While there’s relative anonymity with the current crop of (some-retired) vaporwave musicians — mostly talking about New Dreams Ltd. (Macintosh Plus, 情報デスクVIRTUAL, Sacred Tapestry, etc.) and INTERNET CLUB (Datavis, ECCO UNLIMITED, ░▒▓新しいデラックスライフ▓▒░, etc.) — some of the originators of the sound (setting aside old man Daniel Lopatin’s Chuck Person/Sunset Corp project) remain entirely anonymous. For example, no one quite knows who’s behind Computer Dreams, an entity that also goes by Midnight Television and who had several releases in 2011, only to seemingly vanish from the internet (all links leading to any “official” page/account are long dead).
But before Computer Dreams existed an even more anonymous artist named 骨架的, who picked up where Chuck Person left/looped off back in 2010 with two full-length releases, Skeleton and Holograms. But is Computer Dreams maybe the same person as 骨架的? Are Computer Dreams and 骨架的 possibly friends? Or do they really have no idea who each other are? In the context of vaporwave and its aims to anonymously appropriate anonymous music (or to at least make pop feel in part more anonymous), it doesn’t really matter. And, to be honest, I don’t really feel like seeking out the answer via label Beer On The Rug or anyone else. But what’s particularly exciting is that, after over a year of silence, 骨架的 is suddenly back and releasing a shit-ton of music.
The first, Reflections, came in September, featuring a mix of chopped, screwed, and looped boardroom eccojams, shitty R&B/jazz/soft/soundtrack pop, and (in)disposable nostalgia tunes, plus a nearly eight-minute track, “Long Ride,” that I wish could play on forever. And already this month, 骨架的 has released three more full-length albums: Lost Memories (10/9), Liquid Fantasy (10/24), and Illegal Antenna (10/25), all of them recorded in 2011 and all of them available for whatever price you want.
I’ve made my way through each album straight through, and I recommend you do the same if you have the time/energy/interest/ears. But it’s a lot of material to tackle, so I’ve picked out my favorite track from each release to ease you in if you need it:
From Reflections:
From Lost Memories:
From Liquid Fantasy:
From Illegal Antenna:
Anyone sick of vaporwave yet? Too bad. We expect plenty more releases from 骨架的 soon.
• 骨架的: http://soundcpu.bandcamp.com
More about: 骨架的
