Vaporwave

[Lane Visitor]

 

Azure Sands and OK Oil Company just put out some straight up redneck vaporwave. You need this in your life. 10/10.

 

https://okoilcompany.bandcamp.com/album/american-truck-songs-8

so they literally just slowed down existing songs? is that it or am i missing something?

So you're not missing anything per se, logically, but most heavy sample-based vaporwave is actually much less about musical production/craft/ability, and mostly about presenting selections of altered audio and recycled/found internet-sourced art and packaging it through concepts and atmospheres it would never have otherwise been connected to. Pretentious... Lazy... Adolescent? Maybe, but it's a rich movement nonetheless. If you can try and think of it (at least the heavy sample-based examples) as less of -a music genre with "artists"/"albums", and more of an internet art/sound experiment ... And instead of artists the creators are more "strange djs", or "curators" "editors" etc, putting out "mixes" of slightly warped stuff theyve found and collected to put into one bizzaro mixtape, then youre more likely to appreciate and enjoy vaporwave in all its ego-less dada-ist glory.

[TubularCorporation]

Did I already post this here?  I can't even remember, this thread is so massive.

 

[Lane Visitor]

[Lane Visitor]

Did I already post this here? I can't even remember, this thread is so massive.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbESqMei5Vc

I love this btw, gives me cozy feelings lol

[Lane Visitor]

Poll:

 

What vaporwave releases have you guys been listening to the most often as your go-to releases lately?

 

Lately mine has been MIDI's Virtual97, [Physics] - Not Even Real and this guy out of Russia- Alex Movers, fun stuff.

[Lane Visitor]

Ah yes the stuff I heard from Skeleton has been pretty awesome, will have to check that one out!

[Lane Visitor]

Oh wow listening to this now, delicious... I remember now i checked out all 3 releases before, really great stuff.

[joshuatxuk]

 

Azure Sands and OK Oil Company just put out some straight up redneck vaporwave. You need this in your life. 10/10. 

 

https://okoilcompany.bandcamp.com/album/american-truck-songs-8

 

so they literally just slowed down existing songs? is that it or am i missing something? 

 

 

to be fair this one is pretty shitty and heavy on novelty / gimmick, this is nothing in terms of quality when it comes to the same formula executed well 

 

but yeah "eccojams" style vaporwave / i.e. classic vaporwave is chopped up, slowed down, and looped samples... very similar to DJ Screw stuff or witch house but with different sample sources, usually late 80s to early 90s muzak, new age, easy listening, smooth r&b and top 40-esque pop, etc.

 

Did I already post this here?  I can't even remember, this thread is so massive.

 

lol, amazing. that CGI phone 

 

 

damn this is lush

[Lane Visitor]

.

Edited February 28, 2017 by Lane Visitor

[Lane Visitor]

 

 

Azure Sands and OK Oil Company just put out some straight up redneck vaporwave. You need this in your life. 10/10.

 

https://okoilcompany.bandcamp.com/album/american-truck-songs-8

so they literally just slowed down existing songs? is that it or am i missing something?

to be fair this one is pretty shitty and heavy on novelty / gimmick, this is nothing in terms of quality when it comes to the same formula executed well

 

but yeah "eccojams" style vaporwave / i.e. classic vaporwave is chopped up, slowed down, and looped samples... very similar to DJ Screw stuff or witch house but with different sample sources, usually late 80s to early 90s muzak, new age, easy listening, smooth r&b and top 40-esque pop, etc.

 

Did I already post this here? I can't even remember, this thread is so massive.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbESqMei5Vc

lol, amazing. that CGI phone

damn this is lush

Sorry I messed up the quote thing in my earlier blank post...

