Though Nmesh — the project of Alex Koenig — gained attention as part of the vaporwave scene, his project predates it by nearly a decade. There are similarities, but Koenig’s work feels uniquely singular. Records like Nu.wav Hallucinations and last year’s Dream Sequins® were hyper-specific, pop culture-filled acid trips that particularly showed Koenig’s interest in mangling the human voice. The result is like an aural kindred spirit to Everything Is Terrible’s psychedelic video art. Like EiT, Koenig has a knack for arranging the trash he finds into complex thematically compelling collages. When someone responds to vaporware with sweeping statements like “Yeah, I could do that in 5 minutes on my laptop,” Nmesh makes it crystal clear: No. You can’t.
