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HiResDes · Sep 22, 2013

Chicago Reader's Take on Vaporwave

Chicago Reader said:
Vaporwave, to the extent it can be said to still exist, is sample based, layering and warping pieces of the most reviled forms of music in the recording era: chintzy 80s lounge, smooth jazz, Muzak. Sometimes producers slow down and layer samples till they sound like velvety R&B slow jams, or chop and repeat them to create a sort of languid stutter. Its dreamlike feel recalls the hypnagogic pop of multiply pseudonymous New York musician and producer James Ferraro.

Sonically the aesthetic is dominated by gauzy reverb and a polished synthetic veneer, and visually it leans toward retrofuturistic imagery—luminous 3-D bubbles, for instance, or blocky skylines, made to look like outmoded computer renderings in toxic DayGlo colors. Both in its look and in its Internet-centric life cycle, vaporwave has more than a little in common with seapunk, the notorious microscene that attracted the attention of the New York Times last winter.

Vice's Take on Vaporwave

Already gearing up as seapunk’s bigger, flashier and coming-this-summer-with-10-times-more-explosions sequel is vaporwave—the next lucky hashtag that could end up on SNL. Like seapunk, vaporwave is another Tumblr-spawned micro-genre that’s obsessed with Geocities graphics and spacey electronic music… but with fewer dolphins this time.

What is vaporwave? According to commenters in various music forums, it’s “chillwave for Marxists,” “post-elevator music,” “corporate smooth jazz Windows 95 pop,” and (my personal favorite) “better than that witch house shit.”

To put it another way, imagine taking bits of 80's Muzak, late-night infomercials, smooth jazz, and that tinny tune receptionists play when they put you on hold, then chopping that up, pitching it down, and scrambling it to the point where you’ve got saxophone goo dripping out of a cheap plastic valve. That’s vaporwave.

But even though sampling “cheesy” and “trashy” music is vaporwave’s M.O., parodying commercial taste isn’t exactly the goal. Vaporwave doesn’t just recreate corporate lounge music – it plumps it up into something sexier and more synthetic. Vaporwave makes the banal sound luscious, like the kind of beats you’d twerk to at the top of an empty skyscraper looking out across Dubai.

SPF420 has pretty much become a hub for the genre

Various Vaporwave Artists Include:

Saint Pepsi
[*]Blank Banshee
[*]Vｉｒｔｕａｌ－ ４２０
[*]SVNSET WΛVES
[*]Internet Club
[*]Macintosh Plus
[*]chris†††
[*]Sugar C
[*]Future City
[*]Metallic Ghosts
[*]Yung Sherman
[*]Fogpak
[*]Veracom
[*]Photon!
[*]회사AUTO
[*]18 Carat Affair
[*]White Woods
[*]Eco Virtual
[*]PCのMuseum
[*]ULTRA ウルトラ
[*]Bool
[*]Avec Avec
[*]Argiflex
[*]bo en
[*]Chaz & Alex
[*]Choongum
[*]Clownbb
[*]Coinstarr
[*]Contact Lens
[*]Coolmemoryz
[*]Datalife
[*]DJ AFlow
[*]DJ CLAP
[*]DJ Paypal
[*]Dolphin Tears
[*]Drip-133
[*]Esprit 空想
[*]食品まつり a.k.a foodman
[*]Hairspray Heart
[*]Hearts Bonfire
[*]Infinity Frequencies
[*]日本人 - Japanese
[*]Kodak Cameo
[*]LAKE R▲DIO
[*]Luxury Elite
[*]Magic Fades
[*]Meishi Smile
[*]Minerals
[*]Nmesh
[*]No/Taste
[*]REVERBlite
[*]SEGA32-X
[*] ショッピングワールドjp
[*]Spazzkid Strip Mines
[*]Svengali
[*]Topaz Gang
[*]Transmuteo
[*]Tres Monitores
[*]TV NICKS
[*]Vektroid
[*]VISAプリペイド
[*]Wakesleep
[*]Window
[*]天安门 Tiananmen Square Dance

Some of my favorite vaporwave videos:

HiResDes · Sep 22, 2013

does anyone know how span lists horizontally?

kick51 · Sep 22, 2013

Protip: All of these are James Ferraro pseudonyms

hateradio · Sep 22, 2013

I really liked 情報デスクVirtual's 札幌コンテンポラリー.

kick51 said:
Protip: All of these are James Ferraro pseudonyms

He has too much stuff.

