Cool Albums
Various Artists - DE PROFUNDIS - This dungeon vaporwave/synth/dark ambient release curated by The Expanding Earth brings various sounds and vibes together to create a really interesting and cohesive album. I'm actually on this one as 1-800-TONIGHT with a track that will appear on an album that will hopefully eventually be finished soon, and I feared that it would not work too well with the rest of what would be on the album, but consider me pleasantly surprised. One of my favorite moments of my trip happened as I was on the bypass, facing the sunset, listening to Aus der Tiefe, and it was the perfect combination. I actually ended up recording it on my camera, and I need to move it and the rest of my photos over to the computer to see how they all turned out.
ＡＬＩＡＳ ４０４ - Ｓｅａｓｉｄｅ Ｒｅｓｏｒｔ - I love a good summer-themed album, and it seems that this artist released quite a few of them that I'm going to have to check out soon! I really loved the sample choices and the loops and chops that enhanced some of these tracks. I was driving in bitter cold temperatures, and listening to this left me longing for a visit to the ocean. This album is super cute, check it out!
ｇｈ０ｓｔ - 喚起 - Unreal that this album is four years old now. I've loved this album since its release, but it'd admittedly been a bit since I'd checked it out. What a reunion! I found myself with additional favorites on the album (𝓮𝓷𝓾𝓯𝓯 𝓵𝓾𝓿 is hypnotic, and I had forgotten that 前回 is a sample twin with one of my favorite Topaz Gang tracks, so chills galore with that one once the sax came in), and I am still convinced that 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝒾𝓃' is one of the best late night lo-fi tracks to come out in the last few years, just perfection. I've really enjoyed ｇｈ０ｓｔ's albums, but this one is my favorite. Perfect use of verses, perfect chop use, perfect everything.
ｍｏｄｅｒｎ dream - FLYING HOME EXPERIENCE - I know that the album where it was released had some controversies a few years back (catfishing/fake identities, doxxing me as a humblebrag to somebody else), but I try to look past it and enjoy the releases that got caught in the crossfire and had nothing to do with the label owner's decisions. This album sounds like part synthwave album, part dreampunky, part 'tribute to Vangelis', and it's so, so good.
Ｓｐｏｒｔ３０００ - Ｃｌｅａｒａｎｃｅ Ｓａｌｅ - The first tracks sound like a love letter to the Kmart tapes that took the internet by storm many years ago, but as the album continues, you hear some songs experiencing the result of tape wear, or sounding like a skipping CD (something that ended up stressing me out mid-drive home, hahaha), and the last tracks go into eerie hums and noises, which I just discovered was an intentional choice meant to signify the death of a department store. I really liked this one!
//𝙡𝙮_ - //just_ - This three track EP with titles that say "just the other ____" samples popular jazz artists but incorporates a funk/hip hop vibe to all of them. My favorite //𝙡𝙮_ album still is a view down the valley, released on Dark Web Recordings and goes into insane looping that makes the original source sound totally unrecognizable for the most part, but I do love these quick //𝙡𝙮_ EPs that go into VHS pop territories. Hoping that Ally comes back soon!
👁🗨📲 - 👁点击と👁 - Though this album came out in December of last year, many quickly put it at the top of their "Best of 2023" lists, and for good reason. I have plenty of unsolicited hot takes about vaporwave, but one of my biggest pet peeves about some vaporwave is how I feel like people use full verses and choruses of original tracks way too heavily, almost like a crutch. Just recently, I heard an album that literally slowed down the entirety of Saturday Love by Cherelle and Alexander O'Neal and called it a day, and I was super pissy about it. I think that using large amounts of the original sample in a song can open up the possibility of vaporwave artists getting targeted by labels regarding copyright infringement/takedown notices, but in a creative sense, can also hinder the potential of what a song can transform into as a vaporwave song. Take Nobody Here as an example: he turned a love song about dancing with a lady in red and transformed it into an anthem of isolation and loneliness. I feel like, the less people use of vocals and verses, the more creative the transformation can be. All of that to say, and going back to actually talking about Eyeclick here, I feel like Will and Nathan do a great job of using vocal heavy songs, but they use them more as a component rather than a crutch. They chop the fuck out of the vocals, they paulstretch the hell out of them, they turn them into bizarre eccojammy sorts of things. It doesn't feel like the vocal is the forefront of the song, it feels more like the vocal is just a part of an overall theme they're going for with each album, more of a compliment or a cherry on top of what they're going for instrumentally. Do I sound snobby yet? Anyway, all of that to say, listen to this album, it's fantastic. I am the number one 台湾SWAG『Princess』外约网（k 7 7 9 9 . c n）遇到以前同班跩跩的校花 想干她很久了 见面一定要好好教训她 stan, just saying!
CyanBlue - Cyanide - Cyan's third album was excellent company as I drove around my hometown, taking photos in the bitter cold. I'd say this one's my favorite of his. He can do insane flips of already great 80s pop tracks and transform them into extravagant bops like it's nothing (click here for the perfect example), but there's something about this album that sounds...a bit more mature, maybe? Definitely elevated. Great sample choices as always, and it grooves and grooves. I will say that I was blown away by the track Over and Over because I really genuinely thought that all of the components of this song were from an original 80s track. It blew my mind when I discovered the verses were being sung by Lavera and Seth Nova. Def check this out.
And a quick shoutout to unknown settlement - autumnal gloam, something I discovered before I went on my trip. It's a short and sweet classical TV signalwave release, the tracks sounding like they were ripped from old late 70s/early 80s sign-offs of some sort. It's gorgeous!
Additionally, some New Releases, of which there's not many. I'm sure folks are waiting to start releasing albums in the new year. But here are a few!
Various Artists - The Signalwave Christmas Special 2024 - Released December 21, 2024
ʍindƨpring ʍeʍorieƨ™ - @_@ - Originally released on Swamp Circle on December 18, 2014, but released physically via GLOBAL PATTERN on December 18, 2024.
FOTOshoppeツ - Christmas Forecast - Released December 23, 2024
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