The ‘80s revival genres (as discussed before in our Lowlight 2 review) can be defined by their concern with celebrating the past. But that’s only half of the equation; the other half is defined by their concern with modernizing these sounds. Or rather, the way they get naturally modernized, and thus provided with a smooth, shiny coat of varnish. This happens naturally because these sounds are being recreated in modern machines, by people who were born surrounded by these sounds, plus a ton of others.
One aspect (often overlooked but very relevant) of the modern half of the equation, is the internet presence of the artists involved. Much like the artists themselves, these genres were born in the era of information. This means they can draw inspiration from the most unexpected of places. And not only that: this creates a musical cross-pollination of the most rich variety.
Which brings us to the album in question. Hailing from Iran, and drawing inspiration from italo disco, j-pop and eurobeat, comes Tame Werewolf with his sophomore album, Phasermania. He showcases his versatility by covering a wide range of genres, with some very interesting inbetweens. He covers an equally wide array of emotional passages too; From the peppy, almost smug “Time Machine Arcade” to the vaporwave moodiness in “Lover Ghost”, with some robust basslines and futuristic-sounding synths sprinkled generously throughout, Phasermania aims to have something everyone can enjoy.
Of particular note are the album’s eponymous track and “Lost in Lush Heavens”. It is in these two tracks where one can truly appreciate what the cross-pollination mentioned before can create. The former, for putting the listener in a state of enjoyable disorientation from the get-go. This is something few artists are truly comfortable doing, especially with more rhythmic songs. It’s reminiscent, in intention, of Sungazer’s “Drunk“. The latter for having a distinctly melancholic tint, while being as rhythmic as anything one could expect within synthwave or even future funk. Again, not something easily found; an assessment that very well fits the artist, in the best way possible.
w w w . d e e p d i v e . c o m is an album able to deftly navigate the nuances of many subgenres of the vaporwave scene. While on the surface, it might appear to be a traditional lo-fi album. As the album progresses, you find tracks able to successfully navigate out of the box it had seemingly placed itself in. You wind up with some unexpected influences flooding the album while never losing the lo-fi vibes it establishes out of the gate. You get climatewave (“Mind Mirage ドット 通信”) tossed in, and even some classic vapor (“Zetta 禅”) shows up. But the biggest triumph of the album is arguably its selection of samples and loops, as the album stays engaging from beginning to end, avoiding the lulls you’ll often encounter in longer albums.
Vocal vignettes blurring the line between human and synthetic.
Ubiquitous samples that are timelessly musical (loon and shakuhachi lovers rejoice).
Now that you understand how Denver producer Luxury Noise’s debut full-length Forgive Yourself sounds, I would ask how you imagine the album feels. If your answer is “a contemplative journey exploring both the darkness and euphoria of self-healing”, I would be surprised. And then I’d ask if you’d already heard the record.
One of the most compelling aspects of Forgive Yourself is the contradiction between the vibrancy of the sonic palette it uses, and the hazy landscape it conjures. Like a carnival covered in fog, Luxury Noise continually indulges the senses with downright impressive production chops, sparkling melodies, and sweeping soundscapes. Yet, despite the spectacle, he never offers the cheap satisfaction of revealing exactly where you are. While the multi-faceted blend of house rhythms, IDM dazzle, and vaporbreak warmth is what will draw many listeners in, what will keep listeners coming back is surely Luxury Noise’s ability to explore a range of emotional arcs.
“Big Maybes” opens the record, and stands as one of the strongest tracks. Scenically wide pads, sustained cathartic vocals, and expertly manipulated drum breaks combine to form what is the most euphoric five minutes of the album.
“Onmymind” artwork (single version)
Directly after, “Onmymind” gradually builds into a cavernous club soundscape no less impressive than the opener, but distinctly more groovy and fog-enshrouded. The titular vocal sample and an intoxicatingly simple saxophone lick take turns coloring the space atop a stout acid bassline. Once again, Luxury Noise’s keen sense of musical direction and sound production is on full display, and the album begins with unwavering confidence.
Afterward, things wind down into a suite of more contemplative and understated mood pieces that nonetheless offer compelling variety. “Kori” at last pushes the throbbing basslines and IDM-influenced drum samples to the forefront, while “Devotional” comes to a crawl with the most gorgeously melancholic atmosphere yet. “Variable Midlives” shows the return of subtle yet perfectly placed woodwind drones, followed by a downtempo movement so sedative that it could put you under if not for the level of glitchy intricacy within the song’s whitespaces.