 

Yeah, I definitely don't disagree with your assessment of that EP being pretty much only about the novelty gimmick side, and Keanu would certainly be best advised to find a more recommended or staple vaporwave release to introduce him/her to the genre. Releases like this are kinda the equivalent of the whole "broperwave" thing--just slowing down a bunch of 80s pop / motown and putting images of busts / fiji bottles on the cover. My own reason for toungue-in-cheek fawning over something like OK Oil Company (lol) is more about my own weird infatuation with the idea of obscure cowboy/trucker music playing at some diner near a truck stop in the middle of nowhere. And pitched down just pushes it over the edge for me in that "I just got chloroformed by some creepy dude outside the diner and he just stole my car and drove away" feeling that's just too much fun to not soak in. Yeah I'm weird and too many viewings of Breakdown with Kurt Russel. :D #Belle'sDiner

Edited February 28, 2017 by Lane Visitor

[keanu reeves]

Im very aware of vaporwave lol

 

That particular release strikes me as extremely lazy and kind of representative of the vaporwave "genre" as a whole. Artistically bankrupt. The only release ive ever heard that felt legitimately original and technically accomplished is james ferraros far side virtual. Everything else just seems like either high concept plunderphonics or shitty ambient music with japanese script slapped on the cover. Maybe it just isnt my thing.

Edited February 28, 2017 by keanu reeves

[Lane Visitor]

Im very aware of vaporwave lol

 

That particular release strikes me as extremely lazy and kind of representative of the vaporwave "genre" as a whole. Artistically bankrupt. The only release ive ever heard that felt legitimately original and technically accomplished is james ferraros far side virtual. Everything else just seems like either high concept plunderphonics or shitty ambient music with japanese script slapped on the cover. Maybe it just isnt my thing.

 

I hear you.. there's a lot of crap out there for sure--mostly coming from kids who are fans that want to make their share of the sound as well, thinking they can just grab stuff off youtube and throw plugins on it in a daw. The term has become very watered down. Agree about that Ferraro album and many of his are brilliant imo.  I set my own bar pretty low for enjoying new vaporwave releases personally, but every now and then there are some fire albums or EPs. You just have to look around a bit. I'm pretty burnt out on checking on new releases in the genre actually--typically the only time I will is when its a producer friend of mine or fav artist / label etc, but even then it's hard to really stay engaged. But like I said I think of these heavily samples releases now as mostly mixtapes, with concepts and atmospheres. So if I feel like I wanna hear the sounds of a shopping mall or like I'm at a business conference or like I'm on some international night flight, then i'll try and find a suitable release for that mood. I don't care who made those tracks originally and don't care who the "vaporwave artist" is in those cases, just literally want to space out to some shit. Now when I am in the mood to seek out innovative releases or fresh new music, I don't typically browse the vaporwave tag, but rather check out electronic music forums like this one ;) or certain soundcloud channels or blogs. It's a love / hate thing for me, but it's the community and the ideas and the approach that keeps me coming back. 

Edited February 28, 2017 by Lane Visitor

[purlieu]

technically accomplished

 

Although I'd argue that some of the "shitty ambient" stuff is actually quite technically accomplished, really if that's the kind of thing you're after then it's definitely not the genre for you. Although I think some of vaporwave's justification can edge into pretentious, it has parallels with '70s punk in that it's about the attitude and concept, and nothing to do with technical skill. People are taking maligned music and making cool concepts with it. Nobody's boasting about musicality, even in the occasional record that actually has some clever sampling in it. It's just reappropriation of sounds, making potentially shallow/hollow stuff sound hazy and weird. 

[keanu reeves]

maybe not the best phrasing on my part. i just mean "more than slowed down sade" or whatever. i understand sometimes that works. it works on eccojams, specifically track a3 (the jojo track he slowed down). that one is true hypnagogic pop, he found the one piece of that song that contains soul and stretched it out into infinity. that might be better than any oneohtrix point never release. but overall i guess i'm a little jaded because like punk it feels very fashionable and easy, like most of these people are releasing things on autopilot and then kids are hearing pitch shifted g force songs and just accepting that version of the music. i like a lot of the stuff vaporwave tends to source from so i don't have much interest in someone recontextualizing it. i can sort of understand the appeal of the hillbilly vaporwave tracks, at least conceptually, the late night americana station that's been hijacked by a trucker's ghost, but it just feels so fuckin lazy. i feel this way about all of it. it sucks for me because i do get the aesthetic of most of this. i understand the idea of taking the anodyne and antiseptic smooth jazz (a genre i legitimately enjoy) and r&b and giving it new life as a sample, something hip hop obviously did with soul music. i get the visual aesthetic of most of it. i grew up in the dulles tech corridor in the dc metro area, vaporwave is basically my visual language. but it rarely all holds together. most of the stuff is basically downtempo instrumental hip hop or ambient music, with these ridiculous conceptual narratives that don't organically arise from the musical source. it's like someone wakes up and goes "i'm going to make vaporwave" rather than "i'm going to make music" and it happens to fit into the aesthetic of vaporwave. and then what is that aesthetic? obviously no one knows because you can trace this genre/scene all the way back to negativland - dispepsi, dj screw, ymo, kraftwerk, software, the rippingtons, etc. and if you play me tracks from those artists i have a hard time justifying listening to this stuff. 

but i understand why it's popular. i really, really want to like it. 

[Lane Visitor]

maybe not the best phrasing on my part. i just mean "more than slowed down sade" or whatever. i understand sometimes that works. it works on eccojams, specifically track a3 (the jojo track he slowed down). that one is true hypnagogic pop, he found the one piece of that song that contains soul and stretched it out into infinity. that might be better than any oneohtrix point never release. but overall i guess i'm a little jaded because like punk it feels very fashionable and easy, like most of these people are releasing things on autopilot and then kids are hearing pitch shifted g force songs and just accepting that version of the music. i like a lot of the stuff vaporwave tends to source from so i don't have much interest in someone recontextualizing it. i can sort of understand the appeal of the hillbilly vaporwave tracks, at least conceptually, the late night americana station that's been hijacked by a trucker's ghost, but it just feels so fuckin lazy. i feel this way about all of it. it sucks for me because i do get the aesthetic of most of this. i understand the idea of taking the anodyne and antiseptic smooth jazz (a genre i legitimately enjoy) and r&b and giving it new life as a sample, something hip hop obviously did with soul music. i get the visual aesthetic of most of it. i grew up in the dulles tech corridor in the dc metro area, vaporwave is basically my visual language. but it rarely all holds together. most of the stuff is basically downtempo instrumental hip hop or ambient music, with these ridiculous conceptual narratives that don't organically arise from the musical source. it's like someone wakes up and goes "i'm going to make vaporwave" rather than "i'm going to make music" and it happens to fit into the aesthetic of vaporwave. and then what is that aesthetic? obviously no one knows because you can trace this genre/scene all the way back to negativland - dispepsi, dj screw, ymo, kraftwerk, software, the rippingtons, etc. and if you play me tracks from those artists i have a hard time justifying listening to this stuff. 

but i understand why it's popular. i really, really want to like it. 

 

a lot of what you said in this post is spot on.. however, I think you're looking at it pretty black and white and maybe interpreting it with a certain expectation. totally maybe its not your thing, but i think it's worth pointing out the value of well done vaporwave...

 

regarding:

 

most of the stuff is basically downtempo instrumental hip hop or ambient music, with these ridiculous conceptual narratives that don't organically arise from the musical source.

 

Without a doubt, the genres you listed are essentially what lots of these kids are re-making but using samples of samples--and unfortunately, many not realizing there were scores of movements before them that did similar things with a more forward thinking approach, and within original innovative means. I'd 1000x rather listen to Kruder & Dorfmeister than A E S T H E T I C - CORP xzy xyz's latest EP that simply pitches down or heavily samples actual downtempo like the K&D or Jaffa or Thievery Corporation. So I get you there. And as for smooth jazz, I'm huge into Fatburger, Victor Feldman's 80s work, stuff on TBA Records, Tom Scott, and of course J-fusion and boogie and stuff like that. However, where vaporwave shines is in releases that build something using obscure thrift store sources or 90s smooth jazz schmaltz, but to use the music effectively.. Releases that do this well do two things-- they a. make the passages of the original samples sound super good and b. find a way to have the samples make the new creation sound good as well. It's synergy. To me, these are prime examples of this kind of success, without using a Vektroid release to demonstrate:

 

https://swampcircle.bandcamp.com/track/foggy-daybreak

 

from the following lp--which is materfully done imo--when you have a min listen through, it's a moody dystopian/utopian journey:

 

 

And of course, the masters themselves:

 

 

i mean this is verging on eccajams, but...

