Look, I hate the mall.

All the noise, the mashed-up voices and blaring music coming in out of
hundreds of different speakers at various volumes, not to mention the crowdedness, everything
makes me physically ill and whenever I need to get to the mall to buy whatever, I try to spend as
little time as possible inside. I go in, rush to whatever store I need, pick up my thing then get the
hell out before I start feeling inclined to vomit.

However, mallsoft (a subgenre of vaporwave focusing on – you guessed it, the mall) can feel pretty
alright at times. Hologram Plaza by Disconscious is one of the quintessential mallsoft albums of
our decade. To me, listening to this album feels like dreaming of being lost inside a gigantic
deserted mall, aimlessly wondering around the shops and going up and down the escalators, while
warped pop music and drowsy muzak ooze all around me. It’s pretty chill and laid-back, with some
really cool jazz and easy-listening sampling, but you can’t shake the feeling that something is not
quite right in your dream. Recommended for lonely nights in the executive tower, bare feet, loose tie
and drinking a bottle of bubbly.

VHSテープリワインダー (VHS Tape Rewinder) is the unknown corporation

supplying us with a constant stream of smooth jazz vaporwave instrumentals that
can turn any boring office setting into a classy joint for rich, extravagant
individuals. Relaxed jazz samples, ethereal funky beats, lo-fi sensitivities and stock
photos of cityscapes used as cover art – this is what VHSテープリワインダー is all
about. Essential listening at your corporate retreat. Call now and book your own
fantasy jazz escape!

Lately I’ve been on the lookout for atmospheric ambient music with a cinematic quality to it, music
that manages to convey visual images and unknown feelings. Even though posts have been sparse,
I’ve been listening to a ton of new music, so much that I even had to make a long list of all the
artists and labels that I’d like to check out. An Imgur album full of cover artworks is also waiting for
me, so there is a lot of material I can cover. I’ve also been meaning to write about some new,
slightly more mainstream music that’s popped up recently. Mustering up the time and motivation is
another thing entirely, but hopefully I will slowly get back into the swing of things.

So let’s start off with Cobalt Rabbit and his LP Long Walks and Oceansides, an immersive
collection of hazy soundscapes interspersed with dreamy (or slightly nightmarish) movie samples
that’s got me quite hooked. Each song seems to weave its own narrative, like a weird, unsettling
dream that slowly unravels over the course of each track. The choice of samples is excellent, with a
great stand-out in Like Home, which begins with the famous line “Hey, are you a dreamer?” from
Richard Linklater’s Waking Life. I really feel like the album’s title and artwork does a great job of
conveying its atmosphere, but I wouldn’t really recommend listening to it while walking through the
woods or on the oceanside. I’d much rather you listen to the natural sounds of those places. No, this
is a perfect album for sleeping. Late at night with all the lights off – this is the time when Long
Walks and Oceansides truly shines and it’ll hopefully make you want to check out some more of
Cobalt Rabbit‘s catalogue. This particular LP is hosted on AmbientMusicalGenre, an indie netlabel
from Russia that’s chock full of excellent ambient music, but I’ll also link you to CR’s bandcamp
page so you can explore some more.

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