The album then reaches peak warmth with track 8, “slowbliss”. The elaborate microrhythms and granular sample slices, now all but expected, are momentarily cast aside to make way for a digital wall of sound, fit for the song’s title. During this piece especially, one must appreciate how much texture and depth Luxury Noise fits into the mix without sacrificing clarity. The record is misty and introspective by design, but the haze that it casts is by no means colorless or ill-defined.
Cassette release (via Pacific Plaza Records)
As the album arrives at its closing passages, both “Goodbyes” and “Threads” further lay out open spaces to reflect, despite the crisp details hidden under the surface. The title track, and fittingly the final one, then kicks us back to uptempo territory. Yet, even with the gear shift, the piece still feels firmly stuck just beneath the ever-present gloom, not quite reaching the highs of the opening song.
While the three closing tracks admittedly leave some climatic closure to be desired, they are preceded by “Esther”, an unmistakable high point. It’s also the song that most embodies the colorful-yet-opaque, frenetic-yet-anesthetic dichotomies at the core of Forgive Yourself. Despite the high BPM –one of the highest on the record in fact– it contradictorily carries an almost leisurely aura, like an explosion seemingly captured in slow motion. That is, until the second half when the beat plunges into half time and you realize you truly are in slow motion. All the while, Luxury Noise’s arsenal is on full display: glistening melodies glide above snippets of evocative vocals, a striking array of rhythmic layers, and ear candy fit for an hour of repeat listens.
It takes only a minute’s runtime to understand that Luxury Noise is no stranger to both the technical and emotional sides of music. Following 2022’s Second Light as well as The Light at a Certain Hour –two stellar EPs in their own rights– Forgive Yourself at last presents Luxury Noise the chance to pull out all the stops and make a complete artistic statement in the way that only an LP can offer. And an artistic statement it is, indeed. The album is not only introspective in theme, but also seems to show a self-reflection on the artist’s long and varied career itself, letting all past explorations culminate into a cohesive whole. As beautiful as the “what was” may be for many of us, Forgive Yourself delivers a compelling reminder to appreciate and enjoy the “what is”.
In of summer 2022, UK-based future funk artist Strawberry Station released a bombastic collaboration to celebrate his new label, Berry Good Records. This record, Choose Your Character, comprises a mix of vaporwave, future-funk, and synthwave artists. It not only showcases a fantastic array of talent and sounds but tells a bigger narrative that helps set Berry Good Records apart from other artist-backed labels; the collective stands stronger than the individual.
This first album featured a variety of star players in the Future Funk scene from Daydream Deluxe to Ducat, yet the way they were arranged made each track stronger. You couldn’t just listen to one or two tracks without wanting to listen to the next. It was a wild hit and an excellent way to kick off a new label in the vapor/future funk scene. Now, one year later the mad lad is about to do it again. This is Berry Aesthetic.
Berry Aesthetic has 16 tracks featuring the same kind of variety we saw with Choose Your Character, however, this time the emphasis is on vaporwave. We have Tupperwave, Luxury Elite, Desert Sand, and more to look at later on in this review.
Now if you’re a veteran in this scene you might notice a difference between Berry Aesthetic and Choose Your Character: Where’s the Future Funk? While CYC had known future funk artists like Ducat and Groovy Kaiju, BA’s lineup is planted squarely in the vaporwave scene. We’ll discuss this later on in the review, but Strawberry Station doesn’t show up to the party with his signature style, but is that by design? If the lineup didn’t tip you off, then the title and artwork should. The Berry Good logo is nestled squarely in a landscape of classic vapor iconography: checkerboard floors, pink coloring, dolphins, and marble columns. It would seem this time around, Strawberry wants to get more in touch with classic vaporwave. We’ll take a dive into the tracks and see if this return to the classics pans out.
The front half of this album presents us with a warm front of late-night lo-fi vibes with the starting track “Cloud” by Fortune Lounge. This track is the perfect setup with driving bass and very prominent horn samples that put us at the heart of downtown. The sun is about to rise after a long night and we’re ready to take on the big city. This track along with the subsequent track, “Palm Trees” by Luxury Elite, delivers a one-two punch of high life and endless possibilities but also keeps up the promise that this collaboration is all vibes, no filler.
We deviate from the late-night path a bit and take a detour down a back alley of classic chopped and screwed vapor with Calcium Demo’s track “heartvapour” which harkens back to some early 2010s plunderphonics. However, we veer back onto the city streets with Tupperwave’s track “Passive Obsessive”. While Tupper brings out his usual sound fonts of smooth and melodic jazz samples, “Passive Obsessive” takes a dark turn into the city’s seedy underbelly. The haunting laugh of a shady villain introduces us to a thumping kick and bass with a slowed-down, leaner audio journey.
