Vinyl Me Please (store, exclusives, swaps, etc)

Man, fucking hell. Coke bottle clear? Come on. Could they have picked a more boring color? And $33 for a single LP?

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I've got to give big up to the new Brittany Howard album. It's in the vmp store, orange version, with an October release date. But the regular version, some kind of cream color, is out today and it's fucking bad ass. If you're a D'Angelo fan you must check this thing out. If you're a person who digs adventure you've got to check this one out.
 
Ajax said:
I've got to give big up to the new Brittany Howard album. It's in the vmp store, orange version, with an October release date. But the regular version, some kind of cream color, is out today and it's fucking bad ass. If you're a D'Angelo fan you must check this thing out. If you're a person who digs adventure you've got to check this one out.
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Got the sandstone coloured verssion in the mail yesterday. A really nice record. Obviously robert glasper did a lot of the keys on it.
 
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Ponman2003 said:
I think Storf said awhile back that they often ask for the artist’s input on the color, and it’s almost always boring (I think he said white was very common). So this could be on the Stones. Regardless, disappointing.
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Have you seen the video of the stones presenting their mono box set? I dont see them care about the vinyl colour of the vmp release.
 
With mono it really depends on artist and producer. Often mono will have an entirely different mix, so the guitars maybe more up front so to speak. I am no mono expert but the Beatles and others would do 2 separate mixes, one for stereo and one for mono.

Whereas Let It Bleed mono is a fold down, where the producer or engineer just took the stereo 2 channel mix and combined the tape into 1 channel.
 
Ajax said:
I've got to give big up to the new Brittany Howard album. It's in the vmp store, orange version, with an October release date. But the regular version, some kind of cream color, is out today and it's fucking bad ass. If you're a D'Angelo fan you must check this thing out. If you're a person who digs adventure you've got to check this one out.
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Picked it up yesterday at my local. Looking forward to spinning this later. Really liked the snippets I heard.
 
Taevis said:
I’m confused. Does mono have better sound quality?
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I think it’s a great stereo mix and the mono gets a little muddy. I would have to do a shootout between my DSD vinyl and the mono from the box. Yes it’s also a fold, not that that is necessarily a bad thing but the mix is nothing special. I’m not sure why it’s getting remastered again though. Bob Ludwig did a fantastic job with the DSD releases in the early 00’s.
 
MadLucas said:
If anyone is sitting on the fence about the Kindness album, don't.

It's one of the best things I have heard all year.
If you don't want the VMP version, that's cool. But it is definitely worth your time.
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Unfortunately I was underwhelmed by this album. I enjoyed the singles leading up to the album. “Lost Without” was a warm, inviting, lightweight disco jam that had really nice musical embellishments laced throughout the song. The bass on that song was great too. “Cry Everything” had those sinister cathartic vocals from Robyn and I loved that cold and bleak Jamie Woob Underground house production. And the other single “Hard To Believe” had that pulsating, tribal rhythm with those early morning sunrise synths and Jasmine Sullivan’s vocals felt like a nice cool breeze!

Most of the other songs though really faded into the background. The production felt a bit washed-out and at times clumsy and the aesthetic also felt quite safe. “Raise Up” was such a boring opener to the album. Vocally it sounded lifeless and the production felt like elevator music. I know this album has that meditation feel, but it’s not executed well.
 
NathanRicaud said:
Unfortunately I was underwhelmed by this album. I enjoyed the singles leading up to the album. “Lost Without” was a warm, inviting, lightweight disco jam that had really nice musical embellishments laced throughout the song. The bass on that song was great too. “Cry Everything” had those sinister cathartic vocals from Robyn and I loved that cold and bleak Jamie Woob Underground house production. And the other single “Hard To Believe” had that pulsating, tribal rhythm with those early morning sunrise synths and Jasmine Sullivan’s vocals felt like a nice cool breeze!

