music reviews

[5/16/23]

Hit Vibes

this is my first lengthy album review so bear with me. anyways, story time!

i have an interesting history with this album. let's bring it back a few years to fall of 2020. everything about that year SUCKED (i'm not just talking about the obvious), but one good thing that came out of it for me was a newfound appreciation for vaporwave and the fresh, funky house sounds that came out of that scene.

let me set the scene: i'm a dorkass 18 year old who just recently discovered bandcamp and the musical floodgates had opened. i learned from other vaporwave dorkasses that "Hit Vibes" by "Saint Pepsi" had been repressed after 7 years. scalpers had raised the price of the original pressing to ~300 USD. fans were going absolutely rabid on social media. i had no idea what i was getting into, but i knew i had to act fast (i wasn't very wise with money). i used what i had in my allowance to preorder it after listening to the first track. it sold out in minutes.

that was history for me. a few months after i decided that if i had bought it, i should at least give it a proper listen. the experience was magic. i ended up listening to it over and over. when the vinyl came, i played it again and again. it was the first vinyl i had ever owned.

the album starts off with "Hit Vibes", a very short track (1 minute in length) with loads of energy. the name says it all, really. blossoming with brass, strings, kicks and snares, it sets the tone for the rest of the album. the next track, "Have Faith", is one of the funkiest tracks i've ever heard. seemlessly, that already amazing track, crossfades into an EVEN FUNKIER track, the aptly named "Better". But it doesn't end there. it doesn't get less funky. Because now "Cherry Pepsi" is up, and the vibes are washing over you like waves on the shore. after this, things slow down with "Together", a track that feels like a slow jam you'd hear on prom night. then, "Around", a groovy track filled with glistening synths and slap basslines. the album makes its way back to the sound of the first few tracks with the blissful "Skylar Spence", featuring a chopped up Tatsuro Yamashita song. there's an interlude, then "I Tried", a subdued jam. after that, the delicious "Strawberry Lemonade" and "Fantasy". the album comes to a close with "Miss You", a very somber and reflective track. finally, Hit Vibes ends with an outro, sampling an interview with a musician talking about the aftermath of making albums.

Ryan DeRobertis, the face behind Saint Pepsi and his new alias, Skylar Spence, has stated in interviews that he made this album in a deep, depressive state. on a whim, he dropped out of college and spent an entire week on it. he wanted to make something that "sounded like a party". this quote floats around in my head every time i listen. it really does sound like a party, but there's a lot more to it than that. for me, it's a very personal example of the relationship between art and the artist. DeRobertis poured his soul into his music, and his music, in turn, became a reflection of his soul. i peered at that reflection, and it peered back. i was also really depressed around the point in my life when i found this album, and it guided me through it. it provided a liminal space where i could reflect on all of the positive experiences that shaped me, where all of my worries felt distant and far away...

it brought the party to me.