ライフターン – H+
Recommendation: ☀☀☁
H+ is the sophomore release from ライフターン1, a vaporwave artist from southeast Florida who releases music absolutely perfect for the DMT Tapes FL label. For those of you who are unaware, DMT Tapes FL is a Floridian label run by VitoJames that specializes in the classic-style and sample curation subgenres, often with a unique wall-of-sound production style. H+ leans firmly in the former category of music. It’s eleven tracks of generally short samples of adult contemporary and easy listening music looped in on itself and recontextualized for a nostalgic-in-a-happy-way milieu, which is another specialty of DMT Tapes FL.
The production is slightly airy in a manner akin to but still sonically different from slushwave. “Wet My Whistle (Just a Little Bit)” has some phaser effects in the background that complement the pitch-/tempo-shifting used on the track (and make up the compositional backbone of much of this release). Many tracks utilize the ECCOJAMS style of repeating short fragments of music to create an earworm effect, but H+ subverts the typical ECCOJAMS paradigm by allowing tracks to progress through cycling different elements of the same song, creating the vaporwave equivalent of verse-chorus-verse. An excellent example (and choice track) is “Never Let You Go”. There are a couple ambient elements as well, as on the one-minute “Everywhere”, which acts as interlude between the straightforward ECCOJAMS of “Nothing but Hearsay” and “I am There”.
The digital download for H+ currently available on the DMT Tapes FL website also includes a video titled “80’s Commercials Vol. 416”, which is a fifteen minute compilation of commercials. H+ may be played in the background to heighten the retro atmosphere. This album is recommended for fans of bl00dwave, who utilized similar production styles on ＮＥＷ ＶＩＳＵＡＬＳ.
Tracklist
1. Crazy – (2:39)
2. Alright – (2:19)
3. Feel It Baby – (2:19)
4. Wet My Whistle (Just a Little Bit) – (2:32)
5. Have You Ever [Interval] – (1:18)
6. The Way You Make Me – 92:50)
7. Never Let You Go – (2:47)
8. Nothing but Hearsay – (2:31)
9. Everywhere – (1:04)
10. I am There – (2:31)
11. Evening Shadows [Uncut] – (5:24)
1Japanese translation: “Life turns”