Windows96 "One Hundred Mornings" (2018)

I've always maintained a key interest in Vapourwave, the Internet's own truly international and border-less music scene. The unfortunate problem is quality. This is a genre plagued by low effort releases, often hinged around pitch shifted and time stretched re-sampling. It makes discovery hard but luckily Ive found this Brazilian musician who operates under the Windows96 pseudonym. They have the theming and aesthetics down and I'm happy to report the music is there too!

One Hundred Mornings gets off to a reasonable start with slightly off kilt drum arrangements and quirky synth tones taking up most of the focus. It builds atmosphere and steadily lures one into its particular vibe, a mesh of nostalgia tones and childish wonder. Its kitsch snippets of obscure cartoon sounds bouncing of the multiple layers of resonant synths has it start with its magic muffled somewhat.

As the song Visions I kicks in, the samples draw back and a lead instrument whirls around, dancing in the winds above its clunky drum groove and blocky baseline. Its here that the record gets into a stride, unleashing inspiring melodies and swelling with emotions. Its wobbly keyboards and murky low fidelity tricks find a warm cohesion where the aesthetic and music really start to compliment one another.

The pivot feels somewhat inspired by 80s Synthpop, the chord arrangements and notations of Bliss seeming almost like a Tears For Fears song re imagined through a new set of sounds. Its a very enjoyable record, warm uplifting mellow moods through the lens of nostalgia play, acting as if it resides in a infatuated past. The off kilt and sample oriented components don't hit home as hard but when the real musical composition comes through it shines bright in these lovely surges of swooning melody.

Favorite Tracks: Visions I, Bliss, Rituals

Rating: 7/10

Izioq "Late Night Golfing" (2018)

Coming in just shy of sixteen minutes we have a new, short and concise release from Izioq, the French composer of fun, playful music that ties itself closely to video game music and 90s childhood nostalgia. Late Night Golfing is the first album to experiment beyond the traditional style Izioq has established, with clear and obvious Vapourwave vibes which are also echoed in the albums cover. Its saturated colors and 90s computer rendering art being in tune with the genres practices, as well as the music itself.

It doesn't however feel like much of an experimentation, the tone and atmosphere feels settled and established with the Vapourwave aesthetic from the get go, however that doesn't start until the third song. The first two feel like the link between records as lead melodies play out inspiring, innocent tunes over soft, airy, floating synth tones, much like you would expect. With Golf! the record kicks into gear, the melodies dwindle down to simpler forms and the atmosphere of warm and wavy cloud synths take over in a meditative persuasion.

For these five songs a simple set of instruments and light reverberated percussion shift on simple A B structures. The compositions capture that airy, carefree and indulgent mood and they inhabit a sweet spot to drift into as the repetition drones in comfort. The last track has some strong Brian Eno vibes and the whole thing is simply pleasant and easy on the listener, its only downfall is perhaps the lack of time spent in this curious, easy going place. At just sixteen minutes each listen requires a repeat!

Favorite Tracks:

Rating: 4/10

New Gaia "New Gaia" (2016)

If you're familiar with the genre then this records album art, rooted in nostalgic gaming aesthetics, would let you know its a Vapourwave release, the worlds first international music genre built on the anonymity of online culture. "New Gaia" made its way onto a 2016 top list and peaked my interest. For what Vaporwave has revealed itself to offer, Id say this is a pretty fair representation of its strongest points. The self titled record is a typically aesthetic journey through chopped and churned sampling, reassembled in a duality between the future and nostalgia.

It opens up with a striking sample reminiscent of the pianos in Moby's "Porcelain", although I could never pin point the exact moment its lifted. There are a few other recognizable snippets throughout but its not the focal point. Moby's pianos, paired with the sounds of birds chirping and an endless depth of looping reverb, sets the tone a soothing journey through an oddly crowded aesthetic where instruments collide and peak much to the enjoyment of the listener. Its often awkward drum tones and burried sweeping phases are subtle nuances reinforcing the dreamy, sometime ethereal soundscapes. The record doesn't have many remarkable moments but keeps a consistent tone through its short songs totaling just under twenty minutes. Its construct is fascinating, with many manipulations and technical arrangements to imagine what technique is behind the oddities of sound. Between the more obvious constructs emerge many fluid and crafty transitions which aid a seemingly static sound into an organic evolution where a sampled lead instrument often diverts our focus as the setting around it shifts and transforms.

Its mood and atmosphere, slightly alien, strangely homely, captures the senescence of this musical format far better than others Ive heard since "Macintosh Plus". The short and abrupt nature of the songs left me with a personal feeling that more could come of these soundscapes, thought they are involving and each one creates a prominent sense of something unworldly to imagine into. I think for this sound to really strike a nerve it needs its expansive ideas more track time to evolve, however whats being created is fascinating and most welcome to my ears.

