b e g o t t e n 自杀 - (death cycle) - 死亡循環
Even in the super-niche sub genre’s of vaporwave, b e g o t t e n 自杀 is kind of a big deal. The anonymous producer dropped a series of albums between 2018 and 2019 on the record label Geometric Lullaby, that garnered a lot of attention (“a lot” being a relative term here). But aside from a Halloween themed remix album, there’s been no new music since that time. Until last Friday when the record label released a new album, (death cycle) - 死亡循環 out of the blue. A run of 500 vinyl pre-orders immediately sold out, so did a second run of 500 a few days later (I got one, it’s on track for delivery in June 2024…). So a big(ish) deal, but why?
b e g o t t e n 自杀 really crystalised the sub genre of slushwave (hushwave is another name for this, in fact this was the title of a b e g o t t e n 自杀 album); lo-fi hip-hop meets slowed down, detuned samples and indistinct vocals are the hallmarks. It’s an almost druggy kind of electronic music, woozy and out of focus, and very melancholy. If the disturbingly blunt track names didn’t give it away, this isn’t a cheery album; there’s the murky witch-house sounding “(rotting) - 腐爛”, there’s the ghostly vocals on “(ribcage) - 肋骨” and “(poltergeist) - 惡作劇精神”, the latter of which reminds me of a chopped up, mellower Death Grips track. But this weird atmosphere permeates all of (death cycle) - 死亡循環, it’s like you’re hearing half of the album being played in another room, or your upstairs neighbour is playing it.
There are beautiful tracks though; “(tearfall) - 落淚” has some beautiful keyboard sounds and “(slithering) - 滑行” features lovely Spanish-feeling acoustic guitar and “(scattered) - 疏散” somehow reminded me of a slowed down version of “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol, which I’m not sure is a good thing. The whole album has this hypnagogic feel to it, like you’re only half remembering longer songs, as all the tracks here are pretty short. Only a pair of tracks go over 3 minutes and most are under 2 minutes long, so repeated listens are in order to really let them sit with you. But the more you listen to it, the more the sounds just seep into you. It’s not an easy listen but this is what b e g o t t e n 自杀 does so well, keeping you on edge throughout the whole album. Whether or not he’s hanging around is another matter (see below)
Other Stuff
This performance by Pharoah Sanders in an abandoned tunnel is one of the best things I’ve heard in a while:
If you have an hour to spare, then watch this new video from Horses, who profiles the infamous Madame X painting and why it caused so much controversy at the time: