Operation Echo

Artist: Drew the Architect & Jeff Jupiter Album: Drewpiter Vol. 1 Location: Florida, United States Genres: Cloud Rap, Instrumental Hip Hop Year Released: 2014 Format(s) Released: Bandcamp Explanation:  When I made the hiddenlist I was looking more towards "an album for each scene/crew/movement/etc" and I asked a TeamSESH expert to just give me something actually lost from the team. This was one of the releases he was looking for.  Drew the Architect is a beatmaker and producer mostly known for his work in the internet rap collective, TeamSESH. He's been active for over 10 years, working on the cloud rap sound and frequently working with BONES.  Not really sure who Jeff Jupiter is. Taking a look at his RYM page he just appears to be a cloud rap producer from that era. He's still active to this day with his most recent (at the time of writing) release back in November of 2023. He mostly just goes by Jupiter now though. In 2013 they collaborated to make Drewpiter Vol...

Artist: ElectricBlur Records Album: American Psycho Tribute Album Location: n/a Genres: Vaporwave, Synthwave Year Released: 2018-10-15 Format(s) Released: Bandcamp Explanation: Yet another record I've been looking for re-surfaced! On my Missing List this was probably the one I was looking for the least. Hell, the only reason it even stood out to me in the first place was that it had such a striking cover. Back in 2018, a reddit user called ElectricBlur launched a Vaporwave netlabel and started looking for contributors. He released a few projects here and there and then at some point decided to make a Vaporwave comp based off the 2000 movie, American Psycho. Chosen likely because ElectricBlur felt it had a 'Vaporwave aesthetic' he obtained a bunch of contributors and put out a compilation of Vaporwave inspired by the movie. Mind you this was years before the Sigma Grindset/Literally Me/The Perfect Girl videos, so you won't find any of those songs here. No Phonk samples e...

Artist: Sound Asylum [Compost & Xperience] Album: They Location: Seattle, USA Genres: Conscious Hip Hop, Backpacker, Oldominion Year Released: 2007-xx-xx Format(s) Released: CD Explanation: Sound Asylum is a rap duo consisting of Xperience and Compost. Based outta Seattle they dropped one album and dipped. Xperience is still around and dropped an album back in 2024. No idea where Compost is but he appears to have been part of the rap group Microscope Dragons. My guess is that he's just some local emcee or an aka for Onry Ozzborn or Graves33 (more on that later.) This is "They", their only album. It's standard Northwest/Oldominion-adjacent rap. It's that Backpacker sound that I love and can listen to nonstop if I'm in the mood. A combo of more chill and some aggressive beats, lyrics revolving around their upbringing in the northwest, empowerment and the state of the American government. Northwest has this awesome flute that comes in for the chorus. Other Th...

  Artist: The Convulsions of Creation [Chris Shepard & Mike Mangino] Album: Moonba Is Here Location: Piscataway, USA Genres: Cassette Underground, Sound Collage, Drone, Noise Year Released: 1995-xx-xx Format(s) Released: Cassette Explanation: Atlas King is a label I have been tracking for years now. Home to the noise duo, Smersh it was active in the Cassette Underground releasing all sorts of weird tapes. This is one of them. Almost all the acts on Atlas King were just akas of Smersh but unlike the duo, the non-Smersh releases experimented with electronic, noise and other genres. The Convulsions of Creation is one such project, a side-thing by Smersh messing more with drone and sound collage. This release is okay. I'm sure someone will enjoy it more. When it comes to noise I don't like ear-splitting sounds. The first track has a few. It's this dissonant, vaguely "Eastern" sounding drone with rattles and some high-pitched sounds. The second and third track are ...

  Artist: 305 808 & N0ϟPΔ☾ƎΔPƎ Album: Sons of God: The Most Outer Place Location: Miami, USA Genres: Witch House Rap, Witch House, Trillwave Year Released: 2013 Format(s) Released: Bandcamp Explanation: I'll admit. This is not my cup of tea. Not only do I know very little about these artists I know even less of who they collaborated with. I only know of this from a RYM list I saw where someone mentioned they were looking for this album. All I know about NoSpaceApe is that he was an artist active in the Witch House Rap scene that existed in the early 2010s. The one Black Kray is often considered the founder of. I know absolutely nothing of 305 808. I can't find any info either. This is a Witch House Rap album, with lots of loud distortion, slurred and incomprehensible lyrics and edgy and dark song titles and sounds. In theory I should like it but as I wrote, it's just not for me. I could just write a whole review on how much I didn't like it but ehn. I don't have...

  Artist: Sleepwalkers Local 242 Album: Dreamlands Location: Los Angeles, USA Genres: Blogspot Scene, Ambient, Drone Year Released: 2007-xx-xx Format(s) Released: CDr Explanation: This is Dreamlands, the debut album from Los Angeles-based musician Sleepwalkers Local 242 (aka Grant E. Capes). I've listened to a few of Sleepwalkers releases though none have really stood out to me. When I first heard of this guy I wasn't that familiar to the whole Blogspot Scene but seeing such weird covers and titles got me interested. I first heard of Sleepwalkers while looking for a completely different artist, Sleepwalkers [New Mexico rap group consisting of Enoch and Nogoe]. Saw 'Sleepwalkers Local 242' come up and found the name really cool. This release is one of Sleepwalkers more abrasive releases (compared to the chill ambient he made later). It doesn't veer into noise territory, but the release is drowned in dissonance. The first few tracks leverage guitar distortion and buil...

  Artist: 劇団無頼派 [Gekidan Buraiha] Album: 今様聖書 [Modern Bible] Location: Shibuya, Japan Genres: Japanese Folk, Singer-Songwriter Year Released: 1975-xx-xx Format(s) Released: Private Press Vinyl LP Explanation: Though I enjoy this record I can't help but feel I'm missing out on a lot here. Not only can I not understand Japanese, but I cannot find the lyrics for this anywhere. I can't even begin to guess what's this record is about. Looking through various comments relating to this record it appears nobody else knows what's going on aside from a brief context which I will write later. This record is remembered by a handful of people in Japan and a bunch of western fans who have no idea what it is about. This is 今様聖書, a record released in 1975 by Japanese theatre group 劇団無頼派. It was a private press release, meaning someone paid for a handful of copies to be made and likely distributed it within a community. With such low circulation it's amazing we're even able ...