the ayden james vaporwave blog

i have nothing better to do than talk about vaporwave music

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

One last thing

I got some buddies on Discord that started up a Vaporwave server. Not large at the moment but if any of you feel convinced to join it would be greatly appreciated. If for some reason the invite fails, message me on here and I’ll attempt to keep up with my messages.

https://discord.gg/FZaQpc

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

update

 Okay, so you can pretty much consider this blog dead, if you don’t already. It was a pretty fun ride and I had fun doing it. So to anybody that took time out of their day to read my ramblings, thank you. 

 I’m not done writing about music though, I’ve restarted my main blog the ayden james music blog. It’s not centric to any genre or anything like that, now I’m just writing about what I like to listen to. It’s not going to have the ridiculously super consistent writeups that this blog had, but I’ll make sure to take some time to write about what I like. 

 It’s been a fun ride guys, I won’t be deleting this blog for my own sake of nostalgia. Again to those that read, thanks for reading.

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

Hi guys I just want to apologies for that HUGE hiatus I took from writing. Stay posted though, some big changes might be happening soon :)

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

b o d y l i n e - Twinkly (2016)

 b o d y l i n e, b o d y l i n e is what ushered me into Vaporwave. Before I first layed my ears upon his projects like CRUISING TELEVISIONS, LIGHT DESIGN, and MOTION PICTURE I had no clue this weird music stood a real chance in the music world. Contemporary noise and stupid memes is all I thought the genre really could be. I mean, seriously, slowed down elevator music and jazz songs? This is supposed to be a groundbreaking internet phenomenon? I thought that way for a while, but then I was tuned into b o d y l i n e.

  Hypnagogia is a fun word, so fun that apparently Tumblr’s built in word processor doesn’t respect it as an actual word. But beside my point, hypnagogia is described as the state in between wakefulness and sleep. And a great artist, not even strictly a Vaporwave artist, can tap into that mind state and errupt great emotional response. b o d y l i n e was the first artist to really do that for me. The raw sense of escapism to a whole other world just clicked instantaneously with me. I closed my eyes, laid down and gave his work a good hard listen. The sounds I heard were completely unreal. Completely alien, like nothing I had ever heard before. The genius use of samples in to completely original works of art, I was hooked off the bat. But without further ado, let’s take a good hard look at Twinkly.

 Like any other b o d y l i n e album the first two tracks always sets a great standard and mood. Romanticism seems to be theme throughout the album, almost comparable to the styles of 蜃気楼MIRAGE in terms of sample choices, minus the lyrics, which is really cool because b o d y l i n e hasn’t delved into these waters at all in past projects. 

 Further delving into sample choices this also is another departure for b o d y l i n e. Most previous albums he’d release I could often describe having the long tested retro-futuristic, dream-like feel to them. But this album is much different step, the sampling here almost feels more organic, if that makes any sense. While there still are tracks that have that beloved b o d y l i n e spacey feel to them, this music seems to be more focused in melodies versus atmosphere. Here we don’t hear as many of the synths as we used to,  

 In complete honesty I found it rather difficult to try to form opinions on this album. I can say without a doubt in my mind that I love b o d y l i n e, and when a new album comes out I expect it to be on the highest standard. And while this has the feel of a b o d y l i n e album it’s different. We’re far past the simple loops that were heard on previous projects. The music here is becoming more complex, but almost in a weird way, that I don’t like. But don’t take that the wrong way, change is a good thing, change is what allows Vaporwave to grow and flourish. I’ve played through this album so many times now and I’m really on the fence about my opinion. I can easily say I like it, the sample choices as normal are brilliant and the music is as cohesive as ever. But compared to other projects something is missing here, you listen to other songs by him like Nautic Channel #3 , Wet Hours, Elapse, and Private Paradise and although these songs are all from different projects, they all have that surreal feel to them, they feel distant, nostalgic, and new all at the same time. This album is just missing something that those albums have. The music here is great, but it’s not quite perfect.

 I like this album, it’s maybe not as perfect as I’d really hoped it would be, but b o d y l i n e is doing something new with his sound. And when you put it like that, since the music is in fact solid, I applaud. Although it doesn’t invoke the same emotions it still erupts emotion. Even though it’s different it’s still a b o d y l i n e album, there’s a high standard of quality, and it just sounds good. Simply put, this album is taking steps in a new direction, with a different pair of shoes. 

