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Donor Lens is a post-vaporwave/future-funk duo from the UK featuring the talents of Thom (Love in Dust, Wichita LimeWire) and Jay (Kid Neon, Timeshare 94). On July 31st, they released a proper follow-up to their amazing “Miracle Lounge มิราเคิล เลานจ์,” entitled “Midnight Store” through My Pet Flamingo.

“Midnight Store” has a really sleek look thanks to some wonderful art design by TropicalVirtual. It features an image of a package store that is situated smack dab in the middle of nowhere. The little details in the picture, such as the graffiti, the advertisement for “Viceroy” cigarettes, and even a nod to My Pet Flamingo itself, remind me of the type of thing you might see in a 1990s era first person shooter. I particularly like the trash can. The other thing that stands out in the cover art is the seemingly light barren “loft” sitting above the store. I can’t help but imagine someone sitting in the dark flipping through television channels out of depression, boredom, or because there’s simply nothing better to do.

The overall sound quality of “Midnight Store” is a cut above most Vaporwave that I’ve been exposed to. I would actually be willing to say that “Midnight Store” is as close as we’ll get to what proper Vaporwave would be like if it went into the mainstream. That said, I can’t see that happening, as Vaporwave supplants the “cult of personality” required to succeed in mainstream music’s current environment via weirdness, nightmare fuel, and feels.

Musically, I was really quite surprised to hear a song like “Midnight Store” lead off the album. When I spun “Midnight Store” for the first time, I couldn’t understand where the title track fit in with what the rest of the album is trying to accomplish. For all intents and purposes, “Midnight Store” is a proper song, sans a bridge. Despite it being an outlier on the album, I began to appreciate it more after picking up on its reprise in “Another Night Astray.” Like most artists who experiment in Vaporwave, this reprise did something weird to me. It gave me a mini-nostalgic moment for a new song I just heard. Weird right? Not really. I think this is by design. *slow clap*

Some of my favorite moments on “Midnight Store” come in the form of extended atmospheric jingles. Just having a song title like “Turn the Fridge On” puts certain images into my head. When tied with what Donor Lens is presenting here I didn’t expect the images to be so vivid and on point. This song in particular kept causing me to visualize someone working inside a cold freezer in the backroom of a small grocery store in southern California. This is a good example of what makes this album interesting. Donor Lens excel in creating an imaginary space that comfortably sits right in the liminal space between conscious and unconscious reality.

Other moments that stuck out to me was the enigmatic piano-leaden “One Stop Shop,” the early Apoptygma Berserk sounding “Konbini 24-7,” and the fluorescent light leaden “Aisles and Aisles.” My favorite track on the album undoubtedly goes to “Spirit Receiver (ft. DATAGIRL).” It’s a slow, enlightening, and dare I say, spiritual journey that truly highlights how music can spark authentic emotion within a listener. In general, I think that “Spirit Receiver” is one of the best tracks I’ve heard in all of 2020. While the rest of “Midnight Store” serves its purpose as a tremendous release on its own by combining future funk, chiptune, and Vaporwave together, this track overshadows and transcends all of the songs that come before it on the album. Seriously, check it out. “Spirit Receiver” is PEAK Donor Lens magic.

Album Color Profile: #D4E6F1

RECOMMENDED FOR: Fans of Vaporwave looking for something a little less nightmarish and something much more focused.

Stand-out tracks: “Spirit Receiver (ft. DATAGIRL),” “Aisles and Aisles,” and “One Stop Shop,” and “Turn the Fridge On.”

You can find all things Donor Lens at: https://mypetflamingo.bandcamp.com/album/midnight-store

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Gab Manette is a Synthwave producer from Montreal. He’s been releasing retro sounding tunes for a couple of years now. Last year he released a really good little EP called “Dream Dimension.” His follow up is a mini-album entitled “Making Waves.” It was released on May 29th, 2020.

