Tag: Quick Look

Quick Look: close but no cigar (deluxe edition) – P-Body

Posted on by Voiture
close but no cigar 1

Quick Look

close but no cigar (deluxe edition)
by: P-Body

Written By:Voiture <3 

close but no cigar 1

Album Art By: D

This album is a breath of fresh air in a sea of overrated, uniform, synth-laden sound sculptures reading from the same anti-capitalist scriptures. This album stands out as a release that can be called “innovative” within the vaporwave scene, while still being palatable to those who enjoy other genres, à la lo-fi beats, eclectic hip-hop instrumentals, and other late-night mixes (the poor low-energy future funk crowd is welcome here). The sampling on this album is superb, as is the instrumentation, with stylistic choices ranging from 1956 jazz cuts sculpted into a honey-smooth trap instrumental arrangement, to an airy, vocal chop-laden beat that still manages to maintain the lo-fi X-factor and conventional rhythm. In these two tracks, an anime sample, an ass compliment(?!), and a saxophone outro are also squeezed in. Sometimes, listeners may feel a bit choked by the abundance of sound in places that are normally occupied by silence in more traditional lo-fi chill-hop tracks, but calmer returns to form like “we must try to live ” quench this thirst for serenity easily. The album wears its influences on its sleeve right from the cover, paying homage to both classic hip-hop and anime as well as chill-beat and lo-fi culture. Overall, a stellar release that takes all of these things and synthesizes them into a sepia-toned nostalgia-fest. It draws the listener in with exciting new takes on lo-fi beats and wraps them in a warm hug of vinyl crackle and comfort from which they will never leave.

Favorite Track: monkey train

 

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Written by:

Voiture <3

Copy Editing By: DJ Nonn

 

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Quick Look: Liminal Spaces – Hantasi

Posted on by Voiture
Hantasi 2

Quick Look

Liminal Spaces
by: Hantasi

Written By:Voiture <3

Hantasi 2

Proto-vapor and related pre-genres are always the coolest of the bunch when it comes to the endless varieties of music that fall under the vaporwave umbrella. The vaporwave progenitors of yore carry a uniquely mysterious atmosphere that sometimes matters more than the music itself when listening. Vacant Places delivers hollow and foreboding music, like mallsoft straight out of a nightmare or The Backrooms, and it’s easily one of our absolute favorite releases to date. We were really looking for more of that from Hantasi in this collection of mallsoft, which sees big shifts throughout as the artist’s style develops and changes over the course of the 8 years in which these tracks were produced. There are some good bits and pieces in the collection, but any songs that you might not like are likely to last for a bit, with a fair amount of tracks ranging anywhere from 4 to 13 minutes. Some sudden, loud noises come at the beginning of a couple tracks to boot, keeping you on your toes in a somewhat cruel manner after you’ve settled in. While this can partially be chalked up to a craving for more mystery and creepiness in our favorite electronic subgenres, we don’t think this collection does Hantasi’s seminal album—nor the artist’s true potential—justice. Any average mallsoft creator could put out a collection like this and be met with good reception, but the case is different with someone like Hantasi. Liminal Spaces is a perfectly fine musical experience, but it’s underwhelming when we know just how high the artist can go.

Favorite Track: Comfy Aisles

 

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Written by:

Voiture <3

Copy Editing By:  DJ Nonn

 

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Quick Look: Brand New Lifestyle Center Two – Looking Through Sheets

Posted on by Voiture
Brand New Lifestyle Center Two 1

Quick Look

Brand New Lifestyle Center Two
by: Looking THrough Sheets

Written By:Voiture <3

Brand New Lifestyle Center Two 1

Half sound-texture charcuterie board, half sample-riddled mallsoft goodness, Looking Through Sheets’ latest release wraps you in a warm envelope of sound and takes you back to the days of consumerist mega-monuments, and doesn’t stop until the very end of the tracklist. Tracks 1-4 feature a wide variety of moods and timbres, especially for mallsoft. Looking Through Sheets flexes their creative muscles here, but in a less-than-elegant way, with the pacing and a fair share of these bite-sized songs lacking natural flow and cohesion at times. At this point in the album, its biggest shortcoming was that a lot of these musical microcosms were actually really good, but lasted so briefly that they couldn’t be savored for long. But starting on track 5, “Paradise, Or Maybe Tacoma,” the album takes full advantage of the atmosphere and skillful sample choice it curates over the album thus far, which brings out the best in this release. The sample selection is properly and satisfyingly implemented here, the quality segments are given the time to shine in these later tracks, and the album is closed in a wonderful cool-down that’s hard not to put on loop and space out with. A solid choice for those new to mallsoft for the variety emblematic of the genre, as well as a refined example of what some of these experiences may entail, just as long as the listener doesn’t confuse the two.

