Megamegamegamega cool album links post for October 5, 2025

 "I should make another blog post" is something I've said to myself for the past month now, countless times, but I never got around to it. I either totally got distracted and forgot all about it again, or it was thought about when I needed to focus on another project, or I was just too damn lazy and pushed it off. But here I am, finally, with lots of links to share. Instead of my usual little writeups, I've told myself to leave it at one sentence, and that's it! This is going to be super long anyway, it doesn't need to be longer! As always, links will open in a new window. 

alyzea - dream OS - Do not sleep on this beautiful album!!!!

am spritzer - Studies in fluidity: Act I - LISTEN TO THIS COMPILATION BECAUSE IT RULES.

Apollo Monday - AmigaOS:// - An interesting blend of chillsynth and frutiger. 

ARTIST: UNKNOWN - FLUID - In my opinion, an instant classic. 
ax14 - Promised land - Frutiger inspired but infused with different electronic genres.

bentoboy - DEPTHS-OF-MY-MIND - bentoboy KILLED IT with this one.

chlorophyll - oculus - Every track on this is a gem.

Cool Maritime - Big Earth Energy - Peak Scholastic vibes with this beautiful album!

Corporate Vibes - Vol. 1 - Introducing you all to a release that should have gotten a following ten years ago.

Dan Mason - Late Nite - Full of super dreamy jazz sampled bops!

☾☾♞DR⨊▲♏︎₡R△₷H♞☽☽ - DREAMCRASH EP - MFW THIS WITCH HOUSE PROJECT WAS DONE BY DESIGNER JEANS, WHAT THE FUCK
enterprises - photos (:E) - One of my favorite albums of the year.

General Translator - Amorotica - This goes in plenty of different directions sonically, and it all souns so good.

Faint Waves - The Big Dream - Tribute - A touching ode to David Lynch and Twin Peaks.
私の部屋で♡ - 私​の​心​か​ら​あ​な​た​へ - Truly gorgeous release, this is.
INTERNET CLUB - FORMAT BLUE - This is now my second favorite IC record after UNDERWATER MIRAGE!

JPEGSTRIPES - foreign transmission - Another favorite of this year! 

LAST CEREMONY - Pools & Palm Trees - Brings me back to my chillwave Turntable.fm days.
limerence - love, limmy - Hands down, I'd say this is Limmy's best album.

Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza - NTSC Memories - CESAR FOREVER.

midnight surfing - midnight surfing - A cool 2000s flashback.

Mitch Murder - Salary Man Simulator - This is SO SO SO CUTE. 

Niveum - Dream Pool - An (imo) underrated gem of an album in the future funk scene. 
Notorious Secret & Lost Traveler ロスト - A fun split/collab that goes into some sexy territories.

Penthouse Suite - Working Title - Nonstop bop emojis with this one.

post dive - e-lounge - GODDAMN THIS ALBUM IS FAB

セーブ画面 - Save Rooms + Cutscenes - Soothing music for a place you'll never be able to leave.

𝙎𝙆𝙔 𝙎𝙋𝙊𝙍𝙏𝙎 - 𝘀𝗸𝘆𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀.𝗰𝗼.𝘂𝗸 - It's like I am channel surfing in 2008 all over again.

Ｓｐｏｒｔ３０００ - ＶＨＳ Ｓｔａｒｄｕｓｔ - Soothing sign-off music. 
ｔｅｐｈ　ｃｏ. 愛 & Mom and Dad's Computer - InvestmentSim閲歴 - A very lovely and super cohesive release. 
The Signalwave Community - TELETEXT: The International Signalwave Compilation - Loads of great tracks on this release.

u v . e x e - 卒業 - Loving the incorporation of drum and bass in this particular slushwave release.

Various Artists - COMBOCHAMP VOL. 1 - A hella cool idea I wish I would have been able to do 13 years ago. 

waterfront dining - Diners Club - Part 1 - This album is definitely my favorite, the collaborations worked fantastically here.

ZX Spectrogram - Digital Crack - A truly, truly fantastic album. 

I believe I got everything? I feel like I am probably forgetting some albums that deserve some praise here. Maybe it'll just be an excuse to make another post sooner instead of later. Have a good night! 

New Releases for December 25, 2024

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! I may update this if more Christmas-themed releases appear in my inbox today. 

