Vinyl Me Please (store, exclusives, swaps, etc)

[jaycee]

This dj dude compared all the Pinata pressings.
tl:dr VMP is the best in both presentation and sound

I have the 2015 Newbury pressing and there are no issues with the sound. It's nothing to be super excited about but the noise floor is low and the sound is clean. I don't know what version is the "best" pressing but nothing was remastered for the 2019 versions so they are almost certainly from the same plates as the earlier pressings.

Maybe this person has some expertise other than their "dj" moniker that qualifies them to be a better judge of sound quality than any other random person but I'm guessing not. It's a real shame when random judgements like this are given some authority on the interwebs for no reason because people who are new and/or naive are going to believe stuff like this.

 

[MadLucas]

What is this shopify and how is it different from the store?

I'm still seeing the same thing I always have when I go to the VMP store.

 

[AnthonyI]

I think the majority of vinyl enthusiasts don't mind paying a premium price for a premium product, I know I don't. The problem is in the definition of "premium".............my premium starts with the pressing, from there, everything else is extra.

 

[AnthonyI]

What is this shopify and how is it different from the store?

I'm still seeing the same thing I always have when I go to the VMP store.

I don't think it's active yet, but in answer to your question, its just an online "Backbone" store service........it can be customized and skinned. A lot of people/companies use it.

 

[jaycee]

Fam. All he did was compare the three pressings he owned (the 2015 Newbury one he got was defective) and he revealed the differences he found. You can choose not to believe him, but his stance is incredibly reasonable if you just look at the reviews for each of the pressings that he mentioned and then compare pictures of the packaging.

His sound-quality review of the VMP vs NB pressings wasn't crazy. He basically said that the VMP one had a slightly lower volume, which allowed for higher dynamics (something I can confirm VMP's pressing had.) Nothing huge.
He also said that VMP's vinyl was the heaviest of the bunch, so if you wanna hold him at gunpoint and force him to take pictures of each record on a scale just to confirm that he wasn't lying about fucking vinyl weight (lmfao) then go ahead.

Also, a big part of the review was the packaging, of which he said VMP had the best. This is obviously subjective, but nothing he said in that regard was even remotely suspicious. I mean, he literally started the thread with a picture of the NB press and the VMP press side-by-side.

And you don't need to be an expert to compare sound quality and packaging quality when you have everything in front of you. Implying that he'd need to be "qualified" to review vinyl pressings is tonedeaf of you, considering we're on a forum full of people that likely have reviewed a vinyl pressing at least once and posted it here with the aim of informing people on the pressing's quality. You could argue that comparing pressings requires more expertise than reviewing a single pressing, but it wasn't like he went super in-depth on the differences between NB and VMP's pressings. He listed one small difference in the sound quality.

In fact, he actually posted his anticipations of the VMP press a month ago, and he said that he didn't see any reason why it'd be better than Newbury's in terms of sound. He posted this under a review of the VMP Bandana press, which he actually reviewed really negatively.

See below:

View attachment 22966





tl;dr ok boomer

Look if you think I'm a boomer and want to throw around insults then fine. I'm not nearly old enough to be a boomer btw. It's a pretty stupid thing to assume.

You threw-up this person's reddit post and presented it as some sort of fact based on him being a DJ, which he may or may not be and regardless doesn't make him an authority of any kind - just another person with opinions.

I suggested that it's potentially problematic to act like that person did some sort-of analysis of the sound quality of any of those pressings. That was all. If you read and comprehended my post I never suggested it was crazy or that I had any knowledge of the best pressing. Only that the Newbury pressing I had sounded good, which differed from the review, and that the same plates were likely used for all of the pressings. What I intimated was that there was likely little to no difference between any of the Pinata pressings.

Be offended if you want.

 

[Delta Don]

Still no shipping even though I re upped last week with free record. Also noticed I was charged more than i should have been. Thinking about just canceling the entire thing.

 

[BjorgenFjorgen]

Even in VMP's finest moments, they are not $40 for a single LP good. Most no one is, but certainly not VMP.

It's a good thing you're not international, then!

 

[Urbs_hott]

I briefly met Freddie Gibbs last week. We were staying at the same hotel. Nice guy. He did not share his opinion on the best pressing of Bandana.

 

[NathanRicaud]

I briefly met Freddie Gibbs last week. We were staying at the same hotel. Nice guy. He did not share his opinion on the best pressing of Bandana.

You were staying at the same hotel as him!

You must be living the fancy life!

So cool that you met him and person as well and had a chat to him! I’m so jealous!!!

 

[jaycee]

I didn't present it as fact, though. My original tl;dr was just a recap of his post. Also I didn't present it as a fact based on him being a DJ, since I never said he was a DJ. I called him a dj dude cause his username started with dj lmao.
I don't blame you for misreading it, cause I wasn't as clear as it could've been, but you're looking at this situation way deeper than you need to. I've since re-edited it to clear up any confusion.

