An introduction to a cult-hero of 21st Century electronic music, and living myth. Following t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者’s shock five-album return in 2025, that introduction, for some of us, is long overdue.
‘真実はいつもあなたの中にある [The Truth Is Always Within You]’ – t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者
How do you write about that which you cannot see?
How do you point to the form of something that moves exclusively in the dark, seemingly clandestine, behind the cover of closed eyes? G.E. Moore, acclaimed philosopher, when cross-examining the ‘naturalistic fallacy’ that we can equate something immaterial like good to things we perceive in the real world, argued that yellow was merely yellow, and, furthermore, that ‘good is good.’ No more can be said, no more can be unpacked. I could easily write that t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 is t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者, and end it there, content in playing my part of what feels like a mystery. But that would make for quite a poor read.
t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 is the most commonly associated pseudonym of Luke Laurila, an electronic composer who has curated the following and acclaim tantamount to mastery of a craft. And a master he is; t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 takes a throne in the annals of vaporwave, a genre now entrenched within the internet and the communal psyche of a certain nostalgic generation of users. The pinks and purples, the slowed, echoing samples, the busts and even the Fiji Water – t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 is there from the start.
In an exceedingly rare interview (we are talking needle and haystack levels), Nick Caceres of Sonemic trawls through a selection of the boundless discography boasted by Luke Laurila in order to unpick the composer’s mind. The answers are abstruse, evasive, and lost in the shadowy mystique fans have come to expect. For example, responding early to a question about whether being tethered to vaporwave as a label, despite artistic evolutions, is annoying, Luke Laurila opens his reply by stating that “it is their [the fans’] choice to live that way.”
![The first t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 release, ‘と共に [To tomo ni]’ (September 2013)](https://atwoodmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/To-tomo-ni-350x350.jpeg)
The truth is, t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 is a vaporwave giant, but even more than that, t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 is the demiurge of ‘slushwave,’ vaporwave’s cousin.
Slushwave takes the style of vaporwave, but makes it… slushier. The reverb is cranked, the delay digs its heels in, things become even foggier and more indecipherable, and you spiral into a new age blur, a chimera of synths and sparkles and washed out drum patterns leaving you spinning and cradled all the same (venture out to the works of ‘desert sand feels warm at night’ for, in my opinion, an additional champion of the slushwave sound).
What does it take to evolve out of vaporwave, an increasingly saturated genre, and trademark your own sound to consistent awe and ovation? As it turns out, quite a lot of albums. So much so that I do not really know how to catalogue them. Luke Laurila has produced unfettered, and across multiple pseudonyms too. Let me put it like this: let us say t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 has released about forty albums. Did you include the EPs? What about the iconic HKE collaborations as 2814? And what about the some hundred albums released as Virtual Dream Plaza? I could keep going.
t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者, despite this landslide of music, did once threaten to merge into the ether as releases ceased. Or rather, not threatened, as this sublimination of output was a silent occurrence, days without release multiplying until a barely audible pause in the late 2010s. This masked withdrawal from a discography of previously utopian fruitfulness was, naturally, exactly the kind of mysterious act to be conjured by a member of the vaporwave school and its off-shoots, most big names so private in their own ways.
It is that mystery that made t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者’s five (!!!) releases in 2025 such a stunning surprise.
No fanfare. No flourish of a cape, no rabbit from a hat. Just one album, to an entire cult following’s surprise. Then another. Then another. Then- more? What is happening!? I recall remarking to my bandmate to cancel all of their expectations for music in 2025, as, without precedent, it had just become the year of t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者.
Following this rush of new music in 2025, now makes for an opportune time to enter into the world of t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者. So, as that now necessary overdue introduction, here are my brief thoughts on some key releases by Mr. Laurila, primarily as t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者, but with some notable albums under other pseudonyms. Every t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 album is a gem and wonderfully listenable in its own way, but if one release intrigues you more than all the others, please do go for it, and then brace yourself for spiralling down an inevitable wormhole.
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と共に [To tomo ni]
(21st September 2013)
The first t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 release. The curtain raiser. It is the debut of an electronic composer borne into an almost bilious thrum of vaporwave, a zeitgeist of purples, pinks, busts, palm trees, and an irreverent nostalgia. He is wed to the vaporwave genre with reason. For members of a proud cult-following, the earlier t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 releases might feel jaded, and lost to time. Nonetheless, I hear the glimmers of what is to come, certain synths and snares reverbed into the mix just that bit more than any other release around the same time.
Personal favourite tracks: Track 1; Track 4.
