Throwback Review: Macintosh Plus - Floral Shoppe

Hey everybody, this will be my first review/post on this blog. I will be posting a classic review and a contemporary review every week. I hope y’all enjoy!

Floral Shoppe is an album that can be described in a multitude of ways. As one of the most popular and influential albums to come out of the obscure genre of vaporwave, it was also heavily memed during its time of release in 2011. The electronic album artist Vektroid went under the alias of Macintosh Plus for the release of Floral Shoppe. It’s hard to even describe what kind of experience Floral Shoppe will take a listener as it is essentially altering music tracks made for advertisements, elevators, and other consumer culture purposes. This is exactly what vaporwave is as a subgenre; it is just that Floral Shoppe is the cream of the crop when discussing this genre. Standing on the foundation of the irony of simultaneously exploiting and criticizing consumer culture, the record works to use phenomenology to its max. Instead of listening to original music, the listener is immersed in sluggish, slow-downed versions of songs, completely changing the experience (or phenomenon) of the originals. This is the crux of why vaporwave is so appealing yet easy to receive unfair critique.

Throughout Floral Shoppe, Vektroid works to immerse the listener in a world so alien, yet so familiar. The psychedelic production creates a new world of amplified sounds, overlapped segment repeats, and noises that make the listener feel like the music is sucking the air out of their ears. The insane earworm that is リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー Risa Furanku 420 / Gendai no Konpyū endures a long 7:20 minute track length but is so catchy that I find myself asking for more, even though it is the longest track on the album. The title track right after is also one of my favorites, working harder on the aforementioned psychedelic production. The whole experience for me makes me feel so alone, and it’s strangely terrifying. It’s the feeling when you are in a mall alone, but you are so alone that you can actually notice the weird and, usually, unnoticeable music. You become so alone that the music slows down and engulfs you into the existential crisis you are having, which is tied to the reason of why you are even shopping alone in the first place. Your world suddenly becomes the pink and black checkered room in the album cover that you will go insane in.

Nowadays, malls are just filled with the top pop hits. In contrast, the nostalgic appreciation of the music of consumer culture is amplified when listening to vaporwave in the contemporary era. Also the slow-mo sexy sax scattered across this record is to be appreciated.

Great Album: 8.9

Favorite Tracks: Lisa Frank 420 & Floral Shoppe

Least Favorite: Mathematics