Mitch Porsche‘s latest release is a triumph in swoon beyond Vaporwave’s tropes
Vaporwave as a mere concept is bizarre, not only in it’s visual aesthetic and sonic constructs, but in it’s tenacity as an “internet scene”. After a near decade since the term was coined, Vaporwave remains erratic and unpredictable, reigned by monolithic producers and overwhelming amounts of content.
It’s a rare occasion when an artist brings something evocative or captivating to the Vaporwave scene. The umbrella term engulfs so many unique sounds from vintage pop-plunderphonics, woozy mallsoft nostalgia-core, to energetic dance floor vapor/future-funk.
I think there’s so much that this scene has brought to the greater scheme of electronic music, in revitalizing dead genre’s through creative sampling and becoming more a feeling than a sound. If anything, Vaporwave is often overlooked as a meme, or as a lazy excuse to claim slowed-down, heavily filtered music as original. In most dedicated music scenes, there’s so much genuine inspired music that can slip by under the big names (and shitposts) such that a newcomer could miss out. An inherent novelty to Vaporwave is it’s drudging up of a “better” past; it’s idea of an idyllic future based on proto-Utopian expectations. It’s anachronisms are it’s flavors, like the confluence of Greek columns and Arizona Green Tea, or 70’s disco and modern sampling.
I discovered Mitch Porsche last year with the release of [Liquid Laced Lies], an immaculate collection of modified R&B, K-Pop, and a fusion of floating slow jams followed by 4-to-the-floor dance tracks that I still can’t get enough.
Elohim’s Bracelet invokes a unique nostalgia.
Every time I listen to this record, I start the first track and skip nothing until it’s end. The sound glitters, it awes, it lulls you into a trance and breaks it with a hi-hat roll or unexpected bass growl. Tracks like Two Lines, Last, CCC, and Beset begin curiously and they morph into shimmering expanses. Mitch Porsche composes this record like a changing tide, with thoughtful melding of high energy and wide ethereal tracks. Individual songs have transforming moods and dynamics that make it difficult to recommend any single piece. There’s just so much space in this album; the tracks feel like they are all intentional, some only a minute in length. There’s rattling, crackling synth pads, icy bells, vacuous percussion, twinkling forlorn keys and strings. Ascendant, spiritual tones permeate throughout, juxtaposed with space-age synth bursts of celestial splendor. I don’t think this album is “good for a vaporwave album“, I think it’s just a damn good album. Any fan of creatively sampled electronica will appreciate Mitch Porsche’s attention to detail, his subtlety, and ability to conjure a fresh take in an ever-expanding scene.
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