VCR5
Radical
Self-Released
Street: 03.08
VCR5 = Nullsleep + Jason Forrest + PixelH8
 
It would be a bit disingenuous to lump Joe Greathouse in with the pasty crowd of chiptune musicians. On the surface, it makes a bit of sense. The heavy syncopation, melodic phrases falling over each other like Sonic the Hedgehog caught in a loop, and the high BPM, omnipresent pitter-patter of skittering drum patterns would be easily mistaken for his DS-wielding, 8-bit brethren. This is the closest reference because no one really makes music like VCR5. VCR5 is a quintet of VCRs programmed to bleat and spill their magnetic-taped guts to each other in six iterations of sugar-coated, psychotropic, all-VCR versions of Family Feud. This all-hardware approach to electronic music would seem a bit unwieldy onstage, but the recorded artifact is sheer brilliance.  A bit overwhelming at times, it is best to take this jackhammer of a record in micro-bursts of unrestrained spazz-danceability. –Ryan Hall