Since we're already deep, I'll say that you seem to have misread his actual review, which I thought was easy to follow. He never said that the NB press was bad at all. Just that the VMP one was slightly better. You saying that there was "likely little to no difference" doesn't really contradict it either, since it seems like the difference he spoke (in terms of sound quality) was pretty "little."

tl;dr: my second tl;dr still stands

I'm not going to keep re-iterating my original post because you keep trying to turn it into something it wasn't.
I really don't understand why you can't or won't comprehend it.

I have no dog in the best pressing of Pinata fight. I frankly don't care if you or anyone else here wants to believe whatever they want to believe about it. VMP's pressing is fine. Newbury's are fine. None of them are really that nice imo.

It just sucks that people keep propping VMP up as a retailer of superior vinyl when most of their pressings don't deserve that label, again my opinion. It's even more disappointing that hip-hop is often treated as a 2nd class product by many people that sell it instead of giving it the premium treatment other genres more regularly receive (not a jab at VMP).

Keep on keeping it real if that's what you think you're doing.

 

[Urbs_hott]

If I didn't have work on the day, I'd def go see him live and get him to sign my Pinata record. Someone on the hiphopvinyl reddit actually managed to get Madlib's signature too by getting some guy to take the record backstage to him.

He did mention that I should go his show that night, and I was I considering it but I had to work early the next morning and in my experience rap shows tend to go super late. If I knew that Madlib was there too(well, performing anyway) I would have gone for sure! The current tour is just being marketed as a solo show, from what I’ve seen.

 

[Urbs_hott]

You were staying at the same hotel as him!

You must be living the fancy life!

So cool that you met him and person as well and had a chat to him! I’m so jealous!!!

Haha well it was a Hilton Garden Inn, which is fine but not particularly fancy. I was pretty shocked to see him there.

I was in Minneapolis for the week for work, which I wasn’t particularly excited about but I met Freddie Gibbs, toured Prince’s compound, Paisley Park and went to Angel Olsen and FKA Twigs concerts. As it turns out, Minneapolis is alright!

 

[NathanRicaud]

Haha well it was a Hilton Garden Inn, which is fine but not particularly fancy. I was pretty shocked to see him there.

I was in Minneapolis for the week for work, which I wasn’t particularly excited about but I met Freddie Gibbs, toured Prince’s compound, Paisley Park and went to Angel Olsen and FKA Twigs concerts. As it turns out, Minneapolis is alright!

Stop it! You’re making me so jealous! But I’m so happy for you!

So jealous about FKA Twigs!!! I remember you said it was the best concert you’ve been to in years!!!

 

[Joe Mac]

See the thing is I hope it's a great high quality pressing. But I would trust a pressing plant run by @Mather more then GZ. Plus the only reason I know about GZ is because of their lack of quality. I really do hope for the best but I also hope they have a lot of replacement copies to go around.

well yes, so long as he sets it up outside the warp zone. Well that is unless that’s a personalised rather than geographic field

 

[Joe Mac]

Look if you think I'm a boomer and want to throw around insults then fine. I'm not nearly old enough to be a boomer btw. It's a pretty stupid thing to assume.

You threw-up this person's reddit post and presented it as some sort of fact based on him being a DJ, which he may or may not be and regardless doesn't make him an authority of any kind - just another person with opinions.

I suggested that it's potentially problematic to act like that person did some sort-of analysis of the sound quality of any of those pressings. That was all. If you read and comprehended my post I never suggested it was crazy or that I had any knowledge of the best pressing. Only that the Newbury pressing I had sounded good, which differed from the review, and that the same plates were likely used for all of the pressings. What I intimated was that there was likely little to no difference between any of the Pinata pressings.

Be offended if you want.

How does it feel to be mistaken age wise for your patents. Actually scratch that, they’d only be second phase boomers, your grandparents, I’ll send over a zimmer...

 

[Joe Mac]

Well I do have a sugar daddy so that helps!

Nah, just joking!!!

Yes, VMP will never be as good as MoFi in terms of general sound quality (some of their AAA Classics ROTM releases have been as good though in my opinion), but maybe it just costs a lot of money to repress The Idler Wheel...? And then on top, you would want to make sure you receive a high quality pressing of it! GZ can do it, but it’s less likely it will sound spectacular and will instead just sound good/great!

US$40 is close to like AUS$55 and that’s how much RSD release of Robyn’s Body Talk is, and i’d Rather The Idler Wheel much more, especially as three tracks I really like from the original release of Body Talk are missing!

Like, I know it’s expensive, but I’d definitely spend US$50 on The Idler Wheel if I knew I was getting a brand new, very high quality pressing on it!

The problem I have Nathan is that VMP are creating a normalisation of the $40 price tag being a fair level for their product. They haven’t put out any releases that I think are coming close to being worth it. They produce nice packages, not premium product.