 

 

 

 

 

^ that last one is an example to me of how vaporwave can capture pure beauty and emotion in a single moment--by how what you said, kind of stretching out a euphoric passage into infinity and meditating on a repetitive version of it. .... Look at the how the emotion on her face changes--but in slo mo and with that music, you almost feel like you're there with her, or you're her. This is kind of a prime example for me of why vaporwave is just highlighting the beauty, absurdity, terror, sexyness, and drugged out bliss of audio from the dusty bins of a haunted past. It's just effective. And when you wrap a story around it, a concept, a full release, it's just that much more potent.   

Edited March 1, 2017 by Lane Visitor

[TubularCorporation]

 

 

 

Azure Sands and OK Oil Company just put out some straight up redneck vaporwave. You need this in your life. 10/10.

 

https://okoilcompany.bandcamp.com/album/american-truck-songs-8

so they literally just slowed down existing songs? is that it or am i missing something?

to be fair this one is pretty shitty and heavy on novelty / gimmick, this is nothing in terms of quality when it comes to the same formula executed well

 

but yeah "eccojams" style vaporwave / i.e. classic vaporwave is chopped up, slowed down, and looped samples... very similar to DJ Screw stuff or witch house but with different sample sources, usually late 80s to early 90s muzak, new age, easy listening, smooth r&b and top 40-esque pop, etc.

 

Did I already post this here? I can't even remember, this thread is so massive.

 

lol, amazing. that CGI phone

damn this is lush

Sorry I messed up the quote thing in my earlier blank post...

 

Yeah, I definitely don't disagree with your assessment of that EP being pretty much only about the novelty gimmick side, and Keanu would certainly be best advised to find a more recommended or staple vaporwave release to introduce him/her to the genre. Releases like this are kinda the equivalent of the whole "broperwave" thing--just slowing down a bunch of 80s pop / motown and putting images of busts / fiji bottles on the cover. My own reason for toungue-in-cheek fawning over something like OK Oil Company (lol) is more about my own weird infatuation with the idea of obscure cowboy/trucker music playing at some diner near a truck stop in the middle of nowhere. And pitched down just pushes it over the edge for me in that "I just got chloroformed by some creepy dude outside the diner and he just stole my car and drove away" feeling that's just too much fun to not soak in. Yeah I'm weird and too many viewings of Breakdown with Kurt Russel. :D #Belle'sDiner

 

 

yeah, I've also got a big soft spot for late 70s trucker/CB radio/vanning ephemera so I'm 100% OK with the the novelty gimmickyness in this case.

 

One of the things I like about vaporwave is that it can turn the materials of cynical, shallow consumer culture into something powerfully emotional, bt can also be pure camp, and (when it's not just cynical "me-too" stuff itself) is just as good either way.

 

If it makes me feel something it's good.

 

If it makes me laugh it's good.

Edited March 1, 2017 by RSP

[keanu reeves]

