VR SEX: Hard Copy (black ice) LP

Following 2022's "Rough Dimension" LP, Noel Skum (aka Andrew Clinco of Drab Majesty) made the radical leap of expanding his psychedelic post-punk vehicle VR SEX into a fully collaborative five-piece band. To christen the new group's camaraderie, they booked a block of studio time in Glassell Park, swapped skeletal iPhone demos, and "did that classic thing of a band making the exact record they want without any interference". Working 12-hour days, they banged out the basics in a week, then tracked the rest over a month, fine-tuning it with flourishes, FX, and amplifier experiments. "Hard Copy" is the result - 10 tracks of sneering psychedelic punk streaked with Chrome-damaged freak-outs and snotty power pop harmonies chronicling sex doll love affairs and glue-sniffing fatales. Shadows of Chrome, Stickmen With Rayguns, Japanese psych, and loud-quiet-loud grunge anthems flicker here and there, but ultimately VR SEX's mode is more sardonic and saturated, oscillating between ripped leather riffing and space echo meltdowns.