You also have to bear in mind that there is no sales tax is the US and we in Europe are only getting away without paying that because they are committing mail fraud. I’m not complaining because it saves me money but it is a fact!

So if you take $40 as a base and run at a fair level against local pricing (so including the VAT) you are looking at UK £37.04 or IRE €44.45. That’s crazy money, you won’t get that paid outside of idiots and the very biggest of legacy artist for a standard 1LP.

Also a quick comparison. The last N&G AoTM, picked by @ThePakoBuelna , the Ruen brothers. It came in a heavyweight tip on jacket, it was beautifully pressed and mastered, an all around great package, easily better than all pre-Al Green classics and the equal of all inc and post. I bought it from America, including postage and correctly declared VAT, it cost me a total of €22.84.

Don’t believe the hype and don’t feed the hype machine.

 

[Selaws]

The problem I have Nathan is that VMP are creating a normalisation of the $40 price tag being a fair lever for their product. They haven’t put out any releases that I think are coming close to being worth it. They produce nice packages, not premium product.

You also have to bear in mind that there is no sales tax is the US and we in Europe are only getting away without paying that because they are committing mail fraud. I’m not complaining because it saves me money but it is a fact!

So if you take $40 as a base and run at a fair level against local pricing (so including the VAT) you are looking at UK £37.04 or IRE €44.45. That’s crazy money, you won’t get that paid outside of idiots and the very biggest of legacy artist for a standard 1LP.

Also a quick comparison. The last N&G AoTM, picked by @ThePakoBuelna , the Ruen brothers. It came in a heavyweight tip on jacket, it was beautifully pressed and mastered, an all around great package, easily better than all pre-Al Green classics and the equal of all inc and post. I bought it from America, including postage and correctly declared VAT, it cost me a total of €22.84.

Don’t believe the hype and don’t feed the hype machine.

I completely agree with you on this one @Joe Mac but I would also say that quite often buying a record from VMP is cheaper that getting it here in the UK for me. This was more obvious when they used to sell standard items in the store, but lets say and exclusive from them is around 27usd (which was the price of the last few I got) well thats around £20. I would struggle to find those exclusives equivalents for that price, especially when you factor in shipping (which ranges from £3.50 - which is the actual price for 2nd class through Royal Mail btw, to £8!!). Im obviously paying for the shipping within the international subs, but as long as im still finding value in their ROTM's then every add on exclusive I buy (at the price point I have currently been paying) is pretty reasonable even factoring that in.

Saying that, 40usd is around £30 I believe, it would have to be something special to warrant that from me.

 

[Joe Mac]

I completely agree with you on this one @Joe Mac but I would also say that quite often buying a record from VMP is cheaper that getting it here in the UK for me. This was more obvious when they used to sell standard items in the store, but lets say and exclusive from them is around 27usd (which was the price of the last few I got) well thats around £20. I would struggle to find those exclusives equivalents for that price, especially when you factor in shipping (which ranges from £3.50 - which is the actual price for 2nd class through Royal Mail btw, to £8!!). Im obviously paying for the shipping within the international subs, but as long as im still finding value in their ROTM's then every add on exclusive I buy (at the price point I have currently been paying) is pretty reasonable even factoring that in.

Saying that, 40usd is around £30 I believe, it would have to be something special to warrant that from me.

It is and although we don’t pay the VAT because they’re being a bit shifty, again not complaining while it saves me money, I still think you have to figure it into the equation. They are still charging the same money for it as mofi with a $40 record that you are paying £7 more from because they declare properly. That seems absurd to me because VMP have got to be spending less on their product in the first place

 

[Selaws]

It is and although we don’t pay the VAT because they’re being a bit shifty, again not complaining while it saves me money, I still think you have to figure it into the equation. They are still charging the same money out of it as mofi with a $40 record that you are
paying £7 more from because they declare properly. That seems absurd to me because VMP have got to be spending less on their product in the first place

True. Again, completely agree with you there, the quality is certainly dropping. I was listening to the VMP/Blue Note records they released back in 2018 (Donald Byrd, Eddie Gale, Johnny Griffin, Charlie Rouse) and the overall quality is super high. I cant remember the last time we got something that good in terms of package, vinyl weight, colour, etc.

 

[bother]

True. Again, completely agree with you there, the quality is certainly dropping. I was listening to the VMP/Blue Note records they released back in 2018 (Donald Byrd, Eddie Gale, Johnny Griffin, Charlie Rouse) and the overall quality is super high. I cant remember the last time we got something that good in terms of package, vinyl weight, colour, etc.

I agree that VMP has gone down quality wise... except for the classics track. You can't get legit AAA reissues for that price anywhere. And their jackets are nicer than Pure Pleasure, for example, plus the liner notes are a nice bonus. In general I think their exclusives are kind of crappy... but classica is still a fantastic bargain.