New Releases

TCR-4 - F e s t i v e - Released December 25, 2024

Various Artists - Low Jolly Depression - Released December 25, 2024

Various Artists - Vaporwave Is Coming To Town! - Released December 25, 2024

Paco Moreno - Paco Moreno's Kmart Christmas - Originally released December 6, 2024, but released physically via Disklab on December 21, 2024.

And if you missed the last post, I'll link these one more time:

Various Artists - The Signalwave Christmas Special 2024 - Released December 21, 2024

FOTOshoppeツ - Christmas Forecast - Released December 23, 2024

And one more that I forgot about posting a week or two ago:

Various Artists - Holiday Countdown - Released December 1, 2024

xoxo, and ho ho ho! 

Links post for December 17, 2024

I'll be heading out of town for a few days, so I figured I'd make a quick post before I went radio silent. I'll be back in time for Pad Chennington's Ugly Sweater Party on Sunday (something that I'm a part of!), and hopefully I'll be back with some albums to shout out in the next post. This one won't be as mega as the last post, but it'll still be a goodie. As always, links will open in a new window. Here we go.

Cool Albums

LAST CEREMONY - Sunsets & Late Night Drives - I've listened to quite a few LAST CEREMONY releases in the last year or so, but this one's my favorite. The title track is a gorgeous introduction to this appropriately named album, of starting your drive at blue hour and continuing well into the night time as passing cars are fewer and fewer, and turning off your car in the driveway at 2:00 a.m. with bleary eyes and clarity. Kinda reminds me of how I try to organize my Late Night Lofi tracklists a bit. The only complaint I have about this album is minor, and a bit of a compliment: I wish it were longer.

TCR-4 - Ｍ​ｏ​ｓ​ｔ​ｌ​ｙ​　​Ｃ​ｌ​ｏ​ｕ​ｄ​ｙ - A short but sweet signalwave album (that gives me hints of barber beats with the sample selection) that's inspired by the Pacific Northwest. It's relaxing, it's cozy, it's quite pleasant. 

ｙｏｕ　ｓｔｉｌｌ　ｆｅｅｌ　ｔｈｅｍ　ｏｕｔ　ｔｈｅｒｅ，　ｄｏｎ＇ｔ　ｙｏｕ - 最 後 に 永 遠 に - Admittedly, slushwave can be hit or miss for me. Whether it's the sample selection, what is being sampled in the song (I feel like you've seen me say more than once that I wish people didn't use full versus and choruses as a crutch and get a little more creative in what the song is sampling, which may be a hot take), but this album from YSFTOTDY is BEAUTIFUL. Great sample selections, and the tracks take me on a hell of a journey. I usually see a 26 minute song and think "why in the world does a track need to be this long", but 木 の 誕 生 / 竹 月 worked fantastically, reminding me of the end of one of my favorite Deerhunter songs in how both tracks make you feel like waves are crashing around and over you. While Little Kids by Deerhunter leaves you feeling disturbed, 木 の 誕 生 / 竹 月 provides nothing but tranquility. 

Various Artists - S​​​Ξ​​​CR​​​Ξ​​​+ ΞXPLOR​​​Λ​​​+​​​ION PROGR​​​Λ​​​M [Vol. 1] - Vįr+üål Åįrßñß did an incredible job in curating this release. There's not really a spoken theme, but the cover makes me envision an alternate universe where the Boston Dynamics robots took over the earth, and the effects of global warming are reversing itself as nature overtakes what humans built. All of that to say, it's really pretty, and half of this compilation is appearing in future Neon Nights* episodes.

死夢VANITY - lavish memories - 死夢VANITY has returned with another lovely late night lo-fi album that could be the soundtrack of a luxurious date night, or a soundtrack of a top notch spa experience, or a soundtrack to shopping for very expensive jewelry. It's very rich sounding, kinda borderline barber beats-y as well with the sample selection, and I love it. Welcome back, homie.

New Releases

Mitch Murder x Pizza Hotline - Anti Gravity Tournament - Released December 6, 2024

Notorious Secret x [carteBlanche] - Moondial - Originally released August 25, 2023, but received a physical release via Underwater Computing_ on December 13, 2024.

Various Artists - Sailing Vol. 2 - Released December 13, 2024 (I am on this comp!)