Just as we start getting cozy, we’re left in a void via alrightBABES “coral,” a droning ambient track that would fit better on the back half of this album. Right off the bat, we are launched onto the dancefloor with Seabaud’s track “It’s Just Me,” which loops a groovy sample (that I believe to be Janet Jackson but I’m not sure). This track is an earworm for the first couple of minutes, but this is a five-minute track. I see this as being the perfect dance track to play at a show or club, but for easy personal listening, it can drag on a bit. However, the same cannot be said for the next track which is Patibito’s “onetwo”. A dreamy synth soundscape that features not just one, but two tempo changes, the track is like a three-in-one. Rounding up the frontside of this album is “Vaccinium” by Late Arcane which acts as an upbeat, highly sampled banger to an otherwise psychedelic and high-energy album.
The back half of this album is where things really get interesting. While up until now, we’ve gotten a slew of eccojams, late-night lofi, chopped and screwed dance beats, the back side to Berry Aesthetic explores the more ambient side of vapor. We see a descent into that with “Into the Machine Core” by Kenmore Classic. The tuned-down synths and drones paired with the consistent beat evoke both synthwave and Sovietwave sounds that will send the listener to a hellish industrial complex. You can’t leave. Only go deeper into the core. What awaits us on the other side? The king of slushwave, desert sand, provides. h their track “影と形のように” which translates to “Like Shadows and Shapes”. Desert brings their classic blend of sample-free slushwave with this track that effortlessly whisks the listener to a higher state of being.
Following that, the energy of the first half of the album makes a return with Polyglot’s “Good for Nothing Groove”. I say this because this track fits much better with the first eight tracks. Perhaps this track and alrightBabes should switch places.
Returning us back to the ambient world is Hi-Plundered’s track “出願します” which translates to “I will apply”. By this point in the listener’s journey, the city is quiet again. Instead of bright lights and sounds you’re treated to a muted and chill walk of the town. Perhaps you’ll stop into the local bodega for a quick bite?
The most surprising track on this album is the one the man himself makes. Strawberry Station’s “Will You Remember” is a far departure from his usual sound. While this isn’t Strawberry’s first classic vaporwave track, he is known for Future Funk. What “Will You Remember” offers the listener is a chill eccojam that harkens back to the earliesty days of vapor. Think early Cat Corp. This, in my opinion, is what makes Berry Aesthetic such a standout release in this era of Vaprowave. Everyone is concerned with keeping things fresh and looking for the next microgenre, but when you really stop and think about it, Vaporwave as a genre is just over 10 years old. Experimentation is always welcome in this scene, but there’s no reason to forget or look down upon a classic sound.
Speaking of something new, Berry Aesthetic gives a nod to some of the prevailing trends currently going on in the scene. AV0’s “autumn winter” is a smooth barber beats track, a sound that seems to be on everyone’s mind at the moment. After that, we have “Whispers in a Soundless Void”, a hauntingly dark ambient track that reminds me a lot of Hallmark ‘87’s albums such as The Atrium or Academy. Finally, we have Midnight Corresponder with “man of the world,” a signalwave track that ends this album, nay, this experience with a big personality and a lot of energy.
While this may be a departure from what listeners are expecting from Berry Good Records, this collaboration offers a veritable party platter of major movements within vaporwave. Across 16 tracks we have late-night lo-fi, signalwave, eccojams, ambient, slushwave and so much more. I couldn’t ask for a better representation of what this scene has to offer in terms of sound variety.
Gilded Sentience by Augnos is one part concept album and one part jungle experience. There has been a resurgence in Y2K drum and bass from other notable acts, such as Pizza Hotline, and Vaporwave Drum & Bass from Jungle Fever. Just like how a large component of vaporwave is to look back upon and recontextualize the past, this new wave of Y2K dnb artists aims to revive the sounds of the PlayStation 1 era, a soundscape where early dnb dominated. Think back to notable games like Gran Turismo and Gran Theft Auto III.
While Augnos is no stranger to this sound with tracks like Daymare and Rewind, Gilded Sentinece is nothing like their other works. Firstly, this appears to be Augnos’ first LP, at least under this name. The description implies that what we are experiencing is the first step into some lost world, but will we stay long enough to uncover Aurelia’s secrets?
