You can download the album here: https://defaultbrowser.bandcamp.com/album/surfing-after-dark
Rating: 75/100
After stumbling upon this release after searching the depths of the cyberverse I felt a very profound feeling of contempt. The title is referring to late night channel surfing. Something that we have all done in attempt to find something meaningful or slightly entertaining, most of the time we fail. This album reminds me somewhat of Telenights by g h o s t i n g with it's musical sampling of various TV theme songs from commercials and crappy sit-coms.
There is nothing deep or intricate about this release. It is what is, and is very enjoyable all the same. I recommend this album for those who want to capture that late night absurdity that one can find in a crappy Holiday Inn at 2 in the morning. At times it is jarringly hilarious and others very slow and incredibly dark. Overall, it makes for a great listen.
-Wolfenstein OS X
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Friday, December 5, 2014
Best Wishes... by blue hydrangea // Album Review
You can download the album here: https://bluehydrangea.bandcamp.com/album/best-wishes
Rating: 90/100
It's late on a friday night and I've got nothing to do except stare out the tiny window in my shitty apartment and glare out into the cold winter moonlight. I puff on an e-cigarette and search the Cyberverse for new, obscure sounds to fill my head and potentially uplift my digital depersonalization. I come up on Best Wishes... by blue hydrangea, an unknown artist to the Vaporwave scene, although I am very glad to have found him and I would recommend checking out some of his other releases on his bandcamp website (https://bluehydrangea.bandcamp.com/music).
The album artwork was what first attracted me. A single snapshot of a naked woman lying on top of a man who is mostly unseen except for his hairy legs. She stares back into the camera with a sly smirk and an inebriated facial expression that resonated into my soul. I felt compelled to listen to this strange, mysterious encounter and was greatly satisfied.
What you will find in this album is a bizarre retelling of a past experience. There is a sense of obsession or infatuation that is prominent in this release. The girl on the cover is essentially every teenaged boy's wet dream. It's hard to say what story is within this album, but from I've gathered, it seems almost like a bizarre, guilt-ridden sex fantasy. I found myself entering the depths of something very personal and heart-breaking. We have all had that one person who we've fantasized or glamorized so much to the point where we don't even see them as a real person anymore. They are almost like a god. Too perfect to touch. We want nothing but to be with them, and would give anything for them to feel a fraction of what we felt. But sadly, they rarely do.
In tracks like "the loser" you hear dissonant rhythms and melodies that harmonize every once in a while into a lonely, broken refrain. It slowly discombobulates throughout the album and leaves you on a cliff hanger towards the end with "aftermath", as it finishes off with a build-up similar to an EDM song, then immediately cuts off, making you feel empty and dissatisfied.
Overall, I highly recommend this release. There is so much mystery and ambiguity in this album that it completely enveloped me into a narrative that I think a lot of people can find something in it to relate to. Check it out.
-Wolfenstein OS X
Rating: 90/100
It's late on a friday night and I've got nothing to do except stare out the tiny window in my shitty apartment and glare out into the cold winter moonlight. I puff on an e-cigarette and search the Cyberverse for new, obscure sounds to fill my head and potentially uplift my digital depersonalization. I come up on Best Wishes... by blue hydrangea, an unknown artist to the Vaporwave scene, although I am very glad to have found him and I would recommend checking out some of his other releases on his bandcamp website (https://bluehydrangea.bandcamp.com/music).
The album artwork was what first attracted me. A single snapshot of a naked woman lying on top of a man who is mostly unseen except for his hairy legs. She stares back into the camera with a sly smirk and an inebriated facial expression that resonated into my soul. I felt compelled to listen to this strange, mysterious encounter and was greatly satisfied.
What you will find in this album is a bizarre retelling of a past experience. There is a sense of obsession or infatuation that is prominent in this release. The girl on the cover is essentially every teenaged boy's wet dream. It's hard to say what story is within this album, but from I've gathered, it seems almost like a bizarre, guilt-ridden sex fantasy. I found myself entering the depths of something very personal and heart-breaking. We have all had that one person who we've fantasized or glamorized so much to the point where we don't even see them as a real person anymore. They are almost like a god. Too perfect to touch. We want nothing but to be with them, and would give anything for them to feel a fraction of what we felt. But sadly, they rarely do.
