I don't know how often I'll do this type of post, but I wanted to highlight some albums I've had on repeat as of late from the genre I've been loving the most (and creating).

1. 仮想夢女の子 by 仮想夢プラザ [Virtual Dream Plaza]

As the artist name implies, this entire album feels like a dream sequence. As opposed to the self titled album 仮想夢プラザ, this one features a lot more upbeat pieces in comparison to the more downtempo and ambient songs across the entire compilation. Even as someone who enjoys the more upbeat slushwave/vaporwave the downtempo songs are still an absolute treat to listen to. 

海辺の愛 has been a frequent listen as of late. It's such a beautiful journey throughout all 30 minutes. The best descriptor I can bring for all of Virtual Dream Plaza is every song being a short film. A small peek into another world that isn't too far removed from our own. This song in particular feels like a triumphant retelling of someone's past life. A beauty within the simplicity. 

2. The Balkan Cycle by Strmi

Signalwave has always been one of my favorite sub-sections of vaporwave, even more than slushwave initially. This album is the personification of everything that makes signalwave great. A ton of short songs to emulate a TV program with some longer songs sprinkled in. This album is extremely similar to ひまわり画像 by 天気予報, but instead of Japanese television it's Balkan television. 

Since that album by 天気予報 is one of my favorite albums of all time, I knew this one was gonna resonate with me just as much, and I wasn't disappointed. Just like ひまわり画像, it is a peek into a world I had no idea about. The sounds brought forth are super interesting and many of the tracks are extremely catchy and have infinite replay value. Očekivano vreme is a personal favorite, it feels like watching the morning weather report. 

3.ＢＯＳＴＯＮ HEIGHTS by ｔｅｐｈ　ｃｏ. 愛

As I mentioned previously, I love signalwave just as much if not more than I love slushwave. So why not have them both? Teph's style of signalslush is something I admire a lot and have even done similarly myself with some songs on 遠い昔の国 [tracks 8,15,20 & 21]. The marriage of these styles on this album are done excellently. The songs aren't too slushed, allowing a lot of the commercials to shine through and really give the album a feel of peering into American life. 

My personal favorite song is ˜”*°•.˜”*°• 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖀𝖑𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖆𝖙𝖊 𝕸𝖔𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 •°*”˜.•°*”˜, the flip of What You Won't Do for Love by Bobby Caldwell is intoxicating and the different commercial clips used throughout create such calming atmosphere. I'd definitely say it's one of the best albums to come out this year.

4. 𓋹 by HYDROPLANED INTO A FALSE REALITY!

The owner of WORLD END COLLAPSE! has come through with an outstanding signalwave release. The samples, which I presume to be from a multitude of games, are masterfully manipulated to create a mystical soundscape. It's like being trapped in an old Wii, traveling through the menus of all the content that was left behind on the system.

🧥is probably my favorite song on the album. As the longest song on the album, it is probably the most expansive soundscape across the whole tape. The way all the sounds come together in this song really exemplifies how great the whole album is. You almost don't feel the 3 and a half hour run time because of how well all of the sounds blend together. 

5. 神秘的な空間的な愛 by Glaciology

This album was one I had listened to a while back when I was first getting into vaporwave, and I hadn't thought to much of it until recently. However, after going back and really listening to it around new years I realized how much I actually loved this album (it is now in my top 10 slushwave albums). It is a great balance between ambient and upbeat slush, creating a truly dream-like atmosphere. 

神秘的な空間的な愛 is the title track and the climactic end to this beautiful album. There aren't enough words to describe how beautiful this song is. While the loop is rather simple, the sounds created from the effects makes you feel as if you're floating through space. Seeing the universe around you and being left with nothing but the stars, it's truly a one of one journey. I feel as if this album gets slightly underrated, or at the very least doesn't get the amount of mentions it deserves.