Aloe Island Posse – Aloe Island Adventures
Album information:
Artist: Aloe Island Posse
Album: Aloe Island Adventures
Type: Extended-play (EP)
Release date: 13 February 2015
Label: Business Casual
Format:
- White cassette, edition 34 (Business Casual, 2015)
- Digital download (Business Casual, 2015)
Recommendation: ✂ (“Live from Outerspace”, “Downtown アニメのギャング”)
Aloe Island Adventures is the second release from Aloe Island Posse, a future funk artist who released at least seven albums in 2015 and then disappeared from the scene. This release was their first label debut, and it found a home on Business Casual – which was then releasing primarily vaporwave and had yet to move toward a general synthwave/retro-aesthetic approach that characterized much of 2016 through 2018. It’s seven tracks in twenty-two minutes, possibly qualifying it as a “mini-album” instead of an EP.1
Aloe Island Posse is heavily influenced by the マクロスMACROSS 82-99 side of future funk whereby songs are constructed via uptempo edits of funk and house music with additional sidechain/compression and percussion. The album is best seen as sample curation but of funk music; Aloe Island Posse openly admits that their music would be “nothing” without the artists they sample, and many of their releases feature sample lists for the curious to listen to the source material. That’s more than can be said for many future funk releases, which have the reputation of being danceable and fun but compositionally feeble. Admittedly, Aloe Island Adventures does not completely escape this criticism, yet there are a couple production effects and strong beach house vibes on “Live from Outerspace” and “Downtown アニメのギャング” that make those tracks in particular worth a grab. It’s a shame that Aloe Island Posse kind of dropped off the face of the map, because those songs showed serious potential.
Tracklist
1. Pilotgang 2 (Arrival) – (3:02)
2. Oceanfront – (2:46)
3. Live from Outerspace – (2:54)
4. High Tide – (2:45)
5. Downtown アニメのギャング – (1:54)2
6. Sunset – (3:32)
7. Last Flight [Departure] – (5:30)
1Notwithstanding the nebulousness of such a term.
2Japanese translation: “(Downtown) Anime gang”