Derek™

Must've missed that e-mail communication but I went and updated my sheet all the same. 👍 Also just wanted to comment that listen #2 – knowing the pace and vibe I was in for – was indeed significantly better, this evening. Almost like a later-era Whirr headspace, for me. I like that we have such a nice variety of style between their 2 albums thus far.

Found this old receipt from 2011 and thought it was pretty depressing. A decade's worth of inflation really took a toll on vinyl. This was MSRP too... no sale pricing. What a time to be alive.

I’d have to check my receipt folder to see exactly where I ordered from, but my spreadsheet notes 10/29 as a shipment date for US copies. Could’ve changed by now, but yeah… I was not expecting these to be in hand or even ship on release date.

But I think it's fine; I just listened to 1 single once, and decided I was going to wait for the rest. Went into the album expecting a little more of an Aurora pace. I could see it excelling in a different environment – maybe winding down on a late night vs. tasking at work on a Friday morning, like I tried earlier.

What does this mean? Is it like an attention span thing? Like what if an album is all killer & no filler?

Anyone else try out Hush yet? Way more matured sound from them – and it sure does get pretty / atmospheric – but on this first round at least, it's definitely way less direct or engaging than Aurora. Potential grower.

Midway through a first listen and can confidently call it a fun record. I'm not a devout ETID fan but I do think their last record was super consistent. This one seems to be keeping in step without missing a beat which is definitely impressive to me. Nice. First thing I did was Ctrl + F like and see about a third or quarter as many as that TWIABP interview. 😜

Did you have a TMR vault sub? If you were keeping up on all variants, then you must have ordered that splatter TMR initially put up... which would've netted you one of these, due to TMR's negligence. I still don't believe that they "accidentally" pressed ~50 of these. I think there are boxes of this variant that were shipped (or will soon be shipped) to Boris or -nyd- headquarters for eventual sale. I think it was the latest bloody splatter variant of Feedbacker that existed on tour initially, but took 5 months to be sold by the band publicly. Something to consider.

Yup. I would anticipate at worst, maybe 1 or 2 Shaq gifs or zany / sarcastic responses... but for the most part, it seems like a genuine question and the boards are so slow these days that some folks probably enjoy the "challenge". Way different than everyone dog-piling on a new face trying to half-ass a thesis paper.

It turned out a smidge more blue than I was expecting, but looks like it still compliments the packaging nicely. I think mine shows up today or tomorrow, too.

So weird to me, it's not like the band has ever done a "friends and family" press /100. Given the history of Boris and their vinyl reissues, everything would suggest the swirls are supposed to be an artist exclusive sold through -nyd- or something... but I have no idea what they've waited for – or what they're still waiting for – outside of maybe making it a tour variant for later dates? Just speculation.

No vinyl anytime soon, as expected, but new Blankenberge is being released on 11/14. Awesome news. All non-vinyl formats go up for PO on 11/5, through their bandcamp.

So for what it may be worth to anyone else who's mega curious about this mystery press... I reached out to TMR to explain that while I didn't order a copy myself, I was still itching to know the story behind these recalled swirl copies, and would be grateful for any info at all. They [obviously] asked me if I had ordered a copy, and when I reconfirmed that I had not, they said that they were not at liberty to disclose details about the release. 🥴 Okay. Really not understanding the forced obscurity here.

About every 2 weeks, the label sends out another e-mail to inform me that all variants are postponed another two weeks. There's been 3 or so updates so far. Really annoying. Feels like a carrot on a string since virtually no production issues are resolved in the span of 2 weeks. Just set a firm / later release date or figure out what the remaining snag is.

I wouldn't send it back. It's truly bizarre to me that TMR are actually trying to recall it, instead of just apologizing that this “batch” didn’t turn out as intended. It makes me suspect that the swirl is part of a limited, designated run – i.e. a tour version, or band exclusive, etc. – and that they want to get as much inventory restored as possible. No matter how you slice it, though, someone at TMR really fucked up.