Vapor Vertebrae 05-2015 Part C

Tendencies
█

<Single>

Ostensibly for the contrapuntal purpose of annihilating all hiragana and kanji of the the vaporworld, Future Funk luminary Tendencies has a particularly cheeky title in store for his stomper: nothing. It’s just an untitled void, worshipping the blankness of the nullspace. Even the front artwork addresses this jejune situation in an apposite way. Thankfully, the track itself is supercharged with gregarious life-affirming goodness. From the blurred morphogenetic haze over the juxtaposition of a funky guitar granuloma and semi-aqueous glitter synths to the vitreous translucency of the synth stab-accompanied sunrise, Tendencies’ untitled ecomorph showcases laid-back suprematism all around. The textural range is aglow and diverse, and there are salubrious male vocal sections in the last third alright, but the song’s midtempo physiognomy never leads to the sentiment of this being an overproduced clavicular surfactant. Energetic nonetheless due to the spiky hi-hats and cutting-edge mastering, the funkmaster fills the untitled ribcage with stratiform sustenance.

Twitter: @tendencies_____

愛 vivi
Unlimited Data

<Single>

One look at Los Angeles-based artist 愛 vivi’s artwork that’s agglutinated to Unlimited Data, and chances are that its periglacial whiteness is immediately linked to the above context regarding Tendencies. Luckily, the pixel art of a vintage computer not only tinges the cathartic emptiness, but also serves a trenchant stylistic purpose. With Unlimited Data, 愛 vivi wants to target the era of the infamous AOL Instant Messenger, and while the depicted computer model may be a tad too antediluvian for the self-chosen purpose, it is still a fitting fibroblast into the past. The attached hashtag #Meditation rounds off the set of exogenous markers, now to the song itself: after the soothing pentatonicism of a synthetic koto, the track transforms into a fusillade of staccato hi-hats and twirling punctilios. Adjacent to their tetragonal appearance, short allusions to Vaportrap symbolism. Purposefully desiccate and emaciated, it is as if 愛 vivi’s Unlimited Data comes with a price: unlimited data doesn’t translate into unlimited bandwidth at the end of the day, so throttle the 3D synth patches and go for the calcined state of purity. A wondrous flashback indeed.

Twitter: @vivisfv

Cyberlust
Cruising

<Single>

A mere finger exercise of less than two minutes comes in the shape of cruising, made by everyone’s favorite cybergirl Cyberlust aka Lola from Argentina. That the title is written in all-small letters makes it automatically less prone to conniption or spectacular sensationalism, but this is exactly the right attitude when the agglutinated soundscape is inspected further. While no Ambient song per se, the easygoing flaring make cruising sensorially apprehensive. Crimson-red sunset guitar licks are deeply embedded in a fundament of comparatively energetic hi-hat scythes. That this mirage remains a lilt can be linked to the volatile frostiness of the square lead piano whose aqueous viscidity radiates orographic dew drops. Distant synth strings put the finishing touches on this oneiric reverie. This is Vaporwave/Funk, no doubt, but diffracted through Cyberlust’s prism. The duology does therefore inherit an adiabatic Ambient core and ultimately makes cruising a polymer-alloyed fluid-processed example of relaxing vitalism.

Twitter: @cyberlusttt

DIY▲PYЯΛMID
#Redemption

<Single>

Call him histrionic and volcanic, but Michael Green aka DIY▲PYЯΛMID is ipso facto one of the most fascinating net artists, always bringing up a painful subject which is then mobbed up by his Portlandian viewpoint of British humour. Residing in the artificial boundaries of Second Life where he makes friends and foes alike and exhibits vernissages of his own GIFs and pectin-coated moments in still life, the thing I adore him most for is finally brought back by the luminary himself: music. After almost quitting music because of malfunctioning OS X installations, the above #REDEMPTION is part of the artist’s healing process… although its all-caps state hamper this undertaking. Be that as it may, #REDEMPTION is an epigenetic masterstroke, rotoscoping between modern Ambient and sunlit New Age vestibules, with futuristic lasers, pulses and gluons magnanimously added to the ensuing photoevaporation. The droning synth layers are diaphanous and ablaze with salubrious arabesques, cautiously blurred on the one hand, then protrusive polyphonous planetesimals on the other. Streamlined and bleepy, DIY▲PYЯΛMID’s diffeomorphism shimmers through and makes this chirality a success. Now pleeease watch your hard drives, yeah?

