Local Reviews: The VCR Quintet

The VCR Quintet
The Best of Fusoya
Self Released
Street: 03.08
The VCR Quintet = Ikue Mori + DJ Olive
Like much of Ikue Mori’s pre-laptop, dual drum-machine work and Autechre’s slowly deteriorating sequences on their Untilted album, Joe Greathouse’s (aka Thrillhouse) VCR5 project works in a rhizomic fashion. That is, his tracks sort of just begin then end when the last note hits, never quite introducing or resolving themselves. This isn’t a bad quality, as the scenery is always an intriguing mix of mechanized bass drum plods, bursting melodic cells, 8-bit acid, arcade samples and droning Yamaha organs, all moving in extended solo flights rather than flocks. MIDI jauntiness prevails, something fairly inimical to an audience’s dance moves, but that’s not Greathouse’s intent, I imagine. Occasionally, the pace slackens; machines pause and allow breathing space before flashing up similar avenues. Unrelenting yet delicate in his delivery, Greathouse sustains the onward plunge throughout the disc, properly conveying the experience that is a live VCR5 performance.