Viet Cong - Viet Cong
 

Their debut, self-titled album officially drops today. What do you think, and did you hear Cassette previously?

http://rymimg.com/lk/f/l/507e90fefd1...8a/5441937.jpg

1. Newspaper Spoons (3:02)
2. Pointless Experience (2:59)
3. March of Progress (6:19)
4. Bunker Buster (5:55)
5. Continental Shelf (3:18)
6. Silhouettes (4:12)
7. Death (11:17)

Aww yeah.

Not as good as Women, still great.

Decent to me. The last track is fucking awesome though.

Loved it all the way through, I didn't have any pre-dispositions about Women so that probably helped my enjoyment. I'm probably going to have to pick this one up on vinyl

i dig this group more than women so far. unconcious melody was one of my favorite tracks of 2013.

i think the album is impressive overall. even the video for continental shelf is top notch. definitely one of my favorites of 2015 up to this point, maybe even my favorite

Agreed on all points. I liked Women, but found most of their albums not that accessible save for a few great tracks on each. I still enjoyed the albums on occasion, but always went back to those same few songs.

"Unconscious Melody" was also one of my favorites from Cassette.

In a way, I admit there's a similar balance of abstract material and really great tunes going on with Viet Cong. The cassette had the aforementioned track, "Oxygen Feed", and "Static Wall" which were all really great, "Throw It Away" was a great intro leading up to those really great ones, and then some more chaotic material to finish it off. I expected the album to be a bit more refined, perhaps the two extremes blending pretty well throughout. What's weird is that it's kind of like a flip of the cassette - with the less accessible material at the front and the tracks getting better as you go along - culminating in the 10+ minute "Death" which does a great job of blending the two personalities.

I really like the album. Unfortunately for me I had played "Bunker Buster" and "Continental Shelf" pretty extensively prior to the album's release. I knew the ladder was on the album, but not the former. I'm still trying to really get into the first 3 tracks that I feel are essentially warm-ups to Bunker Buster and the rest. So what's left are "Silhouettes" and "Death", as far as songs that are great and new to me.

The album is short but that might be a good thing. Though as I mentioned the first 3 songs feel like a build-up to the great material, I could go for another 10 or so minutes after "Death".

All that said, I really love the band's sound and feel they bring to the table a lot of what I feel is missing in some post-punk, even the original titles. The infectious songs really strike a chord with me, they're truly perfect to my ears.

Yeah that's pretty much my take. The first three songs are fine, but the next four are pretty great.

Aoty

MY MAN WELCOME BACK

though I disagree but that's irrelevant

I haven't listened to Cassette or any of Women's output, so my feelings are based purely on this album. I'll admit, I listened to it probably a good six times passively, and a lot of it never really stuck in my head. I finally gave it a full, focused listen straight through tonight, and I can definitely see a lot of good in it in parts that sort of bled together before.

A major problem for me is that the vocals get seriously buried in the mix throughout the album. Sometimes it's okay because the rest of the music carries enough interest that the vocals and lyrics don't need to be the centerpiece. In the first half of the album though, it seems strange that they decided in production to make the vocals sound like they're in another room from everything else. Not that I'm saying I'd want an intimate sound right in my ear, but just a little give would've been nice.

The mix also kind of flattens the impetus in "Death," especially in the middle section between the two choruses. It just lacks depth for me because the dynamics stay at pretty similar levels for the full 11-minute length of the track. Even in the last verse and chorus of the first half of the song where the vocalist starts yelling, there isn't much of an actual difference in audibility. It makes focusing on the content itself considerably harder for me.

Like I said though, I do enjoy a lot of what's there. The ending swell of "Newspaper Spoons" makes that great transition from the thumping, quasi-tribalistic quality in the opening to the pure, droning synth chord. I know that I pointed out in another thread how much I love the ending section on "March of Progress" as well. There's something about the jangly electric guitar part that's absolutely infectious to me.

... there's also one thing I noticed. Maybe I'm totally alone on this, but the opening to "Bunker Buster" strikes me as something that'd get snagged for a car ad.

sounds great!

i'm going to have to check this out

LOVED THIS ONE! AOTY so far!!