In tracks like "the loser" you hear dissonant rhythms and melodies that harmonize every once in a while into a lonely, broken refrain. It slowly discombobulates throughout the album and leaves you on a cliff hanger towards the end with "aftermath", as it finishes off with a build-up similar to an EDM song, then immediately cuts off, making you feel empty and dissatisfied.
Overall, I highly recommend this release. There is so much mystery and ambiguity in this album that it completely enveloped me into a narrative that I think a lot of people can find something in it to relate to. Check it out.
-Wolfenstein OS X
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Thoughts on Ocean Grunge // some albums I have listened to
A couple of people have mentioned a sub-genre of Vaporwave to check out named "Ocean Grunge". My first listens to some albums on Bandcamp have been for the most part pleasant. Most of the stuff I have listened to sounds a lot like chopped and screwed MBV or Sonic Youth, which is sometimes very unsettling but also pretty awesome at the same time.
The first album I checked out was the release from Business Casual, entitled Storm Memories by Sea of Dogs which can be found here: https://businesscasual87.bandcamp.com/album/storm-memories. I didn't listen to the whole album but what I found was a pleasant array of choppy, repetitive droning noise that I have never really heard before. You can definitely hear the influence from Vaporwave and especially from it's aesthetic through Seapunk.
I then proceeded to listen to Sludge Dredd by DJ Rozwell which can be found here: https://djrozwell.bandcamp.com/album/sludge-dredd. It was somewhat similar to Storm Memories, but was much more heavily influenced off beat techniques rather than the Riff-like quality that was prominent with the Business Casual release. I have to say I do enjoy a lot of what I am hearing, and has the potential to become something very innovative in the future despite it being extremely unheard of right now.
Ocean Grunge is a lot darker than Vaporwave. It is actually somewhat similar to Dubstep in some ways with it's blaring, scratchy tone that is prominent in most releases. Overall, I enjoy Ocean Grunge. I hope to someday review some more albums in greater detail as the stuff I listened to are very interesting pieces of music.
-Wolfenstein OS X
The first album I checked out was the release from Business Casual, entitled Storm Memories by Sea of Dogs which can be found here: https://businesscasual87.bandcamp.com/album/storm-memories. I didn't listen to the whole album but what I found was a pleasant array of choppy, repetitive droning noise that I have never really heard before. You can definitely hear the influence from Vaporwave and especially from it's aesthetic through Seapunk.
I then proceeded to listen to Sludge Dredd by DJ Rozwell which can be found here: https://djrozwell.bandcamp.com/album/sludge-dredd. It was somewhat similar to Storm Memories, but was much more heavily influenced off beat techniques rather than the Riff-like quality that was prominent with the Business Casual release. I have to say I do enjoy a lot of what I am hearing, and has the potential to become something very innovative in the future despite it being extremely unheard of right now.
Ocean Grunge is a lot darker than Vaporwave. It is actually somewhat similar to Dubstep in some ways with it's blaring, scratchy tone that is prominent in most releases. Overall, I enjoy Ocean Grunge. I hope to someday review some more albums in greater detail as the stuff I listened to are very interesting pieces of music.
-Wolfenstein OS X
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Album Review // ＃は、私たちがそれを作ったなんて信じられない by 仮想/// Vを（HS高校//
download the album here --> https://virtualhighschool420.bandcamp.com/album/-
Rating: 55/100
This album was given to me as a recommendation from the artist, and I'm sorry to say that I am very disappointed in your work; don't get offended. The album is very much an average eccojam without much thought put into it and is just a rehash of something very similar that came 4 years before it (Cough, cough, Chuck Person). It even uses the same opening track of "Africa" by Toto as one of its sample bases in the third track, come on buddy.
Some minor highlights, however, come from the second track, which makes a clever homage to artist Mac DeMarco, by utilizing one of his influences from the documentary "Pepperoni Playboy" by Pitchfork, by using the song "Dolce Vita" by Ryan Paris. Other than that, the artist isn't doing anything original or creative in the genre, and since Vaporwave is already incredibly easy to make, it comes off as very cheap and shallow.
-Wolfenstein OS X
Rating: 55/100
This album was given to me as a recommendation from the artist, and I'm sorry to say that I am very disappointed in your work; don't get offended. The album is very much an average eccojam without much thought put into it and is just a rehash of something very similar that came 4 years before it (Cough, cough, Chuck Person). It even uses the same opening track of "Africa" by Toto as one of its sample bases in the third track, come on buddy.
