https://boguscollective.bandcamp.com/album/beautiful-katamari
Genre: Vaporwave
Rating: 5/5
This label, B O G U S // COLLECTIVE, now has over 500 releases and pumps out two a week with married couple sex regularity. It’s hard to say what’s up. How many artists are behind it? Are the recordings designed for multiple listens or just for the one off? Are they all really new material? And it pisses me off when there’s obvious samples or interpretations and I can’t identify them. If you think about it, they use the internet digital era to recreate the mysticism of the past just on the grounds that this stuff is ungoogleable. Also, no one can really judge this stuff in relative terms. Now I’m under the impression that this is a standout release but, honestly, how many of these records have I heard? More than most people, most fans most probably, but still I could’ve missed dozens this good. How the fuck would I know?
Still, I do think this is a standout release. It has a solid continuity and the grooves are nice and easy to sink into. This is most obvious on 勝ち (LUCKY DAY Reprise) but throughout this record I’m getting a Scratch Perry vibe. For some it might be a stretch to get this but stylistically there’s a lot of common ground between these vapor releases and that old school dub stuff. Part of it is the devil may care attitude… are you in the groove right now? It’s almost like listening to something live in the way that it seems only concerned with the present which is an odd paradox concerning so much of this is ghost echos from the past and is also, I think, intentionally futuristic. Go figure.
Warmth Highest 