Derek™

15 minutes ago, jhulud said:

Where was this and how did I miss it? Link me. 

It was all over the place.  He got tilted over being ridiculed for his frivolous links / updates, and in the span of ~15 minutes, just went into a half-dozen different threads I was active in and spammed them.  Threads that he had never posted in prior, and had no interest in – he just wanted to gunk them up with some obnoxious ToGgLe CaPs commentary.  Some weird eye-for-an-eye attempt I’d guess.

14 minutes ago, Bronchitis said:

Need that color in color bundle in my life ASAP. Anxiously waiting for these to be available over here. 

Same on all accounts.  The CIC seems to be a “Numero Exclusive” as well, with the splatter appearing at Rough Trade and probably some  other distros.  I don’t think I’ve seen a rollout like this for any Numero drops.  I wonder how far behind we are.

Incoming color represses.  Splatter or color-in-color (blob).  Currently only available to EU and UK folks, with US customers encouraged to “stay tuned”.  You can peep everything at Numero’s site, presently.  Also available in a bundle with an exclusive 7” of Angels b/w Pea.

Wasda’s complete VC meltdown is still one of the funniest things to go down on this board, that I can recall from recent memory.  I can think of no place more appropriate for him to dwell than Facebook comment sections.

I occasionally get into a music lull though it's been a few years.  Sometimes that overlaps with a vinyl lull, other times it doesn't.  This year was off to a bit of a slow start – and honestly, it feels like new music is not getting released as fast or furiously as it was pre-Covid – but the last few years have delivered some great releases, and I suspect 2023 will end on a similar note.

For me, the biggest thing is settling into your tastes and identifying [with confidence] what you in or aren't into at the moment.  As I've gotten older, I've definitely determined which artists I'm no longer into vs. the ones that I'm just having some time apart from.  Some of my favorite albums, artists, and even genres may go months – or even a year+ – without being touched.  But that doesn't mean I'm no longer into them.  I just have a sizable collection of music and I place a pretty big value on hopping around to keep things fresh.

Few things rival the realization that you're really in a mood to listen to X artist, and then recognizing that you haven't touched anything in their discography for the better part of a year.  I sometimes go on a week-long binge where I'll revisit their stuff and revisit their discography to get it "out of my system" before moving onto the next thing.  I find real value in some bigger leaps between genres as a sort of cool-down to keep everything fresh.  So instead of listening to "aggressive", guitar-heavy genres for a month straight... I'll flip around between metal, then ambient, to post-hardcore, to some shoegaze, to electronic, then to slowcore, to some more upbeat "indie" rock / pop, back to something drone-y or mathy, etc.  Recognizing that song & dance and trusting my mood is probably the biggest saving grace when it comes to avoiding burnout.

For vinyl itself, I sort of enjoy having a "white whale" or two that I can tentatively wait to be reissued.  I feel like there's at least 1 new / unexpected preorder or reissue probably every week, maybe every 2 weeks.  It's a good pace where I'm not hunting Discogs or trying to play catch-up on a bunch of stuff I don't own.  Every now and then I'll stumble into a new artist that I've been sleeping on, and will pursue their best albums or preferred variants for fun.  It's a pretty healthy spot to be in where I'm not completely over spending money on vinyl, but also not going overboard.  It's been this way for years now, and I'm pretty content with it.

6 hours ago, OrangeJoe said:

I'll prob wait until there is a consensus on the best sounding version.

Virtually everything I’ve read has suggested that the Euro indie blue marble is the way to go.  It also happens to look a lot more interesting than the US equivalent (which reportedly sounds like butt).

40 minutes ago, DecayToDeath said:

Aye thank you, I'm ok with that. Not from Amazon, but from somewhere else for sure. Playable copy is all Jenny needs!

I don’t know if you saw or heard, but there was allegedly a restock of 200 splatter copies this morning – cancelled orders from yesterday – but they lasted about 40 seconds.  Probably just save yourself the frustration and stick with what you had.  I feel for anyone who lost the checkout game two days in a row.

https://boards.vinylcollective.com/topic/144688-vinyl-collective-discord/#comment-2914578

Discord makes a little more sense to me, only because r/VinylReleases has new links on lockdown.

