NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL – NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL
Recommendation: ☹
Yup, that’s the title. The music sounds exactly like what you’d expect.
This one-off release as NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL from the Orlando producer Windows 98の is music from the Now That’s What I Call Music! series edited to sound nigh-unidentifiable. But instead of the pitch/tempo-delay and filters that typically accompany such a phrase, this album uses the characteristic Windows 98の style of “nano-sampling.” Baseline beats and rhythms are created through the teeniest of tiny samples of songs to which additional percussion and melodies are added. Tracks are immaculately produced with no fault in fidelity – something else that’s common to this producer – and tracks take on a pseudo-drone quality in the audio saturation of so many quick samples continuing for four, five, or even ten minutes.
NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL1 is a cool concept – if common in vaporwave – but it’s not as arresting as other albums by Windows 98の. Once one hears the first few tracks of nano-sample repetition, they’ll find out that the same technique pretty much continues over every song without much change-up, which heavily contrasts to Windows 98の’s BLUE SCREEN albums and FEVER DREAM DE:AD. There aren’t many standout moments in this seventy-seven minute release, with the exception of final track “Untilted,” which has the most classic-style vaporwave-ish feel through an ECCOJAMS deconstruction of Ne-Yo’s “Let Me Love You,”2 and the trippy “DON’T MIND JUST GRIND.”
Those are especially fond of Windows 98の’s clear-cut production style and of ECCOJAMS may find this album stimulating, but other listeners may feel it’s too static. Try out one of the longer songs and see if it’s your thing.
Tracklist
1. NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL – (1:58)
2. BASS – (6:22)
3. I BE/NO HATIN – (3:47)
4. DON’T MIND JUST GRIND – (4:52)
5. TWERK IT SHAKE IT – (6:31)
6. THIS SICK BEAT – (4:43)
7. TAKE YOUR FOUR DOOR – (6:40)
8. STILL – (9:15)
9. LOVE ME – (10:48)
10. COCO DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY – (4:14)
11. WAVE YOUR HANDS – (7:26)
12. Untitled – (11:14)
1Jeez.
2And I’m sure few people who are reading this have even thought about Ne-Yo in the past three or four years.