tiananmen square dance //

CULTURE VOYAGE - “GENESIS”

Culture Voyage, a short-lived but aptly named VHS-wave act popularized in part by Synesthesiæ Films, is known for only about a handful of retro lo-fi synth-based jams, like “Digital Stargate”. This artist’s unique approach to that strain of electronic funk music, reminiscent of times past, is of the classic analog synth variety. Akin to the auditory approach and technique of artists like Boards of Canada or Com Truise, Culture Voyage is content in “Genesis” to sample found VHS footage and smear digital synth notes all over the sound palette. Synesthesiæ Films’ official video for “Genesis” mirrors the vintage feel of wonder and apprehension in the tune with a mish-mash of footage from 1978 Italian sci-fi film Starcrash. Amid the lasers, explosions, and scantily clad seventies hair ladies, the video for “Genesis” is a welcome backdrop to the tape reel electronics in the track. Do tha right thing, and grab a free MP3 download of this brief phenomenon, Culture Voyage’s “Genesis” at his last.fm page. Grab the other songs while you’re there too, or visit Synesthesiæ Films for more music and videos along the same 80’s vein.

MP3 Download of “Genesis”, by Culture Voyage

MACINTOSH PLUS - “リサフランク420 - 現代のコンピュー”

OMG We’re really showing our age by posting this jam, considering that Macintosh Plus’s Floral Shoppe is like the In the Aeroplane Over the Sea of vaporwave albums. Other than James Ferraro’s Far Side Virtual, no other release is as definitive of that mysterious experimental electronic music genre as is 2011’s Floral Shoppe. One of the myriad aliases of the alien creature behind Vektroid, Dstnt, and 情報デスクVirtual, Macintosh Plus simply has the distinction of being the one go-to project for internet dwellers that want to egg the faces of fans of vaporwave and its resultant micro-genres. “リサフランク420 - 現代のコンピュー”, which roughly translated means “420 Modern Computing Lisa Frank”, is one of the earlier tracks on the album, being a memorable fusion of MIDI-based mood music and chopped and screwed soul samples. True to form, the lion’s share of the tune is minimal and benign, reminiscent of the soundtracks of early 90’s DOS-based point-and-click adventures by the likes of Brøderbund or Humongous Entertainment. The plastic smile prison erected by the sterile vibes of what is ironically modeled after the hold music of the mid-90’s does very little in the way of comforting those of us staring down the crevasses of the uncanny valley itself. That said, an endearing synth whine, along with Diana Ross’s warm, funky vocalization really holds the song together and breathes a lot of life into it. This is not just a terrible 3-dimensional facade and some chopped and screwed lo-fi boogie from the early 80’s. This is music for a carefully manicured domicile for well-to-do humans. It is music that our eventual robot masters will be using to enslave us. Despite sneaking suspicions, we will probably feel good about it. Do tha right thing and give in to PrismCorp™ Virtual Enterprises with a free MP3 download of “リサフランク420 - 現代のコンピュー”, by Macintosh Plus. Afterwards, visit Vektroid’s Tumblr or Beer on the Rug Records’ Bandcamp page for more satisfyingly dehumanizing elevator synthwave.

MP3 Download of “リサフランク420 - 現代のコンピュー”, by Macintosh Plus (from Floral Shoppe)

VANGUARD - “ECHOHUNTER”

At Tiananmen Square Dance, we’re always sure to cite our sources, and we’d just like to let you know that if you haven’t already checked out DjemUK’s 80’s Dreamz mix at his Soundcloud page, then you need to get after it now. The featured Vanguard jam, along with several other VHS-wave tunes are all there, compiled for your convenience, and many of them are even free downloads. The organic electronic vibe in “Echohunter” starts slowly with a cascading ambient digital rain, building both in volume and intensity, reaching an absolutely supernatural high shortly after the one-minute mark. Sonorous vocal samples precede the meat of “Echohunter”, as if an annunciation of the glory to come. A bassline straight out of an early 80’s wet boogie dream underlies the reprise of some of the most truly triumphant vocals we have ever had the pleasure of hearing, and a lo-fi found monologue walks us back and out abruptly after the track is chopped and screwed into computerized oblivion. Boasting a prominent sample of Alexander O’Neal’s 1986 R&B hit “If You Were Here Tonight”, the song is perfect for fans of the earthy downtempo of Tycho, the dark witch house of Friendzone, or any particularly bouncy vintage synthwave jam by the likes of Lapti or Capo Blanco. Do tha right thing, and check out Vanguard’s “Echohunter” after the bump, and you can even download the free EP on which it is featured here, if you so desire. Of course, we also recommend you check out DjemUK’s 80’s Dreamz playlist too. There’s some truly good shit there.

