Magnificent funk/soul/R&B/AOR-influenced vaporwave from Groove Paradise from Spain. We’ve featured the lads before, and they continue to produce, slick, polished, mellow grooves.
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Groove Paradise are a Spanish vaporwave band that sound like the smoothest of smooth jazz. “Rodrigo Cano” would have been a radio-friendly smash in the late 1980’s, when pastel clothing was the norm and life wasn’t so full of modern complications. The cover art looks like it should be for a remake of the soundtrack to the Italian classic Zombi, but nonetheless, the music steals the show.
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Taiwanese band Leisure Time 閒暇 produce a music that sits in that hazy area between real and fake jazz. I think the quote the band used by the legendary Donald Fagen of Steely Dan sums up their sound best: “There was sort of cheap music, tv music, movie music. By cheap I mean, not really in a disparaging way but it’s written to support something else. […] And so, I both like real jazz and fake jazz, and also, fake fake jazz.” Real of fake, it’s pleasant listening.
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I have to admit ignorance to what is known as barber beats, a sub-genre of Vaporwave, but if Sinners Club and Groove Paradise out of Spain are an example of what can be done with the genre, I quite like it. The beats are infinitely more sophisticated than what you hear on most vaporwave releases (why most of these are given away for free), and the bass-heavy sound and relaxed groove makes for a chilled-out listening experience.
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I have to say that I know next to nothing about vaporwave and the history of the scene. Most of what I’ve heard is, to put it mildly, awful. However, Groove Paradise, a Spanish artist, left me with a more positive view of the genre. The music sounds like something you would hear on 1980’s mainstream radio, with AOR, funk and soul influences, only underwater. I was a teenager during the 80’s, so hearing the music left me with a very pleasant sense of nostalgia. If this is truly representative of vaporwave, then then album is done well.