Vacant Places by Hantasi

While many people point to Mallsoft as an evolution which diverged from vaporwave years after its inception, the tie between its aestheticism and sound was there almost from the start. As the first year of vaporwave's initial year of steam, 2012, picked up, the release of Hantasi's "Vacant Places" soon followed. Just as the intensity of focal elements was dampened over time with signalwave, the same was true with Mallsoft. One listen of this classic album still gives an experience which has not been replicated as fully as it was done in the earlier days of the style. "Vacant Places" employs a truly haunting ambiance through its use of layered effects, heavy usage of hypnotic loops, and nearly-muted percussive elements. Not only does the album evoke the atmosphere of a mall, but one truly well and dead, an element which has almost fallen to the wayside as the years pass by.

There's an almost poetic irony to this evolution, one that only gives the ethos of one of Hantasi's most well-known works another leg to stand on. Just as in the image of this style of vaporwave, dedicated to abandoned artifacts, its mission statement in the creative sphere has been evolved. This has left it behind to explore as an art piece, on top of a musical cornerstone of the genre's rich history. Another element added tucked into the corner of the mind when listening, which has only enhanced the experience after a decade plus of its lifespan. The album itself is it's own "dead mall" to explore, a piece of history brought back as something entirely different. Innovative in its point in history rather than new and fantastical, with little else to offer what it has to give after so long.

Hantasi's sample selection and skill at losing listeners within endless mazes of loops, crossing and stitching in ways that nearly make you forget that the tracks are twisting along themselves many times again, is still nearly unmatched. As more and more of the mall ecosystem closes, shuts down, and becomes spectacles for those seeking an ethereal thrill in vast spaces devoid of the hundreds that it was meant to contain, its purpose only becomes more relevant. As few others tackle it in sound form as much "Vacant Places" has, revisiting the abandoned stretches of space carved out by this artist become much more important after so much time.

-Cardian松の木
AC#038

Exploring the furthest regions for artists and albums that shaped the musical landscape

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