L.A.’s James V (V as in “5th,” not as in “Victory”) was last spotted on the San Narcisco cassette EP on Marriage Records, home of YACHT, Lucky Dragons and more. Now’s he got a glossy new mix of his home-recorded San Narcisco just about to come out, thanks to some time spent with engineer extraordinatire John Congleton, who you may recognize from the fine print in albums by St. Vincent, Franz Ferdinand and Sparks’ FFS and lots more. Lead track “Tired Of Woman” takes what may once have been a just slightly lightly funky AOR bummer song and warps it into a lurching mutant monster that lives somewhere between no wave and new wave. It’d sound great at hungover brunch on a space station where nothing ever works exactly how it should—it was, after all, recorded within a cloud of asbestos particles, James reminds us. His “Tired Of Woman” 7″ will be out soon, followed by a video, followed by the full San Narciso EP at the end of September—pre-order here and get two tracks instantly! He’ll be performing at the Hi-Hat on Mon., Aug. 21, with the Lentils, Nequaquam Vacuum and Bokonon, too. Flyer below and uncommonly entertaining bio below!

James V (jeymz-thuh-fifth) is an LA-based recording artist whose debut EP San Narciso (sahn-nahrk-ee-soh) was released in December 2016 on Marriage Records. For over a year, James toiled in his asbestos-rampant home studio for countless hours “recording” (i.e. browsing FB, editing the Wikipedia page for Joe Pesci, tracking guitar, re-editing the Wikipedia page for Joe Pesci) his new musical venture. Secluded in this haze, he created San Narciso, an oblong dreamy stew of psych and funk with elements of Reichian minimalism, which his guitar teacher of 10 years referred to as “Morrissey jizz”. After emailing out his EP link to countless interns across the globe, James found a home in Marriage Records, which has released albums by artists such as Dirty Projectors and tUnE-yArDs. As the initial run of 100 cassettes began to dwindle down following a West Coast tour, supporting slots at the Teragram Ballroom, Highland Park Ebell Club, and most recently Deathstock III, James enlisted the skills of Grammy award-winning studio maven John Congleton to remix the album for its vinyl release.

Live he is joined by a talented amalgam of connections from past college jazz bands and Craigslist personals — Daniel Seman (guitar), Kirby Ditto (guitar, keyboards), Shannon Cain (bass) and Max Kelly (drums). Look for his single “Tired of Woman” and B-side “Dead Summer” available NOW (7” vinyl coming soon), along with the “Tired of Woman” music video debut 8/16 and rest of San Narciso 9/29.