Veee Deee are a two-piece--drums and guitars, natch, with one dude from Britain (Thomas, Drums) and a Canadian (Clay, Guitar) both now living somewhere in Japan and making some seriously assaultive psych-o jams. Think a hybrid of Lightning Bolt, Ruins and Comets on Fire and yr pretty darn close to the terror that these lads have unleashed on two short-run CDR's. I nabbed both of these from Aquarius Records when they came out earlier in the year and they have been slaying my world ever since. I don't normally go for CDR's from groups that i'm not already familiar with, but after hearing the brief sample on the AQ site, I had no choice but to pick these up.
Veee Deee-self titled CDR (self released)
When this arrived in the mail from AQ, I was blown away by the sonic skree attack of these three tracks. It's not all black reign from the clouds, though, moments of hazy drift float in for a moment only to soon be crushed by a flash flood of furious drumming and spazzed guitar. The last two tracks contain some screamed vocals, although i'm not too sure which of the two are doing them, they are quite raw and gutteral, giving the music even more edge.Veee Deee- Self-titled (At War With False Noise)
A 2xCDR released on the Glasgow label, At War With False Noise, which I also nabbed from AQ. This is currently out of print. Now, if you're gonna release a stinking CDR, please put this kind of love into it. Two 3" CDR's housed in a thick, clear case with some decent art work adorning it, is this much to ask? I usually flat out refuse to by CDR's slapped into a folded piece of xeroxed paper with some scribbles on it. The content can't be that great if so little effort is put into the packaging. Just a theory. Anyways, this release is two songs, one on each disc, and both about fifteen minutes long. Both of these tracks are buzz jams more in line with their Jap-psych brethren of yore, and a bit more "out there" than the tracks on the debut CDR. Vocals are still there but not as important to the music this time around. Again, moments of calm arrive before all out war breaks loose. Good shit here if you are into the above mentioned bands. Like the other VD, these guys will leave you burning!DOWNLOAD HERE
11 comments:
I like this kind of shit in short, sharp bursts. It's interesting, but I couldn't imagine listening to it more than once.
Re: the packaging. Couldn't care less.
"Re: the packaging. Couldn't care less."
Ugh, man, get off soulseek for 5 minutes. Quality music is just that, I just find it more worth MY time if the band has put some effort into their works. It seems you and I have always been on opposing sides of this argument. I think back to your CDR's slapped into a case with minimal info that you would bring to mixtape club. Sure, the music was great, but that CDR is just too easily lost in a sea of similar looking CDR's that plague bedrooms, car floors and landfills across the globe.
I don't know, is it really so radical in the MP3 age to say ultimately it's the music that counts? People jizz over packaging like they're archaeologists preserving the Rosetta Stone when ultimately it's just another fetish.
Don't get me wrong, I love album art and interesting packaging. But I'm a little skeptical when I see these indie noise bands with their elaborate design for 50 CD-Rs that all SOUND EXACTLY THE SAME. Sacrificing creativity in the music for creativity in design is no trade-off at all.
(Bringing up Mixtape Society is a straw man argument, and totally baseless as well. Perhaps you recall the liner notes for my power pop comps?).
I don't think it's the mixtape comparison is baseless at all. i was just trying to state that you have never really given much thought into packaging. Sure, the music on them is great, it always was, but a blank cdr or tape is practically just that.
In the age of MP3s, packaging is even more important now than ever. CD sales are down but vinyl sales are up. What is that telling you? PEOPLE WANT THE FUCKING PACKAGE, MAN. If one is going to put out a CDR, then it better be packaged well. This is my point. As for musical creativity being sacrificed for the packagaing, well that is a load of shit. The music always comes first with these bands, then the packaging. You act like I think Veee Deee is the greatest thing on the planet. No, they're awesome, have loads of potential, are ten times better than most of the shit written about on your average website/magazine, AND no one has really written about them in the first place. Hence the nature of that particular blogging.
As for all these indie-noise bands that "all sound the same", well, an outsider of garage rock might say the same thing about all the records that you like. Anyone who delves deep enough into a particular genre will find an arm of naysayers telling them that all that shit sounds the same. Ask any fan of noise or drone. Better yet, just ask me.
(No slight on your mixtapes/cds made over the years, it was merely a point brought up to reveal your stance on packaging ie. you never usually cared. Of course the power pop comp was amazing and it holds a special place on my shelf. Your other blank tapes and CDRs are still around, but they are probably confused in a pile of other similar, blank CDr's and tapes that are all lying in a drawer somewhere.)
