These Nights Are Ours

  The deep dive is for readers who want to dig further into the album by reading the notes and pre-review interview that is done with each artist.  It is best read after the review. IIɅ7 by R∞ Album Notes IIɅO - The album starts off with a nice echoey tone and really sets the stage for what is going to be happening throughout the album.  Repeated melodies with tons of reverb over some very well constructed beats.  There are multiple levels going on here.  There is a low tone that drives the bass and a slightly obscured bass line.  After about a minute the fitler is lifted off the song and we have a much clearer picture of what is going on in the song, cleaner sounds.  The main melody is revisited a second time but with different synths driving it, the synth at the beginning of the song is now pushed to the background and a much deeper tone is taken with the new synth.  Its a great effect and really moves the song forward while still...

    Hyperconsumerism.  The pressure to consume goods that ultimately serve no functional purpose.  Having those goods then define one’s identity.  One of the pillars of the American zeitgeist in the 80’s, it was ironically embraced by classic vaporwave years later.   What then would vaporwave look like if it was made from the zeitgeist of the 90’s? Would the rapid rise in technology lead to a utopian future? Or perhaps a more misanthropic vision of things yet to come?  For R∞ the answer is the latter.   Movies such as Akira , Ghost in the Shell , and The Matrix all help paint the picture for the sound that is present on IIɅ7 .  A darker, grittier future where technology is used to further the greed of mankind.  Self-dubbed cybervapor, R∞ has created his own vision of what beat driven, cyberpunk influenced vaporwave can be. The cybervapor genre is a conscious decision to not be classified as dreampunk.  R∞ explained that while th...

  The deep dive is for readers who want to dig further into the album by reading the notes and pre-review interview that is done with each artist.  It is best read after the review. ждите Нас Звезды! by Project Lazarus дней минувших воздуха глоток (Days Bygone Breath of Air) - This track sets the tone, a playful melody opens the album and gives us an idea of what is going to be going on in the album, it seems also that there is a hint of sadness to the melody.  The track surprised me by how slow the percussion was, especially the kick drum.  It seemed like it was going to be twice the speed that it actually comes in at.  It gives the feeling of weightlessness the way that the melody interplays with the background chords. What really sets the stage here is the production.  The production really is what makes this album so unique and so enjoyable to listen to.  I'm not entirely sure how to describe it but its got an obscurity to it where it sounds li...

Note: The pictures contained within were provided by Project Lazarus to give the readers an inside view of his studio and equipment.   I struggled greatly writing this review.  Part of me wants to just write "amazing album, go listen!" Alas, I couldn't bring myself to do it.  This release is a massive beast - a bear if you will - 20 tracks of unique synthwave with no weak points in the entire album.  Project Lazarus takes the concept of "sovietwave" and embraces it. ждите Нас Звезды! tells the story of a lone cosmonaut named Yuri and his voyage to Planet 9.  The song composition is simple, even minimal in its execution.  Melodies encapsulate emotive expressions of nostalgia, melancholy, sorrow, joy, urgency, and hopelessness.  The songs are straightforward and simple, yet expertly constructed, and the production is otherworldly. What truly differentiates this release from many of its other synthwave contemporaries is the production.  Picture a ...

  To call this release varied would be a gross understatement. The amount of musical variety on No Matter How Far You Fall... is truly impressive. It would be a simple matter for Ex Aquis to write a collection of songs and throw them together in a random order and call that an album. However, what is on display here is a masterful narrative that uses the musical variety to tell a distinct story. The compositions on the album were created through various means: different DAW's (Ableton was the primary one used), NI Reaktor to generate the synths, various percussion instruments and a viola (!!). Aquis also acquired a microphone during the production of the album which was used to record his voice, choir effects, and live instrumentation. Many of the tones generated on this album came from simple experimentation until the fitting sound was found. In his own words,"It's more of an approach as a student of music rather than a confirmed artist," and I couldn't agree mo...

How do you make an ambient album that differentiates itself, that stands on its own in a sea of soundscapes? Out of all the possible genres, ambient seems like it would be one of the most difficult to write an album with interesting instrumentation and quirks.  But that is exactly what Jeff Brown and Greg Weber achieved on their collaboration Blurred Spires . In talking with Mr. Weber and Mr. Brown, I inquired how they achieved the unique sounds on this recording.  It turns out they had a rather novel approach: guitar synths.  The basis for this album started with Jeff and Greg's Stratocasters and Roland guitar synths.  From there each artist used an array of instruments/synthesizers and post processing effects to achieve the completed sound on this album (full list of equipment used is below). However, novel sounds mean nothing if not used in an effective manner, and that is precisely the type of execution that is delivered on Bewildered .  Whether it's the e...

Nostalgia, descent into darkness, nothingness, sombre reflection, acceptance, release... a high level view of the album in six phrases. On E m p r e s s , Calavera Love drags the listener through what seems to be a story of loss; loss of childhood innocence? Loss of a loved one? Loss of your own self? That is never defined and maybe shouldn't be... whatever that one thing is, its given name is E m p r e s s. On an objective level, E m p r e s s is a purely ambient album with minimalistic melodies when they are present at all. The compositions consist primarily of layered soundscapes created with an Access Virus C synth and an Akai S1100 sampler, sequenced from Ableton. A Tascam Portastudio was also used for recording to tape and slowing down the recording. There is little to no structure to the compositions and even less of a discernible meter. The album is an excellent, listen either actively or passively--a rare quality. Moving away from sterile descriptions, the album fee...