On the cover is a very dapper looking Gab who looks proud of the good work he’s done on “Making Waves.” The aesthetic is sort of like a mash-up between A-Ha’s “Take on Me,” “Sixteen Candles,” and Bert Schnick from “Shock Treatment.” It’s quite a cool looking image, and I think it accurately captures the laid back vibe of this release.

After spinning “Making Waves” at least a dozen times there was one thing that caught my attention: this is extremely calming music. I spent a few afternoons doing my daily workout whilst listening to this and found myself losing track of time. “Making Waves” really got me into the zone, giving me something to look forward to everyday. I found it very difficult to get distracted while listening to this. I’m not entirely sure what this is a function of—but “Making Waves” feels magical. I’m frequently tense, and this album helped me to relax and destress all of the needless tension in my body in some kind of hypnotic exhalation.

Gab’s track “Unwind” is pretty much the quintessential high point of his musical/engineering genius due to how textured it is. There’s a certain sparkle to this track that’s really happening. The drums, while low key, sit comfortably in the mix amidst bright flourishes in a percussive dance of structure. The pan pipes are the best part here as they are masterfully interwoven into the mix of the track’s momentum. “Prom Night” is the most romantic song on “Making Waves” and is slow paced enough that I found it to be a great song to cooldown to after an hour of cardio. Although short, “Talk Show” is probably my favorite cut from the album. It’s super 1990s sounding. This is primarily due to how the percussion and horn sections on this track are arranged. I don’t think it would be out of place on the original “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle” live action movie’s soundtrack. Other highlights include the Rocky-esque “Judge Reinhold” named after the actor of the same name, and “Portfolio” which reminds me of the type of innocuous, fun toybox music my kindergarten teacher would throw on during “class” way back in 1989.

Overall, “Making Waves” is a short, digestible, nostalgic trip. It’s not so nostalgic that you’re going to be brought to tears. This is the type of nostalgia that’s captures mostly positive vibes albeit in a somewhat romantic pseudo-melodramatic way. There’s a lot of color to “Making Waves” on the production side of things that make it a fascinating listen. This will appeal to both Synthwave neophytes and veterans alike. Please check it out.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Fans of Chillwave, Synthwave, and 80s vibes.

Stand-Out Tracks: “Talk Show,” “Judge Reinhold,” “Unwind,” and “Prom Night.”

Album Color Profile: #IDE9B6

You can find all things Gab Manette at https://gabmanette.bandcamp.com/

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TUPPERWAVE is an eclectic Vaporwave producer from Brisbane, Australia. They’ve been producing music under this moniker since January of 2017. Their latest album, entitled “Marina” was released on February 25th 2020.

The cover artwork for “Marina” is colorful and vibrant. In the lower left hand corner is a roof-pool overlooking a lush beach. Behind the beach is a city. This seriously looks like it would be a great place to unwind, relax, and pop open a bottle of wine. The sun in the sky appears to be getting ready to set transitioning from what appears to be a hot, oppressive day into a gorgeous summer night.

Admittedly, I am not very well-versed in the intricacies of Vaporwave. I’m well-aware of some of the bigger names in the scene, and while I could’ve elected to go down the rabbit hole that starts with “Floral Shoppe” and all of it’s bizarre iterations, there’s something that attracted me to TUPPERWAVE’s work—it felt much more accessible as a newbie to the Vaporwave scene. When I pressed play on “Marina” for the first time, I became instantly relaxed and happy.

The foundation of “Marina’s” production lies in a careful selection of blending a variety of samples into a salient musical structure. Transforming already existing music into something new without it sounding like an obnoxious loop takes real talent—and TUPPERWAVE has that in spades. Tech-wise, “Waterfront” was the most impressive sounding track as it not only accurately captures the atmosphere of standing in a random mall in the midwest during the 80s, it really sounds like you’re listening to the music on the same tinny speakers those places had back then. Almost all of the music on “Marina” takes a similar form ranging from sounds you might hear in a late 70s television commercial, or the type of tune you might’ve heard while on hold over the telephone.

