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Semi-mysterious producer Ventla set out years ago to release 100 albums featuring instruments all played by Ventla themselves. The resulting releases touched on every style around, from neon-smeared synth-pop to acoustic pop to bedroom exotica. Ventla was getting pretty far and…then just kind of stopped, in 2015. And more or less vanished. When I talked to Keith Rankin at Orange Milk Records — a label that put out a non-100 Ventla album — he told me he had zero idea where Ventla went, but would love to hear more. I think a lot of people fell under the latter.
And then, this week…Ventla just came back! And they didn’t hold back, uploading ten (!) albums of new songs to Bandcamp, which you can get here. I don’t even know where to start, because each deserves to be digested fully. Genuinely Superficial stood out immediately with its slinky electro funk, while Fluffy Yet Moist packs in some oddball pop samples alongside great cover art.
The thing about Ventla is that after a really prolific streak that saw him practically release a new album every month, he sorta took a break for a bit last year. Well, he’s back, and gone bigger than ever before. Shuji Suzuki’s latest, For Human Consumption, comes via New York imprint Astro Nautico, and features 24 songs of digital sounds intersecting with acoustic flourishes. Which brings up another important thing about Ventla…dude gets shine for releasing so many albums, but the real draw (to me at least), was how every single album tended to establish its own vibe. He’d do a set of songs reminiscent of like Hosono House, and the next album would be a synth-pop marathon. For Human Consumption sorta bridges the gap between a lot of the different styles Ventla has dabbled in, with a few new twists introduced too (check the Parisian street concert of “Mental Health,” or what sounds like a kazoo freak-out on “Copymate”). Elsewhere, he sounds a bit like a wobbly Lullatone (“Paloma”) and gets whistle happy frequently (the bell-accented “National Project”) being a highlight.
At long last – Ventla. I’ve never written about the Tokyo producer before around these parts for two reasons:
1. The first release he MediaFired into the world that I actually heard didn’t impress me all that much, so I passed. I stuck with Ventla, though, and dug into his back catalog and realized that album was an outlier. But…
2. I kind of wanted to do something bigger about him. This probably won’t be that, but it will have some of my thoughts.
At first brush, Ventla seems like a guy with a great gimmick. Here’s a bedroom-based music maker who wants to release 100 albums over the Internet. That’s his goal. Unlike Sufjan Stevens’ famous “an album for every state in the Union” boast – dude was never going to turn Vermont into a mini Broadway musical – Ventla’s mission seems realistic. He just keeps releasing these lovely little albums, completely unfazed by the world around him.
It’s appropriate his latest offering, With No Compass, drops the same week Jesse Ruins’ A Film and a Sapphire Slows’ compilation come out. Those two acts – along with the CUZ ME PAIN label they floated around – represented one wave of Japanese self-recorded music, a segment that took everything into their own hands but still eyed blog attention and ultimately hoped for attention from bigger labels (mission accomplished for both). Ventla, then, represents a new shift in Japanese bedroom artists. Their music just appears in free-to-download ZIP files and they don’t seem all that interested in labels. They do dig collaboration though.
So why write about With No Compass now? Because it might be my favorite Ventla release yet. I originally thought he was just some vaporwave guy, but Ventla has proved he’s far more versatile, his releases pinballing between all sorts of styles. With No Compass is his most neon-tinged yet, loaded with synths and robo-voiced vocals. These sounds are certainly popular all across Japan at the moment, utilized by rappers and dance-centric synth-pop units (and, uhhhh, by Daft Punk on that new album). But Ventla isn’t really aiming for the dancefloor with Compass. He’s taken songs long-associated with cheesy pop and dance music and made it slower, something a touch more atmospheric without sacrificing fun (these songs can still groove – check “Abestos” or “Osutaka Memorabilia”). A highlight like “Slo-Mo Flo-Jo” could be pitch shifted into bouncy pop, but slowed down to a sweaty crawl, it becomes hypnotic.