Mixes I by I 18.09.17

FACT mix 619: Vektroid

A mind-melting glimpse at the future of Vektroid.

The first time Ramona Vektroid appeared on FACT was back in 2012, when she was featured on Ryan Hemsworth’s FACT mix. At the time, her name was obscure and her identity unknown, but her influential Floral Shoppe full-length (released under the moniker Macintosh Plus) was on already on track to become a cult classic.

Five years later, many of Vektroid’s early hallmarks — chopped and screwed pop vocals, Xanax-drenched muzak manipulations and disorienting sound design informed by Oneohtrix Point Never — have inspired countless producers and even solidified a genre: vaporwave. But Vektroid remains a mythical, outsider figure in the scene she inadvertently helped create; she’s too busy exploring new sounds and projects.

Starting with her epic 2013 track ‘Enemy’, Vektroid continued expanding her vision, evolving from the sample-dependent world of vaporwave to build dense webs of homemade sounds and elastic rhythms. After a long absence (which only increased interest) she returned with 2016’s Midnight Run, a mixtape made with Houston rapper Siddiq that sounds like hip-hop beamed from another dimension.

The release seemed to revitalize Vektroid, who began methodically retooling her earliest works to fit her intended widescreen vision. The most recent, April’s Telnet Complete, revamps the debut Vektroid release, elevating it to delirious new heights. Paired with a long-awaited (and instantly sold-out) vinyl release of Floral Shoppe, it’s as if she’s wiped the slate clean and started out fresh.

For now, Vektroid continues to work with Siddiq while methodically crafting her long-awaited next solo album, No Earth. There’s no way to tell when she will be done, but after chasing a FACT mix for years, we’re excited to finally deliver a mind-melting glimpse at the future of Vektroid.

Read next: How Tara Busch’s I Speak Machine used Ennio Morricone to inform a 1980s zombie movie soundtrack

Latest

Latest



		
	
Share Tweet