These Cassettes are EXTREMELY Rare... Here's Why.

By: Pad Chennington

When it comes to my music collection, I really don’t have a lot of cassettes. Most of you know me for my vinyl record collection, but recently, I was sent a handful of cassettes from a record label known as Liminal Garden… And what they sent me, has completely blown my mind.

The micro-label is known for their “Naturewave” releases, an outgrowth of the Vaporwave genre that features an emphasis on organic sounds and ambient moods. The music coming out of this Naturewave micro-genre, if we want to call it that, as you can tell by its name, is all inspired by the sights and sounds of nature. This has translated into some beautiful album art and aesthetics that are paired with these releases, and what I’m about to show you today has just taken the design and packaging of music to a whole ‘nother level!

So get cozy and grab a nice hot drink because we’re going to be exploring some incredible music today, all concluding with what I can now easily say is the holy grail of my cassette collection. These are some of the most rare releases I am absolutely blessed to own and we’re going to be taking a look at all of the magic that went into each of these limited edition pieces.

The sound and overall idea of Naturewave can be traced back to classic releases like 猫シ Corp.’s 地球 (translated to “Earth”) alias, the beautiful Overgrowth split, and ロストエデンへのパス (translated to “Path to Lost Eden”), the legendary collab between NMESH and t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者. I was able to get in touch with the owner of LIMINAL GARDEN and talk about the sound of Naturewave and how the style has influenced the creation of the label.

They found that while other genres stemming from Vaporwave may be looking critically at themes of overly romanticized nostalgia, consumerism, urbanism or futurism, Naturewave tends to find it’s outlook through spirituality and a close relationship with nature.

“When I created the label I was looking for a way to make it distinct from its contemporaries. And also a way to easily communicate to artists what kind of music I’m looking for. So in that way it’s also just a nifty catchphrase to make LIMINAL GARDEN stand apart from the rest a bit." - Liminal Garden

存在／瞑想 by 夢のチャンネル

I really want to waste no time today getting into these cassettes, there is so much to talk about and each album sent to me is just so special in their own right. I received 5 cassettes in total, and the first one I want to talk about today is 存在／瞑想 by 夢のチャンネル (translated to Existence / Meditation by Dream Channel).

Making its way onto a limited edition clear shell cassette with incredible on-body printing on both sides, this thing just feels so special holding it in my hands, it’s kind’ve hard to put into words how gorgeous this cassette looks and hopefully the camera did it justice here!

This was the first in the label’s series of physical releases, which included an exclusive, newly-composed track for the B side from 夢のチャンネル for the release. Each side is 35 minutes long and takes it’s time with a beautiful, entrancing build up. The label puts it pretty perfectly, describing it as a “hyper-emotional slushwave lullaby”.

That matte gloss finish on the on-body printing gives this design depth and emphasis on top of that translucent cassette and allows the shell to shine when placing it in front of a window. A beautiful, simple green obi-strip as the cherry on top all ties the packaging of this release together wonderfully. I love physical releases that feel layered or ones that want to be explored, and as you're about to see, Liminal Garden just knocks it out of the park with how these cassettes are designed.

“Some might look at a cassette tape as a mere medium for storing music in an inferior quality. I see it as a way to hold a tiny part of that artistic creation in your hands and call it your own.” - Liminal Garden

冥想嘅時刻 by binary deconstructed
Next up is the 4-track release from the artist binary deconstructed: 冥想嘅時刻 (translated to “Meditation time”)

Bursting to life with special spot gloss UV-LED printing on both sides of the cassette, as well as an expansive 4-panel full color j-card that also includes a short story, 冥想嘅時刻 feels like something straight out of a shrine from Breath of the Wild!

The album plays through like an expedition into a mysterious jungle. Swirling winds, ancient strings and other exhilarating sounds found throughout nature all brought to life through the cuts, lines and detail present on the 冥想嘅時刻 cassette.

“I’m mostly influenced by other labels, first and foremost Underwater Computing and Global Pattern, but also VILL4IN and No Problema. The beauty of their releases, the finesse and ingenuity that goes into making the physical representation of an album be something unique and special, is what made me want to take part in creating some as well. Some might look at a cassette tape as a mere medium for storing music in an inferior quality. I see it as a way to hold a tiny part of that artistic creation in your hands and call it your own. Physicals are what give the magical quantities of music a corporeal representation in the real world.” - Liminal Garden

Bloom by ARBRVTÆ

The next cassette we are going to be looking at is actually, as of this article, unreleased and will be coming soon to the Liminal Garden label.

This is Bloom, a 9-track concoction of field recordings, percussion and synthesizers. Bloom is given the full-body print treatment, but unlike the 夢のチャンネル cassette, this art takes up the entirety of the cassette. The full print lays over a transparent shell, so any of the areas that don’t have trees all just add this fogginess to the cassette, perfectly playing into the background behind the forest. All of the art is slightly raised up a bit which helps it pop even more.

The tape was inspired by the artist’s own photography. Liminal Garden told me that the idea of the cassette design was quite risky actually. Having daylight shining through the frosted white tape working out not only on just the mockups for the cassettes during the design phase, but on the printed tapes as well, was a complete stroke of luck.

“What I’m looking for in the artwork for a LIMINAL GARDEN release is that it’s eye-catching, tells a story and generally fires the imagination of those looking at it. Often it’s what gives an album or even an artist their identity.” - Liminal Garden

Ikebana Online by Bubble Keiki

Ikebana Online by Bubble Keiki is a special, beautiful album with a bittersweet story at its heart.

In 2019, the artist was struck down by severe illness. In this time of uncertainty and pain, Bubble Keiki discovered a strange attraction for Ikebana tutorial videos on youtube (or, the Japanese art of flower arrangements) . Those videos, albeit being often low quality, had a strange soothing effect on the troubled mind and body of the sickened artist.

This album is inspired by that cumbersome journey. Agitated lo-fi noises meet soothing melody lines and ethereal pads mimicking the ups and downs, hopes and troubles, that come with long lasting illness and slow recovery.

Ikebana Online is a symbol of hope… A promise, that relief can be found even during the darkest hours of existence in the most unusual places.

The cassette pays tribute to the Ikebana artwork with subtle pink flower petals sprinkled over the transparent cassette shell. A colorful obi-strip paired with the case also looks great as well.

“Much like with the tapes, each album deserves a tailor-made approach to its packaging. Some albums just scream for a nice obi-strip! Others need an expansive j-card with additional artwork on multiple panels. And some might have a printed shell and no j-card at all. - Liminal Garden

雨林神靈 by クリチバの地下鉄

And last, but definitely not least, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The cassette I can confidently say is the “Holy Grail” of my cassette collection: 雨林神靈 by クリチバの地下鉄 (translated to Rainforest Deity by Chikatetsu).

Where do I even begin with this one… First of all, this was the cassette that helped me even discover Liminal Garden in the first place. I woke up one day, pulled up Twitter and saw a retweet showcasing the upcoming cassette drop for 雨林神靈 , and I was immediately blown away. I’ve never seen anything like this before on a cassette; full-color on-body printing on both sides of a transparent dark blue shell.

Whether you're holding it in a room with no windows or directly into the sunlight, this cassette seems to just emit this unbelievable shine and energy no matter which way you look at it, the neon light blue in the buddha and other elements of the cassette just glow in any setting.

For this masterpiece, Liminal Garden looked at the original cover that came with the album, listened to the music, read the liner notes and then tried to envision how the tape for all of that should look. They were fascinated by the partial UV print techniques that are available, so using them for 雨林神靈 was inevitable.

“The cover has a very cool color scheme going on; it’s almost looking like it has a glowing, fluorescent effect. That’s what I wanted with the tape as well. So it’s a case of looking what tape colors are available and coming up with a corresponding color scheme for the print.

I first created only the A-side and mocked that up for Chikatetsu to get some feedback. Luckily she really liked the concept, so I could also create the B-side. Then it’s a matter of preparing the files for printing, sending them off and hoping for the best. Every graphic designer will know what I’m talking about: You can plan a design as much as you want, you never know exactly how it will come out in the printing. Fortunately they turned out really nice, yeah!

The final step – but not the least important one – is to make decent photos of the tape. I’m not a fan of presenting my releases as mockups, so creating good photos that sell the look of the cassette is essential.” - Liminal Garden

Liminal Garden is simply blown away by all the reception the label has been getting as of recent, and it’s no surprise to see why. They are currently working on a backlog of albums right now to turn into tape releases, as well as future new ones, so like I said earlier, make sure you are following them to stay up to date with what’s on the horizon. Each of these individually numbered rare cassettes are printed at runs of only 25 copies each, hence leading to these selling out extremely quickly when they drop.

“My main goal with the packaging is that the people who get a tape feel like they own something special and unique in the world. To that end I’m hand-numbering all tapes and everyone gets a personalized message on a handmade card. Looking into the future I definitely want to do even more special goodies for each package. I already have a couple of ideas planned, so they hopefully will show up soon.” -Liminal Garden

Much love, ur boi,-Pad Chennington

"Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST" that is available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label."

PS - We just restocked our False Memory // Lost Time tape from our very own Darknet Recordings

Does This Room Actually Exist?

A Deep Dive into Infinity Frequencies' "Between two worlds"

By: Pad Chennington

Liminal Spaces are defined as the physical spaces between one destination and the next, and these odd and ominous junctures seem to be everywhere these days. Whether you’re opening up Twitter, scrolling through Reddit, or looking through YouTube’s recommended section, it’s really fun watching the internet all collectively agree we’ve all been here before, despite how cloudy our judgement or deja vu may be.

Liminal Spaces are fascinating to me, these hallways, darkened rooms, spots straight out of a fever dream you once had as a kid brought to life as a jpeg or a png file. Today however, we are going to be exploring a liminal space through music.

This is Infinity Frequencies’ 2018 album Between two worlds, a fascinating project that I’ve become almost obsessed with over the past couple of weeks. It’s a very special project that portrays liminal space through sounds and song titles and has this ability to cause you to want to dig deeper into this room given to you within the album cover. I hope to uncover more of the album's secrets each and every time I throw it on… I constantly question why this room seems so familiar to us, and hopefully, can one day answer what actually lies ahead of us beyond this place in time stuck between two worlds.

Let’s dive in.

Infinity Frequencies is no stranger to the Vaporwave scene, 2012’s Euphoria is one of the earliest Vaporwave classics I can remember and ever since then, they have been putting out fascinating material that ties together themes of life and death, unfulfilled romances, loneliness, you name it. The Computer Trilogy consisting of Computer Death, Computer Decay, and the finale release Computer Afterlife are a string of Infinity Frequencies albums that I wish I could go back and experience again for the first time.

Despite a legendary back catalogue of releases, it is Infinity Frequencies’ latest full length album, Between two worlds, that I find to be their most important and significant release yet. 24 short and brittle tracks that tell a story portraying the bottom of your descent into this mysterious room. Two massive lights above you illuminating the strangely empty space you find yourself in, two small columns accompanying two statues frozen in time that seem to be discussing what their next move should be. Do they stay here and wait to see what happens, or do they venture into the next room, a vacuum of darkness that doesn’t want to catch any of the bright and powerful lights from the room right next to it.

Just like many other liminal spaces we’ve come to find here on the web, the room anticipates your decision on whether or not you want to continue heading forward. The tracklist of the album reads almost like a poem when you go song by song, and I was fortunate enough to get in touch with Infinity Frequencies to learn a bit of their story and about the album's creation process.

Like many producers with their releases, Infinity Frequencies wants each individual to create their own journey from what they see in the album art, with not one specific, solidified narrative.

“The cover art depicts the world you end up in at the bottom of your descent. The statues and lights all feel familiar. The statues have something to tell you. Maybe a warning of what lies ahead in the dark room behind them. Maybe a useful tip for your journey ahead. I really like to leave these questions to be answered by each individual listener because the experience is different for everyone.” - Infinity Frequencies

Between two worlds samples classical sounds like pianos and violins in certain tracks, while other tracks come forward with ethereal pads, smoky textures and other supernatural stretched out sounds that, when combined into one tracklist together, creates a constant swaying of tangible and intangible scenarios. Tracks like “As it stands”, “Under the city” and “Another disturbance in time” present the tangible side, a constant loop of simple notes from instruments you’d find in your grandparents attic. These tracks portray the historical, untouched and clearly lonesome museum-esque room which you can see presented to you in the majority of the album cover. Compare this with the ambiguous, unknown abyss in the room next to you which is represented through tracks like “Memory limitations in artificial intelligence”, “You remember being here” and “A similar thought” for example. These tracks don’t feature an orchestral or classical sounding instrument, they feel like mini outer-body trips you go on throughout the tracklist. They take you out of this tangible setting, even if it’s only for a couple of seconds, and cause you to question what is concrete, a reminder that is always popping up while listening through Between two worlds. These are the intangible moments, the sounds that prevent you from being confident in your knowledge on where you are and what to do next.

Many albums and projects out there attempt to create a lonesome and eerie feeling through minimalistic sample usage, yet many times I tend to get bored halfway through them. Between two worlds ability to keep us hooked lies in the album’s never ending pendulum of reality and imagination, the room you can see and the room that you have to decide if you want to venture into, a plane in which you must cross or not cross. This blend keeps the tracklist meaningful and refreshing throughout it’s runtime, and I haven’t felt this invested in a project that blends moods through sample manipulation since the first time I listened to Everywhere at the End of Time honestly. While both projects clearly have different themes, they both are able to capture our imagination and attention due to the intense shift of attitudes and feelings throughout the project, its gripping and you just can’t turn away from what’s unfolding in front of you. While Everywhere at the End of Time has this happening gradually throughout a span of over 6 hours, the evolution of happy and romanticized memories to the darkest depths of a decayed mind, Between two worlds seems to switch over from classical and concrete to ethereal and translucent every couple of tracks, sometimes every other track. “Synthetic remains” and it’s minute and a half of ghostly piano keys ascending a flight of stairs in the middle of the night transitions into the track “A similar thought”, which can only be pictured as just 43-seconds of hazy, sparkling balls of sound. And after this, we go into the track “Deleted space”, a return to the piano.

If you are a fan of The Caretaker and are searching for something that can deliver a similar bite, Between two worlds is your next brew most definitely. While the two are obviously very different, they both create this undying personal connection unique to each and everyone of us… It’s a beautiful thing and it’s projects like these that make me realize how blessed we are to have music in our lives.

I actually asked Infinity Frequencies if The Caretaker was an inspiration at all for creating Between two worlds, and they actually told me they had never listened to The Caretaker until after Between two worlds was released which I found to be really interesting. They were finding that a lot of people were drawing comparisons between the two projects, and now after listening to The Caretaker, Infinity Frequencies can definitely see why.

Between two worlds was recently released on vinyl and I decided to purchase one a couple of weeks back. I got in contact with Infinity Frequencies after I made the purchase and told them that I wanted to create a video exploring the album and further asked them if they would be able to autograph the jacket for me, I love to add autographed pieces to my music collection and when the package arrived I found that they were kind enough to send me one copy signed and one extra copy to play.

The vinyl features the album artwork on the front and what seems to be more of the room that we can’t fully see from the original artwork on the back. A simple Side A and Side B tracklist is present, and everything is printed in such super low quality which of course tends to work for this release’s aesthetic. The vinyl also includes an up close picture of the two statues at a different angle, with framed pictures in the background that don’t seem to be present in the final photo used for the official artwork. I always love these little inclusions in a physical release for an album, these extra pieces of art that give you further insight on the setting within the album cover. It feels like uncovering long lost Earthbound 64 footage or pre-release Super Mario 64 levels or something, evidence that shows what is present now may or may not have been present before.

Throwing all of the tracks onto a standard vinyl pressing with no crazy color or splatter effect or what not was also a great touch. I know many artists are always eager to make the physical record itself super exciting and colorful, but that wouldn’t really work with the minimalistic nature found in the literal audio of Between two worlds. It’s also way cheaper to press standard vinyl which can also be the case, so it’s a win-win for everyone here.

There are a couple of these left (as of the writing of this article!):https://computer-gaze.bandcamp.com/album/between-two-worlds

Between two worlds takes the isolated feelings of past Infinity Frequencies releases and pushes them to us, the listener, in the best way yet. From the artwork to the tracklist to what is included in the vinyl packaging, everything always seems to tie together this idea of, literally, two worlds. Seeing or feeling something one way and then the next moment realizing that there is a whole nother world for you to explore.

Figuring out the secrets of Between two worlds and what lies ahead in the darkened room can’t be answered through the sounds present on the album or through the artwork unfortunately… It’s all just, of course, a hypothetical crossroad like all liminal spaces, none of these can actually present anything concrete and are only made to make you question if you would decide to push forward if you were in this specific scenario or place in time.

We are always eager to answer the unanswerable and wish to have insider knowledge on what decisions in life we should make to deliver the best results possible, but Between two worlds only reminds us that if we want those answers, we must push forward when the time has come for you to do so. That instinctive drive to figure out what is the best route for me in life causes me to want to listen to this album over and over again, and many seem to feel the same way about Between two worlds and its connection within our own personal lives and what we’ve experienced along the way—a liminal space that is both present in our memory, desires and imaginations yet is so unknown at the same time. Does this room actually exist? Have we been here before? To me, I swear I’ve been here before. I remember when I was a kid once I visited the Museum of Natural History in New York City with my family and I could remember being in a room that looked just like this. That was one of the first things that popped up in my head when I discovered this album and seeing the artwork for the first time, and it ultimately made me take the dive into it. But what about you? Go give it a listen and see what memories, forgotten or ones that just never actually happened at all, pop up for you.

Much love, ur boi,

-Pad Chennington

"Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST" that is available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label."

The Coldest Music You’ll Ever Hear

By Pad Chennington

Death and Chill?

One of my favorite things I believe you can experience with music is listening to an artist who presents an album with solid world building. Albums that have an ability to bring you to a certain setting or scenario through unique sound design and thought-provoking artwork.

And I’ve gone through some really interesting projects on my YouTube channel that do such a great job at practicing this, mixing artwork and aesthetic with sound to take you on some sort’ve journey or bring you to a specific place, fiction or nonfiction…. The dark-ambient and 4-track drone piece known as TOWERS and it’s dystopian world of never ending skyscrapers painting the dead of night, the 2014 classic from death’s dynamic shroud, “VIRTUAL UTOPIA EXPERIENCE”, and it’s massive terrains of 3D-rendered adventures that pushed the boundaries of what Vaporwave even meant at the time, or how about the audio simulation of a real world disaster coming to life before your very ears, the horrors of the 9 . 0水面下Megathrust album?

So today, I want to explore another pair of albums with you that, in my opinion, perform some of the very best musical world building you can find throughout the internet.

Stimulating, mesmerizing, chaotic and ice cold… let’s go back to the year 2017 and say hello to the experimental, or post-Vaporwave project if you want to even call it that, Electric Specter 電妖怪... an artist that would deliver pure audio frostbite to your ears and bones... A chilling experience from start to end… A trip to the coldest corners of the universe through sound and artwork. Let’s dive in.

On April 28th, 2017, the first ever upload on the Geometric Lullaby label would come to be: a pretty quick and to the point 11-track release called Arctic Circuitry from an artist who went by the name Electric Specter 電妖怪.

Declaring itself as an Arctic Hypnagogic Vaporwave 冬休み (Winter Vacation) according to it’s Bandcamp description, Arctic Circuitry would soon find a home as a favorite for many Vaporwave fans due to its frantic sound layering that hammered home this concept of just being ice cold. It’s a unique experience with manic tendencies, from the anxious sounds of the tracks themselves to the glitchy and chaotic artwork of the album cover. This combination of sound and artwork go hand-in-hand to drop you into this apocalyptic world with that opening track, “Glacial Existence”. Your ears get about a solid minute and a half to prepare itself for the audio blizzard that’s about to be, soon slamming right into track 2 “Holographic Snowfall”. Frigid winds on top of a jumble of galloping sounds emulate what it would be like if your ears can drink a glass of ice cold water after chewing a piece of super minty gum. The next three tracks all do the same, they pancake on top of one another to become this frenzied sled race, until we get a nice little break with the airy and lonely “Motherboard Father Winter” right at the center of the album at track 6. Your ears deserve a rest from the bombardment that is the first couple of tracks on here, and as you can guess, we go right back into the storm once this track fizzles and echoes out. “Crystalline Surf” and “Psychosomatic Snowflakes” deliver that 1,2 punch, don’t be surprised if you’re left with a little bit of brain freeze after this one. “Frosty Midnight Encryption” follows this combo up with another quaint, pretty tried and true Classic Vaporwave formula to sort’ve warm you up a bit before braving one of the wildest tracks on here, “Death and Chill”. The sample selection Electric Specter 電妖怪plays with on this album does such a great job at warping you into this unfathomable tundra. Imagine blinking, and then next second, opening your eyes to find yourself frozen in that ice puzzle cage thing from Super Mario 64. Except the textures of everything around you have become fully corrupt, glitching into shapes and sights your eyes can’t comprehend… that is literally Arctic Circuitry in a nutshell.

