Entry 257 - IMCOPAV - Hentai Mixtape

 

This is probably the closest I will ever get to classic vaporwave and still enjoy it. Hentai Mixtape obviously is sampled and slowed down much in the classic sense that Macintosh Plus does. Normally this is an instant turn off for me, but this one edges itself above its peers by doing a few key things right.

While its obviously sampled the songs are still constructed in a way that seems to take some level of effort. They don't just sound like a slowed down song we all know, they sound like a slowed down song we all feel like we know but can't quite place where we heard it. Its obviously vaporwave, but its not obvious (at least to me) where the samples came from.

That one distinction is huge, I don't want to listen to slowed down music that I've already heard before. I can go to youtube and turn a video to half speed and get the same effect. It's entirely uninteresting to me.

Hentai Mixtape has a few more things going for it as well. The title doesn't like, this feels like a mix tape. All the tracks flow together nicely and keep a consistent groove. It's that groove that is infectious and was the ultimate decider in me buying the album.

I've been buying a lot of vaporwave lately, at least for me. I feel like I'm at a saturation point, between this and some of the other groove oriented vapor records I've gotten lately I think the genre is well represented in my collection. At least well enough that I can cycle through a good selection of records to fit my mood. It's a good place to be.