VTG
VTG - 'Album Sampler'
“VTG
began as a backlash against working with other musicians” admits Lawrence
Stone, 25, who has been writing music for over eight years under the moniker
VTG. A multifaceted musician who plays guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, Stone’s
deep and ever expanding knowledge of signal flow, synthesis methods, and programming
as well as his classical training in harmony and music theory is his arsenal.
Since graduating in Spring 2003 from the Berklee College of Music with a Degree
in Music Production and Engineering, Stone has devoted the majority of his time
on VTG’s debut offering ‘So Beautiful People Look Away’, a
complex and distinctive journey through his emotional psyche. “This album
is about Love and how it makes me feel. It’s about every soft, intense,
tender and dirty thing that comes with it.”
Often compared to the work of Portishead, Nine Inch Nails, Tricky, and Lamb,
whilst Stone admits to gathering his influences from the above, VTG’s
distinctive sound carries him further into a class of his own, a sound the auteur
describes as “Electro-Industrial Trip-Hop with elements of experimental
beat music.” True, it may sound abstract but even a single listen to ‘So
Beautiful People Look Away’ confirms this uniquely elaborate combination.
“When I sit down to write music I have one emotion in my head. I know
I'm drawing from all these influences, but I just try and let that emotion take
over and pick what it wants to use. I think the album doesn't conform because
I never picked a specific genre for it to fall into; I never put a restriction
on myself, I just let it all out. Also, while I was writing the album I was
growing up and going through a lot emotionally. I think you can hear that while
you listen to it. I guess growing up doesn't conform to anything...”
VTG is Larry Stone