Favorite Tracks: Magical Roofs, Cinema Romance, Rear Meadow, Twilight Paths, Double Glow, Leisurely Street

Twinkly on Bandcamp

b o d y l i n e on Bandcamp

Verbatim Consciousness Recordings on Bandcamp

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

AROMA VIRTUAL - VIRTUAL PARADISE (2016)

 This right here is AROMA VIRTUAL’s 15th album, that’s a heck of a lot of music. And 15 albums worth of experience definitely shows here. A vibrant mix of fast and slow tunes that come together with a laid back vibe. Let’s take a look at VIRTUAL PARADISE.

 One of the first things that struck me about this album is that I instantly recognized some of the samples, which is rather strange because typically people don’t get excited when the hear elevator music that sounds familiar. And although I could pick out some of the samples I like what AROMA VIRTUAL did with them as to simply not fit in with other artists. Sampling in and of itself is very interesting as well, especially in the conversation of Vaporwave. You can have so many artists take a sample, and if they’re any bit talented they’ll make completely different works. But that whole discussion is a topic for another day.

 Furthermore, I just really like the vibe this album gives off. It’s just got this very relaxed feel to it, even in the tracks that are more lively. Naming the album “VIRTUAL PARADISE” really does do it justice. There’s plenty of great music wrapped into this package, it may not be crazy innovative or break down any walls, but it’s simply a great album.

Favorite Tracks: VIRTUAL PARADISE, PALMERAS WEB, TROPICO, RENDERING, AROMA #2, NEON, SIMMONE

VIRTUAL PARADISE on Bandcamp

AROMA VIRTUAL on Bandcamp

Verbatim Consciousness Recordings on Bandcamp

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

Just some extra fluff for today, ESPRIT 空想 overnight blessed us with a fantastic track. If you buy the virtua.zip vinyl you’ll find this as a bonus on the B-Side of the record. 

virtua.zip on Bandcamp

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

TV HEAD - Y3K (2016)

 I love short little projects like this, just enough music to satisfy you. And this short little project I found quite enjoyable. Now I’m not too big on Future Funk, it’s not a bad subgrenre by any means but it’s not quite my cup of tea, but sometimes an album comes out that I will dig and get me listening to it a little bit, this might be that album. 

 I wouldn’t call it entirely Future Funk, some I suppose you could argue fall under the strange lines of Hypnogogic Pop. But whatever you want to call it, the music is extremely good. A short but sweet mix of upbeat tunes that work fantastically together. This is an album you can easily listen to straight through without getting bored at all, because of it’s lack of length and solid sound. 

 This ones an easy recommend, phenomenal sampling and a very fun sound. If you’ve got a few minutes this a great mix to put on. There’s quite honestly no weak tracks here at all. This one’s going to stay on rotation for a while.

Favorite Tracks: YOU WANT IT, IF ONLY YOU KNEW, TAKE A CHANCE

TV HEAD on Bandcamp

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

whyetc - the boy who cried wolf (2016)

 This is a real solid package right here, and really it came out of the blue. whyetc to my knowledge has no bandcamp, and his soundcloud only has this album right here. So my guess is that this is a producer that rebranded themselves once they found their footing in Vaporwave.

 Now I’ve sat here and listened to this album about five times straight now, It’s not all that long so it wasn’t all that hard to do. I’m not quite sure why but I find it difficult to put my thoughts into words right now. I most definately without a doubt like what I’m hearing, I’m just having some writers block I suppose. I’ll try my best though, because I can easily recommend this little project.

 The music here feels distant, if that makes any sense at all. Not distant in the sense of most Vaporwave where nostalgia is a key idea, but more so distant in terms of emotion. This sounds like what it feels like to long for something….. I think. Also not a lot of sound here seems to be sampled, which is always really cool to here. Percussion is also beyond on point, which in my experience is fairly rare in Vaporwave. Every track just feels so dreamy and just makes you want to close your eyes. When I first saw the album cover I really wasn’t ready for what I got. They say you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, and although my whole life I’ve judged actual books by their covers, Vaporwave for some reason likes to prove me wrong. 

Favorite Tracks: bad dreams, the boy who cried wolf, happy families, i always say the wrong thing

the boy who cried wolf on Bandcamp

whyetc on Soundcloud (No Bandcamp available)

VICE ‘98 on Bandcamp

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

haircuts for men - まだあなたが欠落して lp (2015)

 haircuts for men is an artist I have a lot of appreciation for. So many Vaporwave artists albeit original often have styles that can be predictable and expected, haircuts for men constantly reinvents his own style. And brilliantly so, you can go and pick out three albums right now by him and they’ll all sound different. 

 This album is so flexible, and by that I mean cohesively there’s a huge array of sound used here. The first few tracks I could here a what I’m fairly certain is a New Order influence, but it quickly changed to something much slower and lounge like. haircuts for men just does it in such a brilliant way that even though tracks can be completely different in terms of samples and mood they still wrap together in a cohesive manner and don’t feel entirely separate. 