Donor Lens - The Singles (2019-2024) - Released December 13, 2024

days of blue skies & desert sand feels warm at night - Perli tal-Passat - Released December 16, 2024

LAST CEREMONY - Ambience of Absence - Released December 13, 2024

Florida Rains - Tampa Theatre - Released December 13, 2024

FIJI島の水 - INMY5Y5TEM - Single. Released December 16, 2024

Crystal Eternal - Ibiza Danse Magick (Radio Edit) - Single. Released December 15, 2024

* Neon Nights is my online radio show that airs biweekly, every other Tuesday, at 10:00 p.m. eastern. I play a lot of what gets highlighted in these posts, and I sometimes like to do themed episodes, too. A new episode is actually airing tonight, if you'd like to come in and check it out! Here's the link to the show. Also, fun fact: the next episode after this one falls on New Year's Eve, and it will be a two hour 2024 Neon Nights retrospective, a.k.a. Late Night Lofi VII (which I previously highlighted on the blog), and tracks that fit the vibe of the LNLF mix. It'll be a beautiful episode. If you're gonna tune into any of them, choose that one. 

Until next time!

Links post for December 9, 2024

Good evening! Sorry for the silence. I've been working on URL sets and getting three episodes of my online radio show, Neon Nights completed since December's gonna be crazy eventful for yours truly. This will be another megalinks post of Cool Albums and New Releases. As always, links will open in a new window! Here we go.

Cool Albums

clust.r - ever chance - River has been killing it, first and foremost. Between running a killer label, releasing two albums on my favorite label of all time, and the album I am linking here, he's been absolutely fucking killing it. clust.r is def not a typical vaporwave album and is more of a cool experimental, glitchy pop record. It's catchy, it's pretty, it's chaotic in the best way.

Atlas Cries - Night 露 - Enraile's third and latest release on the Shatterfoil label under his slushwave alias is most certainly a gorgeous album. Sure, it's a bit more simplistic in the samples, primarily using J-Pop material, but he has killer taste in sample curation. It kept me great company driving home in the middle of rush hour traffic, a soothing balm to the stressors of shitty drivers around me. Give it a listen!

Real Player 7 - Opportunity - I downloaded this album years ago and finally listened to it recently. I'm unsure if many of you are familiar with the label Crystal Magic, but this was once upon a time a label based in New Zealand that hosted quite a few indie/electronic/early 2010s internet music, and a bit later, shifted into releasing vaporwave and vapor-adjacent releases from Power Nap, Eyeliner, and Real Player 7 (a project by the person behind the label himself). Unfortunately, he deleted the Bandcamp page many years ago, but if you'd like to read about the history of this label, a lovely homie by the name of Michael Brown has you covered. Fun fact: Michael is also doing a 33⅓ book on Eyeliner's Buy Now, which you can pre-order here. Anywho, all of that aside, Real Player 7's Opportunity, released in 2013, was so far ahead of its time. I feel like, in a different world, it would be just as esteemed as Eyeliner's releases, or the PrismCorp Virtual Enterprises releases. It's midified corporate muzak at its finest, with titles such as Officechair Meditations and Outlook 2013 that sound exactly how you'd think they'd sound. Also, highlighting the track Inner City Reflections, because it merges vaporwave and drum and bass in a way that would be extremely appreciated in present day vaporwave. Since the album no longer exists online, it seems, I've uploaded it to Mediafire. Enjoy!

International Telecom - Н​о​в​ы​й М​и​р - You may remember my post about the immaculate ３​ａ​.​ｍ​.​Ｓ​ｉ​ｇ​ｎ​ａ​ｌ​ｓ, but don't go into this album expecting a sequel. Instead, go into it expecting the cousin of one of my favorite signalwave albums of all time, Synthetik/PROGRESSIVE REGRESSION by Ｋａｎａｌ Ｖｉｅｒ & FUJIWARA INTERCOM. Filled to the brim with late 90s/early 2000s commercials that take you back to the days of ads toying with futuristic imagery and everything being transparent or translucent, this album is short but very sweet. I need more albums like this, and I truly hope somebody takes on a project like this and really expands on the looping so these tracks don't end as abruptly as they begin. (See: FUJIWARA INTERCOM - FUTURE IS HERE, from the album linked above!)

