Category: Quick Look

Quick Look: Installation Disk by L a z u l i _ y e l l o w and Vivi Vulture

Posted on by C A S I N O

Quick Look

Installation Disk
BY: L a z u l i _ y e l l o w and Vivi Vulture

Written by: C A S I N O 

Published: September 27th, 2022

  Released: July 23, 2022

 

 

Installation Disk is an album about installing an OS goddamn it, and I dare you to find a music genre besides vaporwave that would even entertain the idea. Actually, there is a lot more to it than that. “Our goal was to comment on the pros and cons of the advancement of technology within one cohesive work.” So says Vivi Vulture. “We wanted to bring about a piece that flowed and glitched, got you comfortable, then ripped off the blanket.” L a z u l i _ y e l l o w echoed his partner’s statement on the sinister undertone of this album; “I had this idea of a Windows 95 startup disk that slowly brainwashed the user.” The theming of this concept album is great. From front to back, they absolutely nail the feeling of some malevolent bit of software being installed in on your computer. The album also has an impressive variety of tunes from our silly little genre. From the more traditional sounds of slowed down samples that can be found in “Formatting… DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR DEVICE” to the more upbeat trappy sounds of “PCI Bus Scan,” this is an album that does a whole lot. And yet it still feels like one complete piece of work thanks to its overarching theme. As promised above, the album, ends on some rather disturbing notes, as it ventures into more experimental sounds that will leave you feeling more than a bit unsettled. This one gets a thumbs up.

 

 

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Written by:

C A S I N O

c a s i n o

 

Copy Editing By: Gbanas92

Quick Look: PARADISE​ပ​ေ​ါ​်​တ​ယ​်​PORTALs by Vįr+üål Åįrßñß & h º r ¡ z º n щ ¡ r e l e s s

Posted on by Big Finger Ro
PARADISE​ပ​ေ​ါ​်​တ​ယ​်​PORTAL

Quick Look

PARADISE​ပ​ေ​ါ​်​တ​ယ​်​PORTALs

BY: Vįr+üål ÅįrBñB & h º r ¡ z º n щ ¡ r e l e s s

Written by: Big Finger Ro

 

Published: September 20th, 2022

  Released: August 18, 2021

 

PARADISE​ပ​ေ​ါ​်​တ​ယ​်​PORTAL

 

Vįr+üål Åįrßñß & h º r ¡ z º n щ ¡ r e l e s s have paired up to create a very interesting mix. While h º r ¡ z º n щ ¡ r e l e s s will prefer a more “traditional” approach (if there is such a thing within the genre), Vįr+üål Åįrßñß’s use of samples creates a contrast that is definitive to the album. He uses a variety of samples but prefers to keep the voices at their original pitch while slowing them down. This, coupled with slow backing tunes and reverbs, creates a subtle, but easily identifiable sultry mood. One can picture a couple about to have sex for the first time to ✻ ✼ ✽ L0vįng❧Y0u ✻ ✼ ✽.. There’s a clear feeling of desire, but also an intention to enjoy every moment of the experience. 

This is presented in alternation with h º r ¡ z º n щ ¡ r e l e s s’s equally relaxed, but more melancholic work. The pitch shift and slowed-down samples combine to create a distinct feeling of tiredness that is prevalent in the genre. Or rather, a feeling of satisfied weariness, like one would have after a concert or after finishing a marathon. There is a certain liminality to this “half” of the album, created in part by the slow vocals, as well as a feeling of finality.

The two sides of the album are connected by a feeling of deep relaxation, even if caused by very different things. With these two moods, similar in form but so different in feeling, these two artists have created an interesting experience. Perhaps it mimics the mixed feelings one might have while enjoying the company of a certain someone one has a history with. Or perhaps the remembrance of a lost love, remembering the good times one had while remembering the current loneliness.

 

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Written by:

 Big Finger Ro

Copy Editing By: Termascur

Quick Look: Penthouse Pleasures by Crystal Eternal

Posted on by C A S I N O

Quick Look

Penthouse PLeasures
BY: Crystal Eternal

Written by: C A S I N O 

Published: September 10th, 2022

  Released: June 25, 2022

 

There is no easier way for an album to piss me off than to use a sample, slow it down, and call it a new piece of music that is now yours. Luckily, Penthouse Pleasures by Crystal Eternal does not do that. (I pulled a sneaky on you.) You can tell they really put the work in. Painting a picture of a highrise penthouse in New York City (Hey, I know that place!) the album primarily uses ‘80s disco, jazz, and funk to give it a very urban feel, not too dissimilar from the likes of Saint Pepsi (Hey, I know that guy!) Admittedly, Penthouse Pleasures does start to sound very “samey” as it goes on. Instead of each song feeling unique from one another, I found myself sort of compartmentalizing them and going, “this one is a jazz song and this one is a disco song and this one is another jazz song.” This could have been prevented by cutting down the number of tracks on the album or mixing sounds up a bit more, but other than that, it is a skillful album and will likely scratch that itch you got for vaporwave with a big city feel and a high living sound. 

