Jungle Fever - Vaporwave Drum & Bass ALBUM REVIEW

 

6.8/10

"Vaporwave Drum & Bass" does a great job at showcasing a marriage between two extremely different styles - vaporwave and drum and bass.

It's me again. I wanted to get this review out earlier but I wasn't feeling very motivated as of late to write these (they're pretty long to make so I need to be in a good state of mind).

"Vaporwave Drum & Bass" is what seems to be the debut album from mysterious vaporwave artist Jungle Fever. I haven't been able to find any information about them - their Bandcamp isn't linked on the label's page (Tiger Blood Tapes), and there seems to be no trace of them on social media either.

This album was released on the 11th of November this year via Tiger Blood Tapes, and it's exactly what it sounds like. "Vaporwave Drum & Bass" serves as a fantastic marriage between vaporwave and DnB. It's what I'd imagine a collab with Blank Banshee and Aphex Twin to sound like. Despite the core concept being fantastic (and DnB lends itself very well to the other instrumentation on here), I do think there is a lot of room for improvement.

The project kicks off with the track "Sno" which I think is a very strong intro track - it's upbeat and exciting. It has hypnotic synth leads leading the way, along with a great beat behind it.

From here we move onto the track "Wild Garden", which is probably my favourite from the record - the melody here is super catchy and it'll definitely get stuck in your head for a very... very long time.

Another great moment is the third song on here, "Flowsentation". I love the glitchy atmosphere on here, with the stuttering melody, and the subtle alterations on the beat every so often. This song does a great job at showing off Jungle Fever's unique production style - it's extremely well-made.

It's definitely a strong start but this is where some of the songs start to fall short for me. I still like "Rainforestry" quite a bit but it's much too repetitive.

"Old Wood Forest" is a bit of a nothing track for me - most of the song is drowned out by the drums, and it's a bit too long with not much happening. And I could say the same for "Tennis Shoe Whip", as well. Although for the latter, I think the subtle piano is quite pretty - I just wish the album let some of these softer moments shine alongside the drums.

I think "EasyCourse2.zip" is a step up from the last few tracks. The lo-fi synth pads combined with the upbeat tempo ends up reminding me of an old Sonic game.

"Scantily Clad Jungle" is probably my least favourite track on the album - in my opinion the horns don't fit the production style very well, And much like songs like "Old Wood Forest", the drums end up drowning out a lot of the song.

"Mercier-Jones Hovercraft" is another good moment for the album. It feels pretty ominous, almost like a videogame's final boss battle before the credits roll out.

The closing track on here is titled "Malfunctioning". I think this track is alright... I feel like it could have a little more going on but a lot of the droning synths on here are very pleasant. And that's about it for this album.

I think "Vaporwave Drum & Bass" works very well as a marriage of DnB and vaporwave, a proof of concept, if you will. And while there's definitely some moments here that really stuck with me, I still think there's room for improvement. With all that being said though, I can't wait to see what Jungle Fever does next - this style is something you don't come across very often in the vaporwave community, and it's very cool to see here. And that's about it.

6.8/10

Fav Tracks: Sno, Wild Garden, Flowsentation, Rainforestry, EasyCourse2.zip, Mercier-Jones Hovercraft, Malfunctioning

Least Fav Track: Scantily Clad Jungle