Incarta '95 - ON THE RUN - This album, based upon a fake movie about a missing man who appears after 30 years and sends a letter and CD to a news station about where he's been, shifts from vaporwave to synthwave, even into house music a little bit. Another short but sweet album that I'm glad I checked out. I may have discovered it through a Retail Archaeology video, since this one came out shortly after my computer croaked. This is an interesting concept album with some bangers, especially the track Open Road. 

g h o s t i n g - 2D FUN AT GRID WORLD! - GodfuckingDAMNIT, THIS IS STILL SO GOOD. I hadn't listened to it in years, and after hearing it a few days ago, I knew I had to include this and possibly introduce or re-introduce you all to this hypnagogic pop classic. I know many of you know g h o s t i n g for his fantastic vaporwave and broken transmission albums, but this album takes what Telenights started and goes full zany, using commercial blocks in this album to enhance what already sounds like music inspired by 80s Saturday Morning Cartoon blocks. It's incredible. If you're into Boy Snacks, Punks on Mars, or James Ferraro during the On Air and Night Dolls With Hairspray era, give it a listen. If you have no idea what any of these references are, listen to g h o s t i n g and then click on those other links.

Late Arcane - Prestige - This was going to be in the New Releases section, but after hearing it a few days ago, I knew I had to include it here. This is a fucking fabulous follow up to Extravagance, with songs that are signature Late Arcane at this point, but also tracks sampled from 80s italo disco and funk, some AOR sprinkled in there, even something that reminds me of 90s R&B my sister used to listen to. It's a really fun listen. If Late Arcane chooses to upload his set from this past weekend's album launch stream, check it out for Little White Flower alone, and see how crazy his fingers go on that one. If you don't find yourself headbanging to that track btw, I don't know what's wrong with you.

Other cool albums I recommend you check out are Bathroom Plants' Garden of Accrescent Vistas (which is absolutely BEAUTIFUL) and 「黒田坊」Kurotabō's 布​団​の​音​響​タ​イ​ム​ラ​イ​ン '81​-​'93 (classic vaporwave album that does sample a lot of 80s mainstream pop and synth music, but it's fun!).

New Releases

Lunar Data Garden - Dawn I/O - Released December 1, 2024

victory over death - When at last I awaken - Released November 21, 2024

DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ - Sorcery - Released December 6, 2024
HYDROPLANED INTO A FALSE REALITY! - t q - Released December 6, 2024

super going - Patience with super going, Asleep and Not, and Digital Transmission Soundtracks - Released December 6, 2024

Afterdeath Television - Mater Natura - Released December 4, 2024

<VARIOUS/ARTISTS> - Intervals - Released November 30, 2024
y o u r d i s c o v e r y - HUMAN | MACHINE - Released December 3, 2024
video forum & identity crisis - ethereal unison - Released December 7, 2024

visions音と光 - Waves of static - Released December 9, 2024

Guild Merchant - Organica - Released December 6, 2024
░▒▓新しいデラックスライフ▓▒░ - ▣​世​界​か​ら​解​放​さ​れ​▣ / SPEED DIALER ! - Originally released in 2012 and 2022 respectively, but reissued on vinyl by Geometric Lullaby on December 6, 2024

猫 シ Corp. - Palm Mall - Originally released on October 2, 2014, but reissued on vinyl by My Pet Flamingo on December 5, 2024

Holy shit, that was a lot. Sorry again to all of the artists I couldn't tag due to the character limit. Talk again soon!

Florida Rains - Trop (and new releases for November 27, 2024)

 

Florida Rains has been quite prolific in 2024, releasing 17 albums in eleven months. I'm slowly catching up on checking out their discography, but between Downtown Tampa and the album I'm discussing in today's post, I'm really enjoying what I've heard of their output. Named after a Rainfall Amounts segment on The Weather Channel, Florida Rains is another artist I've found whose Weather Channel-inspired releases have not been the same ol' formula that many other meteorologically themed vaporwave albums have followed in the last decade, choosing to go more into a late night lo-fi territory and using some really lovely lo-fi jazz samples. There's some excellent curation on Trop, and if you don't come out of hearing this album feeling extremely cozy, idk what to tell you. It was hard to choose a single track to upload to YouTube, but the track Joyce is just...SO FUCKING CUTE. I didn't realize until just now that the titles are the names of baseball players from their local team. Another reason why this album is so damn charming! I'm excited to hear more of what Florida Rains puts out in the future. 

