Machinedrum - Vapor City

Heavyweight is a fucking tune, you'd have be brain damaged to think otherwise.

funny you should say that, i was diagnosed with a serious brain injury which resulted in me not being able to fall in love with repetitive 808 loops and chopped up vocal samples that sound like literally every footwork song I've ever heard.

  On 11/26/2013 at 11:59 PM, John Ehrlichman said:

funny you should say that, i was diagnosed with a serious brain injury which resulted in me not being able to fall in love with repetitive 808 loops and chopped up vocal samples that sound like literally every footwork song I've ever heard.

 

lol

I personally cannot find anything interesting after the first couple of listen. average stuff for me

  On 11/29/2013 at 1:36 AM, murphythecat8 said:

 

  On 11/26/2013 at 11:59 PM, John Ehrlichman said:

funny you should say that, i was diagnosed with a serious brain injury which resulted in me not being able to fall in love with repetitive 808 loops and chopped up vocal samples that sound like literally every footwork song I've ever heard.

 

lol

I personally cannot find anything interesting after the first couple of listen. average stuff for me

 

lol

you guys sure know how to party

I've kind of moved beyond this record. I like it, but it isn't room(s)

Okay let's be honest. This record takes a lot of ideas from other artists. Where as room(s) did this, but with a fresh coat of paint, and a lot of energy, this one sounds like he's losing his own personal voice.

One thing a few people have mentioned but not enough is how much several tracks sounds like Boards of Canada; a couple of them (un/intentionally) lift licks/chords and strategies from BOC.

examples:

Center Your Love's chord sequence sounds like something from ABPOITC. It has "l-o-v-e" in it (mhtrtc), then around 3 there is that super BOC out of tune synth doing a little repetitive motif that could easily be for old tunes.

Seesea to me has little bell sounds that remind me of dawn chorus and that kind of creepy mood from geogaddi...also very much like breathe/stellarSTAR by flylo with the sidechained vocals...

U Still Lie has some 747 shit going on, as well as a lot of WASHED OUT.

Gunshotta could be a burial track.

Vizion is a vignette in the style of burial, there was one on Room(s)

There is no law that says you can't make music that sounds like other musician's music, people do it 24/7 daily. I'm just noticing his 'own' voice is lessened on this record, I can't help but hear all these other influences. His touch is the flawless, super tight production.

My favorite track is Seesea, because it rocks, idk.

It's just a nicely minimal take on a lot of the maximalist tendencies of this music. How's that?

Seesea is a rly good one.

U Still Lie is also epic, but would probably have been better as "You Still Lie."

Since it's basically a desaturated version of Rooms, the cyber shorthand of the track titles seems out of place, and I do think that matters, because it shapes your perception of the whole track.

Yeah I hope he goes balls to the wall from here on out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9ojxSWA8MM

  On 12/12/2013 at 9:24 PM, Salvatorin said:

I've kind of moved beyond this record. I like it, but it isn't room(s)

Okay let's be honest. This record takes a lot of ideas from other artists. Where as room(s) did this, but with a fresh coat of paint, and a lot of energy, this one sounds like he's losing his own personal voice.

One thing a few people have mentioned but not enough is how much several tracks sounds like Boards of Canada; a couple of them (un/intentionally) lift licks/chords and strategies from BOC.

examples:

Center Your Love's chord sequence sounds like something from ABPOITC. It has "l-o-v-e" in it (mhtrtc), then around 3 there is that super BOC out of tune synth doing a little repetitive motif that could easily be for old tunes.

Seesea to me has little bell sounds that remind me of dawn chorus and that kind of creepy mood from geogaddi...also very much like breathe/stellarSTAR by flylo with the sidechained vocals...

U Still Lie has some 747 shit going on, as well as a lot of WASHED OUT.

Gunshotta could be a burial track.

Vizion is a vignette in the style of burial, there was one on Room(s)

 

There is no law that says you can't make music that sounds like other musician's music, people do it 24/7 daily. I'm just noticing his 'own' voice is lessened on this record, I can't help but hear all these other influences. His touch is the flawless, super tight production.

 

My favorite track is Seesea, because it rocks, idk.

This is pretty dead-on, it's a bit of a dilemma too. You can't make such a diverse and accessible album without losing some sense of uniqueness. It'd be interesting to take all of these influences and stitch them into a DJ mix. In fact, surely someone has somewhere. Maybe it reinforces the fact that so many genres and "styles" are really nuanced and manufactured by journalists and fans after all.

There are very few producers who can churn out something really novel without edging on purely experimental and off-putting at this point. The ones who do it well usually have a major aesthetic that's hard to pin down. Travis is so fucking knowledgeable and talented he can pull so many things together in one album. It'd be interesting to know if Ninja Tune would push back if he, say, handed over tracks that were far more off-putting and weird than the slick and enjoyable ones he presented here. That's why R Plus 7 is so fascinating to me: Warp embraced that and promoted it far more than Exai or the poppy (and underrated) Jackson & The Computer Band album Glow. It's in end of year lists, and on paper so should Glow and Vapor City. Yet Chvrches and Yeezus are. It's been an arbitrary year for "ranking" and "rating" albums.