Our first clue towards this being a concept album was the description on the album’s Bandcamp which reads as follows:
Aurelia interactive console 6.23.88b
Greetings user, I am AICON
I serve as your guide to the depths of Aurelia’s history
Type your question to begin your interactive journey
corre@aicon62388b %what is the gilded sentience?%
Already, the listener is primed with a destination, a narrative, and a question. This album entices the listener with gorgeous artwork depicting a large structure reclaimed by nature. The dense foliage covers the architecture of some long-abandoned civilization and evokes some immediate questions. What happened here? How did this place get to such a state?
What could this album be hiding? Will the album provide the listener with answers? We are not sure. Coming in at just five tracks, this album is beyond lean. Typically, a concept album would boast a more extensive tracklist, often at least one that could support a three-act narrative, however, brevity is the soul of wit. Perhaps Augnos can tell us a lot with a little. Let’s dive into the tracks:
1. Chroma Trails(3.5/5) Starting off our journey is “Chroma Trails.” This chiptune-esque track starts off light, whimsical even, like the listener just put in an old NES cartridge to an obscure sci-fi/fantasy game. The driving synths blast to the forefront of this opening track and stay throughout the experience. The mixture of light atmospheric chimes and heavy 80s synths promise a lot; discovery, adventure even. It’s a strong start, but we felt it was hiding its power level a bit. If we’re on the brink of discovering a long-lost civilization we want that anticipation to be thrown right in our face.
Before the release of this album, Enraile dropped a remix of this track, which puts the jungle aspects further to the forefront. The remix houses far less chiptune, and a lot more chopped-up drum and jungle breakdowns, serving as a heavier version of the original. In keeping with the videogame-inspired motif, this remix would serve better as a bonus stage or as an opening to new game+.
2. Sunwell Terrace(4/5): We drop the synths and driving bass in exchange for some solarpunk staples; the sounds of nature. Here is where the journey for the listener begins in earnest. “Sunwell Terrace” gives us a glance at the undisturbed nature of Aurelia, at least that’s what we are led to believe. As stated above, the synth keys are replaced with a droning base while light piano and other MIDIs are used to mimic animal sounds. Paired well with a primal-trap beat and this track will instill the listener with a sense of adventure as if they are on the trail, hot on the heels of discovery.
3. ¡Corre!(3.5/5): We have reached the halfway point in our journey and the solar punk aesthetics begin to melt away into a proper jungle track. The sounds of nature take a back seat while an eerie soundscape of high-pitched keys and sweeping bass takes center stage. It puts the listener in unfamiliar territory, divorced from the familiar and pleasant into something that’s quite uncanny and mysterious.
4. Healing Atoms(4/5): We’ve found the healing station! In the penultimate track, we are given a light and airy boost in this dream-like soundscape. With samples and instrumentation that would fit well in an Equip x R23X collaboration, this track allows the listener to ascend to a new level of being.
5. Home Space (3/5): And just as we were about to head off on an otherworldly journey, it ends. All stories have to come to a close, but this track left us wanting more. The minimalist sound is pretty jarring after just coming off the heels of “Healing Atoms” and within the sonic narrative of the album, it’s unclear where the listener is supposed to go after this. The obvious answer is back to the beginning, but after listening to this track multiple times we were only left with a feeling of yearning. We yearn for a full experience.
Gilded Sentinece presents a lot of promise to the listener. With just five short tracks we explore a diverse array of sounds like chiptune, jungle dnb, synthpop, and solarpunk. However, the abrupt end of this album only brings out the fact that with more tracks this could be a full-blown concept EP. We’re unclear if that’s what the artist was going for, but if the chief critique of this album is “needs more” then what’s here is pretty substantive. Overall, Gilded Sentience is a short dip into a strange jungle soundscape that we hope to revisit one day.
On today’s episode our conversation revolves around YouTube and the creators that played a crucial role in the continued life and ongoing exploration of the Vaporwave genre. We discuss the extent of YouTube’s place in the cultural resurgence of the genre, and what we owe the people that made the early mixes, and explored the sound.
We will examine how the YouTube platform helped the genre evolve beyond its initial sound & aesthetic, and what the relationship between the platform and the genre means. We recognize the unsung heroes of Vaporwave’s continued existence, and how through YouTube, they shaped and spread the genre. Join us as we explore the significance of YouTube in the Vaporwave movement, and ask the thought-provoking question, would Vaporwave still exist if YouTube did not exist?
Hop on the Utopia District train to find out, through an intriguing conversation on how technology and creativity can shape musical movements, and the potential impacts of online platforms on music cultures.
