GAMESHARK™ – SHARK 2 パラサイトシングル

Recommendation: ☀☁☁


SHARK 2 パラサイトシングル1 is chock-full of sample curation from the fittingly-named artist GAMESHARK™. Released through Midnight Moon Tapes (which isn’t much known for classic-style), this album is entirely worth its forty-five minutes. The majority of the work utilizes a texture similar to the NUWRLD series of death’s dynamic shroud.wmv, whereby the artists used analogue equipment instead of digital to slow-down and edit samples, which creates a unique sound that’s free of artifacts that are unintentionally (but sometimes intentionally)2 created with digital editing processes.3 There’s no evidence that GAMESHARK™ used that particular production method in creating this album, but the sonic results are similar, which sets it apart right there from the majority of the sample curation/classic-style pack.

The source material is affected in a way that sounds somewhat akin to ambient music, although it is difficult to say from where the samples are sourced given the level of change except for some classical music bits. What makes SHARK 2 パラサイトシングル a sample curation album instead of a route classic-style album is in how many of the samples are certainly affected, but they’re also presented sans breaks or obvious skips. For example, “Closed” uses a smooth jazz sample curation trope pretty much by the numbers, and “Weary” plays along with its soundtrack score but with a thin bit of additional edits that lend to the aforementioned NUWRLD style. There are definitely exceptions though, as on choice track “Disengage”. This song has some excellent vaporhop moments mixed in with percussion that occasionally loses its footing to great effect. Also worth mentioning is “Sedated”, which features Nmesh – creator of works such as Pharma and Nu.wav Hallucinations.

 

Tracklist


1. Time – (1:13)
2. Sedated (feat. Nmesh) – (5:03)
3. Desolate – (2:18)
4. Isolate – (2:21)
5. Paranoia – (0:52)
6. Closed – (3:18)
7. Prostrate – (2:21)
8. Introspection – (4:23)
9. Clouded – (0:46)
10. Dysfunction – (3:33)
11. Weary – (3:19)
12. Retrograde – (3;53)
13. Maligant – (1:33)
14. Disengage – (4:52)
15. Existential – (5:34)


 

1Japanese translation: “(Shark 2) Parasite Single”
2Skeleton, the debut release by 骨架的, is a good example of artifacts from tempo-shifting done to capture an aesthetic. It’s also one of the earliest examples of such in vaporwave, having been released in 2010.
3Midnight Moon Tapes would release 失われた時REGRET by death’s dynamic shroud.wmv on cassette approximately one year later. 失われた時REGRET is part of the NUWRLD series/aesthetic.

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