For some reason I bought both this double album, the compact disc and all of the 12" EPs that were released alongside "Ssss" (maybe the anticipation proved too much for me). As it turns out I didn't even need to buy the CD as it came free with the vinyl anyway - so I really do have far more copies of this album than I need. I wouldn't mind this veracious consumption if I actually liked the album, but I can't recall listening to it once in the last thirteen years. On the plus the vinyl sounds immense with deep bass and near flawless sound reproduction.
As soon as I drop the stylus, the sound of the first track "Lowly" brings back memories and proves to be surprisingly entertaining. I find these tracks hard to pigeonhole but I'd describe the music as minimal techno or a less angular form of IDM. Their sound is more melodic than Autechre, less acid than Richie Hawtin and not as raw as Aphex Twin. To my ears VCMG have a tendency to float around the same space as Speedy J - but purists will prbably tel me that's a load of rubbish.
The Achilles heel of all of these tracks is that they are just too damn long. As you might expect, the ideas are solid and the instrumentation impeccable, but things do have a tendency to just ramble on. "Wind Up Robot" and "Bendy Bass" are a case in point where a good three minute trim would make for a much more enjoyable experience.
Whilst "Single Blip", "Aftermaths" and "Spock" were released as singles I have absolutely no idea what promoted them above anything else here. Maybe the choice was arbitrary. That's part of my problem with this record: it sounds a like one amorphous mass where its difficult to distinguish one track from the next. I totally get that this is two esteemed songwriters throwing off the shackles of pop and trying something different, but it misses the mark for me. I hope to hear this album again in another thirteen years but I somehow doubt it will come out of the sleeve before then. 2/5
