Picking this record up and holding it in my hands was a truly surreal experience… a digital artifact that’s spent its entire life on the internet, crossing over into the physical realm right before my eyes. One could argue that all the drama swirling around this release could be attributed to its inability to adapt to the world we live in, the world where physical objects (i.e. vinyl records) require a decent amount of time and planning and money, where concepts don’t simply manifest and respawn at the speed of an Ableton / Photoshop export. The neckbeards will puke out some critique about the simplicity or the unoriginality of the production… but fuck all that. All the way back in 2011 (holy shit, 2011! Stop and think about what you were doing in 2011!), Ramona Vektroid took a weird little niche corner of the internet that was inspired by a cassette Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never had released as a joke, and distilled it down to its essence… Sure, it’s not the most life-affirming record to come from the scene (try Birth Of A New Day); it's not even Vektroid’s best project (Sacred Tapestry, Laserdisc Visions to name just a few from around the same period). But it remains the most perfect encapsulation of #vaporwave as both an aesthetic and a musical style. Clear pressing, recommended.

• clear colored vinyl
• limited edition
• original release year: 2011
• music label: Olde English Spelling Bee 2024

reviewed by ECCO & The Bunnymen 06/2018