My understanding of this budding genre “hardvapour” is it’s the Trans-Siberian Railway deportation of vaporwave from Pacific Asian culture, transferring to a bus that breaks down, on foot finding a city where illicit activity reigns anarchy supreme, and creating a chem lab is the only viable “next step.” Maybe you’re in Georgia, too. Or Mykolaiv. Obviously, this chem lab is created in an abandoned factory basement, where people host violent parties with their shirts off, while the night is fueled by krokodil, vodka, and koke. Marked by heavy bass, hard industrial tinge, and atmospheric rave melodies, “hardvapour” musically functions either in the realm of flinging fists or neck-snapping head-nods. Not to mention a variety of “WARNING” samples, claiming the music being fronted is potentially hazardous to the listener’s health, as if radiation or contaminant will emit from headphones/speakers. Shit, and the culture itself stems from grainy cemented surveillance visuals, menacingly broken English, and threatening the sale of Blu-ray DVD player for CC number (including the three-digit code on back of card, please). So you find room in that chem lab so the new label AntiFur can move in.
Within this (writer-defined) definition of the (said) “budding genre,” Tiny Mix Tapes has only been privy to the Dream Catalogue cassette sounds in End Of World Rave by wosX. But I’m now pleased to welcome THE ALPHA QUADRANT by ASSIMILATION. Personally, I’m a deeply cursed Star Trek fan. Specifically, TNG and DS9. It’s weird because I typically have NO reason to talk about it, but ASSIMILATION is clever to incorporate these hardvapour genre definers to something so conceptual as THE ALPHA QUADRANT. Everyone knows who the Borg are since they’re the zombies of Star Trek, and people love zombies shitting all over them these days.
Yet, THE ALPHA QUADRANT not only outlines a common (i.e., future zombies) story line and ark, while providing accessible entry to the genre definers of hardvapour for plenty of listeners, but THIS MUSIC actually kicks! It’s practically DRONE, no? ASSIMILATION presents this in terms of characterization of the KROKO BORG. Think about it: krokodil to the brain, worker-bees dancing to only one flickering halogen light, finding the beat on their own (as ASSIMILATION provides rhythmic assumption, meaning the beat is not always there, but apparent), and audible brain-washing. Shit, THE ALPHA QUADRANT is such an inspiration to productivity that listening to this album more than thrice will get you a clean apartment, nose stuffed with koke, and new appliances. THE ALPHA QUADRANT is no joke. Listening resistance to ASSIMILATION is futile.
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