“Esplanade” was my favorite track from the album. From what I can tell, it takes a mid-80s City Pop female vocal track and downsamples it into an androgynous vocal range. While stuff like this is common to Vaporwave, by taking something beautiful and turning it into pseudo-nightmare fuel, the way TUPPERWAVE arranges it into a slow-paced waltz complete with a romantic brass section is absolutely wonderful.

“Marina” is one of those albums that I’m not afraid to just turn on anywhere I’m at, especially if I need some thing to calm my nerves after a crappy day. It also happens to be one of my favorite albums to play in the kitchen while I’m washing dishes, cooking, or staring down one of my cats. Overall, this has become one of my favorite goto albums this year, and I highly recommend it to both those who enjoy Vaporwave and to those who aren’t as familiar.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Lovers of all things Vaporwave, and those who aren’t as familiar but would like an accessible album to try.

Stand-Out tracks: “Esplanade,” (THE HORNS OH MY SWEET GODDESS THE HORNS), “Waterfront,” “Blue Sky,” “Kirra Sunset.”

Album Color Profile: #6633FF

You can find all things TUPPERWAVE at https://thevaporroom.bandcamp.com/

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Mike Templar is an electronic music producer who’s traveled all the way from Sirius, that’s 8.611 light years, in order to share the gift of funky spacewave with all of us down here on Earth. His latest album “TROM” aka “The Resolution of Mind” came out on June 20th via Bandcamp.

“TROM” is a high concept, multimedia album that has to do with one man’s journey against the a corrupt system holding humanity down. Apparently, the next three-hundred years are going to be a complete shit show for us. Thanks drug resistant viral infections! Thanks power hungry corporations and politicians! Hey thanks, big pharma!

All joking aside, the story behind “TROM” may seem overly serious, but there’s a real sense of playfulness to the overarching theme of this album. This is precisely what makes “TROM” so different. This isn’t an edgy “Game of Thrones” gore-porn style look at an unfortunate future. There’s a real sense of thoughtful levity here.

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak to Mike personally over the course of a few hours. We talked about “TROM,” our lives, and what it means to live in such interesting times. After talking to Mike I got the sense that this is a man who is truly connected with something bigger than himself. He’s honest, straightforward, and understands that the thing that’s helped him keep perspective through all the ugliness is staying connected to his higher self through artistic expression. In so many words, “TROM” is the result of a man putting a vulnerable part of himself publicly on display for the sake of his art.

I mean, Mike Templar wrote an entire goddamn novel (roughly 120 pages) that fully fleshes out each song on “TROM.” Most artists don’t even bother to include lyrics or liner notes with their album releases. And while I haven’t had the opportunity to sit down and read the book in its entirety, I can say that without a doubt, it’s full of high-minded ideas. Ideas that investigate the root causes behind a lot of disturbing truths that eerily mirror our own reality.

“TROM” consists eighteen tracks, some of which are remixes, spanning roughly eighty minutes. From a value stand-point this album offers a lot of content. Musically, “TROM” is almost entirely instrumental with the exception of “Emergency (feat. Millennium Falck)” and a few sample drops sporadically spread throughout the album. Even though this album deals with some heavy themes, I don’t think the sound of this is dark. In fact, “TROM” has a certain bounciness to it, which makes the album a lot more playful than almost all of the other albums I’ve listened to this year. That said, it’s not so playful that it’s whimsical. There’s a lot of genre blending here. “Stopover on Earth” is a good example of this. My favorite track on the album is definitely “Inner Enemy.” It’s very visual and just sounds all around pleasing to the ear. I found myself humming it to myself a lot this week. “Emergency (feat. Millennium Falck)” is a compelling vocal performance. It’s not over-polished with an overwhelming amount of pitch correction or processing. Millennium Falck did a great job on it. It is totally reminiscent of 1970s variety show music, which, needless to say, is wildly different than what I was expecting. This may sound weird, but I quite dig it. You should check it out.