 I don’t really know how to word it but haircuts for men also has somewhat of this futuristic feel to some of his songs. Those kind of songs that belong on top of time lapses of major cities, you know what I mean? And then right at the same time there’s songs that feel nostalgic. For only having ten songs it just feels like there’s so much music here, and it’s really great. haircuts for men just continues and continues to impress me with solid releases that constantly reinvent his own sound.

Favorite Tracks: 我々は、頭蓋骨に踊りました, あなたは完璧でした, 過去に存在しています, 3年前, 決して, 最後の涙

まだあなたが欠落して lp on Bandcamp

haircuts for men on Bandcamp

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

Hi. I'm the owner of a blog called VapoUrban and I just came to say thank heavens there is another blog. I thought I was the only one promoting vaporwave and writing reviews of vaporwave albums. Anyways, love the competition; keep up the good work.

I feel exactly the same, I started my blog with no Tumblr experience at all. And in my time using this website I've been unable to find good Vaporwave blogs. All these "blogs" just post pictures all day! It's absolutely ridiculous that we have this platform here, that can be used for ripe conversation is undermined with memes and the like. But anyway, here I am rambling, thank you so much for the kind words.

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

I’d like to apologize for not having a post today, I had something written but I feel like it wasn’t polished up enough. Yesterday I personally thought I had quite a nice post and I want to use it as a benchmark for future posts. Think of it as a test of quality, hopefully very soon I’ll be fully back in order with daily posts. ~

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

GOLDEN LIVING ROOM and t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 - ＶＩＲＴＵＡＬ  ＰＨＡＮＴＡＳＹ  ２０９７(2015)

 This album. This album ushered me into ambient Vaporwave. But don’t let the word ambient throw you off, this is so much more than just serene noise with a Vaporwave twist. When I first heard good ambient Vaporwave I was amazed, never before had music brought upon so many indescribable and new feelings. This isn’t so much an expansion of Vaporwave but more or less one of the purest forms of it. Today we’re taking a look at ＶＩＲＴＵＡＬ  ＰＨＡＮＴＡＳＹ  ２０９７, God I love that name. 

 Now this right here can be somewhat of a challenging album, for those not accustom to this ambient style. It will probably feel rather boring at first, a whole lot of weird windy noise that doesn’t make much sense. This is the kind of music that you have to listen to in a certain way, you can’t just put this on in the car and start jamming out. You really have to focus on the music here when you’re listening, just because it’s slow and quiet doesn’t make it background music. There’s a lot to be heard for those that try to hear it. And everyone’s experience will be different, this music is made to evoke emotion to the listener, once you can get past the state of confusion you’ll find something here, hopefully.

 Anyways, let’s talk about the actual music, because there’s a lot of it. Our two artists here aren’t crazy different, the main thing you’ll notice is that while not entirely so, t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 is more sample based, which there is nothing wrong with because they’re used fantastically. Some good headphones will do you a lot of justice listening to his portion of the music, a whole lot of phasing and solid percussion surprisingly works wonders. GOLDEN LIVING ROOM’s portion is actually slower, believe it or not. This part of the album will be a bit more challenging to the untrained ear, but turns to be just as rewarding. Dreamy, distant, and beautiful.

 This project is just awesome, although maybe somewhat difficult for a casual Vaporwave listener, this is definitely one of the best albums in this style ever made.

Favorite Tracks by t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者: スカイプラットフォーム, 仮想快楽の宮殿, 恋人のファンタジー, 思い出

Favorite Tracks by GOLDEN LIVING ROOM: CROSSING OVER AGAIN, CHERRY LIMITER, HALOCLINE SYSTEM

ＶＩＲＴＵＡＬ  ＰＨＡＮＴＡＳＹ  ２０９７ on Bandcamp

GOLDEN LIVING ROOM on Bandcamp

t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 on Bandcamp

Dream Catalogue on Bandcamp

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

DIOBRANDO - Dark Plaza 2000 (2016)

 Okay, Thanksgiving week I didn’t plan to have that five day hiatus. But I’m back at it for a write up on another random album I found in the depths of Bandcamp, here we go.

 Dark Plaza 2000 is a small, four track long project that really isn’t bad at all. Nothing wildly creative here, a solid mix of synth laced tunes with all kinds of filters used creatively. There’s honestly not much I can say here besides that, four tracks isn’t a lot to work with, I just wanted to write about this because I liked it. If you want a quick listen of something spacey, catchy and maybe in some ways generic for Vaporwave, go and check it out. 

