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.

On September 27, 2023, Macroblank announced through twitter that their Bandcamp page, the medium through which they had mainly been releasing music, had been taken down.[5] While a temporary replacement page - named michealblank - was launched, this was soon after removed as well, at which point Macroblank announced a definitive parting of ways with Bandcamp.[6] Since then, music has been released through the artist's Soundcloud and Patreon pages.

Reception

edit

Writing for The Rensselaer Polytechnic, Vaughn Greason compared Macroblank's body of work to that of Haircuts for Men[7], 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 on their list of best albums of 2021, calling it a "vaporwave masterpiece."[8]

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?"[9]

Discography

edit
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.[10]
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."[11]
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

edit

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".[12]

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.[13]

The Arts Fuse compared this fabricated analog scarcity to the concept of fabricated digital scarcity associated with NFT's.[14]

References

edit
  1. ^ "macroblank on Twitter: "thank you :) t.co/lJ7oQrxtgA" / Twitter". 2022-11-24. Archived from the original on 2022-11-24. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
  2. ^ "Macroblank - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ "Residents: Artists of Aloe City Records". Aloe City Wrld. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  5. ^ macroblank (27 September 2023). "twitter.com".
  6. ^ macroblank (4 October 2023). "twitter.com".
  7. ^ "Haircuts for Men, Macroblank, and the new vaporwave aesthetic". The Polytechnic. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  8. ^ "021 - Macroblank - 絶望に負けた". 021 - Macroblank - 絶望に負けた. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  9. ^ Monnier, Guillaume (2022-07-01). "Qui est Macroblank, ce mystérieux nom qui intrigue et agite Bandcamp ?". TSUGI (in French). Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  10. ^ "Archived copy". Twitter. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 2022-06-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^ "RARE PSALMS COLLECTION VOL.1, by Macroblank". Macroblank. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
  12. ^ "ANALOG レアリティ, by Macroblank". Macroblank. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  13. ^ "Macroblank - ANALOG レアリティ [VARIANTS A/B/C]". SoundCloud. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  14. ^ "Electronic Music Review: Macroblank's ANALOG レアリティ-- Plenty of Scarcity to Go Around - The Arts Fuse". artsfuse.org/. Retrieved 2023-03-25.