The album concludes with “Final Freeze”, a return to another simple, Classic-Vaporwave sounding tune. It’s tracks like this and “Frosty Midnight Encryption” on here that, despite being not as chaotic as a majority of the other tracks, still contain that ability to deliver a winter-like trip due to it’s cool and crisp sample choices sharing the floor with some additional sound effects at times.

This wide range of intensity that never wanders off from the concept of numbing coldness it’s constantly attempting to crush is what makes this album so hypnotic and drawing. As mentioned earlier and pretty much the reason why I’m making this video, I love discussing and sharing albums on here that do such a great job in providing a world built through the sounds and artwork of the album. That initial judgement one can have from the cover of Arctic Circuitry, though subjective for all of us of course, is hard to dismiss as anything other than jolting to say the least—This skeleton... seemingly meeting it’s fate by glitching into oblivion... all on top of a corrupted color palette of pure, biting coldness.

The Bandcamp description for the album goes as follows:

“all of the happiness and love that was going through all the Penguins even though they knew everything was going to come to a close... But even so those Penguins were happy, this was many people's childhood's and seeing it go like that could bring anybody into tears. I can say that it's a lot more than just some PC game it's a life it's Happiness”

This text is then followed by “Take Care” in Japanese alongside a string of Binary Code, which when translated to text just comes out to be this seemingly random bundle of symbols and characters.

Personally, I know nothing about binary code or anything like that so I just immediately assumed I wasn’t using the right translating tool or something, so I actually reached out to the Club Chennington Discord to see if anyone knew how to possibly translate this thing into whatever it was meant to reveal itself as. Some good folks over there went to work and tried giving it a go but it seems that the code is an incomplete binary string, so we really aren’t sure what this is meant to be. Perhaps there’s some more code out there that can help us understand what’s going on here… who knows. The second and final release by Electric Specter 電妖怪, Cosmic Creator, also has some binary code on the Bandcamp listing as well but you’ll soon see why that code doesn’t help at all either.

The same day Arctic Circuitry was released on Geometric Lullaby, another fan-favorite label in the online music scene, Business Casual, would drop a limited edition cassette of the album at a run of 75 copies only. And even though the cassettes would soon sell out, Electric Specter 電妖怪 would quickly return with a follow up release to Arctic Circuitry for fans right before 2017 came to a close. This time, even crazier and punchier than before.

On December 1st of 2017, Electric Specter 電妖怪 would return to the online music realm with the beyond action-packed Cosmic Creator, an album that features a higher quantity of songs at shorter run times when compared to Arctic Circuitry. This move creates even more contrast between tracks and I feel does an even better job at delivering a truly mind-numbing experience by sculpting these songs into a more jagged, rapid-fire build.

Similar to Arctic Circuitry, Cosmic Creator gives you a bit of prep time with the first track “Snow Angel”, echoing vocal chops on top of glistening, delicate beams of sound all give you that chance to adjust yourself to the colder climate ahead of you. And, just like the transition between track 1 and track 2 of Arctic Circuitry, Cosmic Creator explodes into it’s high-speed world with the second track “Polar Magnetic”. Tracks like this, “Pixelated Igloo”, “Emulated Wormhole Metropolis”, “Stardust Factory”, and the insane finale of “Create Me, Baby” all provide some of the most gargantuan moments within the entire Electric Specter 電妖怪 universe. The album still pays respects to those much needed rest stop moments with the quick 34-second “Snowman Consciousness” and the ethereal and euphoric “Cloud Glitch” for example, but there is a brutal ruthlessness on this album that just makes it feel that much more overwhelming than the first Electric Specter 電妖怪 drop. 20 dangerous and electrifying tracks that can be used to awaken the mind in a way that, for me, a hot cup of coffee can’t even come close to.

On the Bandcamp page for Cosmic Creator, we’re given some dialogue that really doesn’t seem to correlate with the previous description on the first Electric Specter 電妖怪 album:

"Ha, ha, ha. I definitely feel you. I just was like... idk I contemplate the universe and how it works... A LOT. Pretty sure I told you my biggest passion is learning. Been meditating a lot and exploring my spirituality for the past 5 years. So... the life and death cycle is something I've thought about.... a lot. Ha, ha. When it comes up in conversation my "mouth" (in quote because I'm typing) just kind of responds reflexively. Ha, ha, ha. I definitely feel you. I just was like... idk I contemplate the universe and how it works... A LOT. Pretty sure I told you my biggest passion is learning. Been meditating a lot and exploring my spirituality for the past 5 years. So... the life and death cycle is something I've thought about.... a lot. Ha, ha. When it comes up in conversation my "mouth" (in quote because I'm typing) just kind of responds reflexively."

Whatever it’s going for, if anything, just adds onto the schizophrenic nature of the Electric Specter 電妖怪 style. Perhaps this text was merely a sign of what the Geometric Lullaby label aimed to deliver with future releases, since both the slogan of the label and the description of Cosmic Creator focus around the topic of life and death? Or, maybe somehow in some way, the strange description goes hand-in-hand with the binary code also featured for this Electric Specter 電妖怪 release? Who knows what we really don’t know as of now.

Oh, and the binary code for this release that I was mentioning earlier? It’s the exact same string as the one found in Arctic Circuitry, so it’s not like we can really continue the string from the first release or add onto that.

Cosmic Creator was given a cassette run over at PLUS100 Records, another great label you should definitely check out, and even has a deluxe version that included a gift bag with crystals and purple dice. It’s the little additions to a release like this that makes collecting the physicals so much fun and further brings to life this mysterious aura surrounding releases like Cosmic Creator.

*QUICK SIDE NOTE* funny enough, Geometric Lullaby actually just announced a vinyl release and digital remaster of the two Electric Specter albums this week... Weird how the universe works sometimes!

Unfortunately, these two releases are the only Electric Specter 電妖怪 releases we would see come to life. Who knows, maybe there are more Electric Specter 電妖怪 releases out there on the internet that we just haven’t discovered yet, and maybe even that binary code has something to do with finding the key to those releases. Ya gotta love music projects that send your mind out to wonder!

Much love, ur boi, and forever enjoy the beautiful world of music,

- Pad Chennington

"Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST" that is available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label."

The Fascinating World of GBA Music Albums

BY PAD CHENNINGTON

On my YouTube channel, I’ve had the opportunity to showcase and review some fascinating music releases; The “two-of-a-kind” Macintosh Plus Floral Shoppe Reel-to-Reel and the mystifying b e g o t t e n 自杀 Box Set and all the mystery that came through with that release, just to name 2 of my favorites, but today... Do I have something truly special for you.

You and I are going to be taking a look at an online music label that specializes in releasing albums on Game Boy Advance cartridges. Yep, you heard that right!

OasisLtd. Is dropping full visual albums playable on your GBA that also come with full box art and an insert to house the cartridges, and you and I are going to be taking a look at it all today from the packaging to the process of how this husband and wife team over at OasisLtd. has brought that classic nostalgia of opening a boxed Game Boy Advance game into the music world, all paired with an exciting new way to experience an album release.

As of right now, OasisLtd. Has released 3 albums on GBA cartridges, those being: mingkurray’s holographic, Be Careful’s Liminal Cove, and TUPPERWAVE’s Vaporwave / Future Funk mega-classic from 2018 To you baby, with love.

Beginning their label last year in 2020, the North Carolina-based OasisLtd. First got the idea for a GBA-related music release thanks to the artists Sleep Pattern and mingkurray. While they were in the early stages of prepping for ming’s release of holographic, Sleep Pattern and mingkurray stumbled upon some TikTok videos of an old cartridge of SpongeBob episodes on GBA. For those who remember or had them at the time, back in the 2000’s Nintendo’s official GBA video lineup featured a handful of cartoons and movies like Shrek 2, and seeing these after so many years gave Mingkurray an idea.

mingkurray immediately reached out to OasisLtd. And told them “We need to put holographic on GBA. Sleep Pattern says it’s possible”. The group then fell into a massive GBA homebrew rabbit hole all through the night and figured out that a visual album on Game Boy Advance would actually be 100% possible!

Fueled by the nostalgia of picking up those GBA boxes off a shelf in a store and rushing home to unbox them, as well as 2021 being the 20th anniversary of the GBA system, the team got to work in bringing this idea to life.

“Sourcing cartridges was the trickiest thing we had to figure out - initially we came across some that worked with microSD, which were pretty expensive, and for whatever reason didn't work with GBA SP models... So we dove deeper and found out how people load their ROMhacks onto cartridge to share around or put up for sale on marketplaces like Etsy & eBay around the web. We picked up the best GB cart flasher in the game - the JoeyJr. from BennVenn.com - and scooped a few Pokemon ROMhacks off Etsy to test it all out.” - OasisLtd.

Thanks to the GBA homebrew community and all of the advancements that have been made over the years in GBA modding, getting the content onto cartridges was actually quite easy for the label once they understood how to do it. Everything was built off of the same stuff powering the SpongeBob episodes on the GBA, and thanks to the homebrew program known as AVI2GBA, as well as a video tutorial from the dude who Christopher Nolan’s latest movie “Tenet” on Gba (which is absolutely hysterical), the label was able to successfully flash their first cartridge with their own video ROM.

From there, it was a matter of sorting out ROM playback quality vs the limitations of the GBA hardware, cartridge size vs sourcing reliability, available packaging vs. customs solutions, and in the end, OasisLtd. Settled on a fully made up double-cart format, all paired with replica GBA boxes that included insert trays to prevent the carts from moving around on the inside.

One of the first things I noticed when popping the cartridges out of the inserts was how the side A and side B of the albums are signified through the ESRB rating in the corner, such a clever touch that made me crack a smile the first time seeing it. Tupperwave’s To you baby, with love is, in my opinion, an already certified Vaporwave classic, and seeing this fan favorite drop on such a unique format was definitely going to guarantee these were all going to sell out very fast… which they, of course, did.

The games also come with full back art as well, mingkurray’s holographic for example, featuring some screenshots from the visual art present on the GBA cartridge as well as the full tracklist, all just really making this truly feel like a complete game you’d, you know, pull off a store shelf from back in the day. For fans of super chill hip hop instrumentals and tranquil, atmospheric beats, holographic is 100% for you. These airy and grainy grooves are perfect material for a rainy day or staring out into the cosmos on a starry night. “as she sleeps”, featuring darien shields, is one of my favorite cuts on the album, definitely check it all out when you get the chance.

Be Careful’s Liminal Cove is another stellar release you can find on the OasisLtd. Catalogue, more atmospheric trap percussion and mellow moods spawning images of endless virtual jungles and rainy seashores in your head, a really nice 1-2 combo to go with holographic. With a handful of collaborative efforts on the album as well, the tracks feature a wide range of styles and attitudes that perfectly coincides with the imagery on the album cover. What setting will you want to conjure up next?

Another nice touch is that the albums come housed in protective cases; anytime a label provides a plastic sealable pouch for cassettes or a poly bag for vinyl releases, I always find that to be the cherry on top, so OasisLtd. doing this for the GBA cartridges is definitely a baller move in my book. Good looks on that.

OasisLtd. Re-shells each cartridge they order with a different color shell to fit the vibe of the album. Currently, there are 5 Pokemon GBA colors available for them to order, but RetroModding.com is working on some cool things to enable them to go even wilder with their creations.

After re-shelling, the label flash their custom ROMs and check to make sure each cartridge boots up on a GBA. After this, they cut and fold each insert tray and box to house the carts. In the beginning, each GBA copy took over an hour of involved hands-on time to put together, which they quick began to notice wasn’t very sustainable, so for To you baby, with love and onwards, they figured out how to tweak their design templates and program their own little die-cutting machine to at least tackle the lengthiest part of the assembly process - the cutting and scoring. As of today, OasisLtd. Is still figuring out how to source more carts quicker and work with even larger multi-ROM cartridges to increase fidelity and runtime, as well as looking into GBA booklet prints to include for future runs. Just another addition in making this feel like a true Game Boy Advance release.

When speaking to OasisLtd. and asking them if they have any future releases aimed to be on GBA format as well, they told me they got 9 more releases currently on schedule, I was maybe expecting them to say 1 or 2 more or a repress of these 3 if anything, but 9?! Absolutely wild.

The label is aiming to make their second year of existence more focused on visual albums, GBA cartridges and VHS tapes which they do as well are super important to them.

“It's always been our commitment to make a physical version of everything we put out available from Day 1 and both VHS & GBA format releases have been incredible for providing the artists involved with real, tangible rewards for their efforts.” - OasisLtd.

The duo are also dreaming up releases on every console they can possibly think of, casting a wide net in terms of nostalgic interest vs. feasibility of course, and plan on taking this whole
“music albums on video game format”-idea to the next level in the upcoming months.

“Our intent was never to be a platform for super established folks like Saint Pepsi, George Clanton, or the other HUGE names that we all love, but to help foster all the crazy talented emerging artists that're still pouring into the vaporwave scene and pushing boundaries 10 years after it's inception. Pretty much everyone we've engaged with or met online or through our submissions email has been an inspiring, incredible human being and the connections we've made along the way are something we wouldn't trade for anything, especially coming off a year in which human interaction felt so increasingly rare. So we do our absolute darnedest to be as artist friendly as possible and always keep sight of the actual, brilliant human individuals behind the alias.” - OasisLtd.

I luckily still have my old Game Boy Player attachment for the Gamecube from back in the day, so I hooked everything up to see these carts on the big screen and what a cool experience it was, every time I think i’ve seen it all in regards to weird musical formats, something else just comes my way and blows my mind, and OasisLtd., give yourselves a pat on the back because these are incredible. They have also made the GBA ROMs for the album releases available over on their Twitter for those who are interested in checking out the visual material or for those who just missed out on the physical releases.

From the packaging to the colors of the carts themselves, there is so much potential here for really, really cool releases on this label, and they are already taking it to the next level; check out the Hyper Limited GBA Console Bundle they did for mingkurray’s holographic, 2 custom hydro-dipped and refurbished Gameboy Advance consoles that were made to celebrate the release of holographic, big shout out to the lucky fan who was able to pick these one of a kind items up, and I can’t wait to see what OasisLtd. has in store for us in the future.

Until next time, stay safe and keep on groovin’. Much love, ur boi, Pad Chennington.

"Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST" that is available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label."

10 Tragically Lost and Unreleased Music Albums

BY PAD CHENNINGTON

Who doesn’t love a hot slice of Lost Media?

From albums that lay dormant throughout the web only to be found years later to albums that were reworked or rebranded into something else, and to legendary pieces of music that were released at such scarce amounts that a complete version of them just hasn’t come to light yet, Today you and I will be venturing through 10 lost and unreleased music albums…

Let’s dive into the fascinating world of music once again, and meet some legendary pieces of work that never saw the light of day.

10) Skrillex - Voltage (2012)

It’s a musician's worst nightmare; your laptop or hard drive that contains all your hard work getting either stolen or crashing. Projects you’ve worked on for so long and previous work you’ve archived over the years just wiped away. Unfortunately, this situation would happen to Sonny Moore, or as you probably know him as, Skrillex.

On April 28th, 2011, Moore would have his entire music catalog stolen from his hotel room while performing a show in Italy. The thief took 2 laptops and both of his hard drives containing virtually all of the Skrillex project files, and among those files was an album’s worth of new material.

Voltage was intended to drop in 2012 but would never see a release due to the burglary. Luckily, Moore still had some tracks in his possession that were to be featured on Voltage and would eventually release them onto The Bangarang EP towards the end of 2011, as well as the Try It Out EP in 2013. Over the years, a few tracks have leaked such as “Amplifire”, “True Gangsters”, and “Voltage”, as well as a rumored tracklist. Up to 15 tracks were planned for the release of Voltage, yet we only know of 9 of them due to the stolen hard drives and laptops.

It’s interesting to wonder if the thief knew it was Skrillex’s laptop they were stealing, or if this was just a random coincidence and someone just ended up breaking into someone else’s room and stealing whatever valuables from the room they can find. If so, someone, somewhere out there, was probably sold a stolen laptop or hard drive that was wiped clean of what once had an entire Skrillex album we’ll all never get to fully, properly experience.

9) Seal - Togetherland (2001)

Intended to be the 4th album of British singer-songwriter Seal’s discography, 2001’s Togetherland was planned to showcase a more club-heavy side of Seal reminiscent of his earlier career and roots, all eventually scrapped due to the label’s dissatisfaction with the final version of the album presented to them.

The building of Togetherland would begin in 1999; Seal along with two fellow songwriters began writing and recording the material for the new album at Seal’s home studio in Los Angeles.

The product was definitely different from previous releases of Seal at the time, with discussion being held about releasing the songs under another alias to not interrupt the success Seal was seeing with his established fan base, with English composer and arranger Henry Jackman being tasked to shape the album into a more mainstream sounding release. In the end, Warner Bros. Records denied the album from ever seeing a full release and Seal would end up recording and releasing Seal IV in its place, which would drop 2 years after Togetherland’s expected release in 2001.

Despite the true build of Togetherland being locked away ever since it’s cancellation, a good chunk of music from the album is available. “This Could Be Heaven”, originally titled as “Heaven” on the track listing of the album, is the only song that has been released commercially. Furthermore, 30-second clips of songs, as well as some full versions of songs, have been streamed and received high praise from fans, even though Seal has been noted to not be happy with the final result of the album anyways.

8) Kanye West - Yahndi (2018)

What would eventually become Jesus is King in 2019, Yandhi is a former Kanye West project still highly discussed online by Yeezy fans and just Hip Hop fans in general, seeing life through its various leaked and unconfirmed uploads throughout the internet.

In August of 2018, Kanye West would begin recording a new album and announcing it to the public as Yandhi. Expected to be a follow-up to 2013’s Yeezus, Yandhi would miss numerous release dates until it was eventually put on ice with no clear idea of when we would see the album get out to the public. Once August of 2019 hit, Yandhi would be renounced as Jesus is King, with Kanye West’s “Sunday Service” performances paving the path to the new direction and style of the album.

Of course, fans were left to wonder what the original bones of the album sounded like under the Yandhi direction, with Kanye stating that the sound of Yandhi was comparable to albums like 808’s & Heartbreaks, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Watch the Throne, some big fan favorites that left many salivating. And, in usual Kanye fashion,Yandhi tracklists made their rounds throughout the internet during the album's development, with fans from all over the world agreeing and disagreeing on what would have been the final tracklist if the album did get a release. From what I’ve found on the internet, most people tend to agree the SNL whiteboard tracklist is the most accurate tracklist we’ll get to what Yandhi was heading towards in regards to its final state, and I absolutely love this aspect of the Yandhi lore, fans gathering any data they can from tweets to Yandhi-era sounding Kanye tracks that can possibly give them a clue on what was or wasn’t planned for the album at the time before a transition to Jesus is King was made.

As time would pass, a number of individual tracks to full album uploads would also make their way onto YouTube claiming to be true Yandhi substance, however, it seems that a 100% true confirmation on what Yandhi was in its final stages before the albums transition into Jesus is King will never happen, but hey, you know what they say... never say never.

7) Madeon - Celine (2017)

Celine may be the most interesting direction ever taken from French musician and DJ Madeon, and the story on how the project was eventually discovered makes it a worthy exception for this list. I’m going to let my good friend and fellow YouTuber Aidan Chick take the wheel for this one, an expert on the timeline of Celine and how fans figured out how to access it’s music.

Aidan:

Madeon is one of my favorite music producers ever… if you aren’t familiar with his music, it’s essentially electronic pop but with catchy complexity and a signature of a talented creator bringing his universe to life.

Madeon’s music is bright, upbeat, and hopeful, and everything he has officially put out has been just that… Well, not Celine.

Celine was an EP that was only discovered through an alternate reality game, or a set of puzzles and cyphers that were solved by the audience that started with Madeon’s single last year “The Prince”. Clues were hidden in the music video for “The Prince”, and eventually, led to a site that offered a limited vinyl run of the Celine EP. These copies are now being sold for upwards of $800.

This EP is dark, brooding, and industrial, and if you want to learn more, I made a mini-documentary breaking down the ARG and the EP. I hope to see you there.