Favorite Tracks: Strange New Feel, No Looking Back

Rating: 5/10

Blank Banshee "MEGA" (2016)

The striking simplicity of the album cover alone is what sparked my curiosity and drew me in for a listen. Initially the oddity of sparse drum patterns and unusual sampling arrangement seemed like a reinvention of ideas, music from a different perspective. With each listen Ive grown increasingly disappointed with the lack of connection to the aesthetic journey this record goes on. At thirty three minutes it amounts to not much more than an assortment of ideas the yield little imagination for narrative or direction as a seemingly unstructured set of noises vibe with one another at the edge of reality. It certainly has a vibe, a feeling but my interpretation of the unfolding sounds amounted to no emotional stimulus. With only one or two raises of the eye brown its been a fruitless listening experience.

Its music of cosmetics, with an interesting identity of pleasant ambiguity. Everything revolves around the web of samples that shuffle around the beat of each track. The kicks, snares, rattles of cymbals and reverb soaked claps are sparing and minimal, providing a moderate tempo for all sorts of chopped and pitch shifted sounds to wage in on the atmosphere. Many snippets and samples resemble known, popular songs, one I identified was Death Grips's "Bass Rattle Stars Out The Sky". They mostly contribute to the mysteriously associative nature of the ongoing sample arrangement.

From that point it would mostly be an exercise of naming and describing the sorts of sound that crop up. For me they all amounted to very little that was emotionally impact-full or even entertaining. Thanks to the decent production it is a pleasant experience to hear the noises past you by as they are mixed together with equilibrium and often a lush dose of reverb and echo. As already stated though nothing arose, although a few moments in the record are more preferable to others it just didn't have much to offer me.

Rating: 3/10

Macintosh Plus "Floral Shoppe" (2011)

This cult album crossed my path a while back as I learned of a new "Internet genre" called Vapourwave that emerged online a few years ago. Although the music is relatively unheard of in popularity terms, it comes under a fair amount of scrutiny in online discussions, often attributing its distinct values to intentional decisions in an attempt to create something new. The arguments against are futile in my opinion, what music is not created with intent? And what is wrong with wanting something new and different? It would seem most of this controversy extends from unjustified hate, but enough of that, Vapourwave has two sides of a coin, the image and the music. Firstly the art creates relatively warm and inviting imagery combining elements of 80s corporate image and consumerism with early 90s computer renditions. Neon, high contrast colors and Japanese text tie it together creating an interesting reassembly of nostalgic culture. The music is mainly characterized by reuse of 80s music, sampled, chopped and rearranged they are often pitch shifted down and mixed with drums and other airy instruments that feature a fair amount of reverb to create songs that re-imagine the core samples into dreamy, relaxed, laid back tunes that come across with a touch of nonthreatening ambiguity. 

Vektroid is the alias of the music producer behind this record. She hails from the USA and has been creating and distributing music online since the age of 14. Not much else is known about Vektroid, but her large output of music under many aliases has been consistently released over the years and "Floral Shoppe" has become her most popular released, cited as thee definitive Vapourwave album.

Controversy aside there was not a lot that can get between myself and the music. I wanted to find something new and interesting and I found just that. The vibe and character of this record is a unique mix of an almost alien reinterpretation of culture asserted in a chilled out and comforting manor. The nostalgic re-samples in pitch shifted form give a particular flavor the sometimes glitchy percussion reinforces. The airy synths and additional revebs help drive home the calm nature of the record. Its an enjoyable oddity, simple in design and fruitful in execution, "Floral Shoppe" offers something new and fresh, both in theme and texture.

The extent of how much the music leans on its samples is a point of discussion. Being completely unfamiliar with all the samples its hard to understand the balance with the original compositions. Either way I think sampling and the power to re-imagine music is a beautiful thing and not much different from tradition forms of influence through simply hearing other musicians. We stand on the shoulders of giants and anything that's reused for further enjoyment is a positive in my mind.

Having listened to this and a few other Vapourwave records I've gotten my feel for what its about and although this was a great record that offered something completely new it was not without its flaws. Not all the tracks rise the same level and as a whole the album can stretch a little, much more so with the bonus tracks from re-releases. The genre has potential and "Floral Shoppe" executes whats possible really well at times, just not consistently. Its truely worth checking out if you have an open mind for new music.

Favorite Songs: リサフランク420  現代のコンピュー, ライブラリ, Eccoと悪寒ダイビング

Rating: 6/10