You can find this album digitally at the link below:

https://floridarains.bandcamp.com/album/trop

Now, here are plenty of new releases to check out if you desire. As always, links open in a new window:

Dirty River - Between us - Released November 15, 2024

Fornax Void - Music for Dystopian Concrete Buildings: The Future of Void Corp. - Released November 15, 2024

Mabisyo - Beatmaking Sessions Vol.1 - Released November 15, 2024

Dan Mason - Bleed - Released November 15, 2024

Mom and Dad's Computer - Home Design 3D - Released November 21, 2024

Tele + 1 & Paco Moreno - analog ghost - Released November 22, 2024

LEI WOLUNG - SMOKE AND MIRRORS - Released November 22, 2024

ユリア★ & HANAWARI YUMEKO - NEO​​​マ​​​ジ​​​カ​​​ル​​​★​​​ガ​​​ー​​​ル - Released November 22, 2024

Lost Colossus - 死​の​競​争 (Death Race) - Released November 8, 2024

TCR-4 - M o n d a y - Released November 19, 2024

Minuit Café - CLUB ☆ NOSTALGIA 『​ク​ラ​ブ​・​ノ​ス​タ​ル​ジ​ア​』 - Released November 8, 2024

HYDROPLANED INTO A FALSE REALITY! - Limbo - Released November 15, 2024

bentoboy - DEPTHS-OF-MY-MIND - Released November 21, 2024

Crystal Eternal - Eyes Without a Face - Single. Released November 19, 2024

Blogspot removed everything I typed up after the links, what the hell! My apologies that not everybody in the New Releases section are in the tags due to the character limit. And an additional apology if my writing in this post is coming off clunky; I slept like pure garbo and I don't think this caffeine will ever kick in.

A quick shoutout to another music blog out there posting about vaporwave and other cool underground music, listencorp. Make sure to subscribe to their emails, as they go very in-depth in them in a way that I find to be super cool. Check them out! 

Cool Albums for November 11, 2024

Good evening, friends. As I promised, here are plenty of cool albums that I've found in the last little bit that deserve a nice little shoutout! As always, links will open in a new window. 

unconscious observer - 2 a.m. - A gorgeous release sampling lots of jazz noir. Think Angelo Badalamenti's Twin Peaks soundtracks, or Bohren & der Club of Gore's discography. In my previous post about International Telecom, I'd mentioned the late night drives and how much I desired experiencing my already sleepy town at night. This album fits that sonic fantasy for me, of walking through a very empty downtown area, nobody on the road, just you and the buildings and alleys around you.

radiant memory - new dawn - This album and the unconscious observer album almost feel like sisters to me, in that where 2 a.m. is the commentary of walking through downtown at night, new dawn is like walking during the day in a very empty downtown setting, but I imagine it less like the album cover and more in a "what the city looks like after the events of Night of the Comet transpire". The album is a very lovely listen and feels extremely lonely. I believe that this is a video forum side project, so it is definitely no surprise that they've delivered once again on an excellent release.

monument XIII - windy I/O - I was thrilled to receive a copy of this album on CD when I met Robin at FlamingoFest last year (!!!), but I finally got around to checking this out a few weeks ago. Wowowowowowwow. This album is more abstract than other things I've heard in IC's discography, but I absolutely adored it. Golf Swingers was one of the artists who came to mind as I checked this out, but more like "if Golf Swingers went hella maximalist" sort of way. Some of the tracks can be quite jarring and intense. Some, like the track digipaint, feel soothing, like you're in the eye of the chaos. Idk, I loved it.

Dreamweather - WeatherView - Admittedly, I've been feeling like Weather Channel-related albums have been played out in the last few years, as somebody who sampled Weather Channel things very early on and as somebody who has seen a fuckton of Weather Channel-based albums/projects. A lot of them use the same sample material, or do very similar concepts that don't really make each individual album or project stand out in particular. All that to say, though, this Dreamweather album samples some Weather Channel work that I actually haven't heard or didn't recognize off the bat, and not everything included a sample of a meteorologist speaking about the weather conditions or a fast moving storm system. It was a very comforting album to listen to, and definitely one of the better Weather Channel-themed releases I've heard in the last little bit. 

Doomsday Video - Hypnopedia - Goddamn, I really enjoyed this one. I saw the name of the artist and expected the album to sound more like a "music for preppers"-type of signalwave album, but some of it sounded like the more traditional late night lo-fi sound (see: Spiral dream), and some of it went into a goooooorgeous Pure Moods-sampled territory, like my standout track, Blue horizon. This one is most certainly worth a listen. 

vintage intimate - digital ocean - This Nyoka Shoje side project taps more into the experimental side of vaporwave and broken transmission, which absolutely tracks and also, absolutely hits. This album in particular is really interesting to me, as the tracks were ripped from a VHS tape, put into reverse, and sampled and looped from there. It's quite charming, really. 

karaoke vhs - sympathetic vhs - One of the first things I learned about Thor was their love of Orchid Tapes and of Ricky Eat Acid (and his 34547578378 side projects). Listening to this, his love of early 2010s internet music, of the days where everything was lumped in together as chillwave or as witch house and nothing else, really shone through. Some tracks sounded like things I would have heard on an early Teen Suicide album, some things made me think of early Oneohtrix Point Never or Emeralds (which, on that note, listen to Dan Lopatin/Mark McGuire's lone Skyramps album if you've not already)...it all feels like a love letter in a way that really took me back to scrolling through some of my favorite old Blogspots. If Dayvan Zombear still existed, he would have loved this album.

