The Prototypes - City Of Gold - Release date and Tracklist

Fallen.GeMiNi said:
Interesting. I suppose you haven't been paying too much attention to how other labels release their artist's albums, right? Having a hard time trying to remember an album which would have 5 previously released (and by the time this is out at least 9 months old) tunes on it. I probably wouldn't say a word were those singles released throughout the first 4 or 5 months of 2015, but Humanoid/Don't Let Me Go is August 2014, Pale Blue Dot/The Lights is February 2014 and Abyss is as old as 2012. I was tempted to say this has Loadstar written all over it but at least they were sane enough not to include Link To The Past after 3 years on the album in the end.
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What album has come out where you have not known any of the tracks? Any artist I've ever followed who's dropped an album I've known a bunch of the tracks, give me a break. Every SC mix, radio mix and podcast is analyzed for any hint of a new track that people don't know. They were album singles and now they're on the album, simple.

You guys are posting on a DNB forum, you know every song that's ever even had a 30 second clip dropped in a podcast. Prior to the clips going up nobody had heard City Of Gold, Pop It Off, Under, Edge of Tomorrow, Fallen, Is It Love, The Journey Continues, Redose, Slip Away - that's 9 tracks out of 14 nobody had heard. When we started the album/single process we had an aim to have the album out by the end of last year, but it wasn't ready and we all agreed to work on the album more instead of rushing out something just for the sake of getting it out.

I understand where you guys are coming from cause I'm in the same boat. I know and have all the tracks long ahead of official release and then when any album is announced, I've head a bunch of the tracks because I'm so heavily involved in the scene.

I don't know why you guys think we sit around demanding and telling artists what to do. This is the album and tracklist the Protos wanted to put out. You guys need to try to realize that you're the hardcore fans of an extremely niche genre. Casual fans and punters buy albums with tracks they know. We're looking beyond selling 100 mp3's to get into the Beatport Top 10 (yes, that's really all you need to sell to make it in). I really don't mind if you guys want to moan that you've heard a bunch of the tracks, that is inevitable with any album to the most dedicated and hardcore fans, it's just annoying when people are acting like we "screwed up" and don't really know about the situation or inside the industry. Album is sitting at #18 on the iTunes Electronic charts right now on the first day of pre-order, so I guess us stupid label morons have some semblance of an idea what we're doing.
 
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For anyone who cares, Vinyl options for the album:

VINYL:
City Of Gold EP (2X12") [VPRLP010EP]:
A. City Of Gold (Extended Mix)
B. Pop It Off (feat. Mad Hed City)
C. Edge of Tomorrow (DnB Mix)
D. Redose

City Of Gold - Limited Edition 10" Gold Vinyl [VPRLP010VLE]
A. Kill The Silence (feat. Ayah Marar)
B. Is It Love (feat. Laconic)

Pale Blue Dot / Humanoid [VPR058V]:
A. Pale Blue Dot
AA. Humanoid

CD & Vinyl Available From: http://www.triplevision.nl/label/Viper+Recordings/ (you can enter your email on each release to receive notifications on availability)
 
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Viper has always had a great presence on this forum and that's had a good bit to do with me rating the label and its management (worldwide was a particular highlight, that was one of the most enjoyable mix comps I think I've ever bought!) and I do not think the blame lies with Viper even slightly. End of the day the prototypes put out what they choose to, and although a handful of the tunes on there aren't that fresh for us (lights/pale blue dot are some of the most rinsed tunes of recent times) they are of a tried and tested pedigree and for the vast majority of customers who listen to the album as a whole it will be all the sweeter for it; as long as the vibe is cohesive I don't mind. Personally the prototypes aren't my top choice in general, although it's hard to deny that they make tunes that go off, it's just not where I'm at atm!
 
Also, I think only one person mentioned viper in a bad light in this thread, no need to spit acid my friend, been lots of people feeling it too.
 
Since Tim's spouting off about albums. Mind giving me the release dates for Smooth's LP, Brookes Brothers LP & IndsideInfo's LP? :teeth:
 
What about album samplers? in my humble opinion those work better (Emulation,Looking At The Stars,Fourth Wall,Seeing Sounds) than regular singles. But other than that Viper is on top of the game up there with RAM, Hospital, etc so I guess you do what works best for your label and roster rather than look to please us the elitists of dnb lol. It's completely valid Tim and it seems to be working great for you guys so cheers to that! At the end of the day it's about DnB as a whole and keeping the scene alive and fresh.
 
