Review Summary: A summertime cruise to the virtual beach party going on in the back of your mind. Sony Walkman not included. A good first effort but too short to keep you 'In the Zone'.
When it comes to Vaporwave nowadays, there are tons of bogus imitations out there (basically someone making a joke cover in MS Paint and uploading 3 or 4 ***ty Fruity loops beats that took 10 minutes to make) and there are a few genuine articles, this one I feel does the genre justice and could pass for something Vektroid forgot to put out a couple years ago. Hailing from Virginia Beach, "UNLIMITED DISTANCE" is the first release from HAWAII HORIZON. A newcomer? A seasoned vet? In the world of Vaporwave it's tough to know who is who, due to all the strange pseudonyms that are used (usually one producer using several different names), and if I didn't know any better I would have mistaken this album for one of the many mentioned in the DUMMYMAG article I read back in 2012 (the article that simultaneously put the spotlight on, and then "killed" the entire genre).
So what is so great about this album? Nothing really. It's pretty much the same bland, generic mix of adult contemporary, soft rock, and infomercial lullabies that we've seen before, just not as good this time around. The album opens with "ENTER THE NIGHT", which sounds almost like that music you heard on Prevue Guide back in the 90's when you were trying to find out what sitcoms were on TV. I think this track matches the cover art the most. The second track "SURE" gets a little bit skippy at the beginning and then transitions into some lame r&b jam from back in the day, slowing down and speeding back up a few times before coming to an end at almost 6 minutes. This track is trying to do almost exactly what MACINTOSH PLUS does on "リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー" but the sample that is used is just not cool enough. The third track "Drift" takes you back to the Prevue Guide style 'Now Playing' music, but only for 36 seconds and then on to the next one. The worst part of the album IMO is the track "TornUp", which basically loops a section of Toni Braxton's "Another Sad Love Song" over and over...and over and over and over, it could have been cool if the sample was better, but really you wanna just skip to the next track.
HAWAII HORIZON almost makes up for this with the title track "Unlimited Distance" which stutters and stumbles through some random new age music sample that gets you grooving and sounds very soothing and dreamy but unfortunately ends after only a minute, leaving you wanting more. All in all a good effort here, I just feel the album could have been a bit longer and had it contained better samples/sampling techniques and more lengthy tracks or just MORE tracks in the same style of the first or the title track, it would have been more memorable. There is definitely an art to this type of music, but you have to really go hunting for good samples that create a true feeling of nostalgia. HAWAII HORIZON comes close but no cigar.
Check it out: http://hawaiihorizon.bandcamp.com/