Favorite Track: Skyline Suitors

 

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Written by:

Voiture <3

Copy Editing By: Cerulea_d.lux

 

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Quick Look: Unbottle // Fangs – eventual infinity & Fake Fever

Posted on by Gbanas92
Unbottle / Fangs 1

Quick Look

Unbottle // Fangs
by: eventual infinity & Fake Fever

Written By: Gbanas92

Unbottle / Fangs 1

The debut of a collaboration between eventual infinity and Fake Fever, Unbottle // Fangs offers a great glimpse of what’s to come between these two artists. This release showcases the first two songs in what is being described as a “series of pop forward tracks.” And given the results thus far, things are certainly starting strong. The first track, “Unbottle”, has a wonderfully summery air to it with some truly luscious synth tones that sound ready to play on a Grand Theft Auto V radio station. The second track, “Fangs”, plays around in the same sandbox, but nets different results. The arpeggiating melodies buried under the vocals carry a sinister slant to them, and the track has more of a malevolent vibe that does an exceptional job of showing how to craft something entirely different out of similar pieces.

Favorite Track: Fangs

 

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Written by:

Gbanas92 

gbanas92

Copy Editing By: Cerulea_d.lux & DJ Nonn

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Quick Look: Plastic Garden – Tribe x CHOP!

Posted on by Voiture
Tribe x CHOP! 1

Quick Look

Plastic Garden
by: Tribe X Chop!

Written By:

Voiture <3 &Gbanas92 

DISCLOSURE: The album art for this release was designed by Priestess, a member of the Utopia District team.

To celebrate the premiere of the newest release through Bogus Collective, we’ve decided to take a bit of a special approach. We have not one, but two writers on the team taking a look at Plastic Gardens, the collaboration between Tribe Down South and Chop!, and sharing their thoughts. Read on to check out what Voiture and Gbanas92 thought of the release!

Tribe x CHOP! 1 

Album Art By: vaporpriestess

Voiture:

Plastic Gardens is a unique album in the sense that its confident and straightforward presentation makes both pros and cons unusually easy to pin down and quantify. The album’s playful sample choices and catchy tracks are enjoyable, if not a bit generic, upon first listen, but further inspection appears to yield diminishing returns. Tracks rely mostly on a central instrumental that makes up most of the songs, meaning that if you don’t like the beat, the track is done, but if you do, the track is sure to be uniformly good. The sampling is an entertaining way to break things up, but with repetitive structure and gaps that feel too long, the instrumentation and production communicate a need for additional creativity and ambition. Stylistic choices don’t always help this situation, with things like stabs at rhythmically creative lo-fi drum techniques making for less-than-satisfying percussion. Overall, the album is a perfectly fine “classic vaporwave” release, but when a deeper look is taken, problems are easy to spot. This isn’t indicative of an outright horrible release, but the flaws on this one just seem to stand out more than average joe-schmoe vaporwave, which this album ultimately seems to boil down to.

Favorite Track: f u t I i t y (I loved the intro sample on “t e n s i o n r e l a x” as well.)

Gbanas92:

While the brief runtime prevents the album from lingering in a way one might hope to experience from some of the more soothing strains of vaporwave, Plastic Garden does still have a lot to offer. The album displays a dizzying array of classic hip-hop beats, and makes use of sample chopping with such frenetic enthusiasm, you’d swear it was made by an axe murderer. Despite this, Chop! and Tribe Down South leave enough room for downtime, as pitched-down commercials allow you to catch your breath before moving on to the next gonzo beat.

Favorite Track: f r g t

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Written by:

Voiture <3& Gbanas92

Copy Editing By: DJ Nonn

 

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Quick Look: Ultraviolet – Sport3000

Posted on by Gbanas92
Ultraviolet Sport3000

Quick Look

Ultraviolet
by: Sport3000

Written By: Gbanas92 

Ultraviolet Sport3000

Chock full of tasty rhythms, this intense, woefully short-lived EP from Sport3000 is downright infectious. Despite weighing in at five total tracks, Ultraviolet nonetheless showcases an impressive array of rhythms, with no less than a dozen memorable melodic moments. But the real star is percussion. The opening track, “Demons,” starts with a killer drum fill that sets the tone the whole way through, and the tracks never relinquish their hold on you. The forward momentum of the drums and synths across the entire EP also makes a great case for listening to this album while driving. Rarely is there something more perfectly suited to such an occasion. 

Favorite Track: Embrace

 

 

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Written by:

Gbanas92

gbanas92

Copy Editing By: Cerulea_d.lux

 

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Quick Look: AFFINITY – iacon

Posted on by Stu
AFFINITY iacon

Quick Look

Affinity
by: iacon

Written By:  Stuad^Dib

AFFINITY iacon

Nigh uncontrollably funky, this re-release of iacon’s first album 並列処理 P A R A L L E L I S M sounds as fresh as ever. Lowering the overall audio level, the remastering also opens up room so that the tracks feel less flattened than in the original release.