Favorite Tracks: Lisa Lisa, Boy II Man, Aqua Necklace

Dark Plaza 2000 on Bandcamp

DIOBRANDO on Bandcamp

 Also, I understand today’s post is rather weak compared to what I normally write. Taking that short break really hit me in terms of productivity and honestly doing this write up almost felt like a chore. By Tuesday I’ll try to be back in my regular shoes of solid analytical write ups. 

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

銀河 ＧＡＬＡＣＴＩＣ ヒーロー - journey to planet ｍａｉａ (2016)

 Sorry if this write up comes off as a bit off step, I bought Forza: Horizon 3 yesterday and it’s ALL I’ve been doing, so sorry about that.

 Alrighty then, “journey to planet ｍａｉａ” another album I can’t remember how I came across. And this one I’ve had for the longest, for months now probably. I’d heard a few tracks and liked it but held off writing about it for some reason. And that was criminal of me, because this album is really, really good.

 I really hate myself for basically forcing myself last minute to do this write up. After a few listens I feel like I’m insulting it by not digging deeper into it, but whatever, here’s my thoughts. This album almost comes off as romantic, or melodramatic, it invokes emotions really well. Almost like a mix between elevator music and Future Funk at times. It’s not quite like anything else I’ve heard as of recent. For only having 11 tracks there’s a lot of different sound here, but they all carry a style that makes the album extremely cohesive. This is super enjoyable, might have to a re-write up on this one in the future, it deserves to be properly respected

Favorite Tracks: 記憶 distant planet, aqua 惑星, peaceful 惑星, ｓａｕｄａｄｅ, 着陸 safe arrival

journey to planet ｍａｉａ on Bandcamp

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

幽霊, TOGETHER! - Almost Dead (2016)

 How did I find this album again? It’s been chillin’ in my iTunes for a while now and I can’t quite remember how I came across it. But besides that fact, I’ve listened to this album a lot of times trying to put my thoughts together, and here they are.

 The opening track was hook, line, and sinker for me. Which is a good thing, is that phrase didn’t make much sense. Here we have a solid collection of upbeat, spacey, rockin’ tunes that are surprisingly fantastic. I love finding these random Vaporwave albums that are just flat out great, It’s almost like crate digging going full circle with young producers scrounging for neat samples and then people digging through Bandcamp to find the gold. But I digress, If you like Luxury Elite, chances are you will like this. There’s a clear influence here, and there’s nothing wrong with that all. And really this is just as solid as projects by Luxury Elite, perhaps no where near as long, but this definitely passes all tests of quality.

 I want to see more from 幽霊, TOGETHER! This album is just great, every time I listened to it I just started liking it more. But maybe that’s just because I love Luxury Elite too.

Favorite Tracks: I Won’t, hip-notic, The One, Tell Me, Luxury Elite Came Knockin’, 

Almost Dead on Bandcamp

幽霊, TOGETHER! on Bandcamp

Elemental 95 on Bandcamp

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

Top Tracks for Mon 11/14 - Sun 11/20

Luxury Elite - Forever

VECTOR GRAPHICS - TELECOM

G a t e w a y - グリッター

Phoenix #2772 - Truthful Lies

glaciære - Summer Memories

Viibryd - VIIBRYD

[ayden-james-vaporwave]

Viibryd - Welcome to Villa Zodone ℞ (2016)

 I can’t really say what drew me to this album. At face value it really didn’t stick out to me in any way, somewhat reminding me of older Vektroid covers. But instead of letting it get lost in the multitudes of Vaporwave that gets posted, I decided I’d give it a listen. And lone behold, it’s not a bad project, in fact I rather enjoyed it, alot.

 Lots of Vaporwave attempts to tap into nostalgia with its strange 80′s synths and spacey drum kicks, etcetra, etcetra. This album tapped into a little bit of nostalgia that not many other projects do. I can’t quite explain what it does, it strangely reminded me of N64 games and the OST’s they had. It’s pleasant honestly, it creates a warm feeling like good nostalgia does. 

 I know every album I write about here I can argue deserves a listen. but this one really does. There’s this super cool sound that almost crosses bl00dwave and b o d y l i n e a little bit. I’m so surprised with how good this album actually is. I post album write ups every single day so most the time I’m just hammering through albums and scribbling my thoughts, but this album is exceptionally good. There’s just such a cool sound here, I can’t believe that this is Viibryd’s only project, I truly hope he/she makes some more albums in the very near future. This album is just fantastic, almost every track here is great in my book, extremely well put together collection of music.

Favorite Tracks: VIIBRYD, CRYSTAL PALACE, TRANSIENT BLISS, PRISTINE PRISTIQ

Welcome to Villa Zodone ℞ on Bandcamp