Spectreview: Saint Pepsi – MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE

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Someone must have flashed the Bat Signal, as titans of the steadily-aging vaporwave genre are suddenly coming back with works that breathe life back into the virtual graveyard. Ryan DeRobertis (aka Skyler Spence), a Brooklyn artist who used to co-lead the pack as Saint Pepsi early this decade, gave up the mantle in 2014 with the swan song of the Gin City EP, and now in a pleasant surprise he’s returned with a full-length chock full of the kinds of chopped disco-jams he made his name on. DeRobertis isn’t your average trend-surfing sample artist: there’s a smoldering intelligence at play in his work that transcends the limitations of a genre obsessed with critiquing the nostalgic. His output compares strongly to that of plunderphonics auteurs The Avalanches’ with its melanges of urgent tempos and pop touches that cohere well, but whereas that band of merrymakers found the crossroads between the headiness of psychedelia and the emotional emancipation of dance music, DeRobertis uses the backdrop of vaporware to illustrate the working prison its dancers inhabit. Listening to a Saint Pepsi record is like joining the conga line on ecstasy at a business cruise retreat, and as our corporate overlords become ever more conspicuous, MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE seems to hammers this point home even further. The record is one neon-lit high after another, from the bright lens flares of “I Need Your Love In Me” to the Discovery disco flood of “Greg” to the cologne-drenched mall floors of “Egg McMacy.” There’s some brief capitulations to vaporwave’s lazier side, like in the screwed soft jazz of bewildering closer “Myself When I Am Real,” but for the most part MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE gives Saint Pepsi fans everything they need, proving that DeRobertis is still capable of picking up the mantle and delivering high-quality forward-looking funk years down the line.

Recommended for middle class whimsy.