What does Roboctopus sound like?

A hedonistic chiptune composer full of LSDJ.

The review of ‘Vaporchip Volume 1’ by Roboctopus

I adore chiptune music and have been a fan of Roboctopus’ compositions for years. Taking his LSDJ recordings into a very different sound for his new project, Roboctopus’ latest EP merges chiptune and vaporwave together to create its own style.

‘Love You But You Go Away’ opens the EP, settling you into the audio aesthetic. The core sound is still made up of bleeps, white noise, and sine waves flying around, but the entire track has a distorted fuzz to it. This effect is saturated across the entire EP. It’s a cross between a white noise sizzle and a fuzzy rustle, and it impacts different types of synth waves in different ways. The other huge change in sound is that Roboctopus weaves in music samples across his two Gameboy devices that give a retro disco groove. The song title is the main vocal motif, and it slides in City Pop samples beautifully.

This tactic is reused to create different moods in each of the other tracks. ‘I’ll Give You’ is possibly the most approachable and immediately catchy track on the record. You can hear full disco samples in use, so it’s not just vocals, it’s all the keyboards, bass, and beats sliding into the DM’s of your ears, too. Playing out like a rustic cassette through tinny megaphones in a distant, wide space, there’s both audio clarity, but a thinness to the track. The samples are truly transformed, and the chiptune elements are strong enough to stand on their own two feet.

‘The Midnight Joke’ takes some 80’s Japanese RnB so you can hear the vocals, but also some sultry sax playing in the mix. As the chiptune elements burst in and out through volume switching, Roboctopus creates a playful stop-motion shuffle to dance to. Fully embracing sassy RnB disco, we have jangly guitars and soulful vocals looping in cuts on repeat. This track has swagger and style. I’m reminded of 90’s House remixes, but this is disrupted chiptune fuzz instead. It’s a playful and uplifting closer that evokes a tasteful nostalgia.

I’m not usually a huge vaporwave fan, but I enjoy audio effects from vapor music being applied in other contexts. Roboctopus has created a strange time portal to something that feels distinctly early-to-mid 1990’s, whilst never truly existing either. It is surprising what some well-chopped and looped samples and some clever effects can do to some slinky electronics. A leftfield yet fascinating release.

Recommended track: I’ll Give You

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