 

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Written by:

C A S I N O

c a s i n o

 

Copy Editing By: Gbanas92

Quick Look: Merced Mall [Virtual Tour 2004] – Color Advance SP

Posted on by Gbanas92
Merced Mall Color Advance SP

Quick Look

Merced Mall [Virtual Tour 2004]
BY: Color advance sp

Written by: Gbanas92 

Published: August 8th, 2022

 

   Album Released May 5th, 2021

 

Merced Mall Color Advance SP

 

While most mallsoft albums try to recreate the experience of visiting a mall in real life, what would happen if a release strove to recreate the experience of visiting a digital mall instead? This is the question that Merced Mall [Virtual Tour 2004] ponders. The experience remains a soothing one, with all the ethereal background noise you would want and expect out of wandering through a vaunted retail space, but the digital twist gives the release an entirely different texture. 90s games didn’t have the luxury of populating their wide-open spaces with sprites, so Merced Mall feels weirdly empty, but in a more welcoming way than you’d get from more traditional mallsoft. It doesn’t feel like a dead mall so much as a mall that happens to be empty. It allows for a genre used to sticking with the same handful of tricks to try out something new. And the result is something different, yet familiar.

 

FAVORITE TRACK: Jewelry💎Outlet

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Written by:

Gbanas92

gbanas92

Copy Editing By: Cerulea_d.lux

Quick Look: mitsuki ep – Cat Barbers

Posted on by C A S I N O
mitsuki ep cat barbers

Quick Look

mitsuki ep BY:

Cat Barbers

Written by: C A S I N O 

Published: February 10th, 2022

 

 

mitsuki ep cat barbers

There is a certain sub-genre of vaporwave that you play in the bedroom for when you want to set the right mood before you make sweet, sweet love to your significant other. These tracks usually use samples from the 80’s whose lyrical contents include themes of romance, love and baby making. The style has become a staple sound for many big time vaporwave artists like Waterfront Dining and Trademarks & Copyrights, but as with any track that samples other music, a big effort needs to be made to turn the songs into something completely new — and mitsuki ep by Cat Barbers does not quite make the cut. There are glimpses of something interesting in various parts of the album and the sample choices are on point, but there is simply not enough here to make the album stand out from many others like it. This is not to say the album is bad and it absolutely succeeds in setting the mood I mentioned above, however thanks to minimal edits and a lack of variety, I can’t imagine listening to this album unless I need some mood music for when I am getting down and dirty with some fine foxy mama, which means I am not going to be putting this one on very often…

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Written by:

C A S I N O

 

Copy Editing By: Cerulea_d.lux

Quick Look: Chrome – Ｓｐｏｒｔ３０００

Posted on by analoguecometa
Sport 3000 Chrome

Quick Look

Chrome BY:

Ｓｐｏｒｔ３０００

Written by:  analogue cometa 

Published: January 21st, 2022

 

 

Finding a home at Tiger Blood Tapes, vaporwave hero S p o r t  3 0 0 0 delivers another collection of timeless pieces: Chrome — instrumental gems with vintage attitude. Boasting a broader retro character, the opening track “c h r o m e” contains obvious Italo disco elements, soundtracking a fictional night out in the ‘80s. “f l a r e” continues on the same path, glorifying lo-fi piano lines and subtle bell-like synth stabs, all while carrying a profound nostalgia-inducing quality. The mood gets lighter with “t h e m e s s a g e”, a groovy, bouncy 3-minute journey that certainly doesn’t disappoint. 

The script is consistent throughout the whole release, offering the listener pure ‘80s consciousness. This happens using both variations in musical idioms and sound matter (for instance, tape distortion and light pitch fluctuation). “i n s e a r c h o f” breaks the pattern, offering sampled, pitched-down vocals in true vaporwave style. “f a i r l i g h t” introduces a staple of the ‘90s, the Roland TR-909, borrowing heavily from early house music and rave records. And so, fluctuating between decades and snapshots of forgotten times, Ｓｐｏｒｔ３０００ brings the album to a close with a sentimental motif, “c a n o n”.

After listening, you might feel wistful and nostalgic, but we are confident you’ll also be grateful for the extraordinary musical journey you just took part in!