Most of the other songs though really faded into the background. The production felt a bit washed-out and at times clumsy and the aesthetic also felt quite safe. “Raise Up” was such a boring opener to the album. Vocally it sounded lifeless and the production felt like elevator music. I know this album has that meditation feel, but it’s not executed well.
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Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh, I don't agree with this.
Mostly because I don't mind washed-out, and also because calling an album's aesthetic "safe" doesn't, from my perspective, negate songwriting.
However, from your first paragraph, I get the impression that you were hoping for something more "up."
That's totally cool.

And I agree with you, Robyn makes ANYTHING better :)
 
MadLucas said:
Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh, I don't agree with this.
Mostly because I don't mind washed-out, and also because calling an album's aesthetic "safe" doesn't, from my perspective, negate songwriting.
However, from your first paragraph, I get the impression that you were hoping for something more "up."
That's totally cool.

And I agree with you, Robyn makes ANYTHING better :)
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I like moody music/vibes and I don’t mind if the music is also downtempo as well. I just think the vocals were a bit of a letdown as they drown in the music, but not in a smooth, velvety way like Blood Orange’s vocals for instance. Instead, they sound bland. The music overall was quite bland and I feel like the album overall lacked character. You had trip-hop influences, deep house influences, disco, hip-hop, tribal sounds....even “Dreams Fall” carries a New Jack Swing sound. I feel like the music was diverse but ultimately was lacking substance. Literally the three singles were only the standouts for me!

And lately we’ve been getting some amazing albums from Lana Del Rey, Alex Cameron, JPEGMAFIA, Charli XCX, Shura, Brittany Howard, Rapsody etc.

Kindness’ Something Like A War is a disappointing release in my opinion. It’s nothing special. Robyn’s vocals are stunning on “The Warning”, but that dull, washed out, hip-hop beat (which sounds like that B.I.G. Interlude), doesn’t match Robyn’s sound at all. When the production does stand out though, like on “Softness as a Weapon”, Kindness’ vocals feel one-dimensional, nasally, tiring and like a working in progress. Robyn’s soothing backup vocals don’t add much to it.

I’m disappointed in this Kindness album. I’d give it 5.6/10. Cry Everything and Lost Without are absolutely amazing tracks however!
 
Ajax said:
I've got to give big up to the new Brittany Howard album. It's in the vmp store, orange version, with an October release date. But the regular version, some kind of cream color, is out today and it's fucking bad ass. If you're a D'Angelo fan you must check this thing out. If you're a person who digs adventure you've got to check this one out.
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My wife played the new single in the car yesterday, and I immediately said "I really dig this. This reminds me of D'angelo."
 
Time for a bit of a moan im afraid.

So I have been working through the VMP Blue Note releases from a few years ago (Johnny Griffin - Blowin Session, Donald Byrd - Stepping Into Tomorrow, Eddie Gale - Getto Music, Charlie Rouse - Bossa Nova Bacchanal) and they are just superb. Really thick jackets with solid print (some are gatefold with crisp photos). Nice sounding presses at 45rpm. Decent vinyl with unique colours used (if thats your thing). Nice MOFI style inners. Overall superb quality and consistency.

Now today I have opened up the first of the new Prestige series from VMP (Eric Dolphy - Out There & Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus). Admittedly I haven't listened to them yet, but unfortunately I find that the first thing I have to do nowadays is open them all up and check for warps. When compared with the Blue Notes the Prestiges (so far) have pretty standard jackets, with standard print quality, certainly nothing special. The records themselves seem good, the colours are more subtle than the Blue Notes (which I personally prefer). What I find annoying is the lack of consistency. The inner sleeve for the Eric Dolphy was a cheap paper inner (not lined) whilst the Sonny Rollins is a good MOFI style inner. The Eric Dolphy also came with the VMP hype sticker on the front (stating the title, colour, and 'Limited to 500') which I personally like to keep, but the Sonny Rollins doesnt have any sticker. So all in all the Blue Notes were certainly better quality-wise (ignoring audio, I will have to comment on that another time).

In all honesty I'm being overly picky here for sure, I just can't understand why they would adopt a certain level of finish for one record in the series over another. We have seen that they are able to produce a solid series as the Blue Note was top notch.
 
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