Overall, “TROM” is an accessible album. It’s extremely chill considering the subject matter. I think this would be great music to listen to if you’re a little unorthodox and need a some background juice for an inspiring meditation session. At times, it wades into mallwave territory—but I don’t think that this is a bad thing. This is definitely a thinking man’s album made by a man who likes to think.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Free-thinkers, people who want to experience spacewave with a positive vibe.

Stand-out tracks: “Inner Enemy,” “Speculum,” “Stopover on Earth,” “Slingshot Singularity Spy,” “Emergency (feat. Millennium Falck)”.

Album Color Profile: #2196F3

You can find all things Mike Templar at https://autumo.bandcamp.com/

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Miles Matrix (aka Misha Verollet) is a retro producer from Vienna, Austria. Since 2018 he has explored the far edges of what it means to create authentic retro vibes by fusing together synthwave, chillwave, and vaporwave. His latest release “French Riviera” fully embodies something from each of these genres.

On the cover is a giant neon wave framed by yellow 1980s style abstract art. As I close my eyes to think about it, this image is oddly welcoming and warm. It reminds me of summery sunsets, sand between my toes, and the smell of sunscreen. I was born in Okinawa in the eighties, so as you can imagine I spent a good deal of my time growing up on the beach. Ah…memories.

“French Riviera” is the kind of music that is best experienced with a cocktail in one hand, the wind in your face, and the lights dimmed. There’s a certain romantic feel to this music that makes me want to cuddle up with my significant other and just talk about how things used to be. Generally, “French Riviera” is Matrix’s least synthwavy release, as he decides to fully lean in on his chillwave roots. I think that this is a very good decision as he has created a divergent album within his body of work.

Production wise “French Riviera” almost sounds like vaporwave. I say this because the album is very minimal in terms of how many elements of music are occurring at once. This isn’t a release that creates a wall of sound with synths. Instead it uses sparse minimalism unto which Matrix fully explores each sound in his music carefully. “French Riviera” is simultaneously both wet and dry…much like a beach. Mr. Matrix makes some really good decisions with the subtle use of reverb—which he uses to create a dreamy illusion that makes you feel like you’re underwater somewhere in the Côte d’Azur itself.

While the percussion in “French Riviera” often blends into the background, Matrix gives vibrant character to his drums when it’s essential. This is accomplished via liberal use of Roland CR-8000 samples. There’s nothing quite like a CR-8000 cowbell, and his track “Waves” puts it front and center. Personally speaking, I prefer the tone of the TR-707 or LM-1 bank of sounds myself, but I think that the lightness of the CR-8000 contextually fits really well within the overarching concept of what Matrix is doing here.

Overall, “French Riviera” is a fantastic dreamy voyage. This is a wonderful summer release, and well worth your time. It has a lot of replay value and it authentically helped to calm my nerves today. It’s been a tough week so far but Miles was there with his calming vibes to help me get through. Please check this one out!

RECOMMENDED FOR: Folks who want to chillout, zone out, and close their eyes. If you’re looking for a summertime escape, “French Riviera” is the ticket.

Stand-Out Tracks: “Cloudburst” (what a vibe), “Last Days of Summer” (the best track on the album), “Waves,” “French Riviera,” “Palm Trees & Calm Seas.” (love the horns on this track).

Album Color Profile: #F1C40F

You can find everything Miles Matrix at https://milesmatrix.bandcamp.com/

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Manhatten is a synthwave producer from the UK who’s main purpose is to evoke feels within his listeners. His debut album “Blue Sky Girl” was released at the end of May by Future 80’s Records.