11 minutes ago, Daiei said:

Do these exist for this forum as back ups? When the forums go down I feel so empty.. 

A subreddit or Discord seems like a fair idea, even though I’m not big on either.

Probably as good of a time as any to mention that I’ve been working on an alternative forum but it’s going to be a little ways out.  Some folks here are automatically going to nope out of that idea with myself and a friend or two at the helm, but the intent of it will be primarily for music discussion – new albums, announcements, ranking discographies, etc. – with a designated spot for vinyl drops and vinyl discussion.

Reddit is better for up-to-date links and drops as they happen.  Way ahead of VC about 95% of the time.  VC allows for a little more discussion about music when it happens.

If anyone is fixated on just sharing store links and shipping updates, there’s nothing wrong with staying on VC when it decides it’ll be online.  If anyone else is intrigued by the idea of more of a music forum, I’ll gladly keep you in mind for an invite and would love to have you over there at some point.

2 minutes ago, Justinadamk said:

How'd folks do with Revolver / EQV webstore today? 

Buttery smooth.  The queue system is nerve-wracking on EVR’s shop but I prefer it to having the site crash repeatedly.

So is this board on its death bed or what?  Sure feels like someone is struggling to keep the lights on consistently.

Musically: that’s a strong disagree for me, personally.  I feel like Fantasy is hands-down the best thing Anthony’s done since HUWD, and it’s not even close.  I really didn’t care for either of his last LPs but this one feels like a spiritual successor to HUWD and I’m on board with that.  First listen had me sold but it’s only gotten better with each revisit.  I don’t think there’s anything on the album that is as instantly catchy as HUWD’s singles, but it still feels super consistent and I can definitely pull several hooks and melodies from memory already.

Physically: yeah, that seems to be the general consensus unfortunately.  Been keeping an eye on all Discogs reviews and it seems like the only viable press is the Euro indie blue.

3 minutes ago, Justinadamk said:

Interesting that this is now completely sold out. There seemed to be many of each variant still available 30-60 minutes after launch. 

Only from the drop-down.  If you tried adding them to your cart and checking out, they would error as Unavailable.  I think the entire PO – not counting shirt bundles – was gone in 15 minutes, with a few copies flickering back in stock here and there.

New song is great.  Leaving Meaning is… fine.  In a vacuum, I think it’s probably a pretty good album.  On the heels of “the trilogy” though, it falls in their shadow.  This new track lands somewhere between Leaving Meaning and a Glowing Man cut, so I’m pretty happy with it.  Meditative? ☑️ Groovy? ☑️ Sinister-beneath-the-surface? ☑️

Kind of a bummer we’re not getting the 44 minute track on vinyl.  To be fair, it could just be an ambient interlude or 44 minutes of Gira spitting and sputtering, or chanting the same line on repeat – I put nothing past Swans, and we simply don’t know what we’re actually missing just yet.  I think I only find it weird because it’s a track that isn’t just tacked on at the end, available as a bonus disc – like Look At Me Go for My Father… – and will actually be a part of the digital queue.  Feels kind of weird to omit it, just from a structural point on streaming platforms.  But if it was present, this thing would be pushing 4 LPs, I’m pretty sure.

Excited to hear the whole thing, all the same.

20 minutes ago, Boaty McBoatface said:

From what I’m reading, it’s a mandatory record/shirt bundle? Fuck that, I’m not paying for a shirt I’ll use as a shop rag. Really hope I can get just the album. 

Same here.  TTTH are going to learn a valuable lesson when they’re stranded on a mountain of the 4,000 shirts they printed for this mandatory bundle PO. 😤

33 minutes ago, throwgncpr said:

Lindsay and/or Joel were having some serious mental health issues. Basically collecting money for projects and sales and not shipping or doing anything. It was messy, shitty, and just sad. I hope they are in a better place now, but they needed to come clean and end the label stuff a LOT earlier than when it eventually imploded.