All right, I've come over a bit harsh previously, so let's have a look.

Tim Viper Recs said:
What album has come out where you have not known any of the tracks? Any artist I've ever followed who's dropped an album I've known a bunch of the tracks, give me a break. Every SC mix, radio mix and podcast is analyzed for any hint of a new track that people don't know. They were album singles and now they're on the album, simple.
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I have no problem with that whatsoever, as I've said. The thing is it's not a standard thing to have all the tunes off the samplers on the album, then again who am I to tell them what should or shouldn't be there.

Tim Viper Recs said:
You guys are posting on a DNB forum, you know every song that's ever even had a 30 second clip dropped in a podcast. Prior to the clips going up nobody had heard City Of Gold, Pop It Off, Under, Edge of Tomorrow, Fallen, Is It Love, The Journey Continues, Redose, Slip Away - that's 9 tracks out of 14 nobody had heard. When we started the album/single process we had an aim to have the album out by the end of last year, but it wasn't ready and we all agreed to work on the album more instead of rushing out something just for the sake of getting it out.
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Fair point about the rest of the tunes. Now for the last sentence, I've somehow got the impression that by the time album is announced and the label starts to push album singles, the project is ready to go, again, that's what I'm used to anyways.

Tim Viper Recs said:
I understand where you guys are coming from cause I'm in the same boat. I know and have all the tracks long ahead of official release and then when any album is announced, I've head a bunch of the tracks because I'm so heavily involved in the scene

I don't know why you guys think we sit around demanding and telling artists what to do. This is the album and tracklist the Protos wanted to put out. You guys need to try to realize that you're the hardcore fans of an extremely niche genre. Casual fans and punters buy albums with tracks they know. We're looking beyond selling 100 mp3's to get into the Beatport Top 10 (yes, that's really all you need to sell to make it in). I really don't mind if you guys want to moan that you've heard a bunch of the tracks, that is inevitable with any album to the most dedicated and hardcore fans, it's just annoying when people are acting like we "screwed up" and don't really know about the situation or inside the industry. Album is sitting at #18 on the iTunes Electronic charts right now on the first day of pre-order, so I guess us stupid label morons have some semblance of an idea what we're doing.
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And for the last time I didn't mean that as a direct criticism of what either The Prototypes or Viper Recordings did in terms of the whole process of releasing this album. I also don't want to slate the work put into this although as I've said here earlier, the outcome is a bit of a let down for me, but that's down to the personal taste, not exactly anyone's fault, is it. I believe most of the labels are constantly trying their best to help their artists to pursue their goals and to push them forward, after all why else would you choose to sign them, right?
Now, with all due respect, I think that with the target group of The Prototypes music it couldn't get much worse with the pre-order situation and I would be very surprised to hear it didn't end up doing well enough in the Beatport chart.
 
Just a little bit disappointed with Kill The Silence and Abyss 2015... Also I think it's better for an album to include the a-side of the singles only. Like with the Wilkinson LP. Ok, RAM released tons of singles before this album but every single had its own b-side which wasn't on the LP later. Like Crunch, Direction, Perforation...
 
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I'm of the same
blueleven said:
Just a little bit disappointed with Kill The Silence and Abyss 2015... Also I think it's better for an album to include the a-side of the singles only. Like with the Wilkinson LP. Ok, RAM released tons of singles before this album but every single had his own b-side which wasn't on the LP later. Like Crunch, Direction, Perforation...
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opinion
 
I'd like to see those hating people running a record label on their own or sit in the studio and produce high quality music like The Prototypes do. All you can do is sit there and only see the negative things, complain about stupid stuff and disrespect the label AND the artist. Where's the difficulty to just shut up and listen to the music?
 
