Machinedrum - Vapor City

[usagi]

"handbag house" was a derogatory term during the last techno boom cycle of the late 90's. It was meant to slag the bourgeois co-opting of underground rave aesthetic into a non-offensive soundtrack for your sushi dinner and runway show afterparty. Sometimes I get too far in the weeds so, yeah, not literally "house" but let's say "corporatized Room(s)" as that's more contemporary. :feelsoldman:

 

oh I see

[joshuatxuk]

don't forget Dorian Concept, ex-wattmer who didn't come from Mu but eventually got on Ninja-Tune around the same time

 

I had no idea Dorian Concept posted here, then again that was probably before I was here often.

 

Lorn and Eskmo come to mind as well as more recent non-typical NT signings.

[awepittance]

yeah dorian was doing weirdo sort of squarepusher influenced IDM/drill stuff back in the day. Lots of live keys over chopped up breaks, totally different sound than what he does now. It was easy to see early on that he had big days ahead of him, guy was full of talent

[ganus]

yeah dorian was doing weirdo sort of squarepusher influenced IDM/drill stuff back in the day. Lots of live keys over chopped up breaks, totally different sound than what he does now. It was easy to see early on that he had big days ahead of him, guy was full of talent

Yeah, my introduction to him was this, back in 07 or 08:

nearly sold me on that Micron. if improvised synth-jazz was a real genre and it sounded like this, I would cane that shit daily.

 

Didn't one of his vids get 'sampled' by Zomby?

[tokn]

sorry for (continuing the) off-topic: what is dorian concept up anyway these days? never heard anything in ages... such a promising producer!

[sheatheman]

he's more of a musician than a producer don't you think?

[joshuatxuk]

 

Didn't one of his vids get 'sampled' by Zomby?

 

 

Oh geez....I don't want to hear that if it's true.

 

Anyone check out Machinedrum's Essential Mix yet?

 

machinedrum-on-deck-for-this-weekends-bbc-radio-1-essential-mix/

[BobDobalina]

Maybe I'm missing something, but doesn't that require a time machine? Unfortunately mine's in the shop.

[joshuatxuk]

Maybe I'm missing something, but doesn't that require a time machine? Unfortunately mine's in the shop.

 

lol

 

fuck...

 

I need to stop skimming articles at work before I return to them later to read carefully.

[funkaholic]

sorry for (continuing the) off-topic: what is dorian concept up anyway these days? never heard anything in ages... such a promising producer!

he did this remix which i liked

[Salvatorin]

dorian concept is some cool shit

[Soloman Tump]

Yeah, looking forward to his essential mix, should be an interesting one.

 

So general consensus on this album? How does it compare to Rooms? This thread keeps derailing.

[Friendly Foil]

Better than Rooms.

[DorkingtonPugsly]

The album cover's too good for the tracks on it. I also don't think most of the songs capture the feel/atmosphere the album and this fictional city's supposed to have, or match the art. Wasted potential.

[Guest Gravity]

The album cover's too good for the tracks on it. I also don't think most of the songs capture the feel/atmosphere the album and this fictional city's supposed to have, or match the art. Wasted potential.

 

"Vizion" fits the cover perfectly IMO, shame it's so short though.

[joshuatxuk]

 

The album cover's too good for the tracks on it. I also don't think most of the songs capture the feel/atmosphere the album and this fictional city's supposed to have, or match the art. Wasted potential.

 

"Vizion" fits the cover perfectly IMO, shame it's so short though.

 

 

Looks like what I imagine while listening to Kuedo's album Severant

[sheatheman]

The album cover's too good for the tracks on it. I also don't think most of the songs capture the feel/atmosphere the album and this fictional city's supposed to have, or match the art. Wasted potential.

 

Yeah, it's good music, I like it so far, but the album art/concept has big dreams that are not completely fulfilled by the album content. That's a really hard thing to achieve though, and at least he has a whole concept instead of just making future footwork. You have to ask yourself what would kind of content would truly live up to the claims of the concept.

 

It is probably his best work though. I commend it. I still want to hear the stuff from that sampler he had on soundcloud in 2011, with lots of guitar-heavy stuff. I guess he scrapped it or is keeping it under wraps.

