PSJ SUSHI “psj BABY EP” C9 (Illuminated Paths)

Illest rapper in Florida? Maybe. Cold-ass beats (think Ferraro ohmygawd), hyperactive flow, lots of yelling of “Bitch!” Seems like psj SUSHI can keep the energy level waaaay up there. But this here’s a five-song EP. Can he do it for longer? Let’s find out on subsequent releases.

There’s no way “psj BABY” isn’t going to fully immerse you. To paraphrase the illustrious Busta Rhymes, psj SUSHI’s got that head-not shit that’ll break your neck. Keep it up.

https://illuminatedpaths.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

IN-OUT “Dining Experience” (Illuminated Paths)

Strange vapor through the vents chillaxed me. I had been to In-N-Out when I was in California in the fall, and it was real good. I had takeaway, so I didn’t get the full “dining experience,” which was fine. It was – you’ve seen one fast food place, you’ve seen em all, even though In-N-Out’s a bit better than the average. Instead I went to the oceanfront cottage at which I was staying, opened up the wall-length glass doors, and listened to the ocean as it crashed upon the rocks a mere twenty feet away.

I imagined “Dining Experience” then, and I imagine it now.

Strange vapor indeed.

Like Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks,” “Dining Experience” illuminates an establishment after the sun sets, where patrons gather for refreshment. It could be anywhere, any kind of restaurant or bar, the vibe a mist of cloud passing by the moon. In-Out dazzles with neat tricks at the corners of our eyes, not quite providing the focused magic we may crave but undergirding our surroundings with something special, something unusual. The mundane shows cracks, illuminates feelings suppressed by ennui.

If I had to do this, I’d say it reminds me a bit of Ferraro’s “Cold” if it were part of the Adhesive Sounds catalog.

There.

https://illuminatedpaths.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

BROKEN MACHINE FILMS PRESENTS… / TWIN MONOLITHS “Black Boxxes” (Illuminated Paths)

Broken Machine Films presents… and Twin Monoliths join forces on an excursion of thrift tape manips and “beats and some effects” on this thing called “Black Boxxes.” Maybe just maybe black monoliths. Not unlike the one they found on the moon that one time. Alien, I think it was. “Black Boxxes” is an alien thing. It remains fixed and upright, and if it had eyes, it would be staring right at you. Thank god this thing doesn’t have eyes – that would be unnerving.

Glowing like radioactive vaporwave (because isn’t that what Illuminated Paths is known for?), “Black Boxxes” weaves answering machine messages into the mix for weird and unsettling flavor, sometimes coated in effects for maximum schizophrenic Black Lodge distress. The effects are squeamish, the beats slushy, allowing the source material to shine like the unearthed treasure that it is. Voices appear like ghosts, telling stories that maybe shouldn’t be told, maybe HAVE to be told. Everything together coalesces into a slab of pure life, maybe pink and diluted, maybe upside down or suffering from food poisoning, but still there, groping through the haze and begging for your attention.

“Black Boxxes” or black monoliths? Proof of alien intelligence or just recovered crash site data? Why not both? The thorough documentation of “we don’t know what that was, we didn’t see anything” run through popular algorithms reaches beyond and through the library shadows to experience new life. You should expect it to wriggle under the skin of your arms in vast black wormlike ripples. How sound does that, I’ll never know. Just get me as far away from the glowing center as possible before I become one of them.

https://illuminatedpaths.bandcamp.com/

--Ryan

SANELIV "Peninsula" C110 (Illuminated Paths)

Out of Illuminated Paths’ 483 releases (usually in batches of 25), this is their 417th, and easily saneLIV’s 3rd (at least) via the label. Both artist and Floridian imprint specialize in beat-centered cuts, with the occasional foray into atmospheric soundscape or ambient bent. Listen via the link below.

https://illuminatedpaths.bandcamp.com/album/peninsula

  --Jacob An Kittenplan

THE LOST & FOUND SOUND “Burnt Enigma” (Illuminated Paths)

Amazing design with elegantly burnt edges on the sleeve. Inside is a slogan: “Gentle Music amid Modern Violence,” a good slogan for this music, a beautiful murky dream.

Deep below, down in the depths, down through the drainage ditch, down through the dark pipes, there is a wild party at bonfire beach. This music is made at that beach.

Better yet, this music plays out of a forlorn jukebox at the laundromat of the end of the world, a jukebox forever tumbling on high heat in the jeweled depths of the cosmic laundromat.

Illuminatedpaths.bandcamp.com

-Kevin Oliver

SANELIV "American Demon" C75 (Illuminated Paths)

As of September 2nd, 2017, Illuminated Paths has released/promoted 395 albums (per Bandcamp), mostly involving stock 90’s techno breakbeats (back when it was called “techno”, in fact) in mantra loops, some vaporwave midi arpeggios, and heavily processed guitar licks sprinkled in. saneLIV’s “American Demon” album falls right in line, but with an ivory-tickler’s finesse, here and there, that breathes some lively fun throughout this hour and a quarter mishmash of a release.

Mostly instrumental, these tracks hold no continuity or signature style, giving the release a mixtape sort of vibe, and it’s a pleasant “get to know your co-worker” kinda feel; nothing too daring, but not somber or timidly milquetoast, either.