6) The Beach Boys - Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys (1970 - 1977)

With just under 30 studio albums in 50 years, it was inevitable that the Beach Boys were to have a Christmas album. After the success of The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album in 1964, another holiday-themed album was in the works for a release in 1977, only to be rejected by Warner Bros. Records, as well as demanding the band to focus their attention on submitting a regular studio album instead. The news would be another unfortunate blow during a pretty difficult year for the band in 1977 as their latest project, Adult/Child, was also rejected by Reprise Records.

After being denied the release of Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys, new lyrics were created to go over some of the original Christmas songs created by the band for the album, which all eventually ended going on this pretty wild journey until some of the repurposed tracks were finally given a home on the M.I.U album, or the Maharishi International University album, in 1978.

A couple of the tracks that were to be featured on Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys were released in 1998 under the Beach Boys compilation Ultimate Christmas, but still, all of the originally planned tracks for the album are still not 100% known to be discovered. Perhaps the tracks are floating around on bootlegs, or maybe all sitting on a record under a pile of dust… or maybe, just lost to time entirely.

5) Pink Floyd - Household Objects (1973 - 197?)

Planned to be a follow up to the super successful The Dark Side of the Moon in 1973, Household Objects was to feature a complete left turn from what we would expect to see in a traditional follow up release.

Household Objects wasn’t to be recorded with guitars, drums, pianos, or horns… but instead… you guessed it… household objects.

Using everyday items and appliances like beer bottles, spray cans, rubber bands and hand mixers, Pink Floyd planned on replicating sounds in songs you were accustomed to, like a snare drum or a bass, with items you can find throughout your living space. The idea for such a zany musical concept started in 1969 when Pink Floyd was performing compositions on stage that involved unorthodox music making procedures like sawing wood and boiling kettles on stage.

The actual development of something concrete for Household Objects fell flat after the band was finding themselves just spending time on exploring the most non-musical sounds they’ve ever made using the objects, nothing really with rhythm that could be transcribed into song-writing material. After realizing the concept wasn’t meant to be and was, pretty much, delaying the band from creating any new substantial material, Pink Floyd would return to using more traditional instruments and continue building the discography we know of today.

Some tracks that were meant to reside on Household Objects does exist however, “Wine Glasses” and “The Hard Way” were tracks both released on future Pink Floyd box sets, ultimately giving fans a glimpse at what was in the works for such an peculiar follow up to what was an already declared classic at the time in The Dark Side of the Moon.

4) The Unreleased J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar Album (2010 - Present)

After meeting at an album listening party in 2010, renowned rappers J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar have been on a path towards a collab album fans have been waiting for for a very, very long time.

With hints from Kendrick Lamar in 2010 claiming he and Cole already had a good amount of music together, a suspected J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar album was quickly coming to life, with confirmation of its existence becoming present in an album listening session in early 2011 where Kendrick premiered what would eventually find its way onto the internet as the track “temptation”. With no official studio release of the track made public, this is the only glimpse we have of the track, with many fans hoping to see the day where it gets a release in proper quality.

A month after the listening session, Kendrick would tell XXL magazine:

“We don’t have a title or release date yet but J. Cole got like 90 percent of the production so far. One of my favorite songs of the project is a song called ‘Shock the World,’ Cole laid the first verse and set the tone for the whole record. It’s going to shake up a lot of people.”

Later that year, “Shock The World” would also end up leaking onto the internet, but just like “temptation”, the leak would be an unofficial, non-studio recording.

Hope for an official release date would become a bit gloomy once June hit in that year as Kendrick would reveal that the album would be on hold so that the rappers could focus on their solo careers respectively. In hindsight, this move could be seen as being definitely a good one as both rappers eventually blew up into the rap scene heavily and pretty much declared themselves as some of the most successful rappers of the 2010’s. Over the years since the leaks in 2011, the two have worked together pretty frequently, with J. Cole producing numerous tracks for Lamar as well as Lamar hopping on as a feature on J. Cole’s Born Sinner track “Forbidden Fruit”. We even saw some friendly competition between the two with Kendrick calling Cole out on his verse in Big Sean’s track control, and J. Cole firing back on his feature in Justin Timberlake’s "TKO (Black Friday Remix)

Despite their friendship and recognition that the fans want them to drop this dream collaboration, the album still remains unreleased and dormant. Maybe one day we’ll wake up to news of the two just deciding it’s time to drop what they have, or maybe there isn’t actually enough material to even call it an album. Who knows.

3) Jean-Michel Jarre - Music for Supermarkets (1983)

In early 1983, French composer, producer and performer Jean-Michel Jarre had the task of creating background music for a supermarket-themed art exhibit, and in July of that year, Music for Supermarkets was born. In the exhibit, pieces of art were to be auctioned off after the gallery had ended, which inspired Jarre to treat his music in the same way, a one-time only piece of work that would essentially leave the gallery as well upon the exhibit’s conclusion.

Only one, single copy of Music for Supermarkets was pressed and made for distribution with its master tapes wiped from existence shortly after the album's creation. The single copy was auctioned off for charity at a Paris hotel, with 11 photos on the inside showing the creation process of the album. One of these photo slots were left empty so that the final owner of the album could add their own photo, hence truly showcasing the production timeline of this one-of-a-kind album.

Shortly after the auction, the album was played for only one, single time to the public on a French radio network called Radio Luxembourg, with Jarre telling listeners to “Pirate me!)... which is, of course, what happened.

As of today, multiple bootlegs of the radio broadcast exist as well as a couple of tracks from Music for Supermarkets having been reworked into future Jarre releases. Due to the pretty poor quality of the original bootleg recordings of the Radio Luxembourg broadcast, several people throughout the internet have attempted to recreate the album in higher quality, but of course, we’ll never know how it really sounded without that original, true-to-quality recording.

2) The Revolution - Dream Factory (1982)

Prince is an artist who is known to have a whole bunch of unreleased music; an interesting example of this is his project with his band The Revolution and a piece that never saw the light of day: Dream Factory.

Recorded between 1985 and 1986, Dream Factory would end up having 3 known configurations of the album (an April 1986 version, one in June of ‘86, and finally, one in July of ‘86). Along the way, the tracklist grew from an 11-track project to as high as a 20-track double LP by the June version. Despite being recorded under The Revolution name, many of the tracks were solo work from Prince, and all of the tracks considered for Dream Factory ended up going into future Prince releases in some way or another after the band dissolved in October of 1986.

Dream Factory was never officially released, however, a bootleg CD of the July 1986 build does exist. Many people believed design work was never created for the packaging of Dream Factory, but in 2017, color pencil sketched artwork that was originally made as an idea for the album cover by singer/songwriter Susannah Melvoin came into existence. Interestingly enough, the name “The Flesh” is in the artwork instead of “The Revolution”, a project by Prince that was never fully developed.

1) MF DOOM & Ghostface Killah - Swift & Changeable (2006)

MF DOOM and his ever-so-intriguing presence. To me, he almost never seemed like a real person, just a comic-book villain with lyrical superpowers who was misunderstood by the masses. He also had some very cool album covers.

With a hypothesized jumble of musical releases already shrouded in doubt due to the rappers inherently mysterious ways, rumored MF DOOM projects over the years are a plenty, but one project that has credibility in its existence is his unreleased collaboration with Ghostface Killah: Swift & Changeable

On the topic of unreleased or lost albums in regards to MF DOOM, most people will immediately think of the forever anticipated Madvillany 2, the follow up to DOOM’s masterpiece collaboration with producer/rapper Madlib from 2004. Because of this, the unreleased Ghostface Killah collab usually gets swept under the rug for casual DOOM fans, so I felt Swift & Changeable deserves a chance to shine on this list.

The existence of Swift & Changeable dates back to as early as 2006, with Ghostface Killah continually assuring fans for years that the project was still very much alive and that the delay was actually because of MF DOOM withholding the album on his end. And hey, we may never know the real reason for all this delay, and you certainly can’t just throw the laziness tag on DOOM, I mean, the dude has put out an exhausting amount of music throughout his time, but the shelving of Swift & Changeable all just adds onto the legacy of the musician’s enigmatic decision making.

Despite two tracks being released in 2011 and 2016 under the name of DOOMSTARK, the highly-awaited full-length album is still locked away somewhere, with fans never knowing if it will ever leak or see a proper release to the public. Only time will tell.

---

"Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST" that is available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label."

VAPOR95 LIVE REPLAYS

BEGOTTEN: A Disturbing Online Music Mystery Part III

BEGOTTEN: A DISTURBING ONLINE MUSIC MYSTERY PART III

Before we go forward today, make sure you’ve already checked out Part 1 and Part 2 of this story so you’re all caught up. With that being said, let’s begin the end, a conclusion to all the madness.

In 2017, a series of limited conversations between an unknown music producer and a record label owner would lead to the upload of six disturbing albums, each including their own unique set of tragic poems, blocks of confusing Chinese texts, mysterious music videos and paragraphs that recite the label owners experience with this unknown music producer, a producer with a worrisome story that seemed to get all the more real as time went by.

This notorious producer is known as b e g o t t e n 自杀, and as we’ve learned in Part 1 and Part 2, the first four releases from b e g o t t e n 自杀, and the mysterious events between them and the label owner who gave their releases a home, Dennis of Geometric Lullaby, are...pretty interesting…to put it lightly.

In a span of seven months, Dennis released the first four albums b e g o t t e n 自杀 sent to him on Geometric Lullaby. With each upload onto Bandcamp, Dennis would go into detail about his experiences and communications between himself and the unidentifiable producer at that time. I expect you’ve already checked out the first two parts of this series, so I don’t find it necessary to go over everything again, plus I know you want to get right to the big question: who is b e g o t t e n 自杀?

I’ve been along this journey with you as well as I’ve made sure to keep myself from reading the full story until I fully finished creating Parts 1 through 3. I thought doing so would be more of a genuine way to go about documenting the story of b e g o t t e n 自杀 over time, plus it would be more fun for me as well. It’s been giving me something to look forward to with each installment, so trust me...I am so beyond excited to finally crack this case and hopefully get to the bottom of it all as well.

The b e g o t t e n 自杀 Halloween Mixtape [October 14th, 2019 / GEO - SP10]

So before we get into the 5th and 6th albums, the two final releases from the b e g o t t e n 自杀 series and what ended up happening in the saga of events between b e g o t t e n 自杀 and Dennis, I think it would be really fun to talk about this thing: the b e g o t t e n 自杀 - (Halloween Mixtape)

Not only would it be fun to talk about, but it’s also pretty important. b e g o t t e n 自杀 , and the story of b e g o t t e n 自杀 , has become sort of legend in the Vaporwave scene...there is no doubt about that. With all of the mysterious uploads Bandcamp has for us waiting to discover, the b e g o t t e n 自杀 releases are easily some of the most interesting and darkest material to dive into and the b e g o t t e n 自杀 - (Halloween Mixtape) showcases the fascination not only from the fans, but from fellow artists and producers as well.

This thing is massive...20 tracks from some serious heavy hitters: Hantasi, 猫シ Corp., MindSpring Memories, desert sand feels warm at night, just to name a small handful. And some of these tracks are hella long, MindSpring Memories remix of (invisible) - 无形 clocking in at over 10 minutes and 異星人’s remix of (love) - 真愛 hits the 12 minute mark.

What also makes this mixtape so much fun and such an incredible service to b e g o t t e n 自杀 is that each artist brings their own flair and signature sound to the table, but at the same time they still pay respects to that b e g o t t e n 自杀 mood. Signalwave legend S p o r t 3 0 0 0 and his jolting take on (longing) - 渴望 brings in an element of experimental and space-exploration-esque synth work, all while still laying it on top of that classic, ominous b e g o t t e n 自杀 drone. We even have the thunder from down under, A Future Funk titan: TUPPERWAVE is even on this thing, giving (aquamarine) - 蓝晶 a sort lo-fi hip hop treatment. He keeps the entire track feeling like it’s submerged in this sink full of ice cold water, a well done little tune and gives a great take on the b e g o t t e n 自杀 sound in just over a minutes worth of your time. And w i n t e r q u i l t 愛が止ま’s remix of (ghost) - 鬼白 ?! I ain’t even gonna say anything…I’ll just let you listen to that one for yourself.

Dennis also got in on the fun as well, providing mastering for a handful of the tracks on here. The mixtape dropped seven months after the final release in the b e g o t t e n 自杀 series (new aura) - 新时代 (which we will obviously get to in just a bit, get ya seatbelts on!) and this mixtape was the perfect treat for the Halloween season in October of 2019. The album dropped alongside that mouthwatering Ghoul and Ghost box set, a limited collector's edition release dropped by Geometric Lullaby that contains every b e g o t t e n 自杀 album, including the Halloween mixtape, and was such a delightful way to pay homage to the entirety of the b e g o t t e n 自杀 story.

But now, it’s finally time to return back to where we left off. Let’s rewind it back a year earlier: October of 2018. b e g o t t e n 自杀’s 4th album, (happy anniversary) - 周年快乐, had just made its way onto the Geometric Lullaby catalogue, and around this time, the relationship between b e g o t t e n 自杀 and Dennis almost seemed sort of finalized… but was it really though?

Before that 4th release, just to quickly recap, Dennis had finally received an email from b e g o t t e n 自杀 after such a long time of hearing nothing back from them at all. Dennis wondered if they were seeing the albums on Geometric Lullaby, the reception and how the albums quickly formed a cult following. Dennis had no feedback from b e g o t t e n 自杀, which was unfortunate to him because all he wanted to know was what they thought of the releases.

The email Dennis received at the time of the 4th upload was short and simple:

"Thank you. I am still alive. I am okay for now."

Short, simple, sweet, and just enough to crack a smile on Dennis’ face. Despite its seemingly conclusive nature, Dennis wanted to take a couple of weeks to figure out how he wanted to respond and how he wanted to say it. He promised those who visited the Bandcamp page for (happy anniversary) - 周年快乐 that he would keep them updated on the situation.

b e g o t t e n 自杀’s 5th album: (forgive and forget) - 原谅和忘记 [December 24th, 2018 / GEO - 025]

Forgive and forget stands out to me for many reasons. I would say that this is the most melodic and romantic sounding of the begotten series. It uses mostly a different language so the words themselves are impossible for me to understand, but the sound of the music does all of the work with this one. Somehow, Begotten still manages that eerie feeling, a pit in your stomach, just a seed of something...off as you listen to this record.

Dennis of Geometric Lullaby

After b e g o t t e n 自杀 had thanked Dennis in his quick email, Dennis was very grateful to at least hear anything at all. After a couple of weeks, Dennis emailed b e g o t t e n 自杀 back and thanked them for the submission and their music. He explained that people were enjoying the releases and that they, b e g o t t e n 自杀, should be proud.

The email back would spring up a conversation. While Dennis was not given any details about this person's whereabouts or who they actually were, they began describing to him the intense mental illness that they lived with. Dennis notes on his Bandcamp that he actually holds a degree in psychology, so he understood plenty of what they explained.

But something (like most things involving this artist) seemed odd. As Dennis would receive more emails, he was starting to get a feeling that he was not actually speaking with b e g o t t e n 自杀 directly. It seemed as if he was messaging someone who spoke for them. A caretaker perhaps? They spoke as though they'd studied the human psyche in depth and really knew the deepest feelings of b e g o t t e n 自杀…but it just wasn't them.

All of this was happening after the 4th release obviously and before the 5th release was put out on Geometric Lullaby. Dennis was in Europe at the time with his band on tour through Germany, admitting he was a bit distracted at the time due to the shows. A bit of time would pass without Dennis answering b e g o t t e n 自杀 (due to lack of WIFI and general busy-ness) and when he figured out how he would ask if it was someone speaking on b e g o t t e n 自杀’s behalf...

He received one of the most disturbing emails yet.

For the sake of discretion, I am leaving it up to you if you would like to see the text of that email. On the Bandcamp page for (forgive and forget) - 原谅和忘记, that email is there, just be advised it is pretty morbid.

Along with this email, however, there was also an attachment labeled "me"

It was a video.

Dennis has yet to figure out what the video means, who it is, or what is going on in it. He uploaded the video to YouTube as an unlisted link through his Bandcamp page. If you click the link there, you will be able to check it out.

Dennis wasn’t sure if what was attached was some staged, fake video. Was it taken from a movie or tv show or even another YouTube video? He asks that if anyone recognizes it, let him know. The sound is unrecognizable, as is the individual in the video.

With this latest, intense email from b e g o t t e n 自杀, Dennis was once again going to take some time to figure out his next move. As time had past since (happy anniversary) - 周年快乐, Dennis thought now would be a good time to release the next album in the lineup given to him from the original b e g o t t e n 自杀 email as he once again found himself in a situation of email chess.

Released on Christmas Eve, (forgive and forget) - 原谅和忘记 would be Geometric Lullaby’s last gift for 2018. The release would contain nine tracks that all begin with “un” (except the bonus track).

1. (unprepared) - 措手不及

2. (unraveling) - 解开

3. (understanding) - 理解

4. (unfortunate) - 不幸的

5. (unending) - 无止境

6. (unconditional) - 无条件的

7. (undeserving) - 不值得

8. (unless...) - 除非…

9. (bonus track) - 同情

This is one of my favorite b e g o t t e n 自杀 releases, an extremely emotional blend of wonderful vocal sample selections melted with a heavy pouring of warm production on top. That smoky b e g o t t e n 自杀 texture is at an all time high on here, the reverb and fogginess that lays over track 3, (understanding) - 理解, is like hot fudge melting through sweet vanilla ice cream. Track number seven, (undeserving) - 不值得, features the pendulum of a beautifully tragic crying vocal loop on one side with a lonely and distant horn sample on the other. And in the middle? An ice cold blast of trap percussion, that heavy hitting hi hat frenzy is a brilliant surprise and provides some stellar contrast to the lost mood in the majority of the track.

I think “lost” is a good word to describe this album, it feels as if you’re in a virtual world of wireframe-filled hallways. Everything is black besides the thin purple lines that make up all of the wireframes. Track number five is a great example of this, (unending) - 无止境, that constant echo effect used on the claps and other instrumentals really feel as if this thing is large and, like the name of the track, never ending.

Unlike most releases that b e g o t t e n 自杀 sent over in that original email, (forgive and forget) - 原谅和忘记 would only feature one music video instead of the usual two. This music video came with track six, (unconditional) - 无条件的. And, who would’ve guessed it, more skeletons. This time though, maybe the cruddiest quality footage yet, the barely visible and barely working video is more like a collection of photos instead of a smooth flowing video. We’re simply given a skeleton dancing around, breaking down and building itself back up, all before breaking down one last time before the video ends.

Here was the poem given with this release:

Can I recognize feelings?

Can I sense that they're there?

Has all gone to numbness?

In place of despair?

I can ask for forgiveness

But I know it will never come

I can wait until you forget

But there's no ridding of what's been done

A quote was also given along with the poem that read:

Tell me why...

As with all of the other albums, a series of Chinese text was also sent along with (forgive and forget) - 原谅和忘记.

The album’s sound is in pretty heavy contrast compared to the vibes of the track list, poems, Chinese texts, and messages at the time from b e g o t t e n 自杀 (or as Dennis believed, a person talking on their behalf). I kind of see the whole thing as putting on a face, while on the inside you can feel completely different. It’s something we’ve seen come up time and time again with cases of severe mental illness, a person seeming happy and friendly on the outside while something is eating away at them on the inside.

The album hides away it’s thoughts and feelings through sound. The music given to us from b e g o t t e n 自杀 is a mask.

b e g o t t e n 自杀’s final album: (new aura) - 新时代 [March 25th, 2019 / GEO - 030]

A void is all that's left

No sanity to be found

I've lost my mind in the process

I can't distinguish any sounds

When there's nothing to live for

And you truly are at your last

You hate yourself thoroughly

Solely dwell on the past

A new you starts emerging

Something different, something clean

Something desperate for anything

Other than a dream

But dreams are what I have

They beckon me with demand

Let's hope my dreams never come true

For if they do, you'll know exactly who I am."

This was the last and final poem sent to Dennis from b e g o t t e n 自杀, this of course coming along with the 6th album: (new aura) - 新时代.

I knew this time would come. I had been waiting for it ever since releasing the very first begotten cassette, and I must say, it is bittersweet. I am honored be have been chosen by this artist to present their work to the world. I am glad that so many have listened and enjoyed what they've created. While I know it is not for everyone, I personally find each album as something special. But you probably already know that by now.

Dennis of Geometric Lullaby

(new aura) - 新时代 may be the most experimental release of the saga, and it seems fitting as this chaotic journey only seemed to get more and more bizarre along the way. It’s as if the mask from the fifth album was ripped off and b e g o t t e n 自杀’s thoughts, feelings and emotions scattered into a thousand different directions, with no destination in sight.

