Campag Velocet

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I bought Bon Chic Bon Genre when it came out, and I thought it was quite good. Then I forgot about them for a while. I'd say they've split up, as they haven't released anything since. I brought the album out with me for a long bus journey this morning, to see if I still liked it.

On the whole, it's pretty messy. Some really bad singing, particularly on "Only Answers Delay Our Time". It's quite a silly record, but endearingly so, i suppose.

There's a handful of really top tunes, though. There's a good, Long Shoegazery instrumental called Skin So Soft in the middle. I like the blissed-out guitar playing at the end of Sauntry Sly Chic. To Lose La Trek is still godlike - some nice wordplay and funky guitar gradually building momentum. Vito Satan is really weedy indie jangle - and should be the most embarrassing thing on here - but it's actually quite lovely.

So, not quite classic then, but a shame they never got to fulfil their potential.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 2 January 2004 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)

i agree wholeheartedly

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 2 January 2004 14:17 (twenty-one years ago)

It's still on my shelves. I seem to remember there were a couple of songs that seemed exceptionally well put together for such an otherwise slapdash band.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Friday, 2 January 2004 14:28 (twenty-one years ago)

didn't they come back recently. lots of stuff on playlouder boards about them ?
this lot along with earl brutus were going to change my world. naturally this didn't happen... though i await earl brutus to revive their punkglamstomp grooves anyday now ..

― mark e (mark e), Friday, 2 January 2004 14:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, they played some place in Manchester a couple of months back. I didn't go though.

― Ian SPACK (Ian SPACK), Friday, 2 January 2004 15:44 (twenty-one years ago)

whaaaat? i might've. actually, no i wouldn't, but i'm interested to hear any new material they may have.

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 2 January 2004 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah I balked at the news too. I'll ask some people who went and report back.

― Ian SPACK (Ian SPACK), Friday, 2 January 2004 16:39 (twenty-one years ago)

the first 12" was fantastic. the rest was absolute garbage

― the surface noise (electricsound), Friday, 2 January 2004 23:54 (twenty-one years ago)

WORST BAND EVER TO BE ON THE COVER OF A MAJOR MUSIC MAGAZINE. FULL STOP.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Saturday, 3 January 2004 00:56 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...

revive : new album 'its beyond our control' on me desk now. and its f*ckin ace. this sounds totally spot on now. funked up messiness, grotty guitars, sublime ambience at times. the non-melodic vocals are as annoying/brill (delete as applicable) as before. bring it on. anyone else amazed that this is a decent return from the hype-graveyard ?

― mark e (mark e), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 08:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Is this the time to ebay my Campag "Drencrum Velocet Synthamesc" 12"? Or a couple of months?!

― ___ (___), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 08:51 (twenty-one years ago)

try a couple of years ago. can't remember what i paid for my copy but it was definitely more than retail

― the surface noise is generally somewhere between 'in some spots' and 'throu (ele, Wednesday, 9 June 2004 08:58 (twenty-one years ago)

sounds good mark. i change my mind everyday about CV/Voss. has it got that 'Trumping Men' track on it which reminded me a lot of LCD's 'Yeah'

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 10:14 (twenty-one years ago)

surface noise - I am surprised anyone would have paid anything above retail for it. Some trashite probably will soon though.

― ___ (___), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 10:23 (twenty-one years ago)

1. instinct-tension.
2. motown clic..
3. who are the trumping men
4. vindictive disco
5. metro*boulot*dodo
6. phanton(edit)
7. stranded by the reebox
8. sunset strip eclipse
9. me and a foe
10. obsessed with gloom
11. the sliencer
12. aint no funki tangerine
cover by tDR again .. they must be mates i guess !? wwwitsbeyondourcontrol.com
liking it. though the haters will be out in force as ever. i await the cycling gear revival.

― mark e (mark e), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 11:15 (twenty-one years ago)

i purchased it more as a fierce panda collector than as a campags fan

― the surface noise is generally somewhere between 'in some spots' and 'throu (ele, Wednesday, 9 June 2004 11:20 (twenty-one years ago)

ah - I can sell you quite a lot of them, too!

― ___ (___), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 11:40 (twenty-one years ago)

come on you droogs! i think this is actually quite good. on first play i thought it was quite anachronistic but couldn't work out exacxtly how so. second listen and, yeah what you said mark. very pleasing although i do feel i shouldn't be liking it.

― myke boomnoise (myke boomnoise), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 12:43 (twenty-one years ago)

myke - I have something for you when I am next online @ home.

― ___ (___), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 13:02 (twenty-one years ago)

ah - I can sell you quite a lot of them, too!

if i didn't have them all already, quite probably!

― the surface noise is so overwhelming that it renders the contents of the re (ele, Wednesday, 9 June 2004 22:16 (twenty-one years ago)

FYI, Campag Velocet are going to play at the Quuens of Noize night at the Barfly on Friday.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Wednesday, 9 June 2004 23:50 (twenty-one years ago)

is the lyric on 'motown clic' "looking like geeks / it's the flawless geordie boys / the flawless joy boys" ?

― myke boomnoise (myke boomnoise), Thursday, 10 June 2004 05:17 (twenty-one years ago)

myke. very close. 'flawless joy boys' according to the lyrics printed ..