GUILD MERCHANT - Morning Meditation - I'd been meaning to check out this side project from Bounty Ballad for a minute, but finally got around to checking out this album in particular while waiting in line for early voting. I really enjoyed all of the numbered 明呪 tracks, but all of them really flowed well together and created a very lovely and cohesive barber beats album.

modest by default - South Cougars Jazz Ensemble - On the topic of barber beats: modest by default is once again appearing on a Cool Albums list, and I think he's one of the best curators in the genre from what I've heard of his work. This album really resonated with me after a series of bad days and gloomy skies, and it gave me some much needed tranquility. 

All right, I think that about covers it for now. A special shoutout to Alyx of Vaporwave News Network and Pacific Plaza Records, who gave Brief Commercial Break a very sweet shoutout in his October 2024 Round-Up post. Thank you thank you thank you! One day, I'll figure out how to do a blog ring type of thing on this blog, linking to the various folks promoting artists and posting about the scene. 

W.R.I. - STORY OF MY A-LIST LIFE (and new releases for October 24, 2024)

I got introduced to the world of celebrity gossip after the infamous Ashlee Simpson lipsync incident on Saturday Night Live, which coincidentally happened 20 years ago yesterday. So I don't dox myself too much (or the sites I still go to 20 years later), I'll just talk about my memories of this era. The best term to describe this time of celebrity gossip is ruthless. TMZ eventually became the go-to place for news on socialites and partying movie stars and musicians as they drunkenly stumbled out of the clubs and made fools of themselves, or for breaking news on celebrity deaths or hospitalizations as they paid off nurses and police officers for any tidbits they could get. A time where, if the contents of somebody's T-Mobile Sidekick got leaked, the public was far less sympathetic and responded with "that person is a stupid whore anyway, soooo". A time where countdown sites were made for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen for when they officially turned 18, and you could find Ashton Kutcher in a Von Dutch hat saying this sort of fucked up shit out loud. Women were never skinny enough. Women were shamed for cellulite. Women were shamed for hip dips and large arms. Women were laughed at for their botched surgeries after trying to obtain the ideal body. Where Winona Ryder was shamed to hell and back for shoplifting, arrests and mugshots for Paris, Nicole, and Lindsay amplified them. I'll never forget the image of Britney Spears tied to a gurney in an ambulance. I'll never forget the image of Anna Nicole crying and holding her dead son, who had just passed away moments before. I'll never forget Vanessa Hudgens' nude photos leaking and people focusing less on how she was underage and more on how much of a stupid slut she was and mocking her. Upskirt photos. Brandon Davis' "firecrotch" rant recorded by an x17 paparazzo. Sex tapes. Perez Hilton. The rise of reality television. The mid-to-late 2000s were a hell of a time. I have a weird soft spot about that time period, because it was such a big part of my life and things felt more simple back then, but I also am fully aware of how truly fucked up that time was in celebrity gossip, and how much of that time negatively affected girls and women's self-esteem. 

W.R.I.'s STORY OF MY A-LIST LIFE is a sound collage time capsule of everything I experienced in those days of being new to celebrity gossip, the nastiest time for being a celebrity, and being absolutely captivated. You'll hear Britney being swarmed by paparazzi, followed by a bitcrushed Black Eyed Peas song, followed by a block of makeup ads, followed by audio clips of Lindsay Lohan in the court room. I'm unsure of how old this person is, if this person is my age or if this person is much younger and looking at this time through rose-colored lenses. If you're reading this, W.R.I., this album is absolutely eerily spot on. The track I am posting below is a good summary of what this album sounds like, but I recommend listening to the entire album as you look through Pop Culture Died in 2009's Twitter page for the full experience. 

You can find the full album digitally at the link below: 

https://nu-apollo.bandcamp.com/album/story-of-my-a-list-life

I'm going to save the cool links for the next post. Here are some new releases to check out:

S O A R E R - 現​実​化​解​除 - Originally released on March 9, 2024 but released physically on October 18, 2024 via Qingdao Market.

