Vaporwave

Com Truise, VHS Head (or even Jacques Lu Cont and older neo-synthpop) are a different story, I think. There is a retro factor, but the fact is there was a very brief time when early synthpop bands were genuinely working on creating something that was not pop music, and these futuristic possibilities somehow still show through at times when you try to sound retro-80's. Vaporwave is also about finding new possibilities, but about finding them in neglected genericness, which is also interesting.

Sorry should of clarified that I was mentioning them as something to compare with the vaporwave sound.

What I've heard (similar-sounding Oneohtrix and that one Macintosh album with the pink cover) has been really great and interesting so far.

https://soundcloud.com/cybereality90/sets/virtual-resort-tm

http://ultra1.bandcamp.com/album/s-a-t-u-r-n

  On 8/19/2013 at 8:34 AM, Capsaicin said:

What I've heard (similar-sounding Oneohtrix and that one Macintosh album with the pink cover) has been really great and interesting so far.

oh yeah, what is that macintosh one again?

Here is something: Vaporwave and Seapunk both use lots of Ocean imagery.

I think the difference is that seapunk is more nostalgic for echo the dolphin, and actually wishing you were at the ocean even though you are too white to go in the sun.

But vaporwave is all about the representation of the ocean online, and a more controlled ocean at that, like going to a beach resort and swimming in the pool and drinking beverages. And vaporwave isn't limited to the ocean either. But the imagery is shared in part.

Can't say I've followed too much of this thread but if this is vaporwave I quite like it:

http://amdiscs.bandcamp.com/track/saint-pepsi-balancing-towers-mdiscs-2k13-2013-amd2k13

A mate has this released through Fortune 500; http://fortune500.bandcamp.com/album/r-e-s-o-r-t-21

I like it.

yeah I just saw that and dl'ed it. resort21 has some good sounds on it.

  On 8/21/2013 at 8:47 PM, sheatheman said:

 

  On 8/19/2013 at 8:34 AM, Capsaicin said:

What I've heard (similar-sounding Oneohtrix and that one Macintosh album with the pink cover) has been really great and interesting so far.

oh yeah, what is that macintosh one again?

 

floral shoppe:

http://beerontherug.bandcamp.com/album/floral-shoppe

I don't mind it to much, but most of the Fortune 500 and AMdiscs stuff is pretty cheesy. It's the stuff that supposedly "killed vaporwave". Saint Pepsi is nice though, stuff I can play in a room full of people and nobody will get mad at me, but I still like it.

  On 8/22/2013 at 3:18 AM, gmanyo said:

stuff I can play in a room full of people and nobody will get mad at me, but I still like it.

lol

you should ClearSkies™ at a party

http://beerontherug.bandcamp.com/album/clearskies

this one cracks me up

I want to go back and forth between the real work and the virtual ocean like a amphibian and that is why Slimepunk is for me.

EDIT: *real world, an anphibian

  On 8/21/2013 at 8:47 PM, sheatheman said:

 

  On 8/19/2013 at 8:34 AM, Capsaicin said:

What I've heard (similar-sounding Oneohtrix and that one Macintosh album with the pink cover) has been really great and interesting so far.

oh yeah, what is that macintosh one again?

 

http://beerontherug.bandcamp.com/album/floral-shoppe

  On 8/21/2013 at 8:52 PM, sheatheman said:

Here is something: Vaporwave and Seapunk both use lots of Ocean imagery.

 

I think the difference is that seapunk is more nostalgic for echo the dolphin, and actually wishing you were at the ocean even though you are too white to go in the sun.

 

But vaporwave is all about the representation of the ocean online, and a more controlled ocean at that, like going to a beach resort and swimming in the pool and drinking beverages. And vaporwave isn't limited to the ocean either. But the imagery is shared in part.

this may interest those of you who have come to like the vaporwaves:

https://www.facebook.com/events/693385724009478/

edit: well now I see its not nessecarily a vaprwv event but it still might be k00l to watch

SPF 420 is fun, I got to chat with XXYYXX at the last one although I missed the real show. It feels kind of like a bunch of people late to the scene thinking that they're super cool or whatever, but that kind of diminished when they started saying "we're not vaporwave, we're just trying to have fun" and admitted that it was just something fun to do. Too low quality as well, the sound is literally shit. Best set I've seen there personally is DJ Paypal's.