“Blue Sky Girl” is a concept album that focuses on “that one person in everyone’s life who seems to burn twice as bright, but for half as long.” It’s left entirely up to the listener to decide exactly who this person represents in their life. I really like when artists do this sort of thing. Ambiguity can serve as a powerful tool to help personalize an artistic piece to fit the experiences of an individual viewer/listener. I think in order to fully appreciate what Manhatten is doing with this album it’s important to play along with this. So before you listen to “Blue Sky Girl” do yourself a favor and figure out who this person is for you. Because contextually, it will make the album mean something different for everyone.

Musically, Manhatten has the same sort of vibe that Siamese Youth brought with “Electric Dreams.” The main difference is that “Blue Sky Girl” is primarily instrumental, with a few short narrations by Star Madman. Production wise, Manhatten seems to have a solid grasp on his process. I listened to “Blue Sky Girl” with headphones, and also on my stereo. And while it doesn’t sound 100% old school, I think that it does a great job capturing the right vibe with a careful selection of sounds that are undeniably nostalgic. The low end on this album is audible albeit calm, and the higher frequencies aren’t crowded with too many things trying to compete with one another. There’s also a really nice soundscape element to this album that borrows a lot from the Vaporwave and his little sister Dreamwave.

This is such a wonderful video. It reminds me of MEMORIES.

The overall flow of “Blue Sky Girl” feels like a telephone conversation between two people who either want to or already intimately know one another. And while I do tend to think that Manhatten intended his version of the “Blue Sky Girl” to be somebody he actually knows, I can’t help but feel like there’s a great distance between him and her. The closing track “A Kind of Freedom” illustrates this feeling well. When listening to it, I felt like something important in my had life ended, that I was sad, but it was going to be okay. I think that many of us have had long distance relationships before—and when they don’t pan out it hurts. What’s even more interesting about this idea is that the “Blue Sky Girl” herself may even represent not only a long distance relationship with another person, but with the past itself. This is mind blowing to me, because there’s something in all of us that deeply yearns for a simpler more innocent time. It’s sort of weird that wholly instrumental music like this can be so evocative of these sorts of feelings. That said, I’m not going to complain. This is one of the super powers of Synthwave as an artistic medium.

RECOMMENDED FOR: People who like chill music that will make you appreciate the magic of life more.

Stand-Out tracks: “A Kind of Freedom,” “Last Chance City,” “Slow Burn,” “Thunder,” and “Running From It.”

Album Color Profile: #BBDEFB

You can find everything Manhatten at https://future80s.bandcamp.com/

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Alpha Chrome Yayo’s “The 19th Hole” is a golf-inspired album that feels like the missing link between synthwave, vaporwave, and pure 1990s nostalgia. It made me feel like I was being transported into a world where the sport of golf was the highest good and everything else could go straight to hell.

What’s magical about “The 19th Hole” is how incredibly visual it is. Every song on this release has a story, and with it comes a full experience that gave me memories I didn’t even know I had. I even felt a sad at times, because I knew these memories weren’t even mine. They belong to all of us–and to me this is the biggest strength that “The 19th Hole” has going for it.

Have you ever gone on YouTube just to watch old corny commericals from the 1980s and 90s? Remember how badass the “Crossfire” theme was? Well, Alpha Chrome Yayo does that for golf.
The golfing theme to ACY’s “The 19th Hole” might sound like an odd artistic decision–but it works out beautifully. Are you looking for fresh feels? Then grab your clubs and get your ass on the green. Tee off starts in one hour.

Don’t worry–you’re home now. Pressing play has never been this exciting.

RECOMMENDED FOR: People who want nostaligic feels, lovers of golf, lovers of Synthwave, Vaporwave, 90s Sega Saturn FMV games

Stand-out tracks: In the Clubhouse (After Hours), Sweater Round the Shoulders (And One for the Waist), Power Drive (ft. Danny Madigan), Where the HELL is that Caddy?!, The Smell of the Green

Album Color Profile #196F3D

You can find all things ACY at alphachromeyayo.bandcamp.com