現実を超えて [Beyond Reality]
(26th June 2014)
For many, this is the greatest realisation of the early t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 sound. We have only gone forward by about nine months from To tomo ni, and this is actually already t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者’s tenth full album. In the aforementioned Sonemic interview, Laurila describes this release as “a special milestone… where clarity of intention was reached.” Vaporwave has now warped and phased into something new. t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者’s releases up to this point have provided real-time invention, and that is exhilarating. To live through an artist’s development is something, but to witness them defining a new genre is special in ways that can only be realised after digestion.
Personal favourite tracks: Track 1; Track 4; Track 6; Track 8; Track 9; Track 10.
肉体からの離脱 [Nikutai kara no ridatsu]
(27th August 2014)
Somehow, only two releases later, we find ourselves here. At this point, t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 is at his highest peak so far, and in a slushwave-centric statement, akin almost to the Kid A event, this album is released. For many, this is the strangest, the one that ‘we don’t talk about.’ The spiralling glyphs of its artwork are evocative of what lies within – an alien cacophony that gargles, chokes on itself, regurgitates over and over again. It is foreign vinyl that is warped, caught on groove after groove. It is practically ‘broken transmission,’ an electronic genre renown for its uncanny, garbled eeriness. I think it’s a very important album. It’s actually my favourite from t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者.
Personal favourite tracks: This album blends into one homogenous sludge. It’s almost the incarnation of slushwave at its most unkempt, its most evil. I find it very difficult to pick any one track over another. Whatever starts around the 42nd minute is quite nice.
向かい合って [Mukaiatte]
(5th October 2014)
This is the very next release. Its second track is just over fifty-six minutes long. Fifty-six. There is a lot you can do in that window of time. I might be less affronted if the track was more progressive, but it is effectively the same vocal melody, ethereally moulded to an increasingly trademarked sound (t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 loves spearheading a track with a vocal sample) over, and over, and over again. I have listened to this album once, maybe three years ago. I can still hum this track to you.
Personal favourite tracks: I do not know if favourite is the correct adjective here, but please, be my guest with track 2.
アンドロメダ [Andromeda]
(25th November 2014)
Late 2014 to early 2015 is a particularly fertile passage for t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者, where his slushwave sound is refined to nigh-perfection, releases mimicking their contents by seemingly pouring out and puddling about your feet. Laurila himself says that these releases “will always hold a special place in [his] heart,” pointing especially to Andromeda. It is a gorgeous release, the artwork once again an integral element. t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 seems to perfect his own brand of liminal imagery, halfway between a yearning, nostalgic dream, and a wistful reality. t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 releases aim to make you feel ‘as if you are remembering a dream, or another life. The listeners have always seemed to understand this semblance, some even aware of the yet deeper meanings.’
What of those deeper meanings? What of the female figures? In his Sonemic interview, Laurila repeatedly refers to ‘love’ and a ‘she’ that guides his art. Something and someone longed for? A muse? Something spiritual, or transcendent? It is no surprise that Laurila is both so evocative and vague in speech – only he could make music so nebulous.
Personal favourite tracks: Track 4; Track 7; Track 9; Track 10; Track 13; Track 15.
新しい日の誕生 [Birth of a New Day]
21st January 2015, Released as ‘2814’
This collaboration with Hong Kong Express, released under the joint pseudonym of ‘2814,’ remains debatably the most recognisable release from any avenue of Laurila’s repertoire. Its futuristic, purple cityscape and lush synth production push it further into a dreampunk sound, likely the result of HKE’s input, a renowned producer themselves. I would probably recommend this release as the most accessible entry point for Laurila’s work. The internet adores this album.
Personal favourite tracks: The opening track on this is objectively stunning. One of the most perfect synergies of vaporwave the internet has been gifted to.
一緒に別の夜 [Another Night Together]
6th November 2015
I want to emphasise that the t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 run from late 2014 through to middling 2015 is encompassing. I could write quite a lot about releases within that space, but there is more to talk about. Every single album from that period is worth listening to. It may all melt into one slushy amalgam, but that is part of the point.
This is a fascinating release, constructed out of two forty-four minute tracks. When asked about the title, Laurila explains, or rather doesn’t; “she is the reason my music exists, my reason to be. There is no me without US… She is with me always, and yet must leave me alone in this world. I ask her to stay, but I know the answer, I know the truth… I deeply cherish every moment with my loves, and that loving devotion is sonified in the music, ALL of the music.”
Personal favourite tracks: There are only two. Both are good.
星間性交 [Interstellar Intercourse]
21st December 2015
For many, this is the greatest t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 album. Full stop. The crowning achievement in a resplendent discography that is met with adulation at every chapter. The King’s most emphatic decree, and on most days, it is hard to disagree. The sampling is exquisite. The handling of melody is supremely catchy, like Tchaikovsky-gone-vaporwave. It is possibly the most complete slushwave album ever pieced together. It sounds like interstellar intercourse… I suppose? If that’s an experience at once lush, ethereal, and memorable?