I also feel like they were splitting up as a couple, and Joel was using the label’s social media platforms to post really cryptic messages, unrelated to any music.  Like one day, a mock-up for a pre-order dropping at the end of the week, and the next day a photo of a field accompanied by “Thinking of her and simpler times.”  Probably exaggerating a bit here, but hopefully someone can kind of attest.  It was awkward for everyone involved – them especially, but loyal fans too.

1 hour ago, DecayToDeath said:

Yeah that's what I meant, I knew Solace existed it's just prohibitively expensive and may as well not exist! If anybody has a connect with those dudes, give 'em my contact I guess lol. Otherwise, let's just hope the new album yields old reissues.

So I knew Solace was always a desirable record, but I hadn’t eyed its Discogs sale history in a while.  Damn.  There was a time when the Conspiracy red variant had sold for like $200, and the Mylene copy had gone for $90 at most.  Now I see that same Mylene variant has fetched $300, which is nutty.  (Especially since I think the Conspiracy packaging is way nicer.)  Severely due for a repress, no doubt.  Have you tried reaching out to the band directly on Facebook or anything?

20 minutes ago, DecayToDeath said:

jfc how did c:d and solace never happen? someone tell these guys that i’ll straight up do it for them and they can keep all the profit, i just want em to exist at this point 

*Solace repress and C:D press, right?  At least with Solace, it exists and you can chase it down on vinyl if you want to shell out.  It’d be so nice to have SOS and C:D on the shelf someday, though.

They were in the works before Mylene had their internal drama / meltdown and completely dissolved.  Such a damn shame.  Those 2 albums and the couple of LPs from Evpatoria Report are probably the biggest “maybe someday…” wishlist records from my post-rock years.

Band has never been good but has also never sounded this bad.  Everything about this is pretty remarkably abhorrent – the vocals, the mixing, the electronics.  Just… 👌

4 hours ago, Shelby said:

It's like the vinyl version of a white dude in a kimono. 

The hobby's very own Jeremy Jamm.

17 hours ago, oldmanmcgenty said:

So this is about when I started collecting vinyl. Seeing this made me giggle when I looked at my current preorder folder. 

Username checks out.

While $19 absolutely does not get you what it did a decade ago, vinyl or not, I will say that vinyl MSRP has really flown off the handle in recent years especially.  I almost shed a singular tear the other day, when I stumbled across an invoice for a 2014 press of Isis’ Oceanic – 2 LPs, thick gatefold and inner sleeves – for about $22 in total.  Easily a $40 order out the door, today.

Aren’t all 3 of those bands kinda’ garbage though?

I know Norma Jean had a pretty big following back in the day – especially among kids obsessed with Underoath or too afraid to explore music from any label that wasn’t T&N – but I guess I never really bit on the hype.  It does look like their later string of records had performed better than I thought though, to be fair.  Whatever they did with their lineup seems to be working well with critics and fans alike, I dunno.

But those other 2… 😶

Would this count as seeing a band cover themselves? 🤔

But you’re confident that WATR was cut in-house by GZ?  I only ask because “lifeless and compressed” is not really how I’d describe my copy, personally.

22 minutes ago, Iggy_Pilot said:

It is widely known GZ Media tends to master and cut for the lowest common denominator to avoid playback issues on cheap turntables. So their cuts do not present the material to its full extent.

Nah.  Pretty common misconception among hobby newbies and pandemic collectors.  All plants have varying quality, good and bad.  VMP have been using GZ almost exclusively for their ROTMs – for several months now – and they are absolutely killing it.  I’ve heard that the latest Frank Ocean Blonde repress was pressed at GZ, too, and sounds phenomenal.  “GZ = bad” is a pretty dated meme that doesn’t hold much water these days.  They just press a way bigger volume of records, which results in a bigger volume of notably bad (and notably good) records compared to other labels.