The album pushes far the abstract and spacious sounds of darkness. (new aura) - 新时代 plays with texture even more than the others, tracks like (distill) - 蒸馏 are straight up broken. Take the echo effects of the track we mentioned in the previous album, (unending) - 无止境, and turn it up to a hundred. Everything is crumbling...instrumentals stepping on top of one another...a stampede of muddy sounds. However, towards the end, the only thing we are left with that is tangible is that eerie, unsettling howling that’s laid over the congested mess of sounds. We see the same thing with track number ten, (connectivity) - 连接, which all feels like a Missingno. Version of a Mallsoft track, but once again that horrifying vocal comes back in to remind us of b e g o t t e n 自杀’s world.

It’s kind of like the same thing that happened in The Caretaker’s Everywhere at the End of Time, the final album in that series being the most broken and decayed release yet. Also, both projects have six releases in them…Kind of interesting to note.

To Dennis, (new aura) - 新时代 gives him feelings of other-worldliness, caverns, alien-like vibes, and pure insanity. The album feels like an emotion we can’t fathom, only something that the set, specific person it’s coming from, would understand.

The album is one of the longer releases in the b e g o t t e n 自杀 catalogue, 14 tracks which clock in at just under a half an hour.

Here was the Chinese text that was provided by b e g o t t e n 自杀 for this release:

“如果没有不死技术，我将在未来35年内死亡，”他感叹。死亡是不可避免的 - 目前至少是因为随着年龄的增长，构成我们身体的细胞失去了自我修复的能力，使我们容易受到心血管疾病和其他与年龄相关的大约三分之二的病症的伤害。

“我的计划的最终目标是将某人的个性转变成一个全新的机构，”

“那么那么你可以说这样的人是有远见的，但不是生气，因为这意味着你想到的东西是不可能的，事实并非如此."

When translated, we find a detailed discussion on death, which leads into human transformation. It is also a bit confusing towards the end, which I’m sure is just Google Translate being Google Translate.

This time however, no music videos were given at all. When I saw that there was none for the first time, I was a bit surprised. With a handful of videos in previous album releases, I was pretty sure there would be at least one that may answer some questions or give some closure to everything we’ve been through with b e g o t t e n 自杀. But nope, just 14 tracks.

I think this was a good move though and kind of wraps up with the ending of the whole Dennis / b e g o t t e n 自杀 saga quite well…

Upon the release of (new aura) - 新时代, Dennis was saddened that this would be the final piece. He knew not whether the world would ever see another album from begotten, but he did not want to dwell on it being over. Dennis would’ve rather dwelled on the emotion and satisfaction that this music would provide.

If you remember when Dennis released the 4th album, he stated that he had actually received another email from b e g o t t e n 自杀 thanking him for doing their releases. At the time, he couldn't think of what he wanted to say in return, and Dennis admits on the Bandcamp page for (new aura) - 新时代 that he kind of just rushed a reply in the end asking who they were and some other personal questions. It wasn't until several weeks later after all of the emails that he received an answer to his questions. It read:

"Do you really want to know who I am?"

At first, Dennis was a little mad at this response:

Why would I ask if I wasn't sure that I wanted to know who they were? But when I opened a reply email and began to type, I stopped myself. Did I really want to know? Would I be able to appreciate the music all the same if I knew the name of the person behind it all? Would it change anything?

Dennis of Geometric Lullaby

Dennis would take a few days to consider this, he knew he did not want to rush it. Whoever b e g o t t e n 自杀 was, they had trusted him with their expression. They had trusted him with their art. Dennis recalls saying:

Would it be disrespectful to say that, yes, in fact, I really wanted to know who they were? These things weighed heavily on my mind and I started to feel anxious about the entire situation. I stopped eating. I started sleeping longer each day and I began to have vivid dreams. It was impossible to tell how connected (or not) that all of this was to b e g o t t e n 自杀.

Dennis of Geometric Lullaby

In the end, after countless hours of balancing options in his head like placing coins on the plates of a scale, Dennis had finally come to a decision. He opened up an email with confidence and hit reply. In the body of the email, he simply wrote:

"You are begotten and that is all that matters to me. Thank you for trusting me."

He hit send and smiled. He then played the entire discography from beginning to end, closing his eyes and allowing it all to take him away.

Dennis no longer checked his email, constantly refreshing in hopes of a message. He had finally found the closure he had been looking for. It was never about the person behind the music, but the feeling, emotion, and atmosphere. It was about the realms to which it brought him, allowing Dennis to escape his own life, if even for a moment. he could finally fully enjoy what he had been given.

Dennis was finally at peace.

The tale of b e g o t t e n 自杀, and Dennis’ experience with the producer, is a tale we all go through in this day and age with music. I know for myself and many others who are heavily involved in the Vaporwave scene and community, there is a lot of music we love and adore from people we simply do not know. As our scene in particular has gotten closer in these past couple of years, with live shows and online shows and what not, there was a time when everything was a bit more unknown. Artists’ and aliases being able to paint even more vivid imaginations in your head of who they were and what they were all about. It’s easy to fall in love with narratives given with albums, artwork that helps you get to that set place and time the album seems like it would be in. But beyond the stories, beyond the settings, the most important thing will always be the music, the sounds, which can always be experienced bare of any context.

Nothing crazy happened in the end between Dennis and b e g o t t e n 自杀, Dennis was given this package of digital albums and just did what he thought was best with them. He never was able to find out if everything was a hoax or if this person was who they seemed to be. And in the end, he had the option to potentially figure it all out, but to Dennis, the music just seemed to be more important. Plain and simple.

Today, b e g o t t e n 自杀 is still listened to by many throughout the internet, some claiming the mysterious producer to be their favorite Vaporwave artist of all time.

But, what about our question: is b e g o t t e n 自杀 real? Fake? Is Dennis b e g o t t e n 自杀?

You know what, I’ll let you do your own digging on that one. Sometimes a mystery is best kept a mystery, but as always, it’s always up to you, my friend.

Although I really do wonder…who was in that car in the graveyard?

If you haven’t listened to the b e g o t t e n 自杀 releases yet, I highly recommend doing so, the music is so rich with or without the pairing of the b e g o t t e n 自杀 story. Thank you for joining me on this wild ride, and until next time…

Much love,

ur boi,

Pad Chennington

Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST", available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label.

BEGOTTEN: A Disturbing Online Music Mystery Part II

BEGOTTEN:
A Disturbing Online Music Mystery Part II

If you haven’t checked out Part I of this story yet, please make sure you do so before reading this article. For those who are ready to continue, sit tight and get cozy because this is where the story of b e g o t t e n 自杀 really begins to fall off the rails.

In 2017, a series of limited conversations between an unknown music producer and a record label owner would lead to the upload of six disturbing albums, each including their own unique set of tragic poems, blocks of confusing Chinese texts, mysterious music videos and paragraphs that recite the label owner's experience with this unknown music producer, a producer with a worrisome story that seemed to get all the more real as time went by.

The producer in question here is known as b e g o t t e n 自杀, and as you’ve learned in my previous video, their infamous musical work and strange relationship with the label owner of Geometric Lullaby, Dennis, has piqued the minds of thousands to this very day. From the moment b e g o t t e n 自杀’s work went live on Geometric Lullaby’s page, it was easy to see how this artist was going to strike a chord in music goers who crave the stranger side of things. A cryptic story? Check. An unknown origin and inconceivable reasoning behind it all? Check. Good music? Check as well.

b e g o t t e n 自杀’s entire vibe, this blend of uncanniness, romance, horror, and undeniable tragedy all tied in a pretty bow with this low-res and distorted aesthetic is the perfect dose for the dark side of the music world.

In Part I of this series, we dove into b e g o t t e n 自杀’s first two albums and the events that happened between the strange producer and Dennis. To save time, I’m going to assume you’ve already checked out Part I. With that being said, I just want to get right into it all today. There is a lot to unpack with the story of b e g o t t e n 自杀, so I want to waste no time jumping right back into the deep end.

I hope you're ready, because there’s no going back now. Cheers.

b e g o t t e n 自杀’s third album: (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗篇

[July 23rd, 2018 / GEO - 015]

On the 23rd of July, 2018, Geometric Lullaby would unleash b e g o t t e n 自杀’s third album on the label, (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗篇. Considered by many to be the darkest and lowest point of b e g o t t e n 自杀’s career, (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗篇 spends a majority of its time intoxicating you with these hazy vocals and washy synths, a sound replicating the viscosity of syrup or honey as they slowly pour into your ears like a heavy fog, gradually filling up the space inside your head. (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗篇 is a hypnotizing pendulum, laughing gas for your ears as they become nothing but vulnerable entrances to b e g o t t e n 自杀’s dastardly deeds. If b e g o t t e n 自杀’s previous album (hushwave) - 治愈它 was the light and airy side of the producer, then (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗篇 breaks up the crowd as a heavy, slow moving, hulking counterpart. They are the sounds of a mad person; someone who had gone off the deep end.

“From the onset of the very first track, my heart felt like it had a weight pressing into it. Like sleep paralysis, I was terrified and yet my body completely relaxed. From the choice of chords and textures of the samples down to the lyrics, this album hits me probably most hard of all the b e g o t t e n 自杀 releases.”

Dennis, Owner of Geometric Lullaby

In my previous video, we last left off with Dennis’ trying to figure out what he should do with the mysterious package he received from b e g o t t e n 自杀. The strange envelope sent to him contained a single card that read "You're Invited" in big cursive letters. Below, there looked to be a fingerprint in red ink, or possibly blood. An address in Georgia, USA was also given on the card, and at the bottom was a scratchy b e g o t t e n 自杀 signature.

After some research and digging, he found that the address on the outer envelope was traced to a mental institution in Georgia while the address scribbled on the “You’re Invited” card on the inside of the envelope led him to a small graveyard with several mausoleums in central Georgia.

Dennis didn’t know if they should have the red ink, or what seemed to be blood, tested for DNA. He wondered if he should go to either of the addresses in Georgia. Or, possibly try and find someone to go there for him since he lived in a completely different state. His mind was flooded with questions.

Between the release of (hushwave) - 治愈它 and (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗篇, Dennis never received any further communication from b e g o t t e n 自杀, ultimately causing him to have to personally investigate the item he had gotten in the mail further.

This is what happened.

Dennis was able to eventually get in contact with a good friend who lived in the area of the Georgia addresses given to him, the friend actually took the time to find the address when Dennis reached out and agreed to scope out the place as the friend became just as interested as Dennis was.

When the friend FaceTimed Dennis upon their arrival, Dennis would see that they were in the middle of a beautiful graveyard, stones and trees engulfing the entirety of the background. They informed Dennis that they couldn't find anything that stuck out out of the ordinary, but Dennis asked them to just look a little bit longer since they had already gone through all that trouble to get there. This was Dennis’ first, and possibly last shot, at attempting to see if all of this b e g o t t e n 自杀 chaos was for real or just a hoax, so he knew he had to take advantage of the opportunity.

His friend was alone and the connection wasn't the greatest, but they ended up agreeing with Dennis’ request. As the sun began to set, they walked along each line of headstones and showed Dennis everything they could see. Dennis watched from his office, focusing on everything that was coming his way, all while wishing he could have just made the trip himself.

As time went by, the friend kept telling Dennis that it was just a simple graveyard and whoever was doing this to him was most likely just messing with him, but Dennis didn't want to believe it. He wanted something to happen.

"Just keep going. Walk through the whole thing," Dennis recalls telling his friend. And so he did, with Dennis wishing he had just one more email or anything else at all to help explain the letter and the reasoning behind the odd request for his friend, but he really had nothing to go off of besides what little b e g o t t e n 自杀 provided him with, and most of all, his own personal curiosity.

His friend reached the last row of gravestones and…they found absolutely nothing. But when his friend turned the camera to leave, Dennis spotted something.

"What was that?" Dennis yelled, nearly spilling his drink.

"I don't see anything, I..."

"No, on the road!"

Behind Dennis’ friend, on the only road path that led into the cemetery was an all black car. Dennis swore it hadn't been there before and he knew it definitely wasn't his friend's vehicle.

His friend’s face fell from a joking and light expression to fear. He hadn't noticed that car before either.

"I'm not going anywhere near that!" his friend told him.

Dennis begged his friend to talk to them, maybe knock on the window or at least wave, but his friend refused. The car didn't move and the windows were tinted so dark that it was impossible to see if anyone was inside.

And of course, by luck, the connection started to lose quality and the picture became blurry. The black of the car smudged the screen, mixed with the greens and greys, all painting the screen with its bad connection.

Next, the audio began to cut in and out. Dennis only got one more flash of something distinguishable before it completely disconnected. He couldn't tell if his friend was smiling or screaming. The still frame left him anxious and worried.

Dennis would try calling the friend over the next few days and it seemed that his phone was off or had no connection at all. A week would pass with these attempts by Dennis, which only led to a shocking discovery: the number had suddenly been disconnected completely. Any form of contact with the friend seemed hopeless at this point as Dennis would also discover that his Facebook account was deleted as well. Dennis called the local police station and gave them all the information he had regarding b e g o t t e n 自杀, the emails, the addresses, the situation with his friend, and the odd FaceTime call at the graveyard. Then, not three days later, Dennis would get a call.

It was his friend.

The friend acted as if nothing had happened all, as if they checked out the graveyard and there was nothing there. Dennis asked about their phone, their time away, not calling Dennis back, why they would suddenly delete their Facebook account, but strangely enough, Dennis’ friend would brush it all off as if Dennis was just making it all up in his head. The friend would tell Dennis that they were just busy and that there must have been a problem with their cell phone provider or service at the graveyard. They also claimed that they had just gotten tired of Facebook so they wanted to delete it for a while. A bit too coincidental as you can probably tell.

At this point, Dennis didn't know what to think. He knew the only other place he could get a clue from was from the other address he received: the one for the mental institution. He decided to ask his friend again to see if somehow, possibly, he would be willing to go check out that spot as well for him, but the friend said that he was busy.

Dennis’ friend hasn't contacted him since that follow-up phone call, nor has b e g o t t e n 自杀 as mentioned earlier. Summer of 2018 came and Dennis decided at this point, it was best to just release the next album in the b e g o t t e n 自杀 series, (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗篇. Maybe making this release go public would draw b e g o t t e n 自杀’s attention back in to the label owner who was constantly craving any sort of communication. As the release ran its course online, Dennis would spend his time planning on how to figure out more about the mental institution from which the letter he received was addressed. And of course, he would be checking his email, waiting for contact of any kind.

As with all of the previous b e g o t t e n 自杀 albums that were sent to Dennis in that initial email, (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗 would also contain a poem, block of Chinese test, and music videos from the producer to go with it all. Here was the attached poem:

"A ghost is a being sent to remind

A creature of memory, outside of space and time

It returns with a vengeance, won't leave me alone

Just as happiness finds me, my honesty is blown

Another year will I last? A decade or two?

Every day is a curse, but somehow I get through

A friend is a pawn, a lover the same

Another piece of my life, just a game

I'll lose soon enough, I'll fall to the rest

Inside I have lost, I've failed the test

I deserve to disappear, and be forgotten at last."

"Please, don't touch me...stay away"

Here was the Chinese text that was also sent with this album:

1不是给我们，耶和华，不是给我们，乃是因为你们的爱和信实，就是荣耀。 2为什么国家说：“他们的神在哪里？”3我们的神在天上。他做任何让他喜欢的事情。 4但他们的偶像是银和金，由人的手制成。他们有嘴，但不能说话，眼睛，但看不见。他们有耳朵，但听不到，鼻子，但不能闻到。他们有手，但感觉不到脚，但不能走路，也不能用喉咙发出声音。 8那些造他们的人，就像他们一样，所有信任他们的人也是如此。 9你们所有的以色列人相信耶和华 - 他是他们的帮助和盾牌。 10亚伦家，相信耶和华 - 他是他们的帮助和盾牌。 11敬畏他的，信耶和华 - 他是他们的帮助和盾牌。 12耶和华记念我们，要祝福我们，他将要祝福他的百姓以色列，他将要祝福亚伦的家，13他要保佑那些敬畏耶和华 - 小和大的人。 5月14日，耶和华使你们兴起，无论你和你的孩子。 15愿耶和华，天地的造物者蒙福。 16最高的天属于耶和华，乃属于他给人类的地球。赞美耶和华的，不是沉默的人，不是死人。 18我们现在和永远都是传扬耶和华。赞美耶和华

1 Not for us, the Lord, not for us, but because of your love and faithfulness, which is glory. 2 Why countries say: "Where is their god?" 3 Our god is in heaven. He does whatever he likes. 4 But their idols are silver and gold, made of human hands. They have mouths, but they can't talk, eyes, but they can't see. They have ears but cannot hear, noses but cannot smell. They have hands, but they cannot feel their feet, but they cannot walk or make sounds through their throats. 8 Those who made them are just like them, so are all those who trust them. 9 All you Israelites believe in the Lord-He is their help and shield. 10 House of Aaron, believe in the Lord-he is their help and shield. 11 Those who fear him, believe in the Lord-he is their help and shield. 12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us. He will bless his people Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. 13 He will bless those who fear the Lord-small and big. On May 14, the Lord raised you up, regardless of you and your children. 15 Blessed be the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth. 16 The highest heaven belongs to the Lord, and belongs to the earth he gave to mankind. Praise the Lord is not a silent person, not a dead person. 18 We are preaching the Lord now and forever. Praise the Lord

Music videos for the tracks (disintegrate) - 瓦解 and (neurotic) - 神经质 were also sent from b e g o t t e n 自杀. For (disintegrate) - 瓦解, we are given this extremely low-res black and white footage of a train. It most certainly seems to be security footage slowed down as we can see the individual frames of this train moving its way along the tracks. A figure appears on the tracks, glowing as if the camera detects the heat coming off of their body. Next, the person purposely puts their body in front of the path of the train, and you can guess what happens next. It’s some pretty heavy stuff so please watch at your own discretion when visiting the Bandcamp page for (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗.

The music video for (neurotic) - 神经质 returns to that low-res, VHS quality skeleton footage we’ve seen in previous music videos from b e g o t t e n 自杀. Nothing really happens here as we’re just given this glowing skeleton looking down at the floor in a dark and ominous room.

For fans of really smooth sample work, all with a creepy undertone and undeniable dark energy, (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗 is 100% for you. Its hopeless cries present in the vocal samples chosen are harrowing. The piano work feels heavier than the world, the drums decayed and beaten, and when all blended together we are served a smoothie that can put an elephant to sleep. (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗 is heavy, strong and emotional; hypnotizing, intoxicating, and alive. This album is best paired with the night time. Happy travels.

b e g o t t e n 自杀’s 4th album: (happy anniversary) - 周年快乐

[October 8th, 2018 / GEO - 020]

If (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗 was the low point, then (happy anniversary) - 周年快乐 serves at the manic counterpart. Talk about a 180 degree turn from our last departure with (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗, (happy anniversary) - 周年快乐 gives us a mirage of okay-ness, a soothing cloak that hastily covers up the darkness we had just previously heard. And this is replicated in the artwork as well: by far the most colorful and bright b e g o t t e n 自杀 cover yet, exciting greens and euphoric blues flood the skull upon every listen. Hustle and bustle vaportrap, soothing guitars maxed out in the reverb department, chimes and jingles sounding like you threw a fluffy pillow at a gigantic, gem-infused chandelier, listening to that wonderful sound as each individual crystal is knocked into the other.

The album also wraps up with four bonus tracks, each with these really fun and hyperactive chop jobs with samples bouncing all over the place, overall, a complete contradiction from the lethargic moods heard previously on (phantom psalms) - 幻影诗.

(happy anniversary) - 周年快乐 and its generally warm sample flips and extremely short run time confuse us from everything we just heard, it’s sporadic and sudden change in tone from the last three albums is just…bizarre.

What is exactly is going on with b e g o t t e n 自杀?

"This album feels spastic, nostalgic, dreamy, and surreal. It is all over the place, as if the artist's mind was going a million miles an hour while creating it. The lo-fi-type beats mixed with 8-bit and acoustic guitar highlight just part of the sampling and experimentation this album explores."

Dennis (Owner of Geometric Lullaby)

Here was the poem b e g o t t e n 自杀 sent over with this release:

"What a happy anniversary

What a joyous span of time

What a wonderful evening

With your hand in mine

You tell me everything that you want to say

You let it all out, put it all on display

I can't say a word, my mind goes blank

I want to shed tears, say words, give thanks

So happy anniversary, from me to you

You'll never understand, they never do."

