Original ＤＩＧＩＴＡＬ ＤＯＷＮＬＯＡＤ via BUSINESS CASUAL：
music.businesscasual.biz/album/escape-to-new-york
music.businesscasual.biz/album/escape-to-new-york
music.businesscasual.biz/album/escape-to-new-york

BIZC121

Vinyl version release on My Pet Flamingo label released in 2018:
mypetflamingo.bandcamp.com/album/escape-to-new-york
mypetflamingo.bandcamp.com/album/escape-to-new-york
mypetflamingo.bandcamp.com/album/escape-to-new-york

Escape to new York is being pressed on a virgin black wax slab, with just 200 copies available.

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Also released as a numbered tape and a Sega Edition (w/ Sega Mega Drive / Genesis plastic cases and a 6 page art booklet) via Finnish Cityman Productions label in 2020:
citymanprod.com/product/ursulas-cartridges-escape-to-new-york-cassette/
citymanprod.com/product/ursulas-cartridges-escape-to-new-york-sega-edition/
citymanproductions.bandcamp.com/album/escape-to-new-york

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Escape to New York was also added to Bandcamp's Back to the Future: the Top Ten Vaporwave Albums of 2016:
daily.bandcamp.com/2016/12/13/back-to-the-future-the-top-ten-vaporwave-albums-of-2016/

"Also about fleeing to better climes, Escape to New York by Ursula’s Cartridges is a disco-plunderphonics hybrid that took future funk into uncharted territory. In cutting and twisting the exuberance of the ’70s beyond all recognition, its hyperactive grooves suggested that the new is only ever a rearrangement of what came before."



"Ursula's Cartridges is an artist I revere on almost every level for what seems to be his mission statement; to take a subgenre and perfect it's trappings and concepts into an entirely new state of evolution. He had done this previously on his prior records Honeymoon Travels and Argentavis, refining both space ambient and cyberpunk. Although, this should be of course kept in mind that these are twists on the genre UC is best known for; vaporwave.

To many, UC is the embodiment of what vaporwave should actually stand for as he doesn't just slow down a sample and call it a day. Instead, he carefully loops, reconstructs portions of samples with his own instrumentation, adds new passages and manipulates source material in a way that is both inspiring and creative. Given his previous efforts, it was safe to say that UC was bound to expand into even further territory and use his involved production style to evolve whatever sound he was preoccupied with.

Such is the case of Escape to New York, an energetic shot of fresh air in the somewhat tried field of future funk. That is not to say that future funk cannot be great as there are innumerable albums from several artists that are currently standing the test of time. However, much like it's cousin vaporwave, there is a very low entry barrier because of the more popular established tropes within these genres. In future funk's case, it was keeping the pitch either the same or a touch higher while increasing the tempo with added drum support. And for a lot of artists, that was the formula to success. Not for Ursula's Cartridges.

In fantastically conceptualized fashion, Escape to New York is a trip back to the Big Apple of the 1980s albeit from a skewed angle. Much of the material here is heavy on the funk and leaves the future on the back burner, instead finding its power in pure nostalgia. This New York is one that contains the same culture as it's real life counterpart, just with more embellishment. It's a great way to approach an entire album's worth of material because that's essentially how nostalgia works. You're remembering the parts that had a positive impact on you. It's what you should actually be feeling when your run of the mill vaporwave producer says their music is nostalgic simply due to the fact that it is sampling something from the past. Ursula's Cartridges is immortalizing the best parts of the past.

Something that has burned me out on future funk several years ago was the fact that I basically knew that once I heard the start of a song, I'd essentially heard the whole thing without even listening to it. In contrast, UC isn't afraid to stretch his compositional muscles as each track either shifts in its beat structure or contains new passages that blur the distinction between sample and added instrumentation. There are moments where horn sections will chop to the beat of whatever they're accompanied with in such a way that it feels like they'd have to simultaneously be played organically and sequenced at the same time.

One brilliant trademark of Ursula's Cartridges across all of his work is that he'll find a loop that contains maybe one word or lead instrument from the bar succeeding it that leaks onto the past bar, making the loop feel complete while reminding you that you are very much listening to a vaporwave song. And of course the tempo and sample choices here bend that trademark in favor of future funk. For instance on "It's Time to Dance Your Socks Off" the main loop contains the word "This" from the upcoming bar that we never hear, yet it's encapsulated in an otherwise perfect loop. Really adds to the funkiness of this record as well. That song title doesn't lie.

Overall, this is a high benchmark in both the vaporwave and future funk spheres and you need to give it a full listen to see what I mean. Nothing is off the table. Everything is Terrible clips, Bob Ross, forgotten electro hip hop. It's all there, just waiting to be remembered."

- maggie_dot_rym, RateYourMusic, January 08, 2019