VHS Head - Phocus (out 7th April 2023)

No love for “Fake Sweat?” That one is a jam!

  On 4/8/2023 at 4:03 AM, YELLOW said:

No love for “Fake Sweat?” That one is a jam!

I got stuck on "fake sweat". very hypnotizing

Wow, they're all really fucking good.  My personal favorites so far have got to be:
Skinflex / Fake Sweat / Kilgrimol Dissolve / Shoes for Dinosaurs / Paradise Drive / Making a Monster / The False Eye Closes

I look forward to seeing identified samples in the coming weeks, there were a lot of great ones!  

Tempos too slow

I would love to preorder it directly from Bleep but the registered shipping is really high, there is also the unregistered option at 10.54 dls only but the registered is 64.75dls!!!

it could take weeks or months to appear in my local amazon

  On 4/8/2023 at 10:01 PM, Neto said:

I would love to preorder it directly from Bleep but the registered shipping is really high, there is also the unregistered option at 10.54 dls only but the registered is 64.75dls!!!

life's all about taking chances 

album's good. I See You stood out on first listen, but all around good stuff. 

  On 4/8/2023 at 10:01 PM, Neto said:

I would love to preorder it directly from Bleep but the registered shipping is really high, there is also the unregistered option at 10.54 dls only but the registered is 64.75dls!!!

it could take weeks or months to appear in my local amazon

Unfortunately that's Royal Mail's international postage charges…

  On 4/8/2023 at 10:01 PM, Neto said:

I would love to preorder it directly from Bleep but the registered shipping is really high, there is also the unregistered option at 10.54 dls only but the registered is 64.75dls!!!

it could take weeks or months to appear in my local amazon

Godamn!!

This is a helluva strong album. Loving the sludginess

I ordered the bleep bundle to throw Mr Head some extra money hopefully, but now I don’t know whether to listen to the digital vinyls first or wait 6 months for the package to arrive. Classic bleep problems, really. 

There are no secrets in the dark…

The whole album is pretty strongk, with no filler from my listen!

Fake Sweat and Paradise Drive are fantastic.

paradise drive the winner for me. agree with fumi it starts a little slow although it's hard to pinpoint exactly what. Still nothing on TROG for me, there is true magic on that first album, maybe because it's just faster ...

  On 4/12/2023 at 3:08 AM, dr lopez said:

Still nothing on TROG for me, there is true magic on that first album, maybe because it's just faster ...

Sadly I have to agree but not bc it’s faster; if nothing else it has more melodies, even more humor … 

On my second listen of this album now. Gotta say that Adrian Blacow has made a strong return overall after a near 8-year hiatus.

A bit difficult for me to pick a fave track atm. But I like Skinflex, Fake Sweat, & Kilgrimol Dissolve in particular. I also noticed that Strange Tangents has the same crystalline bell sounds as Body Magic from PoV, or at least it sounds like it.

Will probably be putting this on loop in the car for the next several months, as it's the only new music I genuinely appreciate atm. Ae be either slackin or teasin us as of late, so this is the next best thing as far as I'm concerned.

After a dozen or so spins I can opine half-informed.

I like it a lot but beyond that it's pretty hard to stack it against the first 2 releases.  Loved TRoG but jumped to Team PoV since it dropped, so expecting him to remain on such a step-up trajectory is a set up for disappointment, especially as so many years have passed.  This one feels like he's expanding his sound outward but not necessarily upward if that makes sense.

Favorite tracks (no mentions yet too!) are Drown a Star (distorted, disorienting and funky in the best of ways) and the False Eye Closes.  Maaaaan, such a fucking monster of a closer, I can't be the only one tripping on feels.  Makes me want to climb to the top of a mountain and raise a bandana'd brofist as the meteor shower rains down.

  On 4/13/2023 at 6:19 AM, ambermonk said:

Will probably be putting this on loop in the car for the next several months

+1 speaker damage

  On 4/13/2023 at 10:36 PM, BobDobalina said:

 

+1 speaker damage

It's OK. After nearly 55K miles, 8 oil changes, and 8 years (from brand new), I'll risk it.

Kilgrimol Dissolves 

https://darktales.blog/2019/05/16/kilgrimol-the-truth-behind-blackpools-drowned-village/

I find this album to be super psychedelic and hypnotic. Really get lost in it. My aoty so far!!!

Paradise Drive is really good.

I guess it’s a rite of passage to listen to a new VHS Head album. First one was a really unique classic. Probably massively underrated beyond watmm circles. I’m absolutely sure there was a time when they were a highly suspect BOC side project. I’ll listen ASAP.

  On 4/16/2023 at 9:29 PM, beerwolf said:

I guess it’s a rite of passage to listen to a new VHS Head album. First one was a really unique classic. Probably massively underrated beyond watmm circles. I’m absolutely sure there was a time when they were a highly suspect BOC side project. I’ll listen ASAP.

Yeah I remember when Video Club came out, a lot of people suspected that. I suppose that could be a compliment but also, there are other skilled musicians in the world besides BOC…

  On 4/17/2023 at 8:14 AM, YELLOW said:

there are other skilled musicians in the world besides BOC…

please cite your sources on this wild claim

  On 4/16/2023 at 9:29 PM, beerwolf said:

I guess it’s a rite of passage to listen to a new VHS Head album. First one was a really unique classic. Probably massively underrated beyond watmm circles. I’m absolutely sure there was a time when they were a highly suspect BOC side project. I’ll listen ASAP.

It was when the first EP dropped and it was Boomkat who got that rumour going.

  On 4/17/2023 at 7:34 PM, fumi said:

It was when the first EP dropped and it was Boomkat who got that rumour going.

Woah, so they did - I don't remember that  (unless the 'old talent' they were referring to was another Skam artist - like the mentioned Team Doyobi):

  Quote

The Skam revival continues apace with an EP from a possible new talent, or quite possibly an old talent, in disguise. VHS Head's 'Video Club' EP comes replete with a gold members card for that classic Skam aesthetic, and five new tracks loaded on a CD housed in a glossy black jewel case.The tracks sound somewhere between Team Doyobi and the more recent Gescom gear, firing out fractal edits of 80's electro a la Art Of Noise or Mantronix with an unhinged sense of arrangement. 'Rent Responsibly' is haunted by the synthlines of Manchester clubs circa 1987 with just a hint of BoC style nostalgia, while the fierce 'Growler Spit You Out' slices through rewound VHS samples with ADD pause button stutters. It's like the ghost of Max Headroom has been let loose with an MPC in the Oldham Street Vinyl Exchange basement. A must for any old-skool Skam nuts.

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