.mp3neptune - WAVEZZ - Released October 18, 2024. Thank you for the ode to Neon Nights, by the way. <3 

sφ​ι​cн​ι​rφ - g​н​​​φ​​​sτ - Released October 17, 2024

midnight première - memory haze collection - Released October 9, 2024

DEATH DEVOIR - 大​​​化​​​の​​​改​​​新 - Originally released on August 30, 2024, but released physically on October 18, 2024 via PMP.

The City Reviewer - Snow Dystopia - Released October 18, 2024

dystopian exoplanet - t r a n s p a r e n t m e t a l - Released October 21, 2024

Trademarks & Copyrights - Marble Girls I, II, and III - Being physically released tomorrow as The Marble Girls Trilogy via Arctic Contact.

luxury noise - reconfigured heart - Single. Released October 18, 2024

Links post for October 12, 2024

This post is gonna be a megalinks post, since I didn't do any links in the extremely long late night lofi post (which I'm glad everybody enjoyed!). New releases were found in the sea of Bandcamp emails I've received in the last week and a half, and cool albums are...well, cool albums. All links will open up in a new window. Enjoy!

Cool Albums:

Notorious Secret - Entwined Fates - Noto is continuing to bring it in the late night lo-fi department, and this one is a lot of fun. Lots of drama, lots of cool sampling choices, and...maybe the cassette comes with a secret EP featuring a few cool people? That said, this is not an intentional plug or a sponsored whateverthefuck, this album is truly a delightful listen. 

chris††† - alone online - This album was hard to listen to, and I'm not even saying it in a rude "oh god it was so terrible" kind of way. It's bleak, and I feel like he got the point across with this very lonely, terminally online concept in a way that felt too real and uncomfortable. You know the photos of the really filthy basement bedrooms, covered head to toe in Monster energy drink cans and food wrappers? This album is on repeat in that room. In a world where COVID didn't exist, I think this album would have done a lot better for him. Bonus: alone time alt, the alternative versions of the tracks. 

Chad Manchild's Emojams Vol. 1 - Don't judge the album by the name. This Late Arcane side-project is a banger and a half, and in my opinion, rivals One Mind Stand™'s album in terms of sampled early 2000s music done right. Sorry to compare this album to OMS, I feel like I'm almost insulting Late Arcane by doing so but I'm not! Truly, give this album a listen.

Dirty River - Username please - More mid-2000s nostalgia for you all to check out, this time in the form of long lost Wii music. It seems that this artist is primarily creating barber beats, so I'm not sure if he has other albums like this, but Dirty River, if you're somehow reading this: create a sequel. This is a lovely album.

M1 t e l e v í z i ó - k é p ú j s á g - This short and sweet EP gives me the same feelings I experienced with International Telecom's ３ａ.ｍ.Ｓｉｇｎａｌｓ release, previously mentioned on this blog. Envision Ceefax on in the background as you're dozing off on the couch, and you find yourself within the Teletext in your dreams and the music is continuing on in your head. That sums up this adorable release.

.mp3neptune - You Keep Me Up At Night - Though this album came out during the late summer, it's really scratching the October spooky itch for me. Drove home to this a few nights ago as blue hour was hitting, and my goodness. Unsettling ambient that I highly recommend. 

Slime Portal - October Nightmare - On the topic of spooky! I have to give a shoutout to this release introduced to me back in 2015. Definitely in the signalwave/broken transmission genre, it's very much collaged Halloween commercials in the best way, imo a bit ahead of its time because I feel like this would have an audience now if it was given another chance or some sort of reissue. I am 95% certain that this is an old Video 2000 side-project, and if I was not supposed to reveal that, I am so sorry. I linked to the YouTube video for this one, but Vapor Memory was sweet enough to link to the album in the description. Of course, quick shoutout to Vapor Memory. Love you, homie!

New Releases:
Skeleton Lipstick - Death Romantique - Released on October 8, 2024

회사AUTO - Greatest Hits vol​.​1 - Originally released on February 2, 2016, but reissued on vinyl on October 4, 2024 by My Pet Flamingo.

德羅斯 & 定常 w a n d e r e r - 徘​徊​於​夢​境​之​間 - Released October 4, 2024

Phorme - Soulless - Released October 3, 2024

Vįr+üål Åįrßñß - ⩑ ⟔ ∴ ⨊ ∵ ⟓ ⩒ - Released October 2, 2024

Diskette Park - Radiant Covenant - Released October 9, 2024

Ghost Particles - Altered Reality - Released October 11, 2024

Unfortunately, I cannot add all of the artists in my tags. My apologies! I tried!