 

maybe not the best phrasing on my part. i just mean "more than slowed down sade" or whatever. i understand sometimes that works. it works on eccojams, specifically track a3 (the jojo track he slowed down). that one is true hypnagogic pop, he found the one piece of that song that contains soul and stretched it out into infinity. that might be better than any oneohtrix point never release. but overall i guess i'm a little jaded because like punk it feels very fashionable and easy, like most of these people are releasing things on autopilot and then kids are hearing pitch shifted g force songs and just accepting that version of the music. i like a lot of the stuff vaporwave tends to source from so i don't have much interest in someone recontextualizing it. i can sort of understand the appeal of the hillbilly vaporwave tracks, at least conceptually, the late night americana station that's been hijacked by a trucker's ghost, but it just feels so fuckin lazy. i feel this way about all of it. it sucks for me because i do get the aesthetic of most of this. i understand the idea of taking the anodyne and antiseptic smooth jazz (a genre i legitimately enjoy) and r&b and giving it new life as a sample, something hip hop obviously did with soul music. i get the visual aesthetic of most of it. i grew up in the dulles tech corridor in the dc metro area, vaporwave is basically my visual language. but it rarely all holds together. most of the stuff is basically downtempo instrumental hip hop or ambient music, with these ridiculous conceptual narratives that don't organically arise from the musical source. it's like someone wakes up and goes "i'm going to make vaporwave" rather than "i'm going to make music" and it happens to fit into the aesthetic of vaporwave. and then what is that aesthetic? obviously no one knows because you can trace this genre/scene all the way back to negativland - dispepsi, dj screw, ymo, kraftwerk, software, the rippingtons, etc. and if you play me tracks from those artists i have a hard time justifying listening to this stuff. 

but i understand why it's popular. i really, really want to like it. 

 

a lot of what you said in this post is spot on.. however, I think you're looking at it pretty black and white and maybe interpreting it with a certain expectation. totally maybe its not your thing, but i think it's worth pointing out the value of well done vaporwave...

 

regarding:

 

most of the stuff is basically downtempo instrumental hip hop or ambient music, with these ridiculous conceptual narratives that don't organically arise from the musical source.

 

Without a doubt, the genres you listed are essentially what lots of these kids are re-making but using samples of samples--and unfortunately, many not realizing there were scores of movements before them that did similar things with a more forward thinking approach, and within original innovative means. I'd 1000x rather listen to Kruder & Dorfmeister than A E S T H E T I C - CORP xzy xyz's latest EP that simply pitches down or heavily samples actual downtempo like the K&D or Jaffa or Thievery Corporation. So I get you there. And as for smooth jazz, I'm huge into Fatburger, Victor Feldman's 80s work, stuff on TBA Records, Tom Scott, and of course J-fusion and boogie and stuff like that. However, where vaporwave shines is in releases that build something using obscure thrift store sources or 90s smooth jazz schmaltz, but to use the music effectively.. Releases that do this well do two things-- they a. make the passages of the original samples sound super good and b. find a way to have the samples make the new creation sound good as well. It's synergy. To me, these are prime examples of this kind of success, without using a Vektroid release to demonstrate:

 

https://swampcircle.bandcamp.com/track/foggy-daybreak

 

from the following lp--which is materfully done imo--when you have a min listen through, it's a moody dystopian/utopian journey:

 

 

And of course, the masters themselves:

 

 

i mean this is verging on eccajams, but...

 

 

 

 

 

^ that last one is an example to me of how vaporwave can capture pure beauty and emotion in a single moment--by how what you said, kind of stretching out a euphoric passage into infinity and meditating on a repetitive version of it. .... Look at the how the emotion on her face changes--but in slo mo and with that music, you almost feel like you're there with her, or you're her. This is kind of a prime example for me of why vaporwave is just highlighting the beauty, absurdity, terror, sexyness, and drugged out bliss of audio from the dusty bins of a haunted past. It's just effective. And when you wrap a story around it, a concept, a full release, it's just that much more potent.   

 

 

solid post, i'll work through these. 

 

off hand is there any russian vaporwave? anyone know? soviet era vaporwave or something? i feel like hauntology and vaporwave have a lot of overlap, would be interested to know if someone has explored that part of the world and its history.

[Salvatorin]

The best vaporwave tracks are either the spooky, haunting ambient bits, the goofy shit, or the tracks that use micro samples or completely obscure the source material and sound more like oval or jelinek than anything else.