Here was the Chinese text b e g o t t e n 自杀 sent with this release:

很容易陷入爱情，但是在一生的其余时间里，与同一个人保持恋爱更加困难。很容易陷入爱情，但是在一生的其余时间里，与同一个人保持恋爱更加困难。

即使一年过去了，你们分享的爱情持续下去。发出我最美好的祝愿，你将继续在爱和幸福中得到祝福。

在整个年龄段，许多人搜索，但从来没有发现像你们两个人那样的爱。愿你永远拥有伟大的爱和幸福的祝福。周年快乐！

感到自豪，知道你拥有每一个人渴望的那种爱，有一天会发现。愿你的心永远保持着像爱情一样的关爱和激情。周年快乐！

It is easy to fall in love, but it is more difficult to stay in love with the same person for the rest of your life. It is easy to fall in love, but it is more difficult to stay in love with the same person for the rest of your life.

Even if a year has passed, the love you shared continues. Send my best wishes, and you will continue to be blessed in love and happiness.

Throughout the ages, many people searched, but never found love like the two of you. May you always have great blessings of love and happiness. happy Anniversary!

Be proud of knowing that you have the kind of love that everyone desires, and one day you will find it. May your heart always keep the love and passion like love. happy Anniversary!

Music videos for the tracks (quartz) - 石英 and (diamond) - 钻石 were given for this album. (quartz) - 石英 would feature the reverse footage of gradually burning birthday candles, instead of everything melting away we see these candles rise from the grave. (diamond) - 钻石, an extremely short track at less than a minute long, presents sped up footage of a trick or treater during Halloween.

To add some more context to the story, Dennis, the label owner of Geometric Lullaby, also spends his time performing in a band. Knowing that they would soon be on tour towards the latter part of 2018, Dennis realized that their route through the east coast of the United States would inevitably lead them past the address for the mental institution mentioned in the mysterious envelope.

Unfortunately, misfortune would strike again.

A hurricane would hit at the exact time they were supposed to drive south through Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas. Next up on the tour would have been Georgia, the state in which the mental asylum existed.

To make matters even worse, their engine died. Dennis notes it would’ve cost them several thousands of dollars to fix, and so instead of finally getting to the bottom of the surreal letter from our favorite little mysterious friend b e g o t t e n 自杀, they high-tailed it back home to Minneapolis from Syracuse, New York.

However...it was around this time that Dennis would finally receive an email from b e g o t t e n 自杀. It was short and it was simple. But to actually get some communication after such a long silence felt amazing. It said the following;

"Thank you. I am still alive. I am okay for now."

b e g o t t e n 自杀

Just those simple lines gave Dennis so much joy. He was glad that b e g o t t e n 自杀 was happy with how Geometric Lullaby was handling their releases. Dennis was nearly brought to tears.

At this point in our story, autumn of 2018, Dennis was yet to respond. The email was sort of final sounding, but of course, Dennis still had so many questions. At this time, Dennis wanted to take the next couple of weeks to figure out exactly what he wanted to respond with and how he wanted to say it. He was ready to continue to keep everyone updated on the situation, but thought it would be best to finally drop the fourth b e g o t t e n 自杀 album in October of 2018.

(happy anniversary) - 周年快乐 seemed to be the true calm before the storm in the saga of events between Dennis and b e g o t t e n 自杀. It was as if the melancholy musical style from the album replicated the seemingly calm section of the timeline the two virtual pen pals found themselves in at this moment. And while Dennis was relieved to finally hear back from b e g o t t e n 自杀, everything was still so odd. Any question Dennis had up until this point was still unanswered, nothing was solidified, nothing declared or figured out. Dennis took this time to focus on the label, prepare that fourth b e g o t t e n 自杀 release, and just take the time he needed to figure out his next move with the unknown producer.

In part III of our story, we’ll be wrapping everything up with b e g o t t e n 自杀.

Will Dennis figure out the truth behind the mystery?

Is it all a hoax, or something to truly be worried about?

I can promise you the oddities don’t end here and I can not wait to share with you how everything concludes. Until then, I think it’s time we put a virtual bookmark in our little story here, the insane tale of b e g o t t e n 自杀 is one of my favorite musical mysteries of all time and I hope to see you around for our final installment of what happened between Dennis and b e g o t t e n 自杀.

Thank you, we’ll talk soon.

Much love, ur boi,

Pad Chennington

Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST", available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label.

VAPOR95 LIVE 4.0 REPLAY

The Internet's Darkest Music Genre

Hidden deep within the virtual backrooms of the Internet exists a sound so forgotten, barren and bizarre...it’s a sound you can’t turn away from once you click the play button...a music scene left abandoned to time and the ever-expanding musical library of the digital realm.

Uncanny artwork, hyper-sensitive textures and a narrative that always ends the same way for every release: the pure decay and death of the music. Today, you and I will be exploring one of the most lonesome, dark, and mysterious music genres on the Internet, known as “Deathdream”, and what makes this extremely small collection of albums so suspiciously sinister. We will be taking a look at a handful of releases, explore some commentary from actual Deathdream producers, and ultimately, you and I will discover what makes this microgenre contain such immense power in its ability to revolutionize the concept of disposability in music, an ability that leaves us, the listener, in a state of pure audio and sensory purgatory.

Deathdream is a Bandcamp tag given to a small collection of albums that explore themes of isolation, depression, desperation, and other similar subject matters. As of the making of this video, only 75 releases pop up when searching for the “Deathdream” tag on Bandcamp. It’s a very niche style that clearly hit its prime between 2015 to 2016, and although you’ll find some more recent releases scattered here and there, the style is now trickling and rotting away to time. Stumbling upon Deathdream feels like you’ve discovered an abandoned city or ghost town, you’ve run out of gas and you pulled off the main highway only to enter a town vacant of all life.

Click on any of these releases and you’re entering a vacant house or storefront in this abandoned town, tracklists resembling the objects and outdated decor within that may paint some sort of picture as to what happened here. Using tools ranging from heavy drone work, repetitive, looping sabotage and just the straight-up eerie bending and twisting of samples and instrumentation, producers, or as i like to call them, practitioners of the Deathdream sound are determined to tell a story more than anything else. These constant barrages of the same sound chopped repetitively (perfect examples of this being Geolocationism and reflection) bring you into an almost trance-like state, hammering in that sort of hopeless, apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic setting the narrative brings to life so well. Instead of Deathdream being music, the releases feel more like expeditions varying in different intensities. Whether it’s dystopian armies roaming the streets to settings even more deserted, like ghost towns where all that is left is the struggling nature trying to find its way in a place void of hope and life.

Deathdream takes traces of Ambient, Dark Vaporwave, Broken Transmission, and Eccojams and distills the sound with a focus on death, anxiety, and decay. The world of Deathdream opens the door for incredible creative expression and rebirth in artists looking to try something new and explore the darker parts of storytelling. There is something inherently refreshing in creating a new alias to create a sound different from your usual work; Deathdream becomes a home for producers looking to become more anecdotal with their work in a disposable, no strings attached way.

"Deathdream is not about the sound, it's about the aesthetics surrounding the music. Not just the album covers, or the track titles or whatever, but the narrative inherent with every Deathdream album. Deathdream albums have stories attached to them. Sometimes the story is obvious and sometimes it’s a complete mystery, but Deathdream needs a narrative of some sort in order for it to work well.

If you’re someone who wants to make Deathdream, make a new anonymous alias. Don’t worry about publicity, there is someone out there that will notice it. And just try to make something you haven’t made before. Most Deathdream that exists is something someone made on the side, it can be a great way to filter creative energy."

- 暗い自然 (Dark Nature)

Deathdream producer & owner of Black Records

There are two main labels on the Internet that house a heavy amount of these releases: BLCR Laboratories and Black Records. I highly recommend venturing through each of their respective catalogues, the two are truly a goldmine and will definitely provide you with the material you are looking for.

I want to focus our time today on a couple of Deathdream releases specifically, projects that caught my attention immensely and I just find them to be a perfect demonstration of how intense storytelling elements can be through fascinating presentation and production. Use these albums as undedicated, drowned out background noise late at night. On the other hand, you can allow yourself to be completely taken over by them. I recommend taking the time to lay down in bed, close your eyes, relax your muscles, and have the music absorb you into its world with your undivided attention.

I. 아버지 (father) - reflection

First up on our list today, I want to showcase the brilliance of 아버지’s (father) 2016 release titled “reflection”. This eight track gem explores themes of self-reflection, loneliness, rejection, depression, rebirth and it all concludes with the unfortunate fate of the inevitable crash at the end. When you look at how the track list is ordered or when you listen to each song in succession, you feel like you have suddenly transported into the body of someone going through a pretty tough sort of struggle.

The opening ten-and-a-half-minute track reflection is just mesmerizing: crushing, nonstop repetitive loops that just consume your mind, everything bringing to the forefront these memories you can’t stop thinking about, flashing in your head over and over...and over again. Tracks like “waking up the same”, “someone else”, and “loosing everything” all follow up with this rained on and weathered sample work struggling to make it through each measure, these brittle songs begging for your attention as they crawl out of your headphones.

아버지 (father) makes excellent work on taking sounds that feel depressing, beaten, and hopeless and makes you want to listen to them. Like I said, the narratives of these Deathdream releases feel very cinematic and heavy and you want to look in and examine what the music is going through.

There is always an unavoidable curiosity to it all.

Once we pass the halfway point of the album however, “reflection” becomes enticingly hopeful and less gloomy, especially when we get to the longest, and in my opinion, best track on the album: “tomorrow”. This eleven minute epic sticks out tremendously from the rest of the sorrowful sounding work on the album; these beautiful angelic voices breaking through with warm rays of sun behind them crashing into your ears.

Unfortunately, the refreshing joy of this track ends after this. The last track “untitled” seals away the angelic voices and the sun and returns with these jarring repetitive loops, it feels like the previous track crumbling and burning to the ground, proving it to all to be an illusion as we end the album with this hard stop that goes right back into the first track of the album. This move makes the album feel like a looping cycle and further nails in the notion that whatever this person is going through, this subject you create in your head as you listen to the album, it is all just this never ending cycle of sadness, a possibility for light shining through, and then it just divebombs back into despair and hopelessness. Sounds miserable, I know. But trust me, definitely start with this release. “Reflection” is an incredible journey through hypnotic sound design that feels like an artistic film rather than an album.

II. 아버지 (father) - 흰색 죽음 (White Death)

This is a beautiful piece of work.

One year before “reflection” was released, father dropped “흰색 죽음” (White Death). While “reflection” was a bit more jumpy, I would say, with its repetitive chops and, at times, colorful sounds scattered throughout, “흰색 죽음” (White Death) is way more parasitic and sinister. The whole album feels like you’re walking through this pitch-black hallway, a hallway so dark that even though there isn’t any light, the surface of a white object could eventually become visualized after your eyes adjust to the dark. As you're venturing through the hallway, slowly realizing that there may be no end to this, you begin to sense the entity that is hovering behind you.

The album is very quiet. There are these ambient passages moving at a snail’s pace only interrupted by haunting echoes, a ticking clock, static fuzz or confusing piano keys with no rhyme or rhythm, every moment floats in limbo. “흰색 죽음” (White Death) almost feels like the work of The Caretaker, especially toward the last stages of “Everywhere at the End of Time”. Audio on “흰색 죽음” (White Death) barely makes it through and crackles similarly to “Everywhere at the End of Time”. There is a moment where it sounds like someone is hitting the same two keys of a piano but the audio keeps cutting in and out, your headphones will feel like they are broken and this feature common throughout the project all adds to the unsettling aura this release gives off.

The last track of the album, which simply translates to death, is the moment where this entity finally begins to interact with you on a conversational level. All the textures overlaid on top of the tracks that came before you finally dissipates. The piano keys become crystal clear, your mind is as pure and empty as it can possibly be. You speak with death itself as it guides you through your last moments of whatever control you have left, only for it all to abruptly end as you're just beginning to learn the true meaning of the album. I dare you to listen to all of White Death laying down with your eyes closed and noise canceling headphones on. Enjoy the trip.

III. The various releases of 暗い自然 (Dark Nature)

Albums: Bleed | Soul Drainage | The Dark Forest 最も暗い夜 | The Sounds of Life

If you search for Deathdream on Bandcamp, you’re going to notice this name pop up a lot. 暗い自然 (Dark Nature) captures the ominous energy of being lost in nature or abandoned places. Harsh winds and distant remnants of a town that once was in the 29 minute long release of “Soul Drainage”, The hyper heightened sounds of birds and bugs with the “Sounds of Life”, the most brutally cold day of your life with “Bleed”, or the hidden beauty of a dark forest as night turns to morning on a cloudy, cold, and rainy November day…2015’s “The Dark Forest 最も暗い夜”.

暗い自然 (Dark Nature) does a stellar job at recognizing the disposability in music, the idea that anything you do or anything that has been done before can be sampled, recontextualized, and repurposed as something new. Nothing is ever untouchable, unmalleable, off-limits. Nothing can live or last forever. I was able to get in contact with 暗い自然 (Dark Nature), who had some interesting things to say about the concept of music as a whole:

“I think that music is disposable... Vaporwave kind of made me realize this, sampling stuff I would never have heard of otherwise. For an example, I’m pretty sure more people have heard リサフランク420 - 現代のコンピュー rather than the original Diana Ross song.

Vaporwave was definitely not the first musical genre that sampled music, that’s literally been done since music was invented. But I feel vaporwave was the first genre that sampled music in a completely decontextualized way. Using samples without caring where they came from, just taking old music and distorting it, until it sounded nostalgic or depressing or whatever the artist was doing with it. Recontextualizing it without even knowing what the original artist wanted to express with their music.

That’s only really possible when you think of music as disposable, and I think Deathdream really captures that. Not necessarily because it samples stuff, not all Deathdream does, but because it uses the disposability to decay itself out. Entire Deathdream albums and aliases have all been essentially deleted and forgotten, with very few people even remembering what it was... with each passing year, more and more people forget. I know of this first hand.

I think it’s special when there are entire albums that can only be recalled via your memory. When the only thing preventing this art from fading away forever is you staying alive. Having a relationship like that with music is super special. Deathdream should be able to die, is what I guess I am saying.”

- 暗い自然

Deathdream producer & owner of Black Records

Accompanied with the cheap aesthetic of VHS-weathered artwork, 暗い自然 (Dark Nature) captures a wide range of moods, there are releases that feel hazy, longing and tranquil while others are just straight up sporadic. 暗い自然 (Dark Nature), or the person behind the alias, is also the owner of Black Records, a label I highly recommend you check out for more Deathdream material and it was great getting their insight on the integrity of Deathdream, it all goes beyond just the charm of something feeling cheap, brittle and repurposed… the gradual decay of the music brings to life a whole other avenue of narrative to any project. 暗い自然 (Dark Nature) believes this is where the “death” in Deathdream comes from, the fact that the ending is always planned. Deathdream should be built around the idea of the impending end of the art, a story with a beginning, middle, and conclusion.

"Deathdream is not about the sound, it’s about the aesthetics surrounding the music. Not just the album covers, or the track titles or whatever, but the narrative inherent with every Deathdream album. Deathdream albums have stories attached to them. Sometimes the story is obvious and sometimes it’s a complete mystery, but Deathdream needs a narrative of some sort in order for it to work well."

- 暗い自然

Deathdream producer & owner of Black Records

IV. 死亡頻道 (Death Channel) - 超越灵魂 (Beyond Soul)

In March of 2019, a producer by the name of 死亡頻道 (Death Channel) would release a project called “超越灵魂” (Beyond Soul). 超越灵魂 (Beyond Soul), from everything I’ve heard up until making this video, may be my favorite Deathdream project yet.

Compared to his other aliases which both translate to Dream Channel (夢のチャンネル & 夢想的頻道), the birth of the third alias 死亡頻道 (Death Channel) would focus more on the practice of making darker sounds all while telling a story at the same time.

On “超越灵魂” (Beyond Soul), 死亡頻道 (Death Channel) tried to imagine a story in which a sad and lonely man was left adrift in his own home due to an accident and what would happen as the situation goes from bad to worse. As you listen to the album, the sound changes a bit, but the essence of sadness and darkness remains. The first two songs are crisp, crystal clear and sort of peaceful. By the end of that second song. we clearly hear that our character dies. It is at this moment where the album truly begins, where it’s real depth comes into play, as from the third song on we accompany this character on their journey into the realization that they have passed away and that they were abandoned during their time of need.

The artwork for this release works perfectly, the overlaying images conjuring up a dazed and confused feeling of awakening in a hospital late at night after everyone has left, confused on how you got here in the first place. Medical instrumentation on the side of your stretcher, a long corridor through which you wander while thinking that you are fine, and your soul being the lonely trooper to go through it all.

"Undoubtedly, the sounds you mention always tell a story, or try to make your imagination fly about what you hear and how you can interpret it. 超越灵魂 (Death Channel) was also like that and what I can recommend for anyone who wants to achieve something of that style, they should simply think about something in their life, in some passage or memory or anecdote, in any situation, and try to figure it out and portray it In music."

- 超越灵魂

Death Channel

When reaching out to 死亡頻道 (Death Channel) regarding any commentary or interesting information regarding the release of “超越灵魂” (Beyond Soul), they told me the inspiration for the project comes mostly from video game soundtrack elements, like Silent Hill and Alice: Madness Returns. That, combined with vaporwave techniques with projects like メディカル= (Medical) and 아버지 (father) led to the creation of 死亡頻道 (Death Channel).

“超越灵魂” (Beyond Soul) is born with sounds and interpretation from some parts of the producers own personal life as well.

"I have been hospitalized 4 times in my life and most of it between 2010 and 2014 I spent in the doctor and hospital accompanying my grandmother until her death (RIP). All those moments of my life, those feelings, being there and living it, was what gave the sound of 超越灵魂 (Death Channel)."

- 超越灵魂

Death Channel

Deathdream is an abandoned goldmine of music, a collection of releases forgotten to time and left to rot away in the furthest corners of Bandcamp. But as we’ve learned today, that may be the ultimate plan of it all anyway. If you are someone who is interested in making Deathdream, 暗い自然 (Dark Nature) notes that you should make a new anonymous alias. Do not worry or stress about publicity, there is someone out there who will notice you. Most importantly, just try to make something you haven’t made before. Dive into the deepest parts of your mind. Most Deathdream that exists is something someone made on the side as a great way to filter creative energy.

So...what will you create, my friend?

Until next time, much love, ur boi,

Pad Chennington

Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST", available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label.

Vapor95 Live 2.0 Replay

Who would be on the Vaporwave Mount Rushmore?

Which four artists would make up, if one were to ever exist in the future far, far away, a Vaporwave Mount Rushmore? A mountain commemorating the 4 most important people from the Vaporwave scene, 4 legendary heroes chiseled into the finest marble by Helios himself?

Today, I want to showcase who I would choose as the 4 faces of the scene, and why. I think we can all agree there are a couple of obvious, you know, incredibly important figures who have really had such an impact on the scene, so many of you will have some of my picks as well… However, I think you will be pretty surprised at who I have for the final spot on this construction of the Mountain of Vaporgods.

First up, I am just going to drop the hammer and say who I think is the most important figure in the history of this entire scene, and I’m sure many of you will agree with me on this. Yes, the one, the only, good ol georgy boi, Mr. George Clanton.

I really do not need to explain much here, but just to refresh your noggin, George is easily one of the hardest working, undeniably trendsetting, and most consistent people to ever come out of the Vaporwave scene. With arguably the most successful and beloved record label in 100% Electronica, creating and being involved in a number of diverse musical projects, or, being the first person to truly bring the URL to IRL by throwing the first ever Vaporwave festival to massive success, George has done so much for us over the years and at this point, it always feels like tomorrow he is just gonna drop another insane announcement for us.

Whether it’s his vocals in the “Mirror Kisses” pop project, heavy aesthetics and vaporwave essentials as ESPRIT 空想, or just being George Clanton himself and creating Anthony Fantano-worthy music pieces or working with Nick Hexum of 311, George is one of the most successful people coming out of this community and is still so heavily invested in his Vaporwave roots, he really has something for everyone and is always the perfect artist to introduce any newcomer to the Vaporwave scene. I remember a couple years ago I brought my best friend to a George Clanton concert, and this friend had no idea who George Clanton was or what Vaporwave for that matter, and it is safe to say that he has become a pretty vivid 100% electronica fan ever since that day.

George’s consistency as someone who is always willing to try new things while making even his most diehard, OG fans happy is something I truly look up to and I know he will be making some magic for us for many, many years to come.

<a href="http://georgeclanton.bandcamp.com/album/under-your-window-out-of-the-blue">Under Your Window / Out of the Blue by George Clanton & Nick Hexum</a>

Next up is another one I think many of you would also put up here: the golden boy, SAINT PEPSI.