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UTOPIA DISTRICT PODCAST EPISODE 024 Interview: VaporVA i2k Festival Directors: Roge_Corp & V4NGOE Released: Friday, June 20th, 2024 Follow us on your favourite Podcast Platform! Catch us in our Discord server to join in on the […]
Welcome to “Echoes of Media,” where we dive deep into the ever-evolving landscape of digital preservation, lost music treasures, and ever increase corporatization digital media. In this episode, we embark on a journey through the highs and lows of th…
Step into the world of vaporwave video art in this episode as we take you behind the scenes of FlamingoFest 2023 and chat with the four live video artists that created the beautiful visual dreamscapes for the festival. We discuss the artistry of bri…
Welcome to the Utopia District podcast! Join us for a vibrant recap of our vaporwave musical festival in Los Angeles on November 3rd & 4th, FlamingoFest 2023! 🦩 A two-day extravaganza that swept through the heart of Los Angeles! We are so stoked…
In order to properly invoke nostalgia, one would have to employ certain techniques that would trigger our various senses in order to recall the feelings of memories we lived in our younger days. A familiar sound palette, album artwork of a beautiful sunset, sample choice, and the descriptive title perfectly places the listener back in time to enjoy the late summer nights of our youths. Neighborhood Afterglow by b o d y l i n e is the album for those who are soaking up the last summer nights before the turn of the season.
At its core, Neighborhood Afterglow is a nostalgia-evoking album that is reminiscent of a specific time period in vaporwave’s history. That time period is that of the early 2010’s, as the album is a textbook example of a classic vaporwave sound, down to the sample choice, speed, and amount of reverb applied to each track. The six-track album thus displays itself as a cohesive work that encapsulates feelings of mellowness and a sense of floating into the ether.
The album opens with “Traffic Light Plaza,” which features synth bell arpeggios, washed-out vocals, and reverbed percussion which sets the tone for what to expect in the album. Following tracks such as “Waterglide” and “Afterglow Waft” follow a similar format, with drawn-out chords on a rhodes piano, repeated hypnagogic guitar melodies, and a heavy low synth bassline that is reminiscent of early works of vaporwave, such as that of Luxury Elite and Cvltvre.
I believe that this album should be listened to by anyone who is a fan of the genre as there is nothing that this album presents that is particularly sonically original. While a lack of originality may sound as a negative descriptor, it reflects that the album’s sound is based on a formula that has been proven to be enjoyable to many fans of the genre, which is that a slowed and reverbed sample can prove to be sufficient enough to produce a good track. However, that also does pose the possibility that such an album in this format could be lost in the sea of the many vaporwave albums that have a similar sonic palette. In other words, if the average listener did not know that this album was released this year, one may think that this album is a classic vapor album from 2013 (which is certainly not a bad thing!).
Overall, this album is a very nice compilation of tracks that brings the listener a sense of comfort as it relies on the effective format of slowing and reverbing tracks, which eliminates a likeliness of any particular element that may not be enjoyed by all listeners that one may find in newer releases that incorporate a greater amount of experimentation. This album is definitely one that can be enjoyed by newer and older fans of the genre and one that is perfect for a listen on a late summer night.
Ah, 1997. I was at the tender, innocent age of five, discovering the things that would influence me for the rest of my life, such as Power Rangers and mimosas. It was also the final year that the original Sailor Moon anime was aired on American television sets. Back then, I didn’t really care, but it appears that for one vaporwave artist, this was nothing short of a tragedy.
Eric Gordon — aka Darien Shields — has been in the vaporwave game since 2017 and told me that he had a goal in mind when creating this alias: to create a total of seven unique albums, themed according to the years that Sailor Moon (the show he takes his name from) aired on television, so from 1991 to the aforementioned 1997. Platinum Phantom is the last in this series of albums, and as such, every sample from the album is from the far-off year of 1997. Besides the theming, he stated this time that he, in his own words, wanted to lean more into vaporwave cliches.
“This time I focused a lot more on MIDI composing than on any previous albums though. Some songs are wholly original compositions made from the samples I lifted. Some parts are just straight up slow-downs, but I tried to do that as sparingly as possible this time so I could really explore more and invest more of myself into the music.”
I like vaporwave albums with themes as it helps in the artist’s grand quest to make the listener feel something. Walking through a rainy Japanese mega-city or shopping in an eerily empty indoor mall or just making you feel sad as !@#$ are all popular themes in vaporwave. The question is; what is this album trying to make you feel? And the answer is: Well I’m not quite sure. Yes, nearly all of the samples are from 1997, but at no point did the album feel like this is something that was from or paying homage to that year. The album seems to lack a coherent vision or goal, not just overall, but in the individual songs as well.
