Operation Echo

  Artist: DreamWorks Album: Labyrinth Location: Los Angeles, USA Genres: Dungeon Synth, Dark Ambient, Hauntology Year Released: 2019-06-10 Format(s) Released: Bandcamp Explanation: Oh boy. I am very excited to be making this post. Not only this was this a lost album, but this was one of my 'grails', also being on my "Missing List". Now that I have it in my hands it's every bit as good as I remember it. I have been looking for this record for years, contacted DreamWorks on both of his accounts, reached out to people who knew him and tried trackers for years with no results. I never got any closer to hearing it. I obtained his Celesteville album but while a nice Vaporwave release it wasn’t what I want. Although I can't remember exactly how I heard of this record I believe it was through Reddit. DreamWorks used to post there a few times and if I recall correctly he posted this record to /r/vaporwave, noting it a Dungeon Synth-take on the genre. He may not have po...

  Artist: Kluisenaar [aka Lorenzo Squilloni] Album: естетски дворац [Aesthetic Castle] Location: Florence, Italy Genres: Vaporwave, Dungeon Synth Year Released: 2018 Format(s) Released: Bandcamp, Spotify, iTunes, Deezer Explanation: Well the blog is back! Sort of. I feel like writing up a few more posts. So here we are! Kluisenaar was a vaporwave project from Italian electronic producer Lorenzo Squilloni. Squilloni used a few different names during his active period and Kluisenaar was one of them. He released two albums under the alias, one 'Destrutturazione di Massa' in 2017 with Pioggia d'Ambra (which I presume is pure vaporwave) and 'естетски дворац' in 2018 which purported to be a fusion of Dungeon Synth and Vapor. Squilloni released a few other records though I don't see the point in listing them off. His most popular alias was Infector http:// which is mostly known these days for the collaboration with Electric Dreams and QuadratoX, '将来 Forest'. I ...

  Artist: Rap Bastard / DJ Dog Dick Album: Split Location: Baltimore, USA / Genres: Abstract Hip Hop, Sound Collage, Noise Year Released: 2004 Date Re-Found / Posted: 2023-08-?? (recovered by tib) Format(s) Released: Cassette Explanation: I'll admit I know very little about both artists. DJ Dog Dick, real name Max Eisenberg is a noise artist who I mostly know about from a few collabs with rapper Lil Ugly Mane. 'Rap Bastard', aka HZMT I know actually nothing of. When I added this release to my list is was mainly to illustrate just how many lost releases there is for Eisenberg. He released most of his stuff cassette only, and even though he was ahead of the curb, never got much attention cause of that. As I was writing this, I looked into HZMT / Rap Bastard / Anthony Miller and damn does he have a lot of missing and undocumented releases. He ran his own label and released almost everything exclusively on cassette. A true indie artist. Both artists really have large catalogues...

Artist: Chad Warden Album: Fructose Location: Austin, Texas Genres: Instrumental Hip Hop, Cloud Rap Year Released: 2014-11-01 Date Re-Found / Posted: 2023-09-08 Format(s) Released: Bandcamp Explanation: I'm not sure how I should start this. This isn't an easy post for me to write. I'll start off with how I know the artist. Chad Warden, more commonly known as Reverend JKN was a rapper and producer based out of Austin, Texas. I had first heard of him back in 2015 when he dropped Fringe. I saw it mentioned in a Reddit comment, checked it out and liked it. Didn't really much follow JKN after that. I added all his stuff to RYM of course, but never checked it out further. I like his rap stuff and aside from Fringe he didn't make any. He sort of slipped through the cracks in my radar. My second time listening to him was in 2020 when I was going through old artists I had added. Remembered he had his instrumental Chad Warden project and decided then would be a good time to l...

Artist: Sealab 2012 Album: Jojo Location: Hartland Township, USA Genres: Instrumental Hip Hop, Mashup, Lo-Fi Hip Hop Year Released: 2016-09-23 Date Re-Found / Posted: 2023-??-?? (found by Bruhmask) Format(s) Released: Bandcamp Explanation: Sealab 2012 are one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time. Sure, that statement is a little exaggerative, but I mean it. There are only a handful of producers who even have a similar tropical and upbeat style to that Sealab does. I would also wager had their pages remained stable and the duo made it through their disputes they would be recognized as one of the best by now. To add on to it, I have been contacted several times for Sealab's stuff. During their dark period (2018-2020) a lot of people were asking for what I had on them. People would find the remnants of their beats and start seeking it out. There happened at least 10 times with people eventually finding me. And even in the deleted stuff they've still managed to amass Some ...

Artist: Jay Kubes Album: Moondog Location: Kingsport, USA Genres: Instrumental Hip Hop, Glitch Hop, SP-404 Scene Year Released: 2015 Date Re-Found / Posted: 2023-08-18 Format(s) Released: Bandcamp Explanation: Jay Kubes was a beatmaker and producer out of Kingsport, Tennessee. He came up in the early 2010s as a member of the Inkiscape collective (alongside Uncle Tairy, Lucid Optics, Airospace, and more). If you were following Tairy Hesticles or were constantly digging for backpacker stuff in the early 2010s there is a good chance you had heard of his work. I was one of those people and back then added a bunch of his stuff to RYM. He had tons of tapes, was pioneering a very 'crunchy' sound, must have been active on the SP-404 forums because a lot of his beats were also very glitchy. A lot of his tapes also had this similar, washed-out, highly saturated picture that almost looked like the deep-fried memes one would see years later. His production style fascinated me, and while he...

  Artist: creative_reality17 Album: A Midsummer Night's Dream Location: London, United Kingdom Genres: Vaporwave, Downtempo, Trip Hop Year Released: 2018 Date Re-found / Posted: 2023-08-18 Format(s) Released: Bandcamp Explanation: I have no idea who this is. What had happened was I saw a post on /r/vaporwave, months, maybe years ago about someone looking for this record. Some vaporwave e-celeb made a video where he shouted this record out for having good cover art. I checked the video, he just talks about its art without playing a sample and he overanalyzes the cover, finding messages where there clearly were not. And at some point, this guy just vanished. Can't find any explanation as to why, there wasn't some standoff, guy just deleted his Bandcamp and dipped. I can hardly find anyone even discussing his disappearance excluding that one reddit post. I figure this occurred in 2020. I had it saved, I’m sure of it. So when I finally found the record, I could not find the pos...