MP3 Download of “Echohunter”, by Vanguard (from the Echo EP)

MOOMIN - “YOU”

This jam came out two years ago. Considering our penchant for minimalism, you would have thought we would have posted it before, but nope. That is an error we now intend to remedy. Despite the myriad club, house, ambient, and IDM artists out there creating simple build-and-release-based loops, very rarely does one stumble upon an artist or tune that creates a distinctly memorable moment with all of the subtlety that one would expect out of that brand of electronic music. With Moomin’s “You”, a warm, gentle desperation is created, built, and sustained over the course of nearly seven minutes with nothing but ambling rhythm synth loops, four-on-the-floor deep house beats, and a persistent digital whine. That is literally the entirety of the track, but you have to hear it to believe it. Named for the fairy tale characters featured in Swedish-Finn artist Tove Jansson’s children’s books, Berlin’s Moomin manages to tenderly captivate while remaining perfectly energetic and danceable without getting boring at all (at least, in our opinion). Along with greats like The Field and The Sight Below, what makes his minimalistic electronic music so impressive is that so much can be built from so little, and with 2011’s “You”, Moomin succeeds. So, despite the age of this song, do tha right thing, and grab a free MP3 download after the jump. Afterwards, you can purchase The Story About You via Amazon, iTunes, or from Smallville Records.

MP3 Download of “You”, by Moomin (from The Story About You)

SAINT PEPSI - “BALANCING TOWERS”

AMDiscs is a bedroom record label known (along with Beer on the Rug and Fortune 500) for its expanding portfolio of artists and releases in the vaporwave vein. Featured on AMDiscs’ 2013 compilation, this particular jam by Saint Pepsi is of course no exception to that generalization. Saint Pepsi seems to be the new flavor of the month, especially among followers of that incredibly weird but incredibly chill sounding microgenre of experimental electronic music. “Balancing Towers” is essentially just chopped and screwed early 80’s synth-funk, but the effect on the subconscious that this increasingly popular slice of VHS-wave has is definitely noteworthy. Where witch house once turned culture on its head with its chopped and screwed covers of pop hits, the vaporwave vibe of artists like Miami Vice and Vektroid crafts a particularly sterile retro-futuristic vision. With “Balancing Towers”, Saint Pepsi simultaneously reminds us of the duality of high class living with vintage bassline, glittering electric piano, and soulful musing. Despite the nostalgic smell of success present in the slow jam, one is unable to shake the sneaking feeling that’s all just a pixelated house of cards, waiting to crash like a cocaine-fueled stock market bought and sold exclusively by labor saving devices. Do tha right thing, and grab a free MP3 download of Saint Pepsi’s smooth retro track “Balancing Towers”. Afterwards, check out the rest of his repertoire, or definitely check out AMDiscs’ 2013 playlist for more similar songs.

MP3 Download of “Balancing Towers”, by Saint Pepsi

CHUCK PERSON - “ECCOJAM A3”

It’s a well acknowledged opinion that the Summer of 2010 was a flashpoint moment for experimental electronic music: chillwave, synthwave, vaporwave, and the like. A lot of articles from that time capsule are being re-introduced to the collective hipster consciousness in the form of B-sides and previously unreleased cuts, and there’s just some stuff that sadly went unnoticed because everyone was too busy listening to Psychic Chasms (no hate). Daniel Lopatin, the experimental golden boy behind Oneohtrix Point Never and collaborative projects Games and Ford & Lopatin, released one such gem back in that fateful season. Sporting the pseudonym of Chuck Person, Lopatin released an extremely limited run of only 100 cassette tape copies of Eccojams Vol. 1 via The Curatorial Club. Akin to his Memory Vague collection of super lo-fi Sunsetcorp videos, the album is a mish-mash of chopped and fucked pop hits filtered through Lopatin’s unique brand of nostalgia-evoking editing. With “Eccojam A3”, arguably the standout jam in the two-sided compilaiton, that hazy liquid capitalism vibe of traditional VHS-wave artists like 18 Carat Affair, Dreams West, and Miami Vice is present in full force, but with an added hypnotic aspect to it, due to the incessant looping. True to his technique, Lopatin appropriates samples from teeny bopper diva JoJo’s “Too Little Too Late” and early 2000’s eurodance trio Ian Van Dahl’s “Castles in the Sky”, pitch-shifting the shit out both and looping with heavy reverb into infinity. The accompanying footage above is a bad found VHS montage of people just kicking it and keeping it real by Youtube curator Patryk Ludamage, and the audio is easily an octave higher than the original composition (and a bit faster as well), which can be found here. It’s remarkable how heart grabbingly, throat punchingly catchy this blended mass of glitzy cultural consciousness and surreal witchiness is, begging the listener to listen repeatedly, as only Daniel Lopatin’s bastardized compositions can. Chuck Person’s Eccojams Vol. 1 is most definitely out of print and very difficult to find, but it needs to be rediscovered en masse, so do tha right thing and grab a free MP3 download of “Eccojam A3” below, and ghettoblast it at the next party you attend.

MP3 Download of “Eccojam A3”, by Chuck Person (from Eccojams Vol. 1)