SAINT PEPSI, Skylar Spence, or as I like to call him, Big Ryan from Brooklyn, has to have the most classics to ever come out of one single artist in the Vaporwave scene alone. Seriously, really think about it for a second, this dude has so many albums and tracks that people find to be sacred in the scene; Nobody really comes close to the impact he has had. I mean, just off the top of my head, Hit Vibes, Late Night Delight, Empire Building, World Tour and do not even get me started on how many individual songs I think many of us can agree are all-time favorites.

Like George, Ryan has made some pretty dynamic moves in his musical career, especially given the fact that by 2014 he was already a legend and a universal fan favorite in the scene. Many people would keep milking that vibe and success, but in 2015, SAINT PEPSI totally changed things up by releasing “Prom King” under the name Skylar Spence. What many would be scared to do as an artist ended up being an incredibly fun escape from the Vaporwave norms we got used to with SAINT PEPSI, Prom King was vibrant, confident, and full of color with another handful of memorable tracks coming out of this nostalgic, yet refreshing, dance pop joy ride.

We did see an absence of Ryan in the years following Prom King, However, in recent times he has been back in absolute full force headlining Electronicon, releasing arguably his best produced SAINT PEPSI album yet in “Mannequin Challenge”, and even doing a bunch of live shows and touring.

<a href="http://saintpepsi.bandcamp.com/album/mannequin-challenge">Mannequin Challenge by SAINT PEPSI</a>

I am able to say that Ryan is a good friend of mine, being able to work on music with him on my album dewdropper was absolutely incredible, watching this man get into the zone and chopping up a sample I thought couldn’t be chopped up any more. One of the nicest people in the scene, a true teddy bear, I do not know where we would all be without the silky, yet dusty, tunes of SAINT PEPSI.

Third up, now this was a true tough one. I wish I could pick 5 people for this list, but in Mount Rushmore fashion, I gotta stay true to the game. I will be completely honest with you, I was split between 2 people for this list, 2 people who have had such an impact on the scene and it is so hard to leave one out but I gotta do it.

So I was split between t e l e p a t h and 猫シ Corp., and although Jornt (猫シ Corp.), if you are reading this, you know I love you buddy and, just like everyone else can agree upon, there are so many reasons why you could be on this dang mountain... but, look... there is just this undeniable mystique and fascination we all have with t e l e p a t h, I have to give the spot to him.

Just watch the videos of him performing at Electronicon, I know I can say as someone who went to ECON 1 in New York City, absolutely everyone and their mother made sure they were on that damn roof to watch t e l e p a t h perform as the sun set behind the 猫シ Corp. skyline-- Oh, and I can not forget to mention the stretch of albums from 2013-2015 that many would like die for, t e l e p a t h fans are straight up die hard fans. No one does it like t e l e.

With an unbelievable amount of classic releases and having a hand in many of collaborations with other big time Vaporwave artists (猫シ Corp. for example!), the legacy of t e l e p a t h is without question such a focal point of discussion in the community. It is so much fun to just get lost in his hours and hours of slushy, ambient cosmic goodness, his music has so much replay value due to how lost you get into each album that you sometimes forget what that album sounds like when you return to it for another listen. Everyone has a different favorite of his, there is no set “this is the best album”, and because of that alone with a massive discography, it is so hard to not give the spot to him.

<a href="http://catsystemcorp.bandcamp.com/album/building-a-better-world">Building a Better World by 猫シ Corp. & t e l e p a t h</a>

Alright, last but not least, the fourth and final spot on the Vaporwave Mount Rushmore… Some of my honorable mentions would be Vektroid, Vito from DMT Tapes FL, death’s dynamic shroud, James Ferraro and Daniel Lopatin.

But folks, my fourth and final pick for this list goes to the Vapor goddess herself, Luxury Elite.

Why? Why Luxury Elite? An artist who has pretty much been vacant from the scene for years now, her last two albums coming out in 2016 and 2018? Well, there are 2 main reasons I give for this and why I find her to have the most charming touch this scene has ever seen.

First and foremost, Luxury Elite is, in my opinion, the artist I will always listen to when I really wanna go back to that return of the old days of Vaporwave. While her production may be super simple, especially compared to what we have seen today, she just gets how powerful the simplicity of reverb and a charming sample flip alone can be, the fun in the laid back mood her tracks set and the themes she presents with her music creates such a virtually romantic setting... I just absolutely love it. World Class, Fantasy, and New Classics are some of my many favorites from her. And, can not forget to mention that she was one half of one of the most beloved and important albums in the scenes history, Late Night Delight, with SAINT PEPSI.

<a href="http://crashsymbols.bandcamp.com/album/world-class">World Class by Luxury Elite</a>

And although her music is pretty solid for what it is, what really makes me give her this spot is that she curated and managed what I believe to be is the most beautiful archive of Vaporwave releases in existence. A now-defunct label that, even though I was not into the Vaporwave scene in 2013ish, holds some of the most legendary artists and albums to ever see the light of day in our scene and I still travel on over to the abandoned Bandcamp page from time to time to explore the classics that lay there waiting for me. Yes, the legendary Fortune 500 label was run by Luxury Elite herself.

What makes Fortune 500 so great? Let’s look at some of the players on the roster here, ESPRIT 空想, SAINT PEPSI, Luxury Elite (obviously), 猫シ Corp., MACROSS 82-99, 18 Carat Affair, Golden Living Room, the list goes on and on. This is such a beautiful collection of releases, releases that are the pillars of the Vaporwave universe, releases that still stand the test of time and find a home in the hearts of many fans around the world.

<a href="http://illuminatedpaths.bandcamp.com/album/late-night-delight-remastered">LATE NIGHT DELIGHT [Remastered] by SAINT PEPSI // LUXURY ELITE</a>

But, who knows, maybe by 2098 or something t e l e p a t h’s great-grandkids will have released some insane Vaporwave music that we can’t even fathom yet, so maybe by the time this thing gets built there will be a whole new cast of people way more important than the ones I selected for this list. But, I think, for now, I am pretty confident that I would give the 4 spots to the artists I mentioned today, and hopefully one day we can all go on a trip to Mount Vaporwave.

Much Love, ur boi, Pad Chennington.

"Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST" that is available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label."

My Favorite Vaporwave Album of 2019 Is... By Pad Chennington

My Favorite Vaporwave Album of 2019 Is...

So what a year it’s been for the Vaporwave scene.

From Georgie Clanton doin’ the first-ever Vaporwave festival to Aloe Island Records quite possibly putting out the sickest Vaporwave Vinyl record I’ve ever seen, we have seen some pretty exciting stuff this year come out of what once was a strictly online music scene. And talking about the music itself, what a year for releases. From Dan Mason cookin’ up “Hypnagogia” at the beginning of the year to death’s dynamic shroud’s infamous “Live From Japan” Drop, the return of SAINT PEPSI and how about the big ass triangle, FM Skyline making moves and getting signed to 100% Electronica.

So much has happened this year, and today, I want to talk about my personal favorite release of the year and why I have deemed it so. Folks, my favorite Vaporwave release this year is TUPPERWAVE’s “Baby, I Miss You”, which dropped back in late September. The follow up to his super successful and seemingly out of nowhere “To You Baby, With Love”, TUPPERWAVE brings, in my opinion, a virtually perfect blend of Vaporwave and Future Funk to the table with this new album, and not to mention the insane list of features he’s got waiting for you upon your visitation.

Imagine, two lovers in America, 1984, separated by 2,800 miles. To TUPPERWAVE, “To You Baby, With Love” and “Baby, I Miss You” represent a long-distance relationship and the struggles associated, hence the letter format for the titles.

One thing you’ll notice right off the bat is that the album covers were designed to be joined; this was a plan TUPPERWAVE had all the way back in August 2018 when the albums were conceptualized. A young Diane Franklin on the TYBWL cover looks happily into the distance over night-time NYC backdrop whilst Jan-Michael Vincent stares solemnly back over a Los Angeles backdrop in the day. The grids interlocking to represent the faint, distant, digital connection that they share. The day and night themes represent the time difference between NYC and LA.

TUPPERWAVE spent a lot of time on these albums, experimenting with subtle methods of achieving the perfect sidechain/bass combination. This is something I absolutely loved on TYBWL and I’m really happy to see it return in BIMY, it was a unique touch on sidechaining that made the tracks feel really delicate on the kicks, where most other albums would just blast your eardrum to oblivion.

For those who do not know what sidechaining is, sidechaining is frequently used as a production technique to allow one sound to stick out from another, applying compression on one channel to dip and to allow that other sound to come through with varying forms of clarity. Using compression involves a trigger, also set to a threshold, which when passed activates the effect. As I previously mentioned, most artists in the Vaporwave/Future Funk scene (I’ve done this too lol) use this technique to allow their kick drum to pump through and just make another dancy, punchy track; however, with TUPPERWAVE, he just lets his overall sound dip down to a faint, liquidy kick on the sidechain and gives his tracks a very delicate, dreamy yet funky emission. This isn’t on every track, if anything we have an explosive kick on Pursuit featuring DUCAT, but on “We Were Dancing” you see more of that bubbly kick come into play and it is straight-up TICKLISH!

On “Baby, I Miss You”, TUPPERWAVE tried to capture each artist’s style that he was collaborating with, all while staying true to his signature sound. And what a variety he ended up getting, producing with Future Funk artist ED. on the track 'Paradise Ocean Club', there is a ton of hopping as ED. is known for finding really nice flowing chops, bouncing around from one slice to the next. Both ADRIANWAVE, DUCAT & UNI DELUXE hit TUPPERWAVE up with that club filled dance flow which came out really well with the 80s samples they chose together.

“I absolutely love these guys and feel like they really lifted the energy of the album in the center, gearing up toward that Vaporfunk drop off toward the end.” - TUPPERWAVE

The latter half of the album kicks off with Melonade, really taking that thumping Vaporfunk approach with heavy sidechaining. TUPPERWAVE recalls Melonade having really awesome ideas in regards to layout, which can be heard with the radio cuts in the track. He also got to work with the big homie Dan Mason, Dan rerecording a majority of the bass and background elements on the samples they chose for the track.

“The sample was improved 10x by the king himself, an absolute pleasure to work with and an absolute musical GOD.” - TUPPERWAVE

As can be seen on TYBWL, the end of the album was a lengthy Vaporwave-Esque outro with heavy emotional baggage. With BIMY, Tupperwave had TVVIN_PINEZ_M4LL step in to lead the album into the outro with his very unique style, a production technique that gives an incredibly energetic yet laid back, Vapor sound. The track really sets the mood for the 2 part piece that is the final track with 猫シ Corp., this pair of samples was taken from a 1980s straight-to-tv movie and really resonates the Corp/Tupperwave sound wonderfully.

So that is an explanation of the album literally, but what truly makes it my personal favorite album of the year? Well for me, TUPPERWAVE and his two big releases this year represent the true beauty of the Vaporwave scene at its current state, the entire community has truly evolved to something beyond music in 2019 and there has never been a time like now where we are all striving to be connected more than anything else. We’ve all made some pretty great friends here, and “Baby, I Miss You” represents the beautiful idea that you can work with anyone you want, learn from anyone you want, artists you’ve looked up to for a while are just as much of a fan of the scene as you are. We all in this together baby.

It’s also the perfect blend of Vaporwave and Future Funk for me, you know me I’m not a fan of that like super high pitched, 130 BPM and up, anime girls all over the place type of Future Funk (It’s just like a sugar overload lol shit be givin’ me a cavity!). Everything is really smooth, a nice blend of all different types of sampled genres to constantly give you a new story upon every start of the track, yet it’s glued together with that unique sidechaining style TUPPERWAVE has really attached to himself so it all blends wonderfully as a full album. It’s like you just finished playing a full 90-minute game of soccer, all you would want is a nice cold beverage right? Drinking something too cold would just give you a cramp and a half... “Baby, I Miss You” is that perfectly chilled yellow Gatorade, just cool enough to quench that thirst.

TUPPERWAVE, who once went as The Vapor Room, has made a couple of releases in the past but it seems that this year he really blew up for many, even his classic-Vaporwave release of “KOALA KORP コアラ” got some pretty solid recognition as well. Entering the 2020’s, who knows what he, or anyone else for that case, has in store for us, all I know is that these are what we are going to be calling “the good times” in the future... So enjoy the ride!

Much love, ur boi (AND HAPPY NEW YEARS!),

Pad Chennington

"Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST" that is available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label."

Have You Heard of “Virtual Phantasy 2097”?

What were you doing in the year 2014? Yeah, 2014 may have only been 5 years ago, but for the Vaporwave community, things were very, very different.

Vinyl records in the scene were basically non-existent, death’s dynamic shroud was just beginning to make their way up the ladder, and Dream Catalogue was the go-to place artists wanted to have their albums featured on.

Talking about Dream Catalogue, there was one artist present on the label at the time, and for quite a while up until that point, that seemed to drop nothing but eventual fan favorites release after release. No need for an introduction here, yes, the elusive t e l e p a t h, at this point an already legendary figure in the scene, was undoubtedly taking over the Vaporwave community. Unsurprisingly, many artists wanted to work with him around this time, one artist in particular who went by the name of Golden Living Room. And that folks, is where we begin our story today, the story of one of t e l e p a t h ‘s many collaboration albums, and how Golden Living Room was able to make it all happen… a story showing that sometimes, all you really have to do is ask.

Get comfy my friend, because you and I are going to be exploring the legendary “Virtual Phantasy 2097” album and how it all came to be.

Back in 2014, Golden Living Room was an active artist on Bandcamp and eventually started to get likes on his tracks from t e l e p a t h himself. He also started seeing an abundant amount of people in the Vaporwave community sharing music from t e l e p a t h and constantly creating a conversation surrounding his latest releases. GLR, at the time, had a jaded attitude towards Vaporwave and states that he did not like what it was changing into compared to the genre’s original conception and recalls being very dismissive of new projects coming about in the community.

“I was very dismissive of new projects and had a very closed mind about anything new, even if it was hyped. I would listen to a few seconds of a track and then skip it, forming my opinion that way. I was in a terrible state and missed out on so much music when it was happening.” - Golden Living Room

Around the same time, GLR was also approached by Dream Catalogue to do WELCOME HOME. While working with Dream Catalogue, Golden Living Room was doing a guest mix for the label when he decided to give another try listening to this artist everyone seemed to be raving about, t e l e p a t h, and began to like what he heard. The warm quality of his tracks, all while being able to penetrate his subconscious mind, was more than inviting for GLR and he began to develop a new appreciation for the direction(s) Vaporwave was going in.

Golden Living Room decided to contact t e l e p a t h shortly after on Twitter and struck up a conversation, only to quickly cut to the chase and state that he was interested in collaborating with him. At the time, GLR knew many artists were working with t e l e p a t h so he thought it would not hurt to just ask. He was confident their sounds would mesh, and he went for it. And, as you can tell, asking really paid off.

After a while, the two got on the topic of dreams and other spiritual concepts and found out that they had a lot in common. GLR luckily had several tracks in the works before even contacting him (always come prepared people!) and, because of that, the majority of the collaboration was ultimately done in one evening; “Virtual Phantasy 2097” was born.

“I was floored at how fast and effortless it was for him to add his signature ambient sound to the stems I sent. We both were working with samples at the time, so the process was very different than it is today.” - Golden Living Room

Something about the effortless flow of the album made it a perfect project for the duo, and to this day, “Virtual Phantasy 2097” is one of GLR’s favorite personal releases. The timing of contacting t e l e p a t h was right on the money and the way the whole album unfolded was effortless.

“It took little to no thinking on either one of our parts. It was more of a flow of energy that took its own course.” - Golden Living Room

The album, in classic fashion with anything t e l e p a t h happens to touch, is a dreamy, slushy, swirly intergalactic travel through the farthest of stars. At over a 70-minute listen, “Virtual Phantasy 2097” is a pretty lengthy release and features a side A primarily from t e l e p a t h and a side B primarily from Golden Living Room, with t e l e p a t h pretty much creating everything else after the addition of GLR’s already existing tracks. The two spent several more nights chatting for hours, coming up with titles and aesthetic ideas. The artwork, layout, and design of “Virtual Phantasy 2097” were all done by t e l e p a t h. He chose the cover of the album based off of the original aesthetic of Golden Living Room at the time, a very “videogamey”, insides-of-a-computer habitat. t e l e p a t h also thought of using the Sega Saturn spine for the album art, fitting for GLR as that was one of his favorite systems.

Having the chance to speak to Golden Living Room about the release, I was able to get an up-close look at his half of the album and his personal experiences making it. Golden Living Room grew up in the dawn of the MMORPG with games like Phantasy Star Online, Final Fantasy XI and many other games. He spent a notable amount of time playing these games, stating that the music from these games sank deep into the subconscious of his mind. The music was so important to him that he used to include at least one sample from Phantasy Star Online in every one of his earlier albums, all the way up to “This Is Where I Am Right Now”. This love for MMORPG soundtracks obviously bled into the creation of “Virtual Phantasy 2097”.

The track “Living Water” featuring Spring Water 泉is actually a collaboration with his friend Nate who runs Midwest Collective, stating that he (Nate) has always been a silent powerhouse in the Vaporwave scene.

The song "I Can't See At All (It's Safe)” was actually written in 2012 and was artistic therapy for Golden Living Room after he was mugged on his way home from his university’s library when he was studying music theory for his master's degree. The song "Halocline Systems" was supposed to be a track for his friend’s utopian cyberspace themed game project trilogy, but they were not ready to finish the game on the timeframe GLR was on, so Golden Living Room just decided to release it into one of his own personal projects.

What makes “Virtual Phantasy 2097” so funny from a discussion standpoint, or for that point any project t e l e p a t h gets his hands on, is that you really end up just praising each album for almost the same thing. How many times can we call a t e l e p a t h release an “amazing dreamscape” or “an out of body” experience? I think it’s pretty amazing to be an artist that conjures up a struggle for anyone to really explain what it is beyond these overused Vaporwave terms, the strange state fans find themselves in trying to discover new adjectives to properly explain the feelings one would get listening to one of these releases. “Virtual Phantasy 2097” is no different, a project that lifts you from your physical body and soars you through starry depths light years away from any of us. Any fan of ambiance and Slushwave should definitely check this album out if you have not already, prepare to take flight in a virtual, space-like world with the enormity of a thousand galaxies. And remember, as I said earlier, this album proves that if you want something, anything, all you have to do is just ask. The Vaporwave community is a very friendly place, and artists are always appreciative of anything you have to say when it comes to their music. Whether you want to pitch the idea of working with someone, provide constructive criticism to their latest release, or just simply drop on by to say hello, just asking a question may lead to a world of endless possibilities.

Golden Living Room will be featured in my upcoming musical collaboration project titled “COMBOCHAMP”. I’ve decided to take 20 beloved artists from the Vaporwave scene and randomly pair them with one another to create a track for this soon to be unforgettable album releasing on New Years Day of 2020. I, and many others, are excited to see where Golden Living Room goes with his contribution to the project.

Much love, ur boi,

Pad Chennington.

"Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST" that is available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label."

The Nostalgic Sensation of "Vaportrap"

Do you feel a little warm and fuzzy inside when hearing old video game console and retro operating system start-up sounds? Love playing catch up with the hypnotic, yet chaotic, hi-hat patterns, 808 bass samples and poppy snares of traditional, hard-hitting trap beats? Well, do I got a genre for you, my friend.

Say hello to “Vaportrap”, a genre that is… exactly what the name is: a blend of Vaporwave and Trap music. Ever since its birth in 2012 with Blank Banshee’s “Blank Banshee 0”, a commonly agreed upon release that many label as the first of the Vaportrap genre, producers of the scene have been walking on a creative tightrope, a mighty fine balancing act between the two styles to constantly find new and exciting ways to blend the two very different genres together.

On one end, we have the notoriously nostalgic undertones of Vaporwave; you’ll find your selection of old hardware sounds (take a shot every time you hear the Sega Dreamcast booting up sound effect), spacey, ambient chords and just generally textured filters on top of everything, baking every melody to have that retro charm all recycled from long ago.

In the other corner of the ring, we have the fiery attitude of Trap to cover you with the drums. Like two armies clashing with one another, Vaportrap sends in thunderous layered kick drums, sharp, rapid hi-hats, and orchestral synthesizers to combat the generally laidback and woozy vaporwave style. And while these two may seem to be polar opposites on the surface level, these opposites really do attract here as the ferociousness of trap instrumentals brilliantly fills that missing trait in the chillness of Vaporwave, and vice versa. Like peanut butter and jelly, these two genres were seriously made to be and we have seen some extremely memorable and fun releases ever since its conception.