― mark e (mark e), Thursday, 10 June 2004 06:45 (twenty-one years ago)

damn

― myke boomnoise (myke boomnoise), Thursday, 10 June 2004 08:48 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

looking forward to this one...

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 16 July 2004 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

ten months pass...

they slpit up on may 6th after playing final gig at shepherds bush hall in front of about 30 people. released one other album last year - "its beyond our control". magnificent album, crimially overlooked in end of year polls, which may have seen them stick around for slightly longer. the 6 year gap in between albums was due to being released from pias records, and taking too much time in siging for pointy records. who knows what went on behind the scenes, but there seemed to be a complete lack of passion and interest on all sides - band, record company, management....and yet they were good. better than good. odd, slapdash, intense, fresh, raw. people just weren't ready for them. 2nd album got a 9/10 in the nme....but a band that sells no records won't sell magazines, so they lost interest. look out for one of their tracks being plucked from obscurity to feature on some cool drug addled sex filled brit flick in a couple of years time.

― ama, Monday, 13 June 2005 21:17 (twenty years ago)

they're still much better than Kasabian.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Monday, 13 June 2005 21:42 (twenty years ago)

I think of them as the ultimate stevem band!

Did you like Regular Fries?

― the D Double signal (nordicskilla), Monday, 13 June 2005 21:45 (twenty years ago)

I think of them as the ultimate stevem band!

well i do enjoy Campag's abject rubbishness. but they never reached the dizzy heights of THE LO FIDELITY ALL STARS.

i think a few Regular Fries songs are nice enough.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Monday, 13 June 2005 22:07 (twenty years ago)

the Campag V second album was indeed great. tis a shame they split as people seemed to be getting it this time around.

and i openly admit to liking the Fries - all of their stuff works for me ..

― mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 07:21 (twenty years ago)

The album last year was great, much better than the first one. I went to see them twice last year and thought they were on the verge of a breakthrough, but no. The Lo-Fi's second album was also much better than their first, but seems to have been similarly ignored. Regular Fries were alright.

― Teh HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 07:45 (twenty years ago)

the Lo-Fis second album is by no means bad, but even with Bootsy and Dulli and Byron Stingily it barely manages to shine even the toes of How To Operate's shoes!

I'd love to hear the 'new' Campag but don't like my chances of ever setting eyes on a copy in Australia. Their first was a sad victim of compact disc technology - I feel that everything after the 45 minute-ish mark starts to wear, being pretty much just more of the same (except the bonus track maybe?). The music's fine but making no new points, would have been better served on b-sides than diluting the LP's impact.

― kit brash (kit brash), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 08:47 (twenty years ago)

(oh while I'm at it, Fries: Dust It 12" with Fearless mix super-awesome, first album okay, Coke & Smoke one of the best Kool Keith rap-for-cash collabs ever (and great example of "the rock remix" meme! courtesy of James Fat Manic!), never seen anything else.)

― kit brash (kit brash), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 08:50 (twenty years ago)

i think of them as the ultimate stevem band

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:38 (twenty years ago)

I've got BCBG which I bought when it came out back in the days when I paid attention to what the NME said, but I haven't listened to it in years. I may do tomorrow though.

― Nick H (Nick H), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 21:24 (twenty years ago)

i think of them as the ultimate stevem band

okay this is embarassing now. for this to work you'd have to have had more of a Chem. Bros '96 b/w Zongamin '03 influence at the desk (more drone and fx but also more elegance and sophistication, possibly veering towards Can with occasional nods to Kraftwerk, Cabaret Voltaire, Hannett i.e. shuffling into the pop kitchen thru the back door), obliqueness of Karl Hyde lyrics with attitude of Shaun Ryder (Voss falls short on both counts and ends up twice as 'annoying' as both of them without the charm).

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 21:35 (twenty years ago)

he had a natty wardrobe though.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 08:50 (twenty years ago)

did he keep natty clothes inside it?

― Teh HoBB (the pirate king), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 10:23 (twenty years ago)

seven years pass...

Whatever became of Pete Voss? I lurved the debut album with the "guitar music made by club kids" conceit. Second album was a bore.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 23 May 2013 22:04 (twelve years ago)

i liked the first single. almost literally everything else they did was total garbage

― modest birthday sherbs riff (electricsound), Thursday, 23 May 2013 22:36 (twelve years ago)

looool i said almost identical thing upthread

― modest birthday sherbs riff (electricsound), Thursday, 23 May 2013 22:37 (twelve years ago)

wrong.
second album was ace.
crappy interview etc @ ireallylovemusic.

― mark e, Thursday, 23 May 2013 23:34 (twelve years ago)

I tried, Mark, had it for years but whereas the debut kept me going back, the follow up never clicked for me, there was always something missing. I'll give it one last shot...

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 24 May 2013 03:17 (twelve years ago)

Oh, and here's the answer to my question: Voss Belts!

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 24 May 2013 03:27 (twelve years ago)

wow !

― mark e, Friday, 24 May 2013 09:46 (twelve years ago)

it was either that or cycling apparel I suppose!

― Neil S, Friday, 24 May 2013 10:54 (twelve years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.

Campag Velocet - c or d