With the mixtape thing I'm just trying to make it academic and you're steering it towards the personal, that's all.
I think more people are buying LPs because they're sick of skipping CDs, and because the marketing of digital music has changed, not because of the packaging in and of itself. Still, the ratio of people buying CDs to LPs is wildly disproportionate. Vinyl is a format for collectors and will remain so probably forever.
Also, garage rock bands don't release 15 CD-Rs in a year, and the glut of product is what I'm skeptical about, not necessarily the genre itself.
LPs skip and can be scratched just as easily, if not more so, that CDs. People are picking up vinyl because it's a bit more sacred than a CD, and , if you're gonna spend 20 bucks on an album, it may as well be an LP. CDs were the dominate form during the 90s because that was what the major labels decided was going to be next thing. So, anyone that bought LPs through the 90s was a most likely a collector. This is shifting back over. Records are, more and more, being bought by folks that are definitely not collectors. I see it everyday, which is something that you probably do not see. LP sales may never exceed CDs, but they are coming closer and closer.
Garage bands may not release a dozen CDRs in a year, but they may release that many 7"s, which is pretty much the same thing. Most tapes and CDRs that are in short run are most likely less than 20 minutes. Besides, what's the difference between noise/drone/whatever bands having a handful of releases and a jazz artist, back in the 40s-60s, releasing as many full length recordings? You may say the quality, but that is in the eye of the beholder. Noise is and has been the dominate form of improvised music for quite some time. Why not release everything that you record live and in the studio, especially if people are buying? And they ARE buying.
I'm sure that once you are able to afford buying music again, you will not be so quick to discredit packaging. Just a thought.
I buy music all the time dude.
Ok, so you fucking buy music all the time. Why is packaging less important in our mp3 age? With so many bands on myspace/the rest of the web, how are we to tell them all apart? Their URLs?? You can have a million songs on your damn ipod or hardrive but how does a band stand out these days? It seems as if just a plain ol' jewel cased CD is not cutting it these days. At least not for me.
Better get used to me drooling all over packaging on this here blog. It's a big part of how I choose what to buy these days. Music being number 1, of course.
(PS. you didn't comment on anything else I wrote in the last retort)
(PPS. glad to hear you are still buying music)
I love it when people debate in blog comments.
you guys are gold.
With so many bands on myspace/the rest of the web, how are we to tell them all apart?
Uh, the music is a pretty good place to start. If I listen to a band and don't like what I hear I'm not going to buy their record no matter how snazzy the packaging is.
Better get used to me drooling all over packaging on this here blog. It's a big part of how I choose what to buy these days.
Well that's a shame because I'd much rather hear your opinions on why you like what you're listening to, its emotional impact, an appreciation of its aesthetic, and/or the social context therein (or a combination of all of the above)
Garage bands may not release a dozen CDRs in a year, but they may release that many 7"s, which is pretty much the same thing.
You sir, are misinformed. Punk bands might release 2 or 3 7"s a year with maybe 4 songs max (usually two or three). People like Blank Dogs or Jay Reatard are exceptions to the rule.
Uh, the music is a pretty good place to start. If I listen to a band and don't like what I hear I'm not going to buy their record no matter how snazzy the packaging is.
Agreed. But if a band is doing something interesting with their instruments-and it may not be the most innovative shit ever-and they package their material in an innovative or eye-catching manner, they will always get my attention. It is a fetish, yes, I agree, but the package is not the only thing i'm after when I buy new music.
Well that's a shame because I'd much rather hear your opinions on why you like what you're listening to, its emotional impact, an appreciation of its aesthetic, and/or the social context therein (or a combination of all of the above)
Oh, you'll get all of the above. My point was not that I only buy music in amazing packages, its more that I am more willing to spend my money and time on something that has great music within and is packaged well. The problem is that my tastes have evolved in a way that is more conducive to the experimental. The thing with experimental music is that there are more bands than there are labels to put all this shit out. My money will go to the groups that make the extra effort. There are so many crummy CDR-only bands that refuse to do anything more than pop the disc in a folded slip of paper. Those groups will get less of my time and money...always. If the shit is phenomenal then it doesn't matter if the thing was dubbed on to an old Ace of Base tape and slapped between two slices of bread. I will listen to it and tell the whole world about it. It's just that bands that resort to shite packaging are usually not worth the time.
You sir, are misinformed. Punk bands might release 2 or 3 7"s a year with maybe 4 songs max (usually two or three). People like Blank Dogs or Jay Reatard are exceptions to the rule.
Ok, I was stretching it a little, but not every "noise" band puts out a dozen things a year either.
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