Some minor highlights, however, come from the second track, which makes a clever homage to artist Mac DeMarco, by utilizing one of his influences from the documentary "Pepperoni Playboy" by Pitchfork, by using the song "Dolce Vita" by Ryan Paris. Other than that, the artist isn't doing anything original or creative in the genre, and since Vaporwave is already incredibly easy to make, it comes off as very cheap and shallow.
-Wolfenstein OS X
Sunday, November 23, 2014
THE AUDIOVISUAL CHILDREN OF ISRAEL by MC JEW // Album Review
Download the album here --> https://mcjew.bandcamp.com/album/the-audiovisual-children-of-israel
87/100
I found this gem while scrolling through the recent uploads on the Vaporwave Library website where I came upon the mysterious artist known as MC JEW, an upcoming artist that is primarily focused on muzak aspects in their releases. The album cover displays an 8 bit graphic image of a flower inside a bell jar next to what appears to be a hand mirror, laid in front of a black background. My impression on the album is somewhat construed. What I interpreted from listening is a destruction of nature in our contemporary world. Several songs indicate this theme of imposing threat, citing concepts of selfishness and vanity, as well as the degradation of spirituality in songs like "The General."
The album opens with "Good News", a strange, repetitive, eerie funk tune that encapsulates the impending dread to come in the next songs. The whole album has a very subtle eerieness; it isn't as easy to pinpoint as something like Floral Shoppe, but it's still there. The song ends with a sample of what I assume to be something from an old Christian Sunday School PSA, citing that "we don't have to be afraid if we turn all our anxieties to God", a foreboding statement of our ignorance as humans. Can we really progress by just handing our fears to God; that we don't need to worry because God will take care of it? Is religion about morals and spirituality anymore? Or is it just that we're too lazy to deal with problems that we created. This album asks those questions.
This release is obviously a statement with themes of environmentalism as its forefront, but it isn't as annoying or preachy as something like a crappy folk album about Mount Kilimanjaro or how amazing dolphins are; this is looking at a much bigger picture towards our role as humans in general. The song "L'Observeur est observé" (english: the observer is observed), depicts us, the observers, being watched over and judged, bringing in the theme of religion once more. We are observers, because we are essentially in control as to what happens in the world today. It can also be interpreted that "nature" is being observed by us, the humans, and yet the two are essentially the same rendering it completely pointless and somewhat destructive. It ask the question "Are we really that separated from nature, or did we just make that separation up?"
The album makes a shift in the next two songs, "Animal" and "The General", using tribal, Aboriginal music as its sample-base. "The General" starts off with a very traditional wooden flute melody, but gradually deteriorates into a discombobulated mess, showcasing how our spirituality is at risk of disappearing. We cannot separate ourselves from the world we live in by simply repenting to "God", waiting for judgement day. Could we have checked out as humans - that we don't want to deal with our problems anymore, or ask the important questions of our existence that keep us from degrading to what are essentially beasts?
The rest of the album showcases this theme very well. It slowly transitions to sounds that are electronically made. This post-modernism that has suffocated us, has now begun to trick us into thinking that it's normal, or natural. The track "Interactive Ocean", makes us think that we are still apart of nature, but it has become something new, something disorienting and foreign that we do not really understand.
Overall, I really enjoyed this album. It has a lot of underlying themes that I might have just made up, but are probably for the most part in existence. But that is the beauty of Vaporwave. It isn't really tangible, and you can't really grasp a hold of it. It isn't bogged down by specific melodies or themes, it is subjective to each individual who listens to it. Like the idea of "vapor" itself, it confuses people to thinking if it actually even exists or not. "What am I listening to? Is this even music?" The answer is never determined. Much like life itself.
87/100
I found this gem while scrolling through the recent uploads on the Vaporwave Library website where I came upon the mysterious artist known as MC JEW, an upcoming artist that is primarily focused on muzak aspects in their releases. The album cover displays an 8 bit graphic image of a flower inside a bell jar next to what appears to be a hand mirror, laid in front of a black background. My impression on the album is somewhat construed. What I interpreted from listening is a destruction of nature in our contemporary world. Several songs indicate this theme of imposing threat, citing concepts of selfishness and vanity, as well as the degradation of spirituality in songs like "The General."