Personal favourite tracks: How do you choose a favourite child? 7, 8 and 9 all live fondly as earworms, with 7 possibly being the greatest track of the producer’s invention.
无限渴望
21st February 2016, Released as ‘仮想夢プラザ [Virtual Dream Plaza]’
The Virtual Dream Plaza repertoire is Laurila appealing to his new age tendencies unbridled. The music is repetitive, but without a second is wasted. Virtual Dream Plaza’s own mammoth catalogue is connected to t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者, yes, but different. t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 darts amongst the stars, whereas Virtual Dream Plaza rests in between them, cogitating on divinity. This is a pseudonym not to be missed, and this release, I think, the pinnacle.
Personal favourite tracks: There is only one. Just close your eyes and listen.
涉水来世 [Wading in the Afterlife]
4th April 2022, Released as ‘天火見 [Tianhuojian]’
Wading in the Afterlife is one of Laurila’s most ambitious projects, for it is in fact intended to be a soundtrack for a psychedelic film. It is perhaps why the ‘catchiness’ of other projects erodes in place of evocative soundscapes. It is still a great achievement because it is exactly that – evocative, and shrouded in astral mystery that only Laurila can consistently drape over releases.
Personal favourite tracks: Track 4 is fantastically atmospheric.
夜明けが訪れる [Dawn Arrives]
4th April 2025
Imagine my bewilderment upon seeing a t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 thumbnail uploaded through the Vapor Memory YouTube channel that I did not recognise. Imagine my giddiness when I realised it was something new, straight out of the box. What should be noticed with this return is how pristine everything sounds. t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 mastered his own brand of composition years ago, but now he has had time to master the software too. It is everything you would want his return to be.
Personal favourite tracks: The opener is hypnotically sublime. Its percussion almost mimics a clock’s ticking, the vaporous nature of t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者’s music dilating time around you.
君のいない世界でまた一日が過ぎた [Another Day Has Passed in a World Without You]
2nd May 2025
Imagine my utter stupefaction at seeing a second thumbnail I did not recognise. As I referred to my bandmate at the time, 2025 had suddenly become the year of t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者, a more mysterious and very distant relative of the ‘Brat summer’ enjoyed by many. The way chime-like tones are handled on this one is spell-binding, their gossamer nature building a sparkling, torrential blizzard of light, positive in a way, but when in conjunction with the title? We can form our own readings, but t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者’s veil is always just too thick to see through.
Personal favourite tracks: I really like this one, so it is again difficult to isolate. The opener is a brilliant statement once again, and I have a fondness for track 3.
真実はいつもあなたの中にある [The Truth Is Always Within You]
1st August 2025
When questioned about the alien reflected back at us in this release’s artwork, Laurila remarks, “We have been ‘here’ longer than you, and some of us will be ‘here’ long after you are gone.” If Laurila really is an alien, it would actually explain a lot. This release, for example, sounds like some kind of floating, extraterrestrial metropolis. The compositions fluctuate, as if trying to adjust to different settings and environments, maybe even morphing into human music suitable for broadcast across the firmament. It is like a being from another place and era trying to learn ‘human-music’ in real-time.
Personal favourite tracks: Track 3; Track 5.
来たれあなたは私をすべてのものから遠ざけこの世界で一人にした [Come, You Have Separated Me From All Things and Left Me Alone in This World]
5th December 2025
Possibly some of the eeriest t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 album art to date. It is intensely liminal, a living room you are not sure you should be within, the ghoulish shadow of a palm tree, a television playing static to a figure effulgent like a beacon. It is both worldly and transcendent, like the passing visitation of some poltergeist.
Personal favourite tracks: The breaks into more solemn tracks are voids of reprieve, such as track 3.
静かなのにすべてを貫く愛
29th December 2025
To culminate a year of resurgence, of resurrection, t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 returns to structuring seen on releases like Another Night Together, two sprawling transmissions to conclude 2025, both stunning. The sampling might be the most representative of t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 from his entire library. The opening track blurs through the singeing, torrential tears of a headspace and monologue that are in agony, pleading what seemed to be a soulmate to not make an awful mistake, a refrain of ‘don’t ever leave me’ a poignant scythe. Then, the second track’s resolute acceptance, or delusion, as they either accept the state of affairs as feeling so unreal, or invent a fantasy that leaves them assured that they are ‘dreaming.’
Personal favourite tracks: The first one just edges it for me, but only just.
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So, where do we go from here?
With a discography rivaling an Enchiridion, and enough pseudonyms to give a double-agent imposter syndrome, it is hard to say. t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 has always been an artist to keep his increasing fanbase guessing; even when Laurila himself gives an interview, he only creates more questions.
If only I knew a good mind-reader…
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