Astronauts

Japanese synthesis quartet explores “20th century space development.” Fun, pleasant, luxurious sci-fi instrumentals, retro in concept but genuine in execution, not tossed off as kitsch or self-ironized as vaporwave. I think they use turntables, CDJs, and laptops to make their music; it’s kind of like a DIY Kraftwerk. Favorites: 1, 4, 7, 8. No FCCs.

1. *(4:22)—Watery bloops and synth drones. Vocal pulses. A high, occasional melody.
2. (3:39)—Pleasant synth drone. Lots of drum panning. Vocoder sounds. Faded bits of organ.
3. (1:07)—Blips. Deep drone.
4. (4:09)—Hand drum polyrhythms, piano. Processed vocals?
5. *(4:38)—Staticky vinyl loop. Very pretty. High synth soloing. Bird-like sounds.
6. (1:25)—Lasers, broken transmissions, soft drone.
7. *(4:32)—Scratching sounds, synth bubbles, funny synth flute. Some vocoder vocals.
8. *(4:47)—Clicking down-tempo rhythm. Mellow.