Slowdive · Sep 22, 2013

I don't really listen to a lot of vaporwave artists but I do like the genre.

My favorite vaporwave artist is Ventla, he's trying to release 100 albums for free. Releases them fairly regularly, he's up to album 25 at the moment. He's the only vaporwave artist I can listen to excessively. Composes all his own stuff as well.

Vektroid is probably my second favorite, surprised when I found out she had many aliases, including Macintosh Plus, 情報デスクVIRTUAL, Laserdisc Visions etc.

Deleted member 102362 · Sep 22, 2013

I honestly thought this thread was about vaporware and was posted in the wrong forum.

“corporate smooth jazz Windows 95 pop,”

Brian Eno: The Microsoft Sound Sessions

kick51 · Sep 22, 2013

Pretty soon, people will be remixing shit that happened last week and it will be nostalgic

2deep4u

mooooose · Sep 22, 2013

Des hi5 for Saint Pepsi.

docbon · Sep 22, 2013

HiResDes said:
Yung Sherman - Fear

Haha. Really enjoyed the video for this one.

Funky Papa · Sep 22, 2013

Sounds like the horrendous muzak from those educational videos they used to play at high school in the early 90's crossed with some witch house.

I... kind of like it.

Davidion · Sep 22, 2013

There's a subgenre called Vaporwave that's the successor to Seapunk? There's a subgenre called Seapunk?

lonely · Sep 22, 2013

This is awesome

Kwixotik · Sep 22, 2013

Feels schizophrenic

braves01 · Sep 22, 2013

I want there to be a subgenre of vaporwave called future syrup which is spiritually rooted in breakfast commercials from the 80s.

Kwixotik · Sep 22, 2013

braves01 said:
I want there to be a subgenre of vaporwave called future syrup which is spiritually rooted in breakfast commercials from the 80s.

and chopped & screwed

braves01 · Sep 22, 2013

Kwixotik said:
and chopped & screwed

Yes, and I'm going to expand the spiritual foundation to include early 90s breakfast commercials too like this one.

docbon · Sep 22, 2013

braves01 said:
I want there to be a subgenre of vaporwave called future syrup which is spiritually rooted in breakfast commercials from the 80s.

VUNT JEMIMV - FUURE SYRUP / W▲FFLE SOUNDS

My mind is racing with all sorts of random breakfast themed shit to put on an album cover.

dan2026 · Sep 22, 2013

The Last Guardian?

Shit I though you said vaporware.

BocoDragon · Sep 22, 2013

braves01 said:
I want there to be a subgenre of vaporwave called future syrup which is spiritually rooted in breakfast commercials from the 80s.

Genius. I laughed.

Tesseract · Sep 22, 2013

this shit massages my sensory bone. it's fucking rad, i want more!

FreddieQuell · Sep 23, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrR1TGQY20Y

Perfect.

Another good one. Video made by the same guy, btw.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG4BFxgZxMU

mooooose · Sep 23, 2013

FreddieQuell said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrR1TGQY20Y

Perfect.

Seeing some random dude on GAF post this makes me so unbelievably happy.

Slowdive · Sep 23, 2013

FreddieQuell said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrR1TGQY20Y

Perfect.

Another good one. Video made by the same guy, btw.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG4BFxgZxMU

So good.

outunderthestars · Sep 23, 2013

Sounds like chillwave stuff to me.

Fuck I am getting old.

Kwixotik · Sep 23, 2013

FreddieQuell said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrR1TGQY20Y

Perfect.

Another good one. Video made by the same guy, btw.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG4BFxgZxMU

I've never seen soda be so sexualized

braves01 · Sep 23, 2013

The more I listen to it, the more vaporwave just reminds me of Art of Noise, which I guess makes that proto-vaporwave (which sounds mostly the same except less chillwave).

Art of Noise - Moments in Love

Angelus Errare · Sep 23, 2013

kick51 said:
Pretty soon, people will be remixing shit that happened last week and it will be nostalgic

2deep4u

lol

mooooose · Sep 23, 2013

Everyone please check out Saint Pepsi if you're in this topic!

braves01 · Sep 23, 2013

mooooose said:
Everyone please check out Saint Pepsi if you're in this topic!

Saint Pepsi - Hit Vibes (full album)

Pretty hot stuff.

mooooose · Sep 23, 2013

Studio 54 is my favorite, his new track Eye is really dope. He put out a snippet called Burn but the actually song sounds reeeeeally different.

