ‘go away, go away, we’ll all be dead but not today.’” Expect a lofty level of fan appreciation to come their way mighty soon, folks. Check ‘em out every Wednesday in February ’05 at Manhattan’s Piano’s or at Mercury Lounge, January 18th." From "The Aquarian Weekly" - 01/05

"FOUR VOLTS Triple Your Work Force Paul McMorrow VERDICT: Pop rock chops chalk up Coxon’s props. On their MySpace profile, Four Volts describes their sound as “noisy, brutish, yet fragile and sensitive …combin[ing] the best of indie, pop, noize, punk and shoegaze – all with a modern edge.” Balls to that; this is my review, not theirs, so they’re a schizophrenic amalgamation of the Pixies, Mission of Burma and Emergency Music. This album is loud, happy and good. The bio: Long Island drifters, most famous for bragging about how much Graham Coxon digs them. Despite being a longtime New York buzz band, Four Volts never had enough Ritalin to stay in the studio and actually record a whole album (until now, obviously). Triple Your Workforce is their first proper LP, and it delivered a swift boot to my ears. “Heartworm (ooh ooh song),” “Mary Said” and “Rearrange Me” are fast, jangly tunes to bounce around your cubicle and throw your stapler to. “Andy Likes His Gravy” is about gravy, which is delicious and absolutely song-worthy, while “Sunday Night” is touching and beautiful in a way that won’t get your ass kicked if you listen to it in Southie. Sell your shoes, or your body if you have to, but buy this record. Just make sure you have enough cash left over for beers when they play The Pill next month (2/18). (Kanine Records) www.kaninerecords.com" From: http://www.weeklydig.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/Article.view/issueID/87eb4874-dc0e-4793-ad6d-133abc09a5af/articleID/0dcb3649-9fb4-4734-992d-628475050aad/nodeID/5666324c-2898-4bdc-a362-4afcac799fcd