Edited March 1, 2017 by Salvatorin

[Salvatorin]

What annoys me but I suppose is inevitable is when dudes who got into vaporwave but never listened to electronic music before find some microsample vape and think it is a grand new innovation when oval did that shit 30 years ago. But what can you expect really.

[purlieu]

most of the stuff is basically downtempo instrumental hip hop or ambient music, with these ridiculous conceptual narratives that don't organically arise from the musical source.

 

I think this is increasingly the case, which is why even a relatively young genre like vaporwave has us old bastards going "nah it was better back in 2012". A lot of those original artists did manage to create more of a solid aesthetic that fit with the artwork, titles etc. Internet Club, Infinity Frequencies, Computer Dreams, Midnight Television etc. In the past two or three years there have been a LOT of unimaginative kids just using the same tired old imagery without really thinking how they put it together. "80s pop song + corporate imagery = vaporwave" is their thinking, I suppose, when the best stuff involves more active curation than that.

 

That said, there are more recent ones which work. Overgrowth by OSCOB & Digital Sex is a journey from rainforest to city which is very effective. 

 

Nmesh's vaporwave stuff is exceptionally coherent. He goes for more of a psychedelic headspace approach rather than the Corporate Office Ltd. type thing. 

He's been working with samples since the early '00s, which is probably why his stuff is so brilliantly put together.

 

I've generally tried to keep the concept coherent on my own stuff. My vaporrave record has samples from various documentaries about rave culture from the time

And my British Rail themed one has stock music used on various railway videos on it.

[purlieu]

off hand is there any russian vaporwave? anyone know? soviet era vaporwave or something? i feel like hauntology and vaporwave have a lot of overlap, would be interested to know if someone has explored that part of the world and its history.

 

The only soviet-themed stuff I know is hardvapour, which is a different kettle of fish all together...

[Lane Visitor]

 

 

maybe not the best phrasing on my part. i just mean "more than slowed down sade" or whatever. i understand sometimes that works. it works on eccojams, specifically track a3 (the jojo track he slowed down). that one is true hypnagogic pop, he found the one piece of that song that contains soul and stretched it out into infinity. that might be better than any oneohtrix point never release. but overall i guess i'm a little jaded because like punk it feels very fashionable and easy, like most of these people are releasing things on autopilot and then kids are hearing pitch shifted g force songs and just accepting that version of the music. i like a lot of the stuff vaporwave tends to source from so i don't have much interest in someone recontextualizing it. i can sort of understand the appeal of the hillbilly vaporwave tracks, at least conceptually, the late night americana station that's been hijacked by a trucker's ghost, but it just feels so fuckin lazy. i feel this way about all of it. it sucks for me because i do get the aesthetic of most of this. i understand the idea of taking the anodyne and antiseptic smooth jazz (a genre i legitimately enjoy) and r&b and giving it new life as a sample, something hip hop obviously did with soul music. i get the visual aesthetic of most of it. i grew up in the dulles tech corridor in the dc metro area, vaporwave is basically my visual language. but it rarely all holds together. most of the stuff is basically downtempo instrumental hip hop or ambient music, with these ridiculous conceptual narratives that don't organically arise from the musical source. it's like someone wakes up and goes "i'm going to make vaporwave" rather than "i'm going to make music" and it happens to fit into the aesthetic of vaporwave. and then what is that aesthetic? obviously no one knows because you can trace this genre/scene all the way back to negativland - dispepsi, dj screw, ymo, kraftwerk, software, the rippingtons, etc. and if you play me tracks from those artists i have a hard time justifying listening to this stuff.

but i understand why it's popular. i really, really want to like it.

a lot of what you said in this post is spot on.. however, I think you're looking at it pretty black and white and maybe interpreting it with a certain expectation. totally maybe its not your thing, but i think it's worth pointing out the value of well done vaporwave...

 

regarding:

 

most of the stuff is basically downtempo instrumental hip hop or ambient music, with these ridiculous conceptual narratives that don't organically arise from the musical source.