Twitter: @metadiamonds

Space Candy
私をテキストCall Me ☎ ☎ ☎

<Single>

No word shall be lost about the source material in Alex’s aka Space Candy’s latest vapor ventiduct of the funky kind, as the artist is kind enough to depict the origin of the sampled barycenter wherever he can: the reinterpretation of this unmentioned classic is found in the in-your-face-attitude of the title which is – quelle surprise – 私をテキスト C A L L M E ☎ ☎ ☎. In addition, the front artwork sports a posh pink foldaway phone in front of a bouquet of flowerage. So far, so good. Space Candy is most of the time releasing completely unique material, with all synth patches and tone sequences envisioned by himself, so this song is naturally a potential risk. But no worries, this belligerent remix is done so exquisitely well that no problem shall arise whatsoever. The tempo is revved up, the beat structure built anew, and best of all, this tunnel vision leads back to the past, what with the chattering Japanese girls, caulking Funk blebs and clever use of filters. The four-to-the-floor aesthetic is now staggeringly audible, the kickdrum reigns in full force. All this naturally doesn’t allow contemplation, nor is the cross-linkage with the moniker Space Candy audible at all, but this is desponded nit-picking on my behalf: 私をテキスト C A L L M E ☎ ☎ ☎ severely rocks!

Twitter: @spacecandymusic

American Online
Summer On Repeat (1996)

<Palma Violet>

Birmingham, UK is not exactly the sunshine state of the world, and that’s the reason why, according to its honorary citizen American Online himself, the album Palma Violet is so comparatively short: its duration reflects the amount of sunshine England is receiving, though whether that’s per day or year is for the artist to know and us to find out. Things look frilly and vermillion in the first single Summer On Repeat (1996) though, and granted, there’s nostalgia embroidered in this tune. The depicted landscape is a polyfoil perianth made of gorgeously warped synth percolations, New Age-oid Rhodes piano helixes and a potassium-covered bassline that bubbles and pulsates through the elasticized suntrap. While the song seems to be elasticized and slowed down – it’s Vaporwave after all, Sherlock! – the runtime of approximately 90 seconds is the antagonistic force that threatens the amethystine aureoles of American Online’s pipe dream. This soothing verglas estuary could float on forever, I wouldn’t mind at all: Summer On Repeat (1996) is a gemstone, autochthonous, resting in itself, fully aware of its cajoling serration of melancholia and uplifting outlooks into the future, reminding me of the best enchanted nightvisions of コンシャスThoughts. American Online is another artist to watch.

Twitter: @Online_American

Vaporwave Review 083: Vapor Vertebrae 05/2015 [Part C]. Originally published on May 27, 2015 at AmbientExotica.com.

Vapor Vertebrae 05-2015 Part B

Future Girlfriend
crazy Nights 狂気夜

<Single>

Partying like you’re in Asunción, Paraguay, that’s the credo of the faceless – albeit not faithless – collective Future Girlfriend from the very capital that all of a sudden becomes a fortuitous Future Funk fortress. The above crazy Nights 狂気夜 is another emerald of the gemstone-plastered streets, showcasing a stratiform duology of euphonious Italo House pianos and desiccate-calcined electric guitars whose funky punctilio adds an underbrush of baroclinic momentums to the scenery. Add staccatofied House vocals in tandem with flexing basslines to the locale, and you get a multicellular macronutrient. Why the “c“ in the title is no capital letter is probably of no importance whatsoever. However, the Funk critic nonetheless notices this stylistic oddity and sees it as an attempt to tone down the lunatic conniption via this little trick (the night isn’t CRAZY-Crazy, just crazy-Crazy, if that makes any sense). Augment the title with hiragana of the same meaning and you receive a thermal immersion of a party that isn’t as kooky as it could be, but still manages to establish a retrosternal redshift. Future Girlfriend succeeds anyhow.

Twitter: @futuregfmusic

Vantage
Give Me

<Single>

While we’re doing Funk-related business, why not visit the blazing panchromatic world of Frenchman Vantage? His latest single Give Me is another polyvalent epitome of Far Eastern flavors and Occidental spherification. Here, however, the producer decidedly decreases the magnanimous glitz in favor of hatched pastel colors of the less incandescent kind. No harm done, as Give Me emits many tricks and remains a holistic integral of the advantageous epistemology. Launching with a synthetic harp-fueled fairy tale anacrusis, Vantage’s aural lanthanide soon gains focus and macula and puts a clavichord into the center. The clavichord is one of Funk’s best known instruments next to the Rhodes piano and the guitar, but it is still great to fathom its bone-dry aridity in this context. It works as an anhydride, detracting viscoelasticity and scrimshaw artifacts. Vantage balances things out via shapeshifting complexions: the track’s last third is slowed down, pitch-shifted, tetragonally tilted until it becomes a cervical puddle. What I haven’t mentioned so far is the vocal epicenter which drizzles along in the shape of J-Pop bubblegum blebs. Lolita lyrics, filial excitement and childlike characteristics radiate a Vaporwave-worthy diorama and change the context of Give Me from a mere volatile oxidant into an immersive perianth. Tally ho, no need to be "s-sorry"!