Personally, I’d like to hear more fleshed out/explorative piano compositions and less reliance on beats for energy, but what the hell do I know? Have a listen for yourself below, knowing all the while that the first song is probably the best one, and not available via bandcamp. J

https://soundcloud.com/sanefiftyfour
and/or
https://illuminatedpaths.bandcamp.com/album/americandemon

-- Jacob An Kittenplan

HIFI ENVELOPE “Transitional Objects” (Illuminated Paths)

From what I understand, and I paraphrase top scientists here, if you slow down R&B samples enough, in space, no one will hear you scream, correct? That’s how vaporwave gets you – it chucks you out of the airlock of your 1970s-style retrofuturistic pleasure cruise ship into the cold vacuum of space, and you feel stupid for a second before you freeze and/or implode for letting it get the jump on you in the first place. Sure, vaporwave acts all cool at first – I mean, this has to be label honcho, right? Doesn’t this movie take place in Florida? – but once it sinks its teeth in, to obliterate the first shaky metaphor with a second equally shaky one, it’s all over. Curses. Foiled again. And whatnot. But Hifi Envelope has emerged from the disgusting swamps of Gainesville (sorry! I mistook the University of Florida for an unholy cesspool – go Gators?) to chuck all that vaporwave nonsense right back in your smirking face, you buffoon, because TRANSITIONAL OBJECTS is a chillaxed repertory of the dankest proportions. I have forgotten what vaporwave even means while listening to it, if it ever even meant anything to begin with. This is not vaporwave. It is a valiantly composed electronic opiate, not outside the realm of Boards of Canada or even some of your favorite melodic ambient artists. It is at the very least obviously made by a human being with real human emotions and feelings, not a slick, ironic superhuckster. In fact, I’m so blissed out right now right in my OWN human face that I’ve lost all threads of warning you about awful unfunny music masquerading as unfunny satire. Hifi Envelope is the real deal, a joy to listen to on more than one occasion, a repeatable entity whose tape is almost bloody sold out from the IP page. Wonder if you should buy one? I say you should buy one. I am at the very least a non-ironic superhuckster, hocking some sweet tunes with a sincere smile on my face. Not like Chris Sarandon in FRIGHT NIGHT (two for two!).

Hifi Envelope

Illuminated Paths

--Ryan Masteller

COLA可樂巫術NECROMANCY “family vacation” (Illuminated Paths)

 
Slide into the comfort of vaporwave. It fits over your earholes like a forbidden glove made especially for ears, lovingly caressing their canals and stroking their drums. Illuminated Paths is the suave purveyor of the luscious vaporwave, meaningful glances firing in your direction from just over the top of tilted-down shades, even though it’s night time and you’re in a dimly lit club and Illuminated Paths isn’t really a person but an enterprise, personified here for effect and also just for funsies. Today Illuminated Paths is as charming as Chris Sarandon in FRIGHT NIGHT, luring you in with the promise of romance and adventure, and delivering with COLA可樂巫術NECROMANCY. I don’t know why this is called FAMILY VACATION – it comes off as waaay too adult for the kiddos, but hey, who’s arguing? Not me, I’m fully stoked, and I’ve got some of the most erotic liqueurs and some candles and stuff like that, ready for an evening of sweet, glorious, processed smooth-jazz sax and warped adult contempo slow jamz. I might even break out the bubble bath.

Illuminated Paths

--Ryan Masteller

REPTILIANS FROM ANDROMEDA “Whatever” (Illuminated Paths)

I wish Reptilians from Andromeda had a distinct personality, but as it stands, they embody someone else’s – namely the early 1990s riot grrrl sound boiling from PacNW house shows, except the Reptilians are from Istanbul (not really Andromeda). How bout another blast from the friggin past? Remember that Ugly Kid Joe song, the one that went “I hate everything about you”? It was called “I Hate Everything About You.” [Ed note: Actually it was called “Everything About You”] I wish this review was the opposite of that song – it’s not, but it also doesn’t suggest that Reptilians from Andromeda are at the end of the spectrum where the sentiment of that song is either. It’s maybe 56% or so toward that end, barely enough for me to warrant a shrug. But since I don’t like this tape, it’s at least over the halfway point. Whatever indeed! And on the plus side, I’ve just trolled your entire day by making you remember Ugly Kid Joe, and maybe even getting that song stuck in your head if you’re lucky enough to have caught the video on MTV’s rotation when you were a kid. (*Evil supervillain laugh*) If you want a bright side here instead of a “meh” side, you can hang your hat on the fact that it at least sounds like Reptilians from Andromeda are having fun. Plus, they’re very eager – they have a bunch of releases.

https://reptiliansfromandromeda.bandcamp.com/releases
https://illuminatedpaths.bandcamp.com/

--Whitfield Crane’s insidious long con

STEMBREO “Yex Dit Jow” (Illuminated Paths)

Stembreo has somehow intentionally made a full-length version of The Beatles’ “Revolution 9,” which is the track on that album that I always skip because I’m never in the mood for it. I don’t fault the fans of “Revolution 9,” and I realize it’s fairly influential as a concept. So – I don’t know, I don’t care if you slag me for skipping it. Whatever. Stembreo doesn’t sample any music, just vocal sounds. One of the samples is the repetition of a male voice saying “Number six,” which makes me think of the “Number nine” sample, obviously.

Oh god, I don’t care. And hey, let’s pad this thing out, shall we? “The album is a track-by-track palindrome; after the 10th, and originally last track, I duplicated the ‘songs’ [that’s right, pop that term in quotes] in reverse order under different titles, just as pretentious as the idea to do so…”

That is the gist. Here is my “review”: “kdsjaofeoiosaefjafoeaisjeoihjfo’hagih’aoihb’naweofji’eijapojhjhv;adajiselfejia’jifh9jadjifoawieag4h’ajslkdj.f”

Palindrome that in less than five minutes, I dare you!

Stembreo

Illuminated Paths

--Ringo’s hovering syllables