On April 15, 2021, Cesar Alexandre, known as Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza, Mount Shrine, and Mt. Hibiki, passed away from COVID-19.
Alexandre had been around in the ambient/vaporwave music scene since around 2013 and has had a significant influence on the VW scene through his Lindsheaven alias, as well as SLOW MIDNIGHT (His Future funk alias) and Noir FM. (Vaporjazz; “Nightluxury” is one of my personal favorites of this genre thanks to him.) Needless to say, it was a shock and heartbreaking when the news came through.
He survived by his mother, his sister, and his fiancé Nicola Cruz. He will be missed.
As of now, there are a few releases, both of his work and tributes, out that the profits will be donated to his estate. Among them:
Tigerblood Tapes’ release of LVP’s “NTSC Memories”
The Expanding Earth’s release of LVP’s “The Return from the Rainforest Hill”
-No Problema Tapes’ release of “Rainforest Hill I+II”
Tigerblood Tapes’ “永遠の (Eternal),” a compilation dedicated to Alexandre.
For more info on potential future releases, visit Nicola Cruz’s Twitter handle @nicawcruz.
“Cesar, you influenced online music in ways you probably never understood, and brought joy and wonder to people you would never know. You will be remembered by all you touched. We’ll miss you.”
Rest easy, Cesar. We’ll Miss You.
— Jay Wallace // @jaywallace1
Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza was one of the first artists I was introduced to when I got into Vaporwave. At that time, my music diet was what I was recommended to on my YouTube feed: Surfing, George Clanton, Vaperror, and a lot of Vapor Memory uploads. I vividly remember the time I encountered my favorite release of his, Daily Night Euphoria… I was laying my bedroom, close to midnight, and I had found the album cover to be intriguing. So upon clicking the video, I fell in love with the punch it had, it felt so different than the FM-synth pad-filled music I’ve grown accustomed to, it made the genre feel limitless.
I felt as if I was transported to a perfect realm, a reality that felt like some lucid dream, that feeling never really comes often for me, especially with music! Upon closing my eyes, I was taken to this early-childhood version of myself… looking at the twilight-lit skyline of a city slowly creeping beyond the horizon, fazing in and out of dreaming with the smell of plastic from the bag of souvenirs, everyone is pretty worn out and the stereo is the loudest thing in the car, you rest your ear on the car window enhancing the sound of the radio.
IBM Lotus Night, the first track of that EP, will always have a special place in my heart. Beyond that album, I can give credit to Cesar for introducing me to bandcamp, as listening to his YouTube videos made me interested to hear more of his work, so I found his bandcamp and downloaded the full discography. Then I repetitively listened to Rainforest Hill (I and II), which really showed how fantastic of a producer he was, truly a jack-of-all-trades. I will always remember Cesar for the love he had for music, it’s so sad to know we will never hear more from him and the music he used as vessels for emotion.
— MiddleClassComfort // @MidClassComfy
It was heartbreaking to see all the twitter posts the day of Lindsheaven passing. I had been a major fan since the Rainforest Hill collection and had used the album too many times for work or reading. Knowing that they passed I regret not buying their cassettes when they released or owning a part of them. Kind of makes me wonder had their timeline changed if I would have bought the cassette when I wanted it.
I’ve been thinking about returning to their music but something about them not existing any more makes me not ready to listen to them again. Like the music is going to sound different or I’m going to have an emotion to it that I didn’t have before. I guess I’m just not ready to go there yet. It’s sad, and it shows at any time anyone we know can be gone before we know it. Say hi to your vapor-pals, let them know you enjoy their music or existence in the scene. Do it for the memory of Lindsheaven.
— KITE0080
“I cannot begin to say how big of an influence Cesar has had on me.
I can remember the first time I listened to Rainforest Hill 1 + 2 on the Vapor Memory channel back in late 2019, I was about 13 years old, and it was one of the first vaporwave or ambient albums I ever heard, and I cannot describe how it made me feel, it made me feel connected to nature and at the same time disconnected, overall that album had an amazing vibe. I would sleep to that album often, sometimes I meditated to that album, Ive listened to rainforest hill while getting a haircut 2 times already, I listened to it religiously because it was so good, it felt so relaxing and that album has a special place in my heart.”
— WINDMILL // @Vapormill2
Quoted from their album natureza etérea by WINDMILL
While I only met Cesar a couple times in chats on streams, no event seemed too small, and he would be there as much as possible. He was passionate and supportive of everyone. He seemed very nice. I’ve had the Daily Night Euphoria EP on my phone for a while, and I can say that from the very start, he understood the music and made something unique. There really doesn’t seem to be one like him. I hope he lives on forever through his music and our memories.
— Tails_155 // Tails_155