Twitter: @VantageNoise

Faint Waves
Sun Kissed

<On The Coast EP>

Los Angeles-based producer Faint Waves is an admirer of the 80’s, and writing this very sentence in the context of Vaporwave is as redundant as the evidence that he’s also inhaling oxygen… what a surprise, eh? Turns out, however, that this vestibule into the long-lost and newly found decade is not just an important marker, but the very nucleus of every tone sequence and positron the artist spawns. Sun Kissed from the artist’s On The Coast EP is a perihelic instrumental that encapsulates one of the two primary artistic directions that are tied to Faint Waves: lagoons and megacities. Here the former is aurally painted via prolonged crimson-red four-note diamond afterglows, fluvio-lacustrine Flamenco guitar granulomas and whitewashed hi-hat knuckles. What makes this self-proclaimed Chillwave epithelium so luring – besides the rubicund sunset – is the admixed saxophone, a mandatory appearance in jazzy Vaporwave tracks. It establishes a more earthbound orthonormality in Sun Kissed and prevents the seraphic-diaphanous panorama from becoming a centrifugal-chromogenic force and transcending into a completely aeriform state. Faint Waves is also one half of Stereo Tropic, and one can easily feel the semi-nocturnal vibe in his solo productions, a sentiment which is yet again amplified by the amniotic saxophone. A vermillion sun trap alright.

Twitter: @FaintWavesMusic

Perla Blue
Chlorophyll Shrine

<Single>

From Pasadena, California hails Perla Blue, a Vaporwave luminary whose discography isn’t as vast and well-equipped yet, but versatile enough to demand one’s close attention, especially so since his track Chlorophyll Shrine is a stupefying Ambient corker of the soothingly clandestine kind. Depicting an aerial view of everyone’s favorite Mode 7 landscape as presented in Secret Of Mana, a sample-related connection to the RPG classic is at one’s disposal, but ultimately wrong, for it is actually the cavernous chromaticity of Donkey Kong Country's Dave Wise which oozes within the boundaries of Perla Blue’s mica. It is here where the fun really starts, as the artist augments the viscoelasticity of the original and transmutes the xylophone/marimba and panpipes fissures into aqueous amanitas; a spectral-supernal atmosphere of chlorotic color veils through the cave which ennobles the whole procedure. This is no samplefest, it’s no mere finger exercise or exhibition of Tartarean aesthetics, no, the circumambience fleshes out the sinews and talons, caulks the pith of nonentity and evokes a phylogenetic arcanum that is both divine and alkaloidal. Perla Blue creates a place filled with glucans and life in lieu of an overproduced ventricle that is ultimately hollow. Turn up the volume and/or listen with headphones: this is a shrine you already know, interpolated with chiral compounds give it an edge of an ergosphere.

Twitter: @PRLABLU

Replica Federation
ウィルス

<-V-I-R-U-S>

The ultramafic solanum ウィルス is the title track of Replica Federation’s album -V-I-R-U-S, released on the Illuminated Paths label which specializes in synth-driven songs and Vaporwave ventiducts. Since ウィルス literally translates into virus, chances are that this song depicts a violent-virulent superresonance, but nothing could be farther from the truth! In fact, Replica Federation chooses a very distinct pattern in order to aurally visualize the moving pattern of a virus: two segues are intermingled and emit the characteristics of perturbation and phoresy. The gateway is based on a Japan-flavored synth flute-fueled antrum of polymer-based magnetotails that swoosh through the mephitic air. All of a sudden, Funk guitar pseudotensors and soulful prolonged vocals take over the scenery, before the isolated phototropism of the track’s infancy stage is presented yet again. My explanation doesn’t do the song justice: it seems as if Replica Federation arbitrarily agglutinates various vignettes, but again, this is neither the plan nor the implementation thereof, as the second half of ウィルス remains coherent and stable. High-energy drones scythe through the glaucous-bluish pyroxene, cautiously arpeggiated drum escapades and short stumbling cusps bring energetic vibes to the scenery, but other than that, Replica Federation creates a periglacial matutinal serenade of contemplation and looming danger. It is this simultaneity – coupled with true-fashioned Vaporwave/80’s pairings – that make this one a polyfoil potassium pericarp. All thumbs up (I’ve only got two, but whatever)!

Twitter: @ReplicaFed @pathilluminated

Ambient Review 432: Vapor Vertebrae 05/2015 [Part B]. Originally published on May 13, 2015 at AmbientExotica.com.