Tingeing its highly dance-able rhythms with an edge of pitch-shifted melancholy and fairly sparse chops, AFFINITY rides a line somewhere between Disco and Vaporwave yet remains clearly distinct from Future Funk. In particular, if “再见 GOODBYE” doesn’t at least make you wiggle in your seat, you may need to seek medical attention.

 

 

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Written by:

Stuad^Dib

Stuad^Dib

Copy Editing By: Cerulea_d.lux

 

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Quick Look: Love Languages – Premium Value

Posted on by Brian Duran-Fuentes
Love Language Premium Value

Quick Look

Love Languages
by: Premium Value

Written By: Brian Duran-Fuentes

Love Language Premium Value

Premium Value has everything you need to pull at your heartstrings without emptying your wallet. Love Languages is made up of 7 tracks of unadulterated vapor, ready to pop and jam to while you drive, work, or stare at dim lights in your bedroom at 3 a.m. The timeless, desolate streets of Shinar hide a convenience store close to the great tower. Don’t worry, you won’t miss it crumble down in slow motion due to some unseen might. It’s been falling before you ever started dreaming. Stop by and satisfy your thirst. You know this song. Someone out there is thinking of you.

Favorite Track: Quality Time


 

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Written by:

Brian Duran-Fuentes 

Copy Editing By: Cerulea_d.lux

 

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Quick Look: Thank You! Private Suite!

Posted on by Utopia District
Thank You! Private Suite!

Quick Look

Thank You! Private Suite!
A Compilation by: First Class Collective

Thank You! Private Suite!

Album Art By: Sheepy


For those who might not know, Utopia District comprises quite a few former members of the Private Suite Magazine team. As such, we thought it would be interesting to share our thoughts on the magnificent and humbling release from First Class Collective; Thank You! Private Suite! Consider this not so much a review as a handful of us giving some love back for the overwhelming support the magazine received during its run, and more heart-achingly, upon its closure.

 

 

Cerulea_d.lux

The sheer breadth and depth of this compilation is stunning and humbling. To know our work touched so many corners of our community and inspired such a beautiful album is an indescribable feeling! I can’t think of a better send-off for a project that meant so much to so many in two short years.

Darkfez

As it did for so many, Private Suite gave me my first home and family in vaporwave. I was encouraged and supported even as I encouraged and supported others. I’ll miss having that group of folks all in one place. But we’ll find each other again! 

DJ Nonn

As someone who was first drawn to Private Suite for their coverage of lesser-known artists and smaller parts of the scene, it’s heartwarming to see this compilation full of familiar names I never would have known if not for PSM. With so many artists of different sizes, this compilation embodies one of my favorite aspects of Private Suite Media — that of inclusivity. First Class Collective is truly doing their part to keep vaporwave a welcoming artistic community.

 

Thank You! Private Suite! 2
Photo By: Zack

Gbanas92

While I wasn’t a part of the Private Suite team for a terribly long time, it was really rather heartwarming to see just how many people wanted to step up and send off a magazine that so many of us loved in style. Plus, so much of the music on the compilation is really great too!

Indy Advant

What a thoughtful idea. Private Suite meant so many things to so many people, it’s hard to quantify the impact this compilation album will have on us as individuals. Thank you, Ethan and Zico, thank you First Class Collective. This is such a treat, especially to all those that volunteered so much of their time working to make Private Suite a cohesive and meaningful product.

Priestess

This compilation album has something for everyone, from the fizzy pop melody of “sweet suite” to the Tarantino-esque “Television Scenes.” Overall slightly melancholic, perfect for fall and ushering out the wonderful publication that was Private Suite.

 

 

 

 

As a parting thought, we’d like to thank First Class Collective one more time for having the drive and the passion to make this happen. For those of us that helped make Private Suite a reality, it means more than we’ll ever truly be able to say.

 

 

 

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Quick Look: Sports & Leisure – Home & Office

Posted on by Gbanas92
Home & Office Sports & Leisure

Quick Look

Sports & Leisure
by: Home & Office

Written By: Gbanas92

Home & Office Sports & Leisure

 

When thinking of ‘90s corporate videos or training tapes, odds are you have a distinct idea of how they sound. But what happens if the video is preparing you not for a cushy desk job, but how to hit better home runs? Well, the result is a confusing, but irrefutably harmonious pairing that brings the jaunty energy of a sporting event to your very own office cubicle. Think of it as watching Sportscenter and Good Morning America at the same time. Yes, on the surface that may sound like a strange idea, but the release comes away from it a champion.

 

 

 

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Written by:

Gbanas92 

Copy Editing By: DJ Nonn

 

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