Saftstein said:
I'd like to see those hating people running a record label on their own or sit in the studio and produce high quality music like The Prototypes do. All you can do is sit there and only see the negative things, complain about stupid stuff and disrespect the label AND the artist. Where's the difficulty to just shut up and listen to the music?
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Pretty sure like one person at most disrespected or "hated on" The Prototypes or Viper Recordings in this thread. A forum exists with the purpose of discussing its topic, not to "shut up and listen to the music".
You don't need to make music to have an opinion on it either.
It's a GOOD album and a great label and no one is really contesting that
 
Exxcessivve said:
Pretty sure like one person at most disrespected or "hated on" The Prototypes or Viper Recordings in this thread. A forum exists with the purpose of discussing its topic, not to "shut up and listen to the music".
You don't need to make music to have an opinion on it either.
It's a GOOD album and a great label and no one is really contesting that
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I respect your opinion and you are basically right when it comes to discussing on a forum. My word choice maybe was a bit false depending to shut up and listen to the music, but that's not discussing, it's complaining.
You said one tune of the album is "insulting". How can this statement not be disrespecting? It's freakin art, how can you be insulted be it? If you don't like it don't buy it.
 
First of all, this forum is up there to discuss. And whether you like it or not, sometimes the best way to start an interesting discussion is to take a controversial stand. Now I'm not saying that you should bite everyone in the ass just for the sake of it, but by expressing your opinion in a polite manner without always sugar-coating it (meaning no strong language or uncalled-for personal attacks) you're not doing anything wrong (at least in my books). And if the person can't take that, well, they shouldn't work in a business like that. After all you're representing at the very least your own work, more often than not also someone else's and in those cases there's really not much room for your ego getting in the way of things. I sometimes think it came to a point where the lack of criticism (or more likely the absence of ability to accept criticism) hurts the scene. Everyone's patting each other's back for doing a great job while none of them really say what they really think and anyone who dares to say anything negative about the music or how someone else works is a cunt (and everybody's more than happy to let him know right away).

Second of all, whether the person critising does or doesn't run a label/produce/whatever else doesn't really matter. But if it helps the case, I participate in running a smaller label plus I spend almost every minute of my "free time" giving back somehow to the music I love (ranging from running independent nights through promoting it through various social networks to writing about it). So if you think that makes my opinion more relevant, be my guest.
 
Saftstein said:
I respect your opinion and you are basically right when it comes to discussing on a forum. My word choice maybe was a bit false depending to shut up and listen to the music, but that's not discussing, it's complaining.
You said one tune of the album is "insulting". How can this statement not be disrespecting? It's freakin art, how can you be insulted be it? If you don't like it don't buy it.
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Yeah insulting was a kinda snobby word to use in this case but it seemed appropriate because it's a B-side with vocals added
 
Pop It Off is straight fire. Will be bagging all the vinyl for this, even though The Prototypes haven't quite been my sound for a while now (thrashed Breathless when it came out back in the day).

A package of all the vinyl with CD would be kind of cool for this if it can be slightly cheaper than all the vinyl separately (just a thought)

nice one
 
Kondition said:
What about album samplers? in my humble opinion those work better (Emulation,Looking At The Stars,Fourth Wall,Seeing Sounds) than regular singles. But other than that Viper is on top of the game up there with RAM, Hospital, etc so I guess you do what works best for your label and roster rather than look to please us the elitists of dnb lol. It's completely valid Tim and it seems to be working great for you guys so cheers to that! At the end of the day it's about DnB as a whole and keeping the scene alive and fresh.
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It depends on the situation. Going into something like a 2nd album, it's definitely easier as some artists finish their first album, live off the back of that for a year, do some remixes, etc. and have made good headway on the 2nd. In this case, Protos signed with us at the start of last year with the intention of writing an album. Now sure, they could have disappeared for a year and written an album, but that wouldn't really serve either of our purposes. They needed to continue to build their name as an act - which they clearly did, especially off of Pale Blue Dot which was one of the biggest club tracks & Beatport sellers of last year - and for us we needed to bring them into the fold as Viper artists and build their name and brand as best we could. The rate that tunes are churned out these days, you're only as big as your last single... and if that was more than a year ago, good luck with bookings off promoters unless you're a really, really old established name in the scene for 20 years. They dry up very quickly if it's been a minute since your last tune.

So if they hadn't done anything for the last year for the sake of keeping everything "new" they'd be very cold right now and have no momentum going into the album. Instead, they've had 4-5 really big club tunes last year (they had 3 out of the Top 10 Beatport tunes of 2014 on this chart http://www.bptoptracker.com/bestof/2014/tracks/drum-and-bass/1) so this was the best way forward. Like I said before, we could have just rushed it out for the sake of it, but I think an album needs to be organic and a lot of the time that means it doesn't fit perfectly into timelines and deadlines. The tracks which came out of the extra time spent on the album definitely made it much stronger than what was on the table at the time.
 
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