Vinyl Williams – “Luxury”

Maybe you know the feeling: it’s not even new year’s eve yet, you haven’t had a sip of alcohol all day, but 2014 has you feeling hung over. More than aspirin, brunch, a nap, or any other go-to cure, you need a restorative music that doesn’t deny our self-medi(c)ating virtual hyperreality but embraces it. Time to check yourself into the Trance Zen Dental Spa.

Vinyl Williams is the moniker for L.A.-based musician/artist Lionel Williams plus whomever he’s working with at the time. On the new EP “Trance Zen Dental Spa,” that includes Chaz Bundick of Toro Y Moi and (featured in SIO last October) Les Sins, who sprinkles good vibes and hypnotic bass over a lo-fi wash of mystical synth swells, meditative drums, and drowsy vocals. The result is blissful and psychedelic, activating dulled synapses and healing memories.

“Trance Zen Dental Spa” sees Williams direct his talents back to music after two productive years as a visual artist and VR conceptualist. The EP is accompanied by a wealth of digital imagery and collages featuring his recurring interests in virtual architecture, non-Western philosophies and transcendent environments. Having recently created videos for fellow Angelenos Medicine and Dub Thompson, Williams has created an interactive “temple spa” for the EP that users can explore and (with the Unity Pro software) modify. The video, above, for the track “Luxury” walks through this virtual space.

Now go get your new year on, and keep these healing sonic and visual potions within easy reach.

Download “Trance Zen Dental Spa” on Vinyl Williams’ Bandcamp page.