Today, I want to give you 5 releases from the Vaportrap scene that I feel do a great job at showcasing what there is to offer, and more so, go past the stereotypical tropes of the genre. I really find Vaportrap to be an umbrella term more than anything so you may find some releases on here to be more Electronic than Vaporwave, classic Hip Hop than Trap, etc. I’m also not going to talk about super mega gigantic classics like Manapool and the Blank Banshee releases, those of you reading this article have probably heard those albums multiple times through already so instead, we are going to explore some other essential Vaportrap albums that you may have not heard about. Welcome my friend to the nostalgic sensation of “Vaportrap”.

CONTACT LENS - ICE IN THA VEINS (2012)

More so a mixtape than an album, let us start off the list at #5 with CONTACT LENS’ 2012 release of “ICE IN THA VEINS”. Less hectic and more tamed than most Vaportrap selections out there, “ICE IN THA VEINS” is a 27 track long display of chilly, ice-cold sample selections and synthesizers poured over brash hip hop drum loops that take their time with you… a dream haven for fans of downtempo instrumentals. This release feels really long, like some truck driver hauling their 18-wheeler around a snowy mountainside knowing they have hours and hours ahead of them of just seeing nothing but the blanketing nature of winter. CONTACT LENS brings home a very relaxing listen attracting you in with it’s smooth, icicle-inspired sounds at the forefront.

For those who are fans of 100% Electronica artist Satin Sheets, “ICE IN THA VEINS” has a very similar feel to albums like “St. Francis” but replaces the pumpy kicks with more distorted ones and other little additions to make this more of a hip hop Vaporwave experience than a funkier inspired one. While most Vaportrap releases I would definitely not consider to be “background” music, this album is most certainly in its prime state when it is treated as a piece to merely zone out to rather than dissect and have your ears chase every individual sound like other Vaportrap releases. Many may not even consider this to be a Vaportrap release because of that tranquility and lo-fi downtempo structure, but because of it’s extremely early release in the scene and definitely having a heavy influence from Hip-Hop, I know many of you will find comfort in the slow-motion blizzard of “ICE IN THA VEINS”

As the legendary Vito James of DMT Tapes FL stated back in 2017, “I, naturally, made this (ICE IN THE VEINS) my ‘christen 2017 with an album you’ve never heard before’ an entire near half-decade later, and… my god. The quality has held up like you just cut open an air-tight Bubba Kush OG from Sacramento.

---音 LIGHT システム - ＢｕｙＭｉｌｋ--- (2014)

“In these modern times, our trials are not those of the flesh, but of the soul. In the long treks between safe and understandable concepts lie a murky uncertainty. Plastic bottles of milk are stacked on shelves in such a way as to make the surplus appear infinite. Like the bottles of milk, our days seem without end, only to suddenly dwindle down to nothing - but the idea that there is no end is still very real in our minds. Shelves stacked with hopes and dreams. Moments crystallized into colorful, morphing cubes that seem to detach and attach themselves to each other with unknown sentience. Like savoring a glass of milk, could one not also savor time?

Imagine you could buy another day…”

Hello shoppers, welcome to “B u y M i l k” by producer 音LIGHTシステム (translated on Google as Sound LIGHT System). This album is a pure gem and is one of the first albums I actually ever heard when discovering the world of Vaporwave. A pretty short listen to 9 tracks averaging at 3 minutes a song, “B u y M i l k” consists of a hearty blend of characteristics to please any appetite. You’ll find your go-to Signalwave weather reporter sample as early as track #2 “家族ｗａｋｅ-ｕｐ” and then shoot right over to a more future funk-inspired piece in the next track “夢 - ｌｉｎｅ”.

Every track has its own personality which can range from polished mixdowns to fuzzy, VHS inspired journeys into your television-watching past. Heavy reverb on hi-hats provides an expansive listen, playing homage to the open and virtually endless ocean behind the island we see in the album art. Tropical shakers and whistling birds in tracks like 夜のコーヒー (which translates to Coffee at Night), emphasizes this feeling of being alone on this cubey, 3D rendered pacific island… But being alone may be the best way to soak in everything we have going on here. For something that is only about 26 minutes long, the artist really came to play and truly deserves to have your full attention for each song we have found here washed upon the shoreline.

Cobalt Road - Purgatory (2015)

Next up on our travels, let's soar high into the sky with the wispy and luxuriously aerodynamic “Purgatory” by Cobalt Road. Vaportrap rendered out to have 20/20 vision, the beats kept at a constant 20,000 feet altitude has “Purgatory” feeling like some of the cleanest and freshest produced Vaportrap in the game. This, in a genre that boasts aggressive instrumentals with sounds flying all over the place, is indeed a breath of fresh air as tracks like “Mirrors” towards the beginning of the album would be nothing but a relaxing simple little tune that may accompany an airport terminal elevator if it wasn’t for the pristine drum production giving it weight and parachuting it back down to earth. The just short of a two-minute track titled “Solitude” is as tranquil as they come, distant synthesizers paired with its liking of humble bongos and the go-to reverb-heavy treatment on hats to really give you this respectful and submissive state of Vaportrap. Everything ends with a bang (especially compared to this albums standards) as the final track “Bliss” explodes into a warped, wanderlust inspired horn riff.

Cobalt Road’s release here is a very calm album that lays in between exhaustingly relaxing background music and traditional, yet super fine-tuned, trap-influenced percussion— “Purgatory” is really the perfect name for this album, in this case, an intermediate state between trap extremities and angelic soft tones.

“Suspended between two points; Light and dark, past and future, joy and sadness, life and death.“

Overall, this is a crispy clean release in the Vaportrap hemisphere; quaint yet sophisticated. “Purgatory” has the ability to be your background music while cleaning the house or writing an essay persay, all while having the ability to also be used as a piece to sit around with friends and bump your heads to its heavy trap underbelly. Which side will you take?

Ganz Feld - Urania (2018)

This is what a Metroid game would sound like with a Vaportrap soundtrack.

More so influenced by electronic and cyberpunk flair than anything Vaporwave or aesthetics of that nature, “Urania” by Ganz Feld is a great, great release to check out if you are a Vaportrap fan as its layers upon layers of diverse sounds are nothing short of captivating and inspiring for the hyper-active percussion lying below it.

Released on Dream Catalogue back in 2018, “Urania” has it all. Acid-Techno harps and synths accompanied by this marching style directness on track number #10 “Reprogrammed” is powerful and orchestral, especially those little breaks during the track where we get nothing but this buzzing and zapping drone treatment eventually giving room for the drums to creep back in. Track #2 “Hyperware” provides us a playground of techno and trap all getting along with one another... that ambient interlude towards the end of the track providing a small window of air before you dive back down into the fun.

“Urania” feels like you’ve stumbled upon an alien planet but you have yet to discover the lifeforms that inhabit it, unsure if they are going to be hostile or friendly. The album sways between calm and caffeinated constantly and really paints settings of what this alien world would look like from alien factories leaking with sludge to miles and miles of purple-grass covered hills. Almost every track, from change-ups and interludes within them, feels like it’s 3 different songs all crammed into one. Surprisingly, nothing feels abrupt though and that is why I think this release deserves some serious praise. Track #9 “Massive Chain” is a perfect example of this as layers of instrumentals are literally growing and morphing into their final form with one another, not just merely existing to differentiate from one another and making you think “wait, is this a new track?”

Also, we gotta talk about that album art, for fans of that Y2K aesthetic feast your eyes on this thing of beauty. Not sure if this is an actual 3D-rendered creation for the project specifically or if this alien-like vehicle was taken from a video game or something, but damn this thing just straight up sounds like the music coming off the album. Also, nothing screams “early 2000’s” like the color emerald, jewels, and microfiber. And the hyper-reflective water in the background? What a juicy lookin’ piece!

NxxxxxS - Remember Last Summer (2017)

Last but not least, what I consider to be pretty much my favorite Vaportrap release of all time. NxxxxxS’s 2017 release of “Remember Last Summer”. Inspired by 90’s and 2000’s horror movies, “Remember Last Summer” is smoky in its production and comedically spooky in its sound choices, pitched-down vocal chops and flute melodies on tracks like “1000 Ways To Get Paid” have so much personality in them you can’t help but fall in love with its eclectic flair. This track is then followed up with “Come Home 2nite” that quickly places us on a dark path at twilight with it’s warped synths and slower percussion progression throughout the song. Right after this, “Evil Thoughts Be on My Mind” featuring Soudiere brings us right back in the trap with Halloween inspired sound effects and hard-hitting kicks, snares, and hi-hats.

I really love every single song on here and can go on about them all, my favorite I think would be “1000 Blunts”, that Goodfellas sample in the beginning before the pitch dips and that calm and cool flute beat comes in... it is so rewarding and sounds so damn good (trust me, there is no other way to describe it. So. Damn. Good.)

This album, as well as everything else NxxxxxS has in his discography, has grown on me so much overtime. I remember discovering “Remember Last Summer” right around the time I was obsessing over VAPERROR’s entire catalog and the rest of the Plus100 label in general, and I overlooked it as I was mesmerized by the more upfront, aggressive and harsh Vaportrap that you definitely can find in the bubbly world of VAPERROR and his works. There were 3 vinyl records left of “Remember Last Summer” when I discovered the album (don’t ask me how I remember that, I have a weird memory for things lol) and I regret not picking one up!

Most of you may recognize NxxxxxS by his most popular album, “Fujita Scale” (which is also incredible, to say the least), but for me, “Remember Last Summer” takes the cake with its memorable personality and narrative dedicated to cheesy fun horror movies. If there is one album I couldn’t recommend enough from the Vaportrap scene it is definitely this spooky boi right here, this thing goes ridiculously hard in the paint.

G-funk and 90’s hip hop fed through a Halloween sound effects noise bank and cooked up in the kitchen by NxxxxxS himself, a bag of candy better than any haul you have ever gotten while trick-or-treating... Stay spooky my friends.

Much love, ur boi, Pad Chennington.

"Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST" that is available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label."

The 84 Stories of Vaporwave: What is DERELICTメガタワー?

JOIN THE INTERNATIONAL TEAM AS THEY ATTEMPT TO CATALOGUE A MEGATOWER OF UNTOLD HEIGHTS. WILL YOU MAKE IT TO THE TOP???

Today, you and I are going to be dissecting death’s dynamic shroud’s 84 track behemoth known as DERELICTメガタワー.

“So my first impression of Vaporwave was a very sort of negative and it made me take this Puritan stance against sampling… The idea with DERELICTメガタワーwas that, you know, the totality of music history was this “megatower” and every generation adds to their own floor or layer of this megatower… but as we take ideas from the past and recontextualize them or sample them or whatever, like a Jenga tower we are taking pieces from the bottom and putting them on the top…” - James Webster of death’s dynamic shroud.wmv

Ask any Vaporwave fan out there, and they will tell you that nothing ever really comes close to the experience of listening to death’s dynamic shroud. Consisting of Tech Honors, James Webster, and Keith Rankin (whom many of you may recognize for running Orange Milk records as well as the incredible artwork he has done for a handful of artists), the talented trio of death’s dynamic shroud provides a diverse opportunity for production due to the fact that they can mix and match their members to create the exact mood, atmosphere, and tone they are looking to nail for a project with pinpoint accuracy. Like some trio jumping in and out of the playing field in a Marvel vs. Capcom game, death’s dynamic shroud is able to pass their projects to their partners, when one of them knows the track they are currently working on, may benefit better from the talents of another member, or maybe they just simply can't figure out what to do next and inspiration has run dry... It’s a practice that provides a great example of power in numbers, and while Heavy Black Heart is the only actual known album all 3 of the members worked on, there is without a doubt that these members use one another for advice, criticism, or even just a way to look at a track in a new light.

Did you know that Tech made 世界大戦OLYMPICS completely on his own? Or that Keith Rankin never made a solo album under the death’s dynamic shroud monicker? Or how about when James works with Tech, death’s dynamic shroud spits out something more emotionally gripping and haunting like REGRET, or on the other hand, when he works with Keith, we get something way more jarring and obnoxious, the screeching yet melodic siren of I’ll Try Living Like This.

Because of this opportunity to mix and match, death’s dynamic shroud will always provide something wonderful for anyone, and it's always fun discussing their discography with other death’s dynamic shroud fans and seeing which album is their favorite.

“My first experience with death’s dynamic shroud was seeing the album art for I’ll Try Living Like This… I fell in love with the sound that is so unique to them… I love how it seems like if they think an idea is good, they find a way to make it work… they have a way of taking a round object and putting it flawlessly through a square hole, and that’s crazy to me. ” - S h e e p (Fiction Lead and Content Creator for Private Suite Magazine)

For me, I have always been split between 4 of their albums as “my favorite”: Regret, 世界大戦OLYMPICS, I’ll Try Living Like This and DERELICTメガタワー. Obviously, all 4 are completely different from one another and that is why I do not believe I will ever truly be able to pick one. But today, we are going to be specifically focusing on DERELICTメガタワー.

“... but suddenly, Vaporwave was making video game music cool again, and so we were making these mixtapes for each other passing them back and forth and just enjoying, so my stance really changed on sampling and recontextualizing music” - James Webster of death’s dynamic shroud.wmv

Despite its massive size of 84 tracks and over 4 hours of music, death’s dynamic shroud’s 2014 release DERELICTメガタワー was created solely by one member of the trio: James Webster. Starting as a concept album for HCMJ (another one of James names to produce music under), the works were eventually transferred into the DERELICTメガタワー album for death’s dynamic shroud.

His 84 track experiment, consisting mostly of old video game samples giving themselves to James for him to control and bend at his will, represents everything Vaporwave is all about to the fullest degree. For most of these tracks, James would focus heavily on the process of recording with tape. Music was recorded onto the 4-track, and then played back into the computer at a lower reel speed. This created a warm, natural slowing and pitching of the samples as opposed to a digital simulation in a DAW.

“... So some of that snarkiness and sort of punk rock energy from that original HCMJ concept still exists in DERELICTメガタワー” - James Webster of death’s dynamic shroud.wmv

DERELICTメガタワー is simple at its core and represents the idea that you can really do anything in the scene, no matter how serious you take it or not. This is why this album is such a hub world for vapor fans out their, new and old. Just an experiment.

“84 tracks, just like the quests that I’ve never completed in most RPGs, you kind of get lost listening to this album, but luckily unlike our SNES, you can listen to this album on shuffle and still get a great experience.” - KITE0080 (Vaporwave YouTuber)

The tracks themselves would be nothing without the overpowering aesthetic behind it. I envision the tower in the artwork, some floors being more convoluted while others are mere lobbies... a resting point between two hectic spots. In a way, I also like to think of the album as having to save points. I have never listened to the album straight through and whenever I revisit it, I usually listen to it in chunks eventually pausing at a more calm or simple track among its journey. There is an amazing amount of variety between every song, rainy days and sunny days, really pushing this grand journey as you progress to the top of the megatower.

“... Dream Catalogue, which is where I really wanted to be at the time… I loved what they were doing and I was a huge fan… I felt like, well if I make a 4 hour long album and just send it to them, they won’t be able to say no! ” - James Webster of death’s dynamic shroud.wmv

And when actually glancing at the tracklist on its Bandcamp listing, that first time you stumble upon that web page and scroll down, witnessing the sheer length of songs PERFECTLY replicates the entire idea of the album in the first place... Looking up at the ever so gigantic, intimidating, dark tower in the middle of a city. You know at first glance, putting aside whether or not you will actually like the music or not, no matter what-- listening to derelict is going to be a challenge for you.

“... and, death’s dynamic shroud really lives up to their name because, if there is one way I can describe this album, it is dynamic. ” - Magdalen Rose (YouTuber)

So whether one perceives James's reasoning for the massive length of the album as unnecessary filler to stretch a narrative or actual concrete beauty building those floors (or a mix of both), the connection between the albums enormous tracklist and villainous-looking artwork undoubtedly makes you curious about the project altogether.

“... Because death’s dynamic shroud was really just a joke in the beginning about Vaporwave, not necessarily making fun of it, but Tech and I had spent almost a decade making original music and original compositions, playing in bands… so, originally, death’s dynamic shroud was a fun space for us to play around with other people’s music… taking it to its maximum extreme was something that really appealed to me at the time.” - James Webster of death’s dynamic shroud.wmv

An album this big and/or intriguing easily creates a buzz and, in my opinion, encouraging discussion is one of the most rewarding benefits an artist can achieve when making music; the idea that you can bring people together to discuss it and just have a fun time breaking it down.

If you haven’t geared up for the trek yet, I highly recommend finding the time to listen to this thing. This is not an album you have to listen to in one sitting, I actually recommend you treat it like a book and I think you’ll get the best experience that way, revisiting it whenever you’re ready to take on the long, arduous task ahead.

“... I say it doesn’t really matter… because I think everybody has a unique experience waiting for them inside the megatower” - Porter Vong (The Richest Man in Vaporwave)

Much love, ur boi, Pad Chennington.

"Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST" that is available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label."

Check out the album below

The Abandoned Genre of "Ocean Grunge"

The Abandoned Genre of

"Ocean Grunge"

Thalassophobia: a persistent and intense fear of deep bodies of water. While many quickly resort to feelings of fear when envisioning the dark void of the deep sea, there once existed a small selection of artists who, around 2014, tried to bottle that eerie, boundless energy of the ocean into a musical form. Today, we are going to explore that genre, a now-abandoned genre once known as “Ocean Grunge”, what it was and some of the notable releases from this aquatically angsty genre found within the depths of the internet. I invite you to take my hand and make sure you bring some solid scuba equipment as we embark through dark granite colored water and never-ending cloudy skies above us, all while reflecting a hopeless attitude on contemporary western society because you know, all internet genres are deep. No pun intended.

Welcome my friends to the abandoned genre known as “Ocean Grunge”

Ocean Grunge is an interesting topic to make a video on because, well, there really isn’t that much to talk about nor a dense history to go off of. On the surface, Ocean Grunge pretty much practiced a lot of the same tendencies other quirky electronic genres emerging from the internet around that time did as well, but did it with such a specific narrative in mind that it created this interesting little bubble of a vibe, which also caused its inevitable downfall due to its narrow flexibility. To save you time and to get us to actual examples of Ocean Grunge, I highly recommend checking out FrankJavCee’s famous video on how to make Ocean Grunge whenever you get the chance. While his videos were mostly parody-based, frank is a smart fella and is really good at wording things in a comedic, yet informative way. He does a great job explaining the construction of the sound for what it is, but to knock out what Ocean Grunge literally was for this article and to get us to the good stuff, it was an electronic music genre heavily influenced by early Vaporwave, drone, and grunge with an aesthetic of dark, cloudy, endless waters. You will also find a lot of sources saying its influenced by Nu metal, but I really do not see that at all

There were not really too many ocean grunge releases, the genre pretty much came and went because the narrative was so specific. How many songs could have possibly be made about the same thing? How many times can we take pictures of a gloomy ocean and say to ourselves “what would this sound like in musical form?” To be honest, I have never really listened to this little nook of a genre before exploring it for this topic, so I searched up the “Ocean Grunge Essentials” list and picked 5 of these that I thought the album cover was cool on and give them a chance. One of these albums I actually enjoyed very much, was pretty surprised actually so make sure you stick around for all of these picks I'm about to present to you today. Get cozy my friend because you and I are going to be exploring what Ocean Grunge has for us beneath the surface.

5) gorgeous☵gorgias - oceanographer #15

At #5 to start off the list, we are going to take a look at “oceanographer #15” by gorgeous☵gorgias. This was the first album art that popped to me from the list so I said let’s give it a shot.

Taking a look at the album art, it seems some helicopter expedition group just made a discovery that pretty much makes no sense, because it seems like they're in the middle of the ocean and there is no way that that thing floats so either this statue extends hundreds and hundreds of feet below what we’re seeing or the density of this water is so thick that this statue is just plopped at the top. I mean, now to think of it, it also kinda looks like snow so maybe this is Snow Grunge :^)

“oceanographer #15”, after listening to it, is pretty simple and vacant of any intensity. The Bandcamp description has it as “The story of a woman who ran away from Life to find Death in a submarine.” … very chilling

The album contains 6 tracks with some classic Ocean Grunge treatment, slowing down them samples with a multitude of textures to make this thing sound crunchy, yet underwater. It seems the album’s main weapon to ”woo” you is its constant panning, but I just think that method gets kinda annoying and overdone throughout the entirety of the album. Certain sections of songs will be situated completely on one side of your headphones, or it'll just be constantly waving back and forth between your ears… I mean hey, waving, waves, like the ocean,...right?

Nonetheless, some pretty chill background music and definitely sounds like you have signed your life away to live in a submarine, constantly descending deeper and deeper with each track.