FreddieQuell · Sep 23, 2013

mooooose said:
Studio 54 is my favorite, his new track Eye is really dope. He put out a snippet called Burn but the actually song sounds reeeeeally different.

Where did you hear eye? I haven't seen anything new since that burn snippet.

Capital_Five · Sep 23, 2013

Damn this is so good. I can't believe I've never heard of this stuff before. New favorite genre now. Downloading everything.

mooooose · Sep 23, 2013

FreddieQuell said:
Where did you hear eye? I haven't seen anything new since that burn snippet.

He's one of my best friends. haha

FreddieQuell · Sep 23, 2013

mooooose said:
He's one of my best friends. haha

Haha, I figured you were more than just a fan. Well, when's it coming out?

mooooose · Sep 23, 2013

FreddieQuell said:
Haha, I figured you were more than just a fan. Well, when's it coming out?

Not certain, it sounded finished. I loved it. Unhappy (where he sampled American Football) is his next single he'll be pushing.

kick51 · Sep 23, 2013

FreddieQuell said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrR1TGQY20Y

Perfect.

holy fuck! I picked the right week to start sniffing glue.

I love the ending.

"Oh, you like Pepsi too? Let me suck on your face."
"Okay."

N4Us · Sep 23, 2013

I love Dark Twaine's "The Passion and the power"

http://fortune500.bandcamp.com/album/the-passion-the-power

Also plugging my friend's project here

https://soundcloud.com/mazdafabulous

Exr · Sep 23, 2013

Big fan of vaporwave, cant post a link since Im on mobile but Eccojams Virtual is my standout Vaporwave release this year. Anybody new to the genre should definitely seek out things from Internet Club.

Boards of Canada · Sep 23, 2013

Is this considered "vaporwave"? I love this song so much:

Datassette - Power Ballad

BlueMagic · Sep 23, 2013

That Saint Pepsi album is so good, how come I never heard of it? Thanks OP.

JaseC · Sep 23, 2013

HiResDes said:
does anyone know how span lists horizontally?

Like this?

Example
Example
Example
- Example
- Example
- Example
  - Example
  - Example
  - Example

It's just a matter of nesting:

[list]

[*]Example

[*]Example

[*]Example

[list]

[*]Example

[*]Example

[*]Example

[list]

[*]Example

[*]Example

[*]Example

[/list]

[/list]

[/list]

Klaymator14 · Sep 23, 2013

shout out to my braj TV NICKS

https://soundcloud.com/tvnicks

hateradio · Sep 23, 2013

kick51 said:
Pretty soon, people will be remixing shit that happened last week and it will be nostalgic

2deep4u

Later

outunderthestars said:
Sounds like chillwave stuff to me.

Fuck I am getting old.

itshappening.gif

Silky · Sep 23, 2013

Listening through the Macintosh Plus album. I can get behind this vaporwaves business.

HiResDes · Sep 23, 2013

mooooose said:
He's one of my best friends. haha

I have an insider in my Vaporwaves thread, feels good man.

kami_sama · Sep 23, 2013

I've been listening to vaporware all day and I have to say it's great!
A new genre to listen to!

mooooose · Sep 25, 2013

Unhappy by Saint Pepsi debuts on The Fader

http://www.thefader.com/2013/09/25/stream-saint-pepsi-unhappy-remix-american-football/

I'm not supposed to say anything, he'd kill me if he knew, but I'm fucking GEEKING out about some of the new stuff he's doing. So is he. He got news last night about it, it's fucking the coolest shit ever. I can't even believe all this is happening.

HiResDes · Sep 25, 2013

mooooose said:
Unhappy by Saint Pepsi debuts on The Fader

http://www.thefader.com/2013/09/25/stream-saint-pepsi-unhappy-remix-american-football/

I'm not supposed to say anything, he'd kill me if he knew, but I'm fucking GEEKING out about some of the new stuff he's doing. So is he. He got news last night about it, it's fucking the coolest shit ever. I can't even believe all this is happening.

This is so fucking dope. And I'm totally on the hype train

CommieCaptorS · Sep 25, 2013

vap0rwave PriNce

post-modern detritus wave
this one's on you, internet ***nsfw***

HiResDes · Sep 25, 2013

CommieCaptorS said:
vap0rwave PriNce

post-modern detritus wave
this one's on you, internet ***nsfw***

OH MY GOD, LOOK AWAY, but I cannot

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