Regarding "U Still Lie" that think is prime chillwave/chill out. Very Washed Out/747 as you said, also Memoryhouse, M83, and Tycho and scores of others come to mind.

2:00 especially:

^also...

  On 12/18/2013 at 5:51 PM, sheatheman said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9ojxSWA8MM

Holy Shizz, 1:40-2:00 = pure gold. It's like an outtake from Modern Family or something.

New EP: Vizion

This is one of many likely EPs and other goodies to come with the "Vapor City Citizenship" newsletter membership, I'd say it warrants a new thread altogether. Each district on the site will unveil new content, and it's planned out month to month until June 2014, looks pretty neat to say the least!

http://www.mixmag.net/music/exclusive-music/premiere-machinedrum

http://machinedrum.net/

I realyy like this album, waiting for a new tracks,

and Merry Christmas Travis

  On 12/18/2013 at 7:41 PM, Bob Dobalina said:

 

  On 12/18/2013 at 5:51 PM, sheatheman said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9ojxSWA8MM

 

Holy Shizz, 1:40-2:00 = pure gold. It's like an outtake from Modern Family or something.

 

Oh man I listened to it at worked and missed it the first time, nice comparison. The finger point and all, hee hee.

I'm not feeling this looking like a gigantic twelve year old thing he's got going on, he should definitely revert back to the Rainer Werner Fassbinder look IMO.

  On 12/18/2013 at 5:51 PM, sheatheman said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9ojxSWA8MM

Dang.. Travis is so talented. Sucks that he has to do stuff like this for money

  On 12/12/2013 at 10:01 PM, sheatheman said:

It's just a nicely minimal take on a lot of the maximalist tendencies of this music. How's that?

 

Seesea is a rly good one.

 

U Still Lie is also epic, but would probably have been better as "You Still Lie."

 

Since it's basically a desaturated version of Rooms, the cyber shorthand of the track titles seems out of place, and I do think that matters, because it shapes your perception of the whole track.

I think the minimal take comment is a keen observation. I just don't like that it feels more repetitive, my mind wanders too much during the tracks.

I guess I was also all ready to be fired up after Clissold VIP and eyesdontlie that the album couldn't help but be a disappoint. After taking a long break from it I think I'm starting to appreciate it more on its own terms.

  On 12/20/2013 at 7:05 AM, cult fiction said:

 

  On 12/12/2013 at 10:01 PM, sheatheman said:

It's just a nicely minimal take on a lot of the maximalist tendencies of this music. How's that?

 

Seesea is a rly good one.

 

U Still Lie is also epic, but would probably have been better as "You Still Lie."

 

Since it's basically a desaturated version of Rooms, the cyber shorthand of the track titles seems out of place, and I do think that matters, because it shapes your perception of the whole track.

I think the minimal take comment is a keen observation. I just don't like that it feels more repetitive, my mind wanders too much during the tracks.

 

I guess I was also all ready to be fired up after Clissold VIP and eyesdontlie that the album couldn't help but be a disappoint. After taking a long break from it I think I'm starting to appreciate it more on its own terms.

 

It has proven to be a great album for the drive home from work. I wasn't at all blown away by it at first but it's a fun album, and I don't think Rooms is that much better. He probably trimmed it down to that length. I'm sure he had more. The only track that bugs me is Don't 1 2 Lose U.

Remember that teaser on soundcloud from last year (i think last year...)? It was really acousticy. Did anything more ever come of that?

  On 12/20/2013 at 6:47 AM, Chris Toffer said:

 

  On 12/18/2013 at 5:51 PM, sheatheman said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9ojxSWA8MM

 

Dang.. Travis is so talented. Sucks that he has to do stuff like this for money

 

why? this is easy money...

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with this imo. It's not like he's pushing beats by dre, proactiv, or that t-pain (or whoever) special-ed theremin thingy. I'm sure stuff like this puts a roof over his head, food in his 13-y.o.-boy belly, and keeps him from needing a day job (and able to do music full time). Not like the dude's sitting on a 401K either.

Also, am I (and poss. joshtx) the only one(s) who find the part where travis cant control his giggles for "some IDMz," ** - followed by a point-perfect cut to the gin & tonic meta-commentary - fucking brilliant?

** someone pls subtitle and gif this pls

Back Seat Ho is being released

Vapor City b-side called Hazel Ash here

all i have to say after watching that video is that Travis needs to grow I want Travis to grow a beard

  On 6/4/2014 at 8:17 AM, usagi said:

Vapor City b-side called Hazel Ash here

Good post to wake up to.

Thank ya.

becoming a little formulaic....