4) Pacific Despair - ~Devour~

Oooh, this one looks a little spooky baby I don't think I wanna be treading at #4 here with “~~~Devour~~~” by Pacific Despair. A dark, brooding album cover of what seems to be a world with an ocean below us and an ocean above, or maybe this is the perspective of swimming deep within the depths of an underwater trench, getting closer and more claustrophobic with every push towards the bottom of the sea. “~~~Devour~~~” comes at us with 6 tracks, a very similar format and track length list almost completely identical to “oceanographer #15”. If you check out a couple of this Ocean Grunge releases you can easily see why this genre kinda went under. A lot of it just seemed to be the same thing release to release, just some gloomy Mallsoft if anything, so I think it's just more of the name of the genre that dispersed or labeling this sound as “Ocean Grunge” than the actual sound itself disappearing. Ocean Grunge is just another case of the always-sprouting niche genres the internet belches up for us that find its eventual doom due to the limitations conjured up by its own narrative.

Nothing too dynamic or ear-catching on “~~~Devour~~~” as well, just some more faint background noise to accompany you if you’re studying, cleaning the house, or whatever you like to do. The is pumped with reverb, echoing samples, droned out and constantly retexturized metallic sound effects… you know the deal. I mean, it definitely does sound a bit distant, like you’re under the sea while there is a ton of activity going on above the surface but being so deep underneath, the sound just can't quite get past the ocean water into your ears. “~~~Devour~~~” a good example of what ocean grunge wants to be, another product off the ocean grunge conveyor belt and we can leave it at that. Every track pretty much sounds the same, all leading up to the final track “no signal” which just sounds like one 10 second sound stretched out by like 2000%, it does the notion of an “aquatic void” justice I guess.

3) POSEIDON IN CHAINS - Beneath the burning hands of God

Next up, I decided to choose an Ocean Grunge album from the Ocean Grunge Essentials list that did not actually have an ocean in the picture… crazy right?

Let us take a look at “Beneath the burning hands of God” by POSEIDON IN CHAINS, 5 tracks all with a decent amount of length to them ranging between 6 and 8 minutes long each. The album describes itself on Bandcamp as “From the last remnants of the planet, around the year 2500”, and it definitely does give you an abandoned, apocalyptic feeling. The constant sound of ocean waves crashing upon the shore are remnants of a once flourishing coastal town, flocks of seagulls searching for a bite to eat, bellowing vocal samples poking out between the more quaint parts of the track where a lot of the sounds seem to mellow out... You’ll hear some stretched wind chimes, or what seems to be some glass or metallic noise-making objects. Very vast, enormous feeling, and an album that really scopes how big and empty the world would be if nothing existed but oceans and remnants of what used to be a society. Beneath the burning hands of God is very spa-like, yet definitely ominous; it is like the Tripods from War of the Worlds about to come out the damn ocean and vaporize you at any possible second.

I think this album is definitely better than the first two we took a look at, there actually is some effort in regards to creating a layered, structured song. POSEIDON IN CHAINS does a solid job with synths, sounds, and sights to really give each little instrument or hum it’s respected space, definitely sticks out as one of the more prominent, talented artists from such a specific corner of music. “Beneath the burning hands of God” paints a picture of this hopeless wasteland we find ourselves in quite well, a cinematic experience for something that can only be heard through 5 tracks. Good job with this one.

2) metsu - as the earth drinks

Next up we got “as the earth drinks” by metsu, another 5 track release coming out all the way back in June of 2011. Recorded in December of 2010, “as the earth drinks” is an ambient and textural five-song album with bit crushed and compressed drums, fingered guitar strumming and some moments of breakdowns believe it or not (track 2 titled “imber” goes hard at the end, out of nowhere). This album is definitely not Vaporwave, some of these Ocean Grunge albums really flow towards the “grunge” side, and this album is definitely one of them. As I was mentioning earlier, I think a lot of Ocean Grunge is basically just some gloomy mallsoft with a narrative based on the ocean, I guess the other half is just ambient sounding grunge.

“as the earth drinks” is a cool listen, very raw and seems super unpolished which, we all know, can sound really great if it is done right. The album really feels like it was recorded in one go by some friends in a garage on a rainy afternoon, tracks like “rust/gasping for air” sound like a chillaxed jam session with your best buds and a 12-pack. Some tracks just sound like your standard “grunge” song, I do not really see the relationship to the ocean in track #4 titled “to keep from drowning (your feet must touch the ground)”, but hey, not everything needs to be a e s t h e t i c.
This album has a physical release, which is also surprisingly still available for being out since 2011. The CD comes in a shrink-wrapped, high-quality printed board case with a really nice 5-panel pop-out accordion artbook. I really adore the packaging here, Ocean Grunge definitely has some strong and mesmerizing colors in its palette and the CD packaging here takes advantage of that quite well. Only 100 of these exist, and hey, why not support these fellas and grab something that somehow still exists for sale that is almost 10 years old. Pretty cool indeed.

--§E▲ ▓F D▓G§ - THROUGH THE FOG AND THE DRIFTWOOD

Alrighty, last but definitely not least, I want to share with you an album that I actually find to be quite amazing and I am really happy to have discovered it by checking out this Ocean Grunge Essentials list. For the final pick of this countdown, we are going with one of the OG players of the Ocean Grunge sound --§E▲ ▓F D▓G§ and their release of “THROUGH THE FOG AND THE DRIFTWOOD”.

Coming in at 10 tracks, August of 2014’s “THROUGH THE FOG AND THE DRIFTWOOD” by --§E▲ ▓F D▓G§ is everything an Ocean Grunge album should, and can, be. The album is way more dynamic in sound range compared to everything else I pretty much took a listen to here, you got a ton of instruments and sampling techniques going at it with one another and a whole bunch of energy to really replicate an ocean of waves at war with one another, constantly crashing and colliding in a world where no land exists at all. The opening track “Slain” does a fascinating job at welcoming you to this world, a wrecking ball of an atmosphere as the song hits you with every component the Ocean Grunge toolbox can possibly throw at you.

What really does it for me with this album in its a range, every track has a personality of its own. While track #1 “Slain” is an orchestra of Ocean Grunge attributes, track #3 “It’s Over” is sampled and produced to sound almost sound like a George Clanton track if it were to be dropped down in pitch. Track #6 “Blu like the Ocean” has some classic eccojams vibes to it while the final track “Once Again, Left With Tears” sounds like what a Death Grips instrumental would be in the Ocean Grunge genre.

I also love the album artwork on here, those light grays to dark granite colors are so pretty to me and the artwork here helps you visualize an endless, hopeless sea quite well. I was picturing that ocean world from “Interstellar” while listening to this thing, all of it is very grand, overwhelming, and aggressive. The album has also dropped on cassette twice, unsurprisingly both sold out, the limited edition cassette and limited edition black tape anniversary cassette both looking really nice and for any of you who were able to pick this up over at Bedlam Tapes, be proud as this is a very solid piece to own. Hey, maybe this will gain some new attention for the album from people who have never heard it and we can somehow get a physical release of this again one day. Imagine this on a super dark forest green / light black swirl vinyl pressing? Absolutely gorgeous.

Ocean Grunge, for what it was, provided a unique aesthetic for an ambient, grungy sound. It’s downfall and short-run history is unsurprising though because, as I said, the narrative is so specific it creates a ceiling for how high the artists can go in regards go creativity, inspiration, and community. And, if they did want to experiment beyond what Ocean Grunge could be, it just places their sound in another genre. But, as always, who cares because at the end of the day, placing a genre on a sound is just a way to put faith into labeling something. I find some of these releases to be pretty good, definitely the last one we talked about, while others just seem like regurgitated background noise we hear time and time again from the internet. I don’t see the genre ever making a true comeback, but it is definitely fun to return to the idea of it nonetheless… setting sail in cold, cloudy waters where you are one wave away from being swept into the dark black void of the ocean.

Safe travels my friend.

Much love, ur boi,

Pad Chennington.

"Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST" that is available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label."

The Story of Vaporwave's Most Iconic Label: DMT Tapes FL

by Pad Chennington

What’s cookin’, what’s poppin’, it is your boi Pad Chennington and today, I want to tell you the fascinating story of one of Vaporwave’s most beloved, important and iconic labels: DMT Tapes FL. We are going to be looking at the history of this label, it’s inspirations for creating it, as well as 5 releases from the label’s incredible arsenal of albums that will be the perfect starting pack for your dive into everything they have to offer. I was able to hear the story first hand from the creator himself, Vito James, and I am absolutely honored to share the incredible story of how it all came to be. Folks, get cozy, because we’re talking some Vaporwave history.

After spending much of the year as a recreational listener and lover of Vaporwave, Vito created DMT Tapes FL in the middle of November 2014. Vito’s first encounter with Vaporwave was James Ferraro’s sample-free work in mid-2012, the first traditional vaporwave he heard came in a back-to-back (YouTube autoplay suggested) viewing of popular video clips for “Cherry Pepsi” by Saint Pepsi, followed by “daphne” by Luxury Elite. Something hit his interest immediately, and he told me he remembers having this feeling of, “what is it about this that sounds so…special?” His ear was picking up on the sample usage, yet his brain wasn’t connecting the dots yet on how this stood out to him so much.

*Far Side Virtual by James Ferraro

Vito eventually figured out how vaporwave was made in the springtime of 2014 when picking up two major influential recordings: Riviera by Kodak Cameo, and Rose Quartz by Luxury Elite. The concept of turning old songs into new songs was always a subject of interest when exploring genre movements such as plunderphonics, mashup, and others. Vaporwave however? It felt like the complete next level for him in regards to potential.

“My obsession began roughly here, as the middle of 2014 was budding and I started discovering the amazing label scene in the form of four biggies: Fortune 500, Business Casual, Dream Catalogue, and Ailanthus Recordings. Almost all of my listening from April 2014 to starting the label in November 2014 was spent browsing these amazing collections. I was captivated just as much by how the labels presented the artists/albums as I loved the music involved.” - Vito

As he was finishing listening to the complete collections of aforementioned labels, while also delving into the wealth of ‘no label’ releases on various artist Bandcamp pages, he was starting to wish that there were more… a lot more (not that there weren’t already hundreds of albums out there in vaporwave scene already!). Vito notes that what scene had at the time was great but he always wanted more. Vito would often compare vaporwave to his love for chillwave, which was strongest to him in 2010-2013. That genre had mostly died out by the middle of the decade, and Vito had a sadness in realizing that vaporwave might be able to follow suit.

After seeing his first “Vaporwave is dead” declaration on the subreddit, the sadness drove him to one simple action: the making of a Bandcamp account. He had no idea what he had in store except he knew he wanted to use it to increase the amount of vaporwave that was on the website. If this really was a dying genre, on its way out the door, he thought to himself “I really better do this promptly.”

Right off the bat, Vito decided to adopt a rapid pace of new album releases from the very first months of the label's existence: He recalls being in that mindset of, “Live today like it’s your last,” but instead of it being him that was out-the-door, it was vaporwave. Or so he had feared.

Luckily, Vito slowly realized just how often people were willing to declare the genre as ‘dead’. Still, he was not taking any chances by slowing things down. He devised an idea from the late months of 2014 that, until he met artists who were interested and willing to release on this new label, he would produce the music himself. Vito had a background of making ambient music for 5+ years by this point, and while he states he was not super confident in what he was making, the experimental part of him did not mind. He was excited at the possibility to do audio presentations in a unique way.

*Where You're Going by Calusa Eisenhower

“The first tags I put on DMT-FL were “educational ambient” and “Florida Ambient”, not intending to make a new genre, but because I was specifically using field recordings and media clips that were A) about the state of Florida (in theme to the FL theme I’d gone with), and B) general educational material. I always liked the idea of blurring the lines between information and entertainment, and so many of the early DMT-FL albums are made in this way: plundered ambient made from traditional Vaporwave sample sources, while including spoken word bits under distortion. I decided to create many artist names and use them for different themes; for example, to cite my first three artist aliases of DMT Tapes FL: Calusa Eisenhower always focused on the teachings of Alan Watts; Orlando Turnpike always featured dystopia and feelings of an uncertain future; Ed Asner, Secretary of Defense was a faux-documentary series (derived from a real documentary about Florida) in an alternate timeline where Florida is a country instead of a state.” - Vito

*Florida, #3 by Orlando Turnpike

For the first half-year of the label (11/2014 - 05/2015), Vito was the person making the majority of the music. By the time he had reached 100 releases on the label, he had made close to 80 of them, and if we compare that to today in 2019, Vito’s music makes up about only 25% of the entire label instead of 80%! As he continued to make albums on DMT-FL, Vito would post them onto /r/vaporwave and then browse the place for other independent artists. He would send private messages to those he adored or appreciated most, or if he discovered somebody who looked like they had a unique sound but no representation, he would contact them too. All of the artists who made it into the first one-hundred came from Reddit. Inquiries included: Dan Mason, La Trace, waterfront dining, Nanoshrine, Cobalt Road, Shima33, American Online, and many others that comprise the 2015-16 label digital discography.

John Zobele (from Business Casual) created and publicly gifted DMT-FL our famous rainbow FL logo (based on my own artist's conception made in MS Paint), in May 2015. It remains our logo for 4+ years and I have no plans to ever swap it out” - Vito

As time went by, attention started coming towards the way of DMT-Tapes FL. (Thanks to an idea Vito had one day to make music videos for choice label songs that he was listening to most.)

”I found various YouTube channels that were dedicated to ripping old VHS tapes wholesale for their advertisements and commercials, and I made quick-edit promotional clips of my own featuring the music of DMT Tapes FL. Plugging the URL of an album while mentioning in the description that our music is free / Name Your Own Price, this ended up being the best form of exposure that I could have selected. To this day, I maintain two channels for the label (DMT TV and LSTHETIC; the former contains only on-label music while the latter allows me to make videos for other artists/albums I am a fan of, but may not represent).” - Vito

*Vision by Plastique

A large portion of DMT-FL’s success comes from offering their artists maximum freedom when it comes to bringing their digital music to other platforms, including other labels, their own personal Bandcamps, streaming services via distributors, and syndication onto physical formats.

“Many labels tend to require an artist to only have their album available through their label page; usually, I find other label owners become upset if they find out an album they released was featured on another label, and/or is available on a personal artist profile of the person they’ve just worked with. I do not adhere to these policies for DMT Tapes FL, as I believe this label is a conduit for helping connect interested listeners to exciting new releases. Limiting an artist’s ability to rehost, re-release, or procure physical copies of an album has never been my interest!” - Vito

*Land of Sunshine ☁ State of Dreams ☀ by Ed Asner, Secretary of Defense

Vito adopted a model of breaking each year of the label into seasons, largely in part due to the decision of major artist waterfront dining, who has been the single greatest inspiration to Vito both as an artist and as a friend. waterfront dining approached Vito in the summer of 2015, when Vito was, at the time, considering closing the label after around 150+ releases due to excessive hostility and toxicity he was encountering from other rival figures in the Vaporwave scene. waterfront dining convinced Vito that he should keep up what he has been doing and that they should start a new chapter together. To this day, the only other person to run DMT Tapes FL with Vito was waterfront dining himself, in the form of what they called “DMT-FL, season 2: DMT[REC]”. This concept of naming and modeling seasons for listener historical perspective was kept and upheld (often with a logo update or add-on to keep the design fresh). It was during this period that, thanks to the amazing friendship and encouragement of waterfront dining, Vito started to emerge from his shell more and more.

He helped coordinate major events for the label at this time; Vito and waterfront dining appeared together on a Minnesota radio show via Skype call to promote the label, leading him to understand that there may be a huge opportunity in spoken word appearance.

DMT-FL and waterfront dining remained immensely close in the years that followed the 2015-2016 run of waterfront dining acting as co-owner and co-administrator of DMT Tapes FL. While the duties have returned to Vito himself for the remainder of 2016 and into 2019, Vito states that the history between waterfront dining and himself will always be of the most highly-regarded and respected. The label even almost ended after 8 short months without the influence of waterfront dining.

“My model has remained largely unbroken for nearly five years now: all DMT-FL albums are available on our page without exception. The only requirement I have is that artists allow us to continue hosting these albums digitally and free, for the sake of retaining listener

excitement and exploratory prowess from future generations who find the label. The worst thing I could imagine is having the label become an incomplete unit, as this could harm the enthusiasm of those who enjoy our material.” - Vito

*Ursa Minor by Your Dark Nate

DMT Tapes FL is most enjoyed when people know the entire collection is available to them at all times, and without a rationing hierarchy that other traditional labels like to employ when including a paywall. As vaporwave is made almost entirely from unauthorized royalty-free sample-usage, Vito believes it would be unethical to start charging admission when the majority of content is created for absolutely free as-is.

Vito tries to do a major event each year for the label, usually in the form of a massive album dump that greatly increases the amount of new music for listeners, but in a short-term and exciting digital festival. The mainstay he has done twice now is “Vaporwave is Alive”, first in January 2016 and the second in July 2018. The goal in both cases was to have a new album every day all month long (which was met successfully both times). Vito also did a version of this event where Vito himself was the sole artist, called DreamVerb (which ended up being the caption name of DMT-FL: Season 5 [2018-19]).

*You and No One Else by Late Night Simulator

These events have become one of Vito’s favorite aspects of running an outfit like DMT Tapes FL with such digital freedom abiding. The music of the first “Vaporwave is Alive” actually received attention from #1 subscriber-count holder on YouTube, PewDiePie, who plugged various DMT-FL artists in several consecutive videos throughout November 2016. Vito states the label still receives a healthy amount of new listeners from this plug, albeit three years after it happened.

“The best tool I have to help the artists who release for us is to use my ability to write in any way I can. I do album reviews for artists whenever I can, although my dream of having a review for every DMT-FL album has not yet been achieved. It is one of my goals for the 2020s.” - Vito

*Instructions for Household Retention by Aerobic

Vito has made many promotional tools for vaporwave as a whole that do not just help the works of DMT-FL released albums, such as “1001 Vaporwave Albums You Must Hear Before It Dies” (a review project of Vito’s favorite albums, which is, as of right now, halfway complete). Vito also created mixtape presentations in the form of a series called simply “100 Hours of Vaporwave”. Combined, these various writing projects and audiovisual plugs come together to form his daily life of trying to get as many people as possible onto the DMT Tapes FL wavelength. Vito always wants people to know that this collection is for everybody, constantly growing, and meant to be a staple of the scene and genre he loves so dearly.

“I can only hope that every recording we’ve ever featured is cherished by someone, archived for the future, and is never ever forgotten.” - Vito

Now that you know the story, you understand why they have a whooooole dang lot of releases! Luckily for you, Vito and I want to help you out—here are five historic DMT-FL albums to help you dive in.

1. Dan Mason ダン·メイソン - Miami Virtual (02/02/2015)

The first album to ever really get big on the label, to this day it is DMT Tapes FL’s biggest puller and it gets dozens of downloads per month.

2. waterfront dining - Pages EP (01/01/2016)

This is Vito’s personal favorite set of songs from the many that waterfront dining contributed to the label; to him, it felt like the harbinger to the amazing year of Vaporwave that 2016 was. The last song on here ended up being plugged in a Pewdiepie video, which gave DMT Tapes FL huge exposure in late 2016/early 2017.

3. Nanoshrine - SEGAS

The entire SEGAS trilogy is on DMT, but the first one is Vito’s choice if he had to choose one!

4. haircuts for men - 地下カラオケ ep (11/16/2015)

This is one of Vito’s most played albums personally on-label. The mood here is exquisite and every HFM release has this special tone to it, this one is absolutely no exception.

5. 猫シ Corp. - ショップ @ ヘルシンキ (03/01/2016)

Ah, Mallsoft made by authentic mall recordings as made by the artist. Cat Corp walked around a mall while on vacation and recorded the raw field recordings himself, then made a

vaporwave album using the genuine crowd audio. Highly evocative and one of the most fun albums to give the lore of mallsoft for new listeners!

Simply put, DMT Tapes FL is an incredible label and represents the wonderful potential of the Vaporwave scene, a scene fueled by community and a constant passion to keep on growing and archiving. Vito has created a hub world for many fans and artists alike, and I know DMT Tapes FL will continue on as an iconic, legendary label for years and years to come.

Much love, ur boi, Pad Chennington.

"Also known as "Youtube's Vaporwave Valedictorian", Pad Chennington is a content creator who has created a substantial following on YouTube for his videos discussing all things Vaporwave. Starting in the Fall of 2017, Pad's videos range from reviews to breakdowns, interviews to unboxings, and much more, always revolving around odd and interesting music genres found throughout the internet. Pad has also recently released an album in February titled "CONTRAST" that is available as a free download via the My Pet Flamingo label."

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