In closing, a very special shoutout to PhotographyNest for creating a hella cool blog recently called Vaporwave2, documenting his favorite albums and showing off some of his cassette collection. He also wrote a very sweet entry about me that left me a bit verklempt. Check his blog out! If you have a cool vaporwave-related or music-related blog, please tell me! We need to create some sort of network. 

General Translator - Operation Eternal Ecstasy (and a few new releases)

 

I was sad to see the announcement earlier this year that the General Translator project is over, but it got me to finally download and check out the things I'd missed since my disappearance in 2016. Released in 2017 and released on cassette via Bedlam Tapes, this album feels like a long lost soundtrack to a Blade Runner-inspired, noir-utopia video game that I would figure got its release through Sega Dreamcast. Each track takes you into its own world of exploration, whether it's in a seedy alleyway (A Murder in Cold Blood [Stage 1]), a bizarre alt bar (surface web voyeur), or in a back room that doubles as a save point (stellar moth collection). As a lady who loves the moodier side of vaporwave, this album really hits the spot. My favorite on the album, meet me in the Tart Cloud Club, is definitely the level where you're meeting up with a very attractive assassin in a dimly lit restaurant (like this), where the objective is to seduce, then murder. Quick shoutout to Digital Sex/Dreaming Diary for the cool cover art!

You may find the album for free digitally at the link below: 

https://vsjrp.bandcamp.com/album/operation-eternal-ecstasy

While you're there, give Parasensory a listen. It's not only General Translator's last album, but it feels like it fits within Operation Eternal Ecstasy's world (or at least is a secret door in OEE that leads you to Parasensory), and it's really fucking good. We'll miss you, General Translator.

Before I close this out, a few more new releases. As always, links will open in a new window.

[carteBlanche] - Karmic Credit Score +​+​+ - Released September 20, 2024

Ｔｅｌｅ＋１ - ｉ​ｔ​ａ​ｌ​ｓ​ａ​ｔ - Released September 26, 2024

Voyage Futur - Inverted Land - Released September 27, 2024

Lepidoptera杉の枝 - Luminescent​:​/​/​hinterland - Released September 27, 2024

HYDROPLANED INTO A FALSE REALITY! - Weather Vane - Released September 11, 2024 but released physically on September 27 via Egoscapes.

Aexion - ᨖ​ᨗ​ᨆ​ᨊ​ᨙ ᨔ​ᨘ​ᨌ​ᨗ 「Hallow Hymn」 - Released April 25, 2024 but released physically on September 27, 2024 via NO PROBLEMA TAPES.

Links post for September 23, 2024

It has been a year and some change since I have posted anything on this channel, whoops. I had mentioned in a Bluesky post that I refuse to call a 'skeet' that I was interested in using a blog to post new releases and albums that have stood out to me lately, and I realized that like...I already have a blog that I could easily use to make this happen. So let's see if I can get the determination to use this place more frequently. The new releases were found through Bandcamp emails, and the cool albums are...well, cool albums. All links will open in a new window. I tried to add the covers' thumbnails to this post, but Blogger will not cooperate with me. Apologies!

Cool Albums:

trndytrndy - Virtua - A cover can sell a record, and this cover is an absolute perfect representation for how this album sounds.

Fan Fiordo - Comfort / Interior - Utopian virtual moodiness. If you like FM Skyline and Eyeliner, check this out.

Skyglow - discreet phone affairs - The late night lofi vibes are immaculate. 

Mom and Dad's Computer - clubhouse - Frutiger Aero-inspired, very bitcrushed, excellent sample selections. I'd say it's one of my favorites this year.

Corrupt Save - Channel Surf - His strongest album yet, in my opinion. Good looped moments and curated vocal choices. 

climbing waterfalls - Secondwindroom - Another Frutiger Aero-inspired album, slushified for your pleasure. Listened to it while walking around the mall recently, and it was a perfect combo.

New Releases:

Yuni Wa - Yunism - Released September 21, 2024

Illuin - The Last Hope - Released August 27, 2024 but will be receiving a tape release on September 24 via PMP.

Mabisyo - Everything Is Still Under Control - Released September 20, 2024

Groovy Kaiju - Radical Reptar - Released July 31, 2024 but now available publicly on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms.

Z.E.R.O. - ENERGIZE! - Released September 21, 2024