Floral Shoppe
Artist: Vektroid(under the name Macintosh Plus)
Subgenres: Eccojams(Classic Vapor), Faux-Utopian
Release Date: 12/9/11
Few albums hold the same level of unspoken reverence as Floral Shoppe. When it comes to the vast majority of internet denizens and countless people who got into the genre and subculture after リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー(Track 2) became synonymous with “Vaporwave” as a whole in the way that Kleenex is to the tissue. Floral Shoppe is a brand at this point; an institution in which its peers judge themselves by how tall they appear aside it. For countless people, it is the initial step inward to Vaporwave. Much like Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1 before it, much of Shoppe's discussion had turned rather cyclical, arguably even masturbatory, as of seven years ago. But whereas Eccojams' discourse trended towards a discussion of method, Floral Shoppe is so intimately interwoven with the visual and auditory identity of Vaporwave that it can feel like dissection of one is an automatic autopsy of the other as well. However, I argue that its reputation, while well-earned, has done much to obfuscate the aspects that make it truly special.
Floral Shoppe is an obvious critique of culture as commodity, yet while it acknowledges the decay of culture over a long enough period of time, it's primary interest seems to be the ways in which manufactured, stolen, curated, and lifeless culture is at odds with the world it inhabits. On a planet whose resources are being bled dry for even the slightest suggestion of a potential profit, eventually something more will have to be monetized and slurped out of the Earth herself like the beautiful creatures of the past, transformed not into nutrients for more life, but mere fuel in the endless machine. Shoppe envisions a future where art and culture itself become nothing more than oil to lubricate the pistons of a society apparently uninterested in sustainability. These emotions are portrayed wonderfully by its cover, a mess of symbols and images taken from other cultures without particular interest in their original meanings. The sun god Helios, encased in stone, is now little more than a sculpture to adorn a storefront. It is so utterly cynical that, if not for the bizarre rise of the disastrous crypto and NFT communities treating art and artists in this exact fashion about a decade later, I might have chastised it for its unrelenting bleakness.
And bleak is correct. The record seems intent on taking the musical language of groovy, summer vibes and undercutting it with an emptiness that the mask of consumerism merely cannot hide forever. It replicates the emotions of modern living, where the existential crises arising around us are continually minimized, the smokescreen of a brand new shiny thing to purchase being predictably underwhelming in a manner that feels so genuine to reality that Shoppe has staying power where many of its ilk might not be as lucky. It also is a perfect showcase for Vektroid as a producer, presenting the many techniques that went into her last 9 or so releases in and out of Vaporwave to achieve a polished sound fitting for the gilded tin world the album seeks to envelop you in.
With all of that established, I am placed in a strange position because I earnestly feel that Floral Shoppe has been given a ridiculous degree of deification. I write that not intending to understate its importance or accomplishments.(As previously stated, this record tends to be the first that many are exposed to when it comes to Vaporwave) I merely feel that it's distinct take on its themes, while incredibly engaging and fascinating, don't hit the same highs or levels of cohesiveness that several of its peers and Vektroid's later works manage to. I love a great deal of this record. ECCOと悪寒ダイビング(Track 6) is a beautiful precursor to the escapist VR fantasies of her PrismCorp Virtual Enterprises releases and my personal favorite of the album's offerings. The soundscapes are often unnerving and mechanical in addition to funky and laid back, providing some of the most introspective moments on the record, such as 数学(Track 7) and ライブラリ (Track 4). However, its ambition with sounds and emotions does largely mean that several tracks overstay their welcome or feel less at home on this particular record, ライブラリ (Track 4) exemplifying the former for my tastes and て(Track 9) portraying the latter. I don't think anything on this album is bad per say, but it leaves me wanting in ways that I think do deserve mention.
What cannot be argued, regardless of my criticisms or feelings on ways the album could manage to be better, is that Floral Shoppe kicked the door open for Vaporwave in ways that no amount of writing will be capable of articulating. In my humble opinion, I would never long for this album to be perfect. In a world where we continuously cover over the imperfections to achieve the appearance of something more refined, dignified, and enlightened, Floral Shoppe reminds us that the messy bits of our existence will always creep to the surface. Perhaps enlightenment isn't fancy statues or kanji adorning something to make it seem more elusive and advanced, but accepting that which we initially view as impure or strange is truly the beauty of the world showing its face.
42/50