The album opens with "Good News", a strange, repetitive, eerie funk tune that encapsulates the impending dread to come in the next songs. The whole album has a very subtle eerieness; it isn't as easy to pinpoint as something like Floral Shoppe, but it's still there. The song ends with a sample of what I assume to be something from an old Christian Sunday School PSA, citing that "we don't have to be afraid if we turn all our anxieties to God", a foreboding statement of our ignorance as humans. Can we really progress by just handing our fears to God; that we don't need to worry because God will take care of it? Is religion about morals and spirituality anymore? Or is it just that we're too lazy to deal with problems that we created. This album asks those questions.
This release is obviously a statement with themes of environmentalism as its forefront, but it isn't as annoying or preachy as something like a crappy folk album about Mount Kilimanjaro or how amazing dolphins are; this is looking at a much bigger picture towards our role as humans in general. The song "L'Observeur est observé" (english: the observer is observed), depicts us, the observers, being watched over and judged, bringing in the theme of religion once more. We are observers, because we are essentially in control as to what happens in the world today. It can also be interpreted that "nature" is being observed by us, the humans, and yet the two are essentially the same rendering it completely pointless and somewhat destructive. It ask the question "Are we really that separated from nature, or did we just make that separation up?"
The album makes a shift in the next two songs, "Animal" and "The General", using tribal, Aboriginal music as its sample-base. "The General" starts off with a very traditional wooden flute melody, but gradually deteriorates into a discombobulated mess, showcasing how our spirituality is at risk of disappearing. We cannot separate ourselves from the world we live in by simply repenting to "God", waiting for judgement day. Could we have checked out as humans - that we don't want to deal with our problems anymore, or ask the important questions of our existence that keep us from degrading to what are essentially beasts?
The rest of the album showcases this theme very well. It slowly transitions to sounds that are electronically made. This post-modernism that has suffocated us, has now begun to trick us into thinking that it's normal, or natural. The track "Interactive Ocean", makes us think that we are still apart of nature, but it has become something new, something disorienting and foreign that we do not really understand.
Overall, I really enjoyed this album. It has a lot of underlying themes that I might have just made up, but are probably for the most part in existence. But that is the beauty of Vaporwave. It isn't really tangible, and you can't really grasp a hold of it. It isn't bogged down by specific melodies or themes, it is subjective to each individual who listens to it. Like the idea of "vapor" itself, it confuses people to thinking if it actually even exists or not. "What am I listening to? Is this even music?" The answer is never determined. Much like life itself.
Thursday, November 20, 2014
SAINT PEPSI meets the METALLIC GHOSTS -- Blockbuster Records // Album Review
Download the album here --> https://blockbuster.bandcamp.com/album/saint-pepsi-meets-the-metallic-ghosts
68/100
I tend to spend a lot time scrolling through Bandcamp's assortment of Vaporwave creations, mostly seeking out some strange obscure sounds never to be heard again in the vast expansion of what is known as the internet. I visited upon the album "SAINT PEPSI meets the METALLIC GHOSTS" by Blockbuster Records, which caught my interests with its dull, fogged out cover of Casper the ghost, sipping on a diet Pepsi. I was skeptical as to whether or not Saint Pepsi actually had anything to do with this strange encounter, but it still equally caught my interest. What you will find is nothing out of the usual in this genre. Strange, slowed down instrumentals with a harrowing obsession of the phaser effect found on Audacity.
The album features only one track, lasting approximately 18 minutes. However, this song seems to harbor a number of other short pieces within it that I guess would be the mystique and charm that arises in the release that contrarily makes it somewhat hard to pinpoint its meaning. Vaporwave is the ultimate form of "narrative music"; a genre where every release has a setting and plot within it that tells a complex and intricate story that is incredibly subtle and somewhat hard for inexperienced listeners to identify with. The actual music coming from this release may have been enjoyable, but without a context and it just being chopped up samples, it shallowly becomes passing noise. I would have liked to enjoy this album, but it's really only necessary as a way to experience "the dank" or "reefer" as the young folks may call it.
There are several pieces of the song that are very enjoyable and sometimes peaceful. Towards the end of the album it abruptly shifts into darker territory however, casting what I would assume to be its "critique on modern capitalism", but without any sort of narrative structure, who knows what the artist was thinking about. This is a very slow release, I could only recommend this album as background music. Something to play as you pay the bills at home in your cyberspace reality, but overall, nothing special.
I give this album a 68/100. Thanks for reading.
-Wolfenstein OS X
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