Albums In Retrospect: "Florale Shoppe" by Macintosh Plus

A Review & Reflection on an Essential Vaporwave Album, also the pilot article for a new series

As I have stated in a previous article, music consumes me wholly. At almost every given time in my life, I am listening to something: while working, while writing, while playing guitar, while commuting. Even when there is nothing playing, my mind will craft music for me; either by replaying a sample from my expansive mental catalogs, or by synthesizing new guitar riffs or melodies for my brain to construct into possible songs. In an effort to express this aspect of myself, I am starting this “Albums In Retrospect” series, in which I will review and reflect upon various music albums. In keeping with the theme of my past couple of articles, we will examine the arguably most famous of all vaporwave¹ albums: “Florale Shoppe” by Macintosh Plus. 

---

Released in 2011, this album was created by an artist known as Vektroid, under the pseudonym of “Macintosh Plus.” She is a prolific electronic musician, having released several albums over the course of multiple projects and aliases. This album, her 9th at the time, is often hailed as the album that canonized “vaporwave” as a distinct genre, as well as the catalyst for the popularity of Bandcamp, a music-sharing website geared towards independent artists. “Florale Shoppe” heavily influenced the early settlers of the vaporwave landscape, and its reach can even be felt today within the realm of current vaporwave and post-vaporwave artists. So, let us break down this work, track by track, and bask within the layers of modulated 1980s slow jams.