So let us get right into it with… a slowed-down voice clip from Austin Powers? With that rather curious introduction, “Backstreet” continues. It begins intriguingly enough — Austin Powers sample aside — with an interesting melody, but instead of adding variation to that melody or having the song ramp up, it does the opposite and slams on the brakes. The music stops and what replaces it is some ultra lofi drum work and what sounds like someone banging on a pot with a metal spoon. This goes on for a bit before the melody from earlier fades back in. However, by this time my “groove,” as it were, was broken, leaving me rather unsatisfied. Vaporwave is no stranger to change-ups, however, there is usually an overarching feeling the artist is trying to convey when this is done. With this track, and many others on the album, it almost feels as though it is two different tracks and ideas unharmoniously meshed together.
“Comrade Chad” begins with a few scattered sound effects. Blowing wind, the sound of shoes squeaking on gym floors, and a tambourine. These sounds start to come together to create an interesting beat, but it just straight up stops before anything can come of it. What follows is a vaporwave tune with some pan flute thrown in which lasts for all of 47 seconds (I counted) before it again turns into something else that does not at all resemble what came before. A simple tambourine and drum-filled rhythm that can be described as rather plain. There never feels like there is a reason for these change-ups to take place and there isn’t enough time for each piece to develop before it goes on to the next one.
“Tux” is a classic vaporwave affair with a slowed-down sample and some sexual undertones. It is minimally edited, but this harkens back to the vaporwave “cliches” that Darien mentioned earlier, so it appears this was very much on purpose. It does not sound bad, just rather plain, though it is undoubtedly vaporwave, and likely will scratch an itch for those who are a fan of the classic style.
“Cosplay” is a faster tune that sounds like it should be blasted at a fashion show. This is to say, that while it plays like it ought to be turned up nice and loud, it is not what your attention and focus should be on, leaving it in a bit of an odd position. I know that is not exactly helpful for what the music actually sounds like though, so I will say that it has a lot of electronic sounds and sirens and such. It is not poorly composed or made, but it is simply not something I can see myself listening to outside of a Zoolander film.
The uncomfortably named “Daddy” is in the same vein as “Tux.” We get a slowed-down sample that ups the groove factor, and has served as the base of vaporwave for over a decade now. This one is a bit more edited than “Tux,” which puts more of Darien’s personal touch on it. Reverbed, mixed, and tuned down with some impressive sound engineering towards the end with how the song fades out.
“Novartis” is a nice little tune that kicks things down a notch and conjures up images of running down a beach in slow motion, or at the very least watching a commercial for a Sandles Resort. It is a very light track and the one I think most has the “vibe” of 1997 that I think Darien is trying to convey throughout the entire album.
It leads into “Daisuki,” which has very little to say about itself, as the song appears to be two minutes of a nine-second melody on repeat with only minimal variation. The sound itself is very “mallsoft” and the right amount of echo is put on the track to make it feel the part, but it sounds like it should be a piece of something larger. If this was a track on a mallsoft album, I would excuse it as simply there to set the tone, but I am unsure of how to feel about it on an album like this. As with change-ups, repetitiveness is something that is no stranger to vaporwave. For some artists, it has even become their go-to technique, but when one does this, you had best make sure those nine seconds resonate with the listener. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t.
I liked the next track, “Outrun.” However, this may be only because I am on a chiptune kick as of late. Just over two minutes of classic arcade-sounding goodness, and though it feels out of place on the album, as a stand-alone track, it is a catchy piece and is an example of repetitiveness done the right way. It conveys a clear feeling of “retro-ness” and has the clearest intentions of all the songs on the album. It isn’t complex, but in this instance and with what the song is trying to make you feel, it doesn’t need to be.
Sampling a scene from the 1997 box-office bomb B.A.P.S is “Pimpsqueak.” Following the sample is a short tune in the classic vaporwave style, with a slightly tropical feel, before “Main Drag (Feat. Donor Lens)” takes us back to the throbbing beat of a dance club. It is slightly minimalistic in its sound, but I feel like it does what it sets out to do. A track that sounds like it is meant to be played as a generic dance tune in an action movie, with the main character moving his way through a club, on his way to confront the drug lord that distributes his product in the basement of the place. The song is meant to inform you that, yes, this is indeed a place where young people go to boogie and do drugs, but that is it. It is one of those rare dance tracks that is not actually meant to be played too loud. A bit repetitive yes, but I dare you to find a dance track that is not.