  On 7/31/2013 at 6:48 AM, joshuatx said:

^good point, I always feel like there's sometimes such an arbitrary sense of what can and can't be sampled with merit.

 

  On 7/29/2013 at 5:54 PM, wabby said:

http://www.dummymag.com/features/essay-invest-in-vaporwave-futures

 

 

  On 7/30/2013 at 3:06 AM, Salvatorin said:

 

http://anothercountyheard.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-broporwave-tract-vaporwave-polemic.html

 

I like these articles because they seem like related ideas to what's been said in this thread.

 

To me it seems like the same futility of debating the merits of genres like witch house, dubstep, mash-up, or chillwave are being re-hashed again. Those are genres that went from small niche scenes and select productions into very hyped and often very misunderstood cultural phenomenons, where within years there would be 90% + of said "artists" producing nothing but derivative and inessential fodder.

 

At the end of the day, with vaporwave, as with the "genres" I mentioned above, there will always be a handful of good producers and a few random tracks of brilliance among the lesser artists. The importance and legacy will be in how much this influences works to come. It's just that vaporwave is so fucking dependent on very specific and arbitrary references, aesthetics, and ethos that it's ripe for criticism and dismissal. It's easy to be side-tracked by that, and I know I have in my thoughts on the genre.

 

For me at this point, I'm just bored with most of it. For instance, all this R&B stuff lately - Rhye, How To Dress Well, Autre Ne Veut or the UNO label stuff - Arca, Fatima Al Qadiri, Gobby (all the "Distroid" stuff), vaguely seapunk/net age stuff like LOL Boys and Unicorn Kid, Teams it's just most of it to me is so DULL. They're not bad, I have no valid criticism to lay on them, but my god, as I've mentioned in other rants, I really wonder sometimes how much of it is the masses of fans listening to such music not out of true, irrational fandom, but because everyone else is, including the artists themselves. It's like an echochamber effect I suppose. (I can't help but point out that the R&B groups are mostly Brooklyn based for example.) On the other hand, all the vaporwave is about as anonymous as it gets, but it's still very dependent on wildly flippant "press" and social media hype. I mean, if social media was still around we'd probably still be talking about very niche scenes like Illbient or even fucking speedbass.

I find amazing songs in arca, How to dress well, LOL boys and tons of new stuff. yes they dont make whole quality records, but im glad the artist you cited are there and are able to put out, once in 10 songs, great songs

  On 8/19/2013 at 12:14 PM, Djeroek said:

http://ultra1.bandcamp.com/album/s-a-t-u-r-n

Thank you. This is the best one I've heard yet. Who made it? Sounds a lot like Computer Dreams but more realized. So GOOD!

  On 8/22/2013 at 3:18 AM, gmanyo said:

I don't mind it to much, but most of the Fortune 500 and AMdiscs stuff is pretty cheesy. It's the stuff that supposedly "killed vaporwave". Saint Pepsi is nice though, stuff I can play in a room full of people and nobody will get mad at me, but I still like it.

I didn't know vaporwave was dead. I never knew it was alive actually, until someone said my stuff was kind of like an honest version of it (cryptowen). I listened to that stuff for a while but didn't know it was so far developed as a THING. We need to have another midi jam party.

  On 8/22/2013 at 11:22 AM, jasondonervan said:

 

  On 8/21/2013 at 8:47 PM, sheatheman said:

 

  On 8/19/2013 at 8:34 AM, Capsaicin said:

What I've heard (similar-sounding Oneohtrix and that one Macintosh album with the pink cover) has been really great and interesting so far.

oh yeah, what is that macintosh one again?

 

 

 

http://beerontherug.bandcamp.com/album/floral-shoppe

 

  On 8/21/2013 at 8:52 PM, sheatheman said:

Here is something: Vaporwave and Seapunk both use lots of Ocean imagery.