 

The lead synth at 3:00 of Center Your Love is so BoC. I love it though, doesn't feel emulative.

[sheatheman]

I would also like to say, and I think many people would agree, that I would like to see Vapor City explored further in future albums. I really love the concept. Maybe a trilogy.

[DorkingtonPugsly]

I actually really like vizion and U still lie. Fit's the theme too.

[awepittance]

Come on ya cunts, let's have some Syndrone juke

when i listen to Vapor City I get absolutely ZERO hint of what the cover artwork was all about. In fact there seems to be a 100% disconnect from the actual album content/style/sound/music to the concept of the album art. I don't have a problem with it since the music is so good on it's own. Just interesting how that 'concept' doesn't translate at all to the sound

i would expect the music to be a little bit weirder colder and perhaps more atmospheric if it was trying to convey an imaginary 'vapor city' especially one that looks like the cover.

[sheatheman]

Come on ya cunts, let's have some Syndrone juke

 

when i listen to Vapor City I get absolutely ZERO hint of what the cover artwork was all about. In fact there seems to be a 100% disconnect from the actual album content/style/sound/music to the concept of the album art. I don't have a problem with it since the music is so good on it's own. Just interesting how that 'concept' doesn't translate at all to the sound

 

i would expect the music to be a little bit weirder colder and perhaps more atmospheric if it was trying to convey an imaginary 'vapor city' especially one that looks like the cover.

 

Well, Vizion does. You can't deny that, and Eyes Don't Lie also, especially with that video, which connects some dots. It's not just the cover art but some of the write up about it.

[ganus]

don't believe the hype

[awepittance]

 

Come on ya cunts, let's have some Syndrone juke

 

when i listen to Vapor City I get absolutely ZERO hint of what the cover artwork was all about. In fact there seems to be a 100% disconnect from the actual album content/style/sound/music to the concept of the album art. I don't have a problem with it since the music is so good on it's own. Just interesting how that 'concept' doesn't translate at all to the sound

 

i would expect the music to be a little bit weirder colder and perhaps more atmospheric if it was trying to convey an imaginary 'vapor city' especially one that looks like the cover.

 

Well, Vizion does. You can't deny that, and Eyes Don't Lie also, especially with that video, which connects some dots. It's not just the cover art but some of the write up about it.

 

I can deny that the music was originally created with this concept in mind, and I will continue to do so. The writeup like all writeups these days for any electronic musician on a biggish label will tell a story to entice a reviewer and for other press outlets to quote it. It in no way should be taken at face value. If travis has been discussing this 'vapor city' recurring dream for a while and I just didn't notice it, forgive me. But to me it seems like a loosely cobbled together 'concept' to market an album that otherwise just feels like a direct sequel in every way to Rooms, which had no such concept. I want to make clear that this doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the album at all. The concept just has no discernible connection to the musical content. Even the Eyesdon'tlie video feels like it could have been made completely outside of this concept.

[dr lopez]

dat fuckin Rise N Fall

seriously can't stop listening to it because it's what I call a "triple threat": heart, brain and loins. Switching that break up at nontraditional moments really feeds the Drukqs gyrus of the brain. The lush pads and ghost R&B vocals really tug at the heartstrings while the whole thing put together has a sexy impulsiveness that puts a dick on hard. The protip here is that Aphex-caliber iddums only come from aptly nailing all 3 dimensions. Travis is just a straight-up good producer. The criticism is his strength: the left side says he's derivative and lacks a definable "voice" but the right side says "he does this shit so well it doesn't matter where it came from". More proof is in "U Still Lie", which is "vaporwave/chillwave you say? Here, let me see that for a second.....there ya go" and it's the same gold he was able to spin out of footwork. I was at first a little put off because might Vapor City be the "handbag house" treatment of the Room(s) sound all smoothed out and ready to move units for the suits at Ninja Tune? Maybe there's a bit of truth to that but who cares if it's good.

 

you've heard vocalcity right? hard to get more triple threat house than that --

[Alcofribas]

why do you keep mentioning vocalcity? I mean, it's lush as fuck but i don't get the comparison.

 

pls post another brilliant dr. lopez music history response thx