Favorite Track: f l a r e

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Written by:

analogue cometa

 

Copy Editing By: DJ Nonn & Termascur 

Quick Look: “Live” At Lowe’s, May 6th 2015 – Holographic Technologies

Posted on by Gbanas92
Live at Lowe's Holographic Technologies

Quick Look

“Live” At Lowe’s, May 6th 2015 BY:

Holographic technologies

Written by: Gbanas92

Published: November 27th, 2021

 

 

Live at Lowe's Holographic Technologies

Maybe mallsoft still has room to grow after all. All it took was departing the concourse. And that’s what we get with “Live” at Lowe’s, May 6 2015: a mallsoft album that feels fresh and exciting amidst an ocean of albums that all fall back upon the same few tropes. Instead of faintly ominous reverb and the idle chit-chat of window-shopping pedestrians, Lowe’s shifts its attention elsewhere. While the people in the store are still present on the album, their presence is much less conspicuous than other entries in the genre. While we do hear the crowd’s footsteps and mumbling on occasion, their influence on the sound comes more from what they are doing. A greater emphasis is placed on the scraping of barrels, rolling white noise of carriages, and piling of mulch bags. The end result is an album playing in the same toolbox as its peers but in a whole new way.

Favorite Track: The Relaxing Music Plays On Repeat While Shopping

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Written by:

Gbanas92

gbanas92

Copy Editing By: Cerulea_d.lux & DJ Nonn

Quick Look: Not all birds fly – Happiness

Posted on by Matsu
Happiness not all birds fly

Quick Look

すべての鳥が飛ぶわけではありません (not all birds fly) BY: Happiness

Written by: Matsu 

Published: November 16th, 2021

 

 

Happiness not all birds fly
Album Art By Happiness

Drowned out beneath a thick, delicately placed layer of fog, すべての鳥が飛ぶわけではありません evokes a sound that pulls at a deep sense of longing, evoking a sense of hollowness using both tracks that edge between the more mournful side of classic vapor and ones that come closer to the ambient side of things. What stays consistent throughout, however, is a set of effects that make it sound as if the whole album is being played through a dense wall, making the space that it conjures feel all the smaller as everything passes by.

As the album comes to a close, the tracks exert a higher sense of dread to fill the void it created previously, the empty sound that comes from each sample bringing out a forced sort of relaxation. Paired with the darker early tracks, it almost feels like a direct attempt to sedate, as one final act to draw out what it can before the time it has to share is up.

Favorite Track: 雨

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Written by:

Matsu 

Copy Editing By: Darkfez & Cerulea_d.lux

Quick Look: Music to Mood Boards By – Dopes Ov Air

Posted on by Gbanas92
Music to Mood Boards By Dopes Ov Air

Quick Look

Music to Mood Boards By BY:

Dopes Ov Air

Written by: GBanas92   

Published: November 11th, 2021

Music to Mood Boards By Dopes Ov Air

Music to Mood Boards By offers a chameleonic variety of sounds. As the opening track samples Anna German, you’d be forgiven for expecting a mellower release, but what we have here is an album absolutely jam-packed with hip-hop drum beats draped across an eclectic mixture of sounds that should be incongruous, but are ultimately rather harmonious. Mallsoft gives way to funk, and then to soul, to bossa nova, and so on and so forth, until the album winds all the way through its diverse spectrum. While the drumbeats sometimes threaten to upset the delicate sense of serenity afforded by listening to this album, they never quite overstep, managing to walk a very fine line. This is a good choice for when you can’t quite settle on one sound to listen to and would rather cycle through a few things.

Favorite Track: Summer Evening

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Written by:

 GBanas92 

gbanas92

Copy Editing By: DJ Nonn

Quick Look: Luxury Simulator – Luxury Simulator

Posted on by oracle fm
Luxury Simulator

Quick Look

Luxury Simulator BY:

Luxury Simulator

Written by:  oracle fm  

Published: October 13th, 2021

Luxury Simulator

Creating a cohesive narrative in a listener’s head using only audio is a difficult task. Blended in that classic vapor style with slow, melancholic samples and seamless loops dripping with fuzz, Luxury Simulator has no problem with this. And the name of the record is apt, creating a feeling that some out-of-touch corporate entity is trying to recreate the idea of a luxury experience, but not quite getting it right. The kind of experience they’ve seen on TV, but not had themselves.

Each track comes in at around two minutes — the perfect length to satisfy any cravings, but to also beg for just one more spin. The reverb and subtle distortion echo off the walls of a virtual bath house, increasing with every track and culminating in a dizzying fanfare leaving one both hyped up and uneasy.

Favorite Track: View of Skyline (Front Window)

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Written by:

oracle fm

oracle fm

Copy Editing By: Cerulea_d.lux