 

I think the difference is that seapunk is more nostalgic for echo the dolphin, and actually wishing you were at the ocean even though you are too white to go in the sun.

 

But vaporwave is all about the representation of the ocean online, and a more controlled ocean at that, like going to a beach resort and swimming in the pool and drinking beverages. And vaporwave isn't limited to the ocean either. But the imagery is shared in part.

 

 

 

SEE? Vaporwave is a lot deeper conceptually I think, but there isn't as much of a scene. And thanks for the floral shop info. I can't believe there is a needledrop review of it.

The first in an all-new series of UNINTENTIONAL VAPORWAVE COVERS

Submissions now being accepted! Send yours in and win a prize!*

*prize does not exist, in keeping with the vaporwave ethos of fleeting existence

Good idea!

Lot of examples coming to mind but google search is not keeping up with my visual memories...

Nonetheless...

\

We got this game, Thinkin' Things Collection 1, with a bundle of CDs that came with a Micron PC my parents bought in 1995. My siblings and I played the hell out of it, the soundtrack was well...

Collection 2 literally a vaporwave present goldmine:

joshuatx knows whats up

  On 8/23/2013 at 9:19 PM, murphythecat8 said:

 

  On 7/31/2013 at 6:48 AM, joshuatx said:

^good point, I always feel like there's sometimes such an arbitrary sense of what can and can't be sampled with merit.

 

  On 7/29/2013 at 5:54 PM, wabby said:

http://www.dummymag.com/features/essay-invest-in-vaporwave-futures

 

 

  On 7/30/2013 at 3:06 AM, Salvatorin said:

 

http://anothercountyheard.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-broporwave-tract-vaporwave-polemic.html

 

I like these articles because they seem like related ideas to what's been said in this thread.

 

To me it seems like the same futility of debating the merits of genres like witch house, dubstep, mash-up, or chillwave are being re-hashed again. Those are genres that went from small niche scenes and select productions into very hyped and often very misunderstood cultural phenomenons, where within years there would be 90% + of said "artists" producing nothing but derivative and inessential fodder.

 

At the end of the day, with vaporwave, as with the "genres" I mentioned above, there will always be a handful of good producers and a few random tracks of brilliance among the lesser artists. The importance and legacy will be in how much this influences works to come. It's just that vaporwave is so fucking dependent on very specific and arbitrary references, aesthetics, and ethos that it's ripe for criticism and dismissal. It's easy to be side-tracked by that, and I know I have in my thoughts on the genre.

 

For me at this point, I'm just bored with most of it. For instance, all this R&B stuff lately - Rhye, How To Dress Well, Autre Ne Veut or the UNO label stuff - Arca, Fatima Al Qadiri, Gobby (all the "Distroid" stuff), vaguely seapunk/net age stuff like LOL Boys and Unicorn Kid, Teams it's just most of it to me is so DULL. They're not bad, I have no valid criticism to lay on them, but my god, as I've mentioned in other rants, I really wonder sometimes how much of it is the masses of fans listening to such music not out of true, irrational fandom, but because everyone else is, including the artists themselves. It's like an echochamber effect I suppose. (I can't help but point out that the R&B groups are mostly Brooklyn based for example.) On the other hand, all the vaporwave is about as anonymous as it gets, but it's still very dependent on wildly flippant "press" and social media hype. I mean, if social media was still around we'd probably still be talking about very niche scenes like Illbient or even fucking speedbass.

I find amazing songs in arca, How to dress well, LOL boys and tons of new stuff. yes they dont make whole quality records, but im glad the artist you cited are there and are able to put out, once in 10 songs, great songs

 

I do have to admit Arca is probably my favorite of the bunch I mentioned. There's other artists associated with those scenes I like a lot. I get the appeal and think they are for the most part talented, I just don't personally find them to be, I dunno, "gripping."

Anyway, back to unintentional vaporwave:

picked up this today at lunch for 50 cents:

\\

moar (maybe - this is kind of challenging but laserdisc covers seem apt)