Yummyvhs – Virtual Shine

Recommendation: ☹


Virtual Shine is an experimental vaporwave album created from MIDI sounds by Camden, New Jersey artist Yummyvhs and released in February 2017. It is accompanied by a brief discussion on how vaporwave was “going through an identity crisis” at the beginning of 2017, and that the genre’s inherently “dynamic nature” resisted attempts by people to “attached a specific sound to vaporwave”. In response to possible criticisms that Virtual Shine is not vaporwave, Yummyvhs states that “vaporwave is a diverse genre with sub-genres littered all over it”, whereby vaporwave is a reflection of intent in addition to or in qualification of compositional techniques.1

Virtual Shine is a collaboration between Yummyvhs and an artificial intelligence. Yummyvhs chose parameters for instruments and composition that were plugged into the A.I. to create each track. The MIDI instruments include harpsichord, piano, and bells – all of which give the album a somewhat baroque-classical feel that is tied to vaporwave in the distinctly artificial method of production. The instruments are all very notably old-school MIDI effects with the perfect-tone and dampening associated with MIDI. This method of production is notably similar to Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2 by Aphex Twin, a companion release to the artist’s 2001 album Drukqs, that featured electroacoustic compositions as played by programmed mechanical robots and other devices.

The thirty-eight minutes of MIDI music that result from the experiments are of middling listening appeal simply due to being MIDI music. However, the programmed production aesthetic is quite promising, and hopefully Yummyvhs continues to refine this style.

 

Tracklist


1. Carefree – (2:09)
2. Creek – (5:02)
3. Fresh – (5:44)
4. Fun Time – (5:07)
5. High Sky – (0:30)
6. Morning Sun – (3:24)
7. Not A Care In The World – (3:39)
8. On And On Again – (3:17)
9. Park Days – (3:26)
10. Perfect Day For A Stroll – (3:26)
11. Prism Of Light – (1:45)
12. Winds – (0:30)
13. Peace Out – (0:30)


 

1… and I agree.

+1

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