Macroblank
Macroblank (Japanese: マクロブランク, Makuroburanku) or sometimes simply Macro[1] is a recording artist. They are known for frequent releases, often releasing multiple albums in a single month.[2]. Their music includes influences from jazz, lounge, lofi and vaporwave. Their music is largely instrumental, rarely featuring vocal elements. Most of Macroblank's album and track titles are written in Japanese kanji, a choice the artist made to drive the focus of the albums more towards the music and less towards the name of the releases.[3]
Macroblank is signed to the London-based record label Aloe City,[4] through which they have released physical copies of their music on cassette, cassingle, vinyl and MiniDisc.
Reception
Writing for The Polytechnic, Vaughn Greason compared Macroblank's body of work to that of Haircuts for Men[5], describing the former as having a more "calm and comfortable quality" than much of the latter's work.
These Nights Are Ours reviewed the album 絶望に負けた and placed it on their list of best albums of 2021, calling it a "vaporwave masterpiece."[6]
Macroblank's highly sample-based body of music has seen some controversy, with some claiming the music put out by the artist is not their own. The francophone music publication tsugi magazine speculated further on this idea, asking if Macroblank was "an artist, a group of producers, a curator or… an artwork thief?"[7]
Discography
| Album Title | Release date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| gatekeeper 門番 | June 12, 2020 | |
| 絶望に負けた | June 23, 2020 | |
| 肉と魂 ep | July 18, 2020 | |
| エコーチャンバーパーティー | October 1, 2020 | |
| ibis valley | October 22, 2020 | |
| 肉と魂 ep (tape edition) | November 1, 2020 | Tape edition of the 肉と魂 ep, with an additional B-side worth of new music.[8] |
| 保持 | December 10, 2020 | |
| ブロックの周り ep | December 24, 2020 | |
| 行方不明 | January 21, 2021 | |
| 本能 | February 25, 2021 | |
| ターミナルポイント | March 18, 2021 | |
| 没頭する | April 22, 2021 | |
| verdant halcyon | June 11, 2021 | Collaboration with Oblique Occasions |
| ネクロマンサー | July 9, 2021 | |
| avalanche lp | July 30, 2021 | |
| トラブルメーカー | August 17, 2021 | |
| RARE PSALMS COLLECTION VOL. 1 | October 1, 2021 | Described as "a forgotten collection of unreleased/leftover material."[9] |
| RARE PSALMS COLLECTION VOL. 2 | October 9, 2021 | Described as "a forgotten collection of unreleased/leftover material." |
| RARE PSALMS COLLECTION VOL. 3 | October 16, 2021 | Described as "a forgotten collection of unreleased/leftover material." |
| RARE PSALMS COLLECTION VOL. 4 | October 24, 2021 | Described as "a forgotten collection of unreleased/leftover material." |
| RARE PSALMS COLLECTION VOL. 3 | October 31, 2021 | Described as "a forgotten collection of unreleased/leftover material." |
| погребённый заживо | November 19, 2021 | |
| Tales of the Cypher | December 12, 2021 | |
| Plastic Fables (2021 Year End Mix) | December 28, 2021 | A mix of some of the artist's various works as well as some unreleased material |
| ボイドを超える | January 14, 2022 | |
| proxima centauri | January 28, 2022 | |
| ラストチャンス | February 20, 2022 | |
| 送信者に戻る lp | March 30, 2022 | |
| 痛みの永遠 | May 1, 2022 | |
| dungeon of lust | May 22, 2022 | |
| ほろ苦いシンフォニー | June 17, 2022 | |
| ごめんと言って lp | July 13, 2022 | |
| 至福を通じた平和 | August 9, 2022 | |
| MACABRE | October 7, 2022 | A mix consisting of mostly unreleased material, as well as a few favourites of the artist. |
| OCCULT | November 18, 2022 | |
| ANALOG レアリティ | December 16, 2022 | Analog only-release, see ANALOG レアリティ |
| 分離された | January 4, 2023 | |
| デスウィッシュ | January 25, 2023 | |
| スロー JAMS | February 14, 2023 | A collection of some of the artist's favorite slowed tracks. |
| 色あせたエコー | March 21, 2023 | |
| Hooligan Mix | May 10, 2023 | |
| SOLSTICE | June 9, 2023 | |
| serpent lp | July 4, 2023 | |
| HOSTILE | August 18, 2023 |
ANALOG レアリティ
The release of ANALOG レアリティ, which Macroblank describes as a concept release, consisted of the release of 3 hours of music (36 tracks) distributed among three analog units (CD/tape). The purchasing of these units was limited to one per person, to encourage trading between fans in order to complete their collection. Macroblank stated they would never publish these tracks digitally. On Macroblank's Bandcamp page, there is a single track assigned to the release, titled "READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PURCHASING".[10]
The full collection of all tracks from the A, B and C tapes was quickly compiled by the Subreddit dedicated to Macroblank and is publicly available through a third party on soundcloud.[11]
The Arts Fuse compared this fabricated analog scarcity to the concept of fabricated digital scarcity associated with NFT's.[12]
References
- ↑ "macroblank on Twitter: "thank you :) t.co/lJ7oQrxtgA" / Twitter". 2022-11-24. Archived from the original on 2022-11-24. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
- ↑ "Macroblank - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
- ↑ "021.5 - The Deep Dive - Macroblank - 絶望に負けた Notes and Interview". 021.5 - The Deep Dive - Macroblank - 絶望に負けた Notes and Interview. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
- ↑ "Residents: Artists of Aloe City Records". Aloe City Wrld. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
- ↑ "Haircuts for Men, Macroblank, and the new vaporwave aesthetic". The Polytechnic. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
- ↑ "021 - Macroblank - 絶望に負けた". 021 - Macroblank - 絶望に負けた. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
- ↑ Monnier, Guillaume (2022-07-01). "Qui est Macroblank, ce mystérieux nom qui intrigue et agite Bandcamp ?". TSUGI (in français). Retrieved 2022-10-02.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Twitter. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 2022-06-18.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
- ↑ "RARE PSALMS COLLECTION VOL.1, by Macroblank". Macroblank. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
- ↑ "ANALOG レアリティ, by Macroblank". Macroblank. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
- ↑ "Macroblank - ANALOG レアリティ [VARIANTS A/B/C]". SoundCloud. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
- ↑ "Electronic Music Review: Macroblank's ANALOG レアリティ-- Plenty of Scarcity to Go Around - The Arts Fuse". https://artsfuse.org/. Retrieved 2023-03-25. External link in
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