Once Upon a Time cover

Once Upon a Time

Released

The mysterious Romance collective takes (actual) Celine Dion acapellas and soaks them until they slide, waterlogged, down from the world of pop into the arcade where vaporwave is sold ten to a pack, cheap, and Oneohtrix and The Caretaker keep their kissas open ‘til dawn. It is easy to be distracted by the technology that enabled eccojams or screw music or Basinski’s fading loops, and it’s good to keep an eye on those fetishes. But a reflection of the immediate environment is central to the purpose of folk music, and that’s what vaporwave does by recycling the sounds of life spent in front of help kiosks. Romance’s churning of Celine’s everywhere voice helps us make sense of days spent with screened voices, and reminds us how great Dion’s voice is, at any speed, with or without cheese.

Sasha Frere-Jones

Suggestions
Hyakki Yagyō cover

Hyakki Yagyō

Eiko Ishibashi
Unseen Forces cover

Unseen Forces

Justin Walter
Cruel Optimism cover

Cruel Optimism

Lawrence English
Surface Of The Earth cover

Surface Of The Earth

Surface of the Earth
Divine Weight cover

Divine Weight

Alex Zhang Hungtai
hybtwibt? cover

hybtwibt?

Space Afrika
Labradford cover

Labradford

Labradford
Frozen Geometry cover

Frozen Geometry

Casino Versus Japan
Mythologies cover

Mythologies

Masaya Ozaki, Kaito Nakahori