 

Without a doubt, the genres you listed are essentially what lots of these kids are re-making but using samples of samples--and unfortunately, many not realizing there were scores of movements before them that did similar things with a more forward thinking approach, and within original innovative means. I'd 1000x rather listen to Kruder & Dorfmeister than A E S T H E T I C - CORP xzy xyz's latest EP that simply pitches down or heavily samples actual downtempo like the K&D or Jaffa or Thievery Corporation. So I get you there. And as for smooth jazz, I'm huge into Fatburger, Victor Feldman's 80s work, stuff on TBA Records, Tom Scott, and of course J-fusion and boogie and stuff like that. However, where vaporwave shines is in releases that build something using obscure thrift store sources or 90s smooth jazz schmaltz, but to use the music effectively.. Releases that do this well do two things-- they a. make the passages of the original samples sound super good and b. find a way to have the samples make the new creation sound good as well. It's synergy. To me, these are prime examples of this kind of success, without using a Vektroid release to demonstrate:

 

https://swampcircle.bandcamp.com/track/foggy-daybreak

 

from the following lp--which is materfully done imo--when you have a min listen through, it's a moody dystopian/utopian journey:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaVofN2KgYc

 

And of course, the masters themselves:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAvtHVO2W3s

 

i mean this is verging on eccajams, but...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS9AEOFFOFM

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-_SMVGwFNQ

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3aWYom7qxo

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qce8gP4eXKY

 

^ that last one is an example to me of how vaporwave can capture pure beauty and emotion in a single moment--by how what you said, kind of stretching out a euphoric passage into infinity and meditating on a repetitive version of it. .... Look at the how the emotion on her face changes--but in slo mo and with that music, you almost feel like you're there with her, or you're her. This is kind of a prime example for me of why vaporwave is just highlighting the beauty, absurdity, terror, sexyness, and drugged out bliss of audio from the dusty bins of a haunted past. It's just effective. And when you wrap a story around it, a concept, a full release, it's just that much more potent.

solid post, i'll work through these.

 

off hand is there any russian vaporwave? anyone know? soviet era vaporwave or something? i feel like hauntology and vaporwave have a lot of overlap, would be interested to know if someone has explored that part of the world and its history.

This earlier release from the Dope Fish label is legit Russian i believe.

 

https://dopefishfamily.bandcamp.com/album/--3

[joshuatxuk]

^ That's not Soviet at all, that's post-CCCP Russian underground rave / dystopian urban CIS state stuff, aesthetically anyway.

 

I have seen vaporwave from Russia, Ukraine, etc. (that's not surprising, lot of Russian / CIS producers in various electronic genres lately)

 

What annoys me but I suppose is inevitable is when dudes who got into vaporwave but never listened to electronic music before find some microsample vape and think it is a grand new innovation when oval did that shit 30 years ago. But what can you expect really.

 

I've mentioned this before - the scene is so insular that many of the producers, including talented ones, are basically redoing a plethora of 90s styles without realizing it. 

Edited March 1, 2017 by joshuatx

[Lane Visitor]

Assuming you're referring to the hardvapor josh? Haha

[joshuatxuk]

 

 

 

Hauntology is what got me into vaporwave in the first place and TBH I feel quite indifferent to a lot of vaporwave now because I don't have a personal interest or connection to a lot of it. In my definition of vaporwave - that hazy future past vibe of late 80s / early 90s music and media that was trashed and forgotten, artists like 1991 or Torn Hawk are FAR more vaporwave in tone and scope than many artists now but not "vaporwave" either in recognition or self-description.

 

It's a very diverse and broad genre/scene now and that's good (dream catalogue as a label, various interesting subgenres), bad (shitty memes, overshadowing and diminished value of original themes and aesthetics), and ugly (people literally labeling anything retro vaporwave without any proper and warranted backlash)

 

EDIT - I say this all as someone not involved in the scene at all, so i don't mean to shit on the state of vaporwave or even that thing posted earlier. "i get but i don't really like it" is kind of my stance, at it's harshest

Edited March 1, 2017 by joshuatx