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WTF is VAPORWAVE?

SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
edited November 2015 in Music Talk
Didn't see much discussion about this on the Strut.

Vaporwave is basically an internet meme turned into a music genre. 


Feels like 80's tv commercials. 


Using soul, funk, jazz elevator music and incidental samples.


Influenced by DJ SCREW, Daft Punk, DJ Shadow, DAM FUNK & 80's, 90's cheese.  

Vaporwave Doc



Does it have any artistic merit? You decide:
Macintosh Plus - Floral shoppe

Skeleton - Tones

New Dreams Ltd: Forever?


- damo

  Comments

  • OkemOkem 4,617 Posts
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    if you'd like to know more click here - https://mega.nz/#F!iwABUApY!MaExct8QR-gKyg_2zdt1YA
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,905 Posts
    Is this like that Outrun stuff? Synthwave, Retrowave, etc etc etc?

    I can dig some of it





  • trzakhstantrzakhstan IA 198 Posts
    Is this like those guys from pc music who make the same awful music with female avatars and got tons of attention they people realize the music isn't that good and they post offensive stuff under their avatars but they think they get some pass because they are popular or its all under online avatars and they're a bunch of dudes anyway:



  • trzakhstantrzakhstan IA 198 Posts
    I did like the fatima al qadiri stuff when it came out a couple years ago


  • CBearCBear 902 Posts
    I've heard this stuff before and seen things tagged vaporwave, but never really put it together as a genre, or took this in all this at once. So far I'm fascinated. I really like the aesthetic of some of it. Reminds me of Com Truise, MatthewDavid, the Fractured and Chimpo slowed mix for Fact that someone here just hipped me to, and