The longest track on the album is the finale, “Deep Blue/Orange Julius.” It begins with a 1:40 piano piece before suddenly transitioning into a slowed-down version of Amy Grant’s pop hit, “Good for Me.” A great choice for a sample, however, there are some issues. It appears to only be minimally edited, save for being slowed down. I also fail to see the significance of pairing it up with the initial piano solo. I feel like the artist was trying to get across a message to me that I simply did not understand, and I really tried. I thought perhaps there was some significance in the name, with the piano being Deep Blue and the Amy Grant part being Orange Julius, but a google search revealed no correlation. And finally, though it is a small issue, “Good for Me” was released in 1992. Just sayin’
Looking at the info on the Bandcamp page for this album reveals that there are a wide and impressive variety of samples used in the making of this album, but for such variety, it seems that there is very minimal usage of them in meaningful ways. So much so that I was fooled into thinking that a track that used multiple samples, had only one source. The love is just spread too thin. The talent is there (Shields’ previous albums attest to that) and you can tell it’s there, just not the sound. If I had to sum up the album with a single phrase, it would be: missed opportunity. There are plenty of instances where the album hints at something great, but then switches to something… not as great. The jumping around of tones and styles is jarring and the theme of 1997 just does not excuse this. Platinum Phantom feels like three completely different incomplete albums rolled up into one, only sort of complete album.
Imagine you’re in a record store, aimlessly flipping through the crates. Through the sea of album covers, one in particular catches your eye: a nondescript, purple-tinged picture of a faceless figure in a hazy landscape. It seems like a real photo, but you’re not quite sure. You turn the record over to find that it’s named Blissful Days, and sports utopic track titles like “Morning Dew” and “Sun Kissed Skies.” Could the music possibly be as idyllic and tranquil as the presentation suggests?
days of blue – Days of Blue (2021)
The answer is a resounding yes, and it comes to us by way of California producer days of blue. Slushwave to its core, Blissful Days is the follow-up to their 2021 LP (titled Days of Blue, conveniently), an album which adopted a more cinematic ambient approach, and which, by the artist’s description, “began its conceptualization […] amidst the wildfires that ravaged my home-state.” Blissful Days also marks their first sampled work since the 2020 full-length 虚 (Imaginary). This time around, days of blue paints a decidedly more optimistic and comforting soundscape – a natural move when following such a somber release and electing to reintroduce samples to their toolkit. This brings me to the first major strength of the album: the sample choices themselves.
As is common for slushwave, days of blue pulls snippets from a handful of sources, stretching, rearranging, and looping them repeatedly until they produce a world that could only be their own. While the origins may vary, they’re tied together by a few common threads: rich, emotionally-potent chord progressions and transcendent vocal melodies. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the second track, the 16-minute tour de slush that is “Morning Dew.”
Following the sprawling ambient opener “Dawn,” “Morning Dew” begins similarly sparse and nebulous. The introductory drone grows gradually, lulling you into a sense of ease until suddenly evaporating into harmonic bliss sprinkled with percussion. The transition is especially bold and unexpected after the free-form ambiance that comprises the record up to this point. As the song evolves and weaves between different movements, the 16-minute runtime begins to seem minuscule; the piece is so hypnotic that it could be extended into an album of its own. Thankfully however, there’s five tracks to go, and what comes next is another definite highlight.
“Blue Hue” starts as one may now expect: a slow, filtered fade-in, but the drop at 3 minutes yields yet another surprise – not only does this album have bass, but it’s groovy as hell. It’s here that days of blue solidifies their keen sense of pace, progressing from the amorphous opener, to the understated sway of “Morning Dew,” now arriving at a track you could slow dance to. It’s also during this piece that the vocal samples creep to the forefront, gliding atop the dense clouds beneath as if to serve as a guide in this surreal journey.
t e l e p a t h – 星間性交 (2015)
I could continue describing in detail the remaining four tracks in order, but in truth, the atmosphere this album conjures is somewhat beyond description and is best experienced firsthand. Instead, I would ask vaporwave fans to recall the first time they listened to a slushwave album and truly resonated with it. The intrigue of feeling alien and yet uncannily familiar. The contradiction of yearning for days long gone while also alluding to a distant future. The hazy loops pulling you under until you lose track of time. For me, it was t e l e p a t h’s cosmic lullaby, the 2015 monolith 星間性交 (Interstellar Intercourse), an album which days of blue cites as an inspiration.
Blissful Days takes me back to the wonder and mystique of experiencing 星間性交 for the first time, while still feeling like a logical step forward for the style; the mix sounds vivid and full despite an ocean of reverb and phasers, the theme is self-evident, and the visual personality oozes from every corner; from the album art, to the Bandcamp page, to the artist’s entire social media identity. Blissful Days by days of blue looks and sounds exactly like you would expect given the name: an escape into a lush, serene daydream.
Above all else, one of my favorite features of this album is just how patient it is, clocking in at 55 minutes with a mere 7 songs. The buildups are long, but never without payoff. Complementary samples relay back and forth at length to trance-like effect, never overstaying their welcome. Despite the album’s subdued nature, it boasts a quiet confidence under the surface, asking the listener to commit their time and trust, and in return offers a gorgeous aural experience that begs for another listen after completion.
The only factor that prevents Blissful Days from being utterly flawless is the closing track, “Sunset Gradient.” While an ear-worm in its own right, the song carries an easygoing mid-album groove in place of an opportunity to drive the release toward a thematic conclusion, a role which may have been better suited for the aforementioned “Morning Dew” or the flight-inducing “Sun Kissed Skies.”
In a time increasingly focused on disjointed streams of bite-sized content, the best slushwave often forces us to instead slow down and stay put for a little. Blissful Days is a cathartic respite that delivers exactly what it promises in this regard, and is sure to capture the hearts of fans of the style. The artist describes the work as “a journey of a day, from morning to sunset,” and yet it manages to feel infinite during its best moments. Fitting, given the album’s Bandcamp description, a mere 6 words:
How far can you break down a video game, into its bare essence? To the point that it can be reassembled and played inside your mind with nothing more than your own imagination? That’s the concept of Equip’s 2016 debut, I Dreamed Of A Palace In The Sky. As mystical as a phantasmagorical lucid dream, Equip delivers us a serene, yet at times deeply ominous concept album of an RPG played within one’s mind. A mix of the halcyon, early-polygonal games of the PlayStation, and the golden age of high-quality pixel art role-playing games of the Super Nintendo, along with a playful approach to mixing and harmonies that lead us intrepid explorers down fascinating, lichen-infested groves or dark, moldy dungeons. Druids and danger lurking behind every corner.
Debuting in 2016, Equip showed the world their unique RPG-midi fusion style through this album. In that year, modern-style vaporwave was relatively young, yet one of experimentation. Artists were taking chances with heavy hitters like the fascinating and iconic News At 11 or the swirling plunderphonic NEW GAIA by the artist of the same name. Equip was not an exception to the heavy releases that year and struck with one of vaporwave’s most recognisable albums since Palm Mall, by virtue of its exceptional atmosphere and fusions of plunderphonic sound effects and original melodies.
The album starts with a track composed entirely of Final Fantasy menu sound effects. Where on a lesser album this could seem gimmicky and rote of vaporwave’s ‘unique-for-the-sake-of-it’ trappings at the time, these effects are all used with meticulous certainty, especially in setting up the album. We aren’t just hearing these sounds, these are noises of the album’s menu itself, that we navigate through simply by listening. And, for instance, notice that the next track “I Dreamed Of A Palace In The Sky ~Opening Credits~” uses none of the sounds? You wouldn’t hear them in an example of the track’s name; they are absent. An example of the particular use of the samples.
These effects are a cornerstone of the album and truly enhance the experience. For the listener to truly believe this game is being played in their minds, that the titular palace truly has a hold, these effects bolster that aural landscape by showing us not as passive listeners, but as players of the album, through which every crispy footstep is our own in this lonely castle.
But these are flourishes. Low-poly icing on the polygonal cake. The album must stand on its own in terms of the composition for it to be worthwhile for future spins, something that it absolutely achieves. What feels so strong about the album is the mixed layering of longer ambient harmonies with the more melodic midi synths. This expands the album’s sound to allow for a deeper listening experience. You can focus anywhere on the music and still be transported away. These sounds, too, are uniquely mixed to create a specific soundscape that shows the skill of Equip in how he understands the world he’s made.
Just the right amount of reverb on footsteps. The ever-so-slight crust on a druid’s dark laughter. These call back to memories of old midnight play sessions of our favourite RPGs. The entire concept of the album is realised in both these mixes and that of the midi instruments. Drums are just so squishy and textured as to allow for a feeling of momentum. They switch to airy synths, giving a wandering or morose sound. As seen on tracks like “Druids (Encounter)”, the lengths to which Equip has gone to master these sounds in a way that are satisfying and additive to the track’s atmosphere is impressive. It pays off wonderfully.
That said, perhaps some tracks outstay their welcome, for instance, “Cloud Generator” doesn’t need to be seven minutes long, and some tracks like “Reunited” could be cut in half. Overall, however, it’s an iconic album. Fitting for either ambient or close listening with its focus on both long harmonies and unique sampling of game sound effects. This album gets a recommended 4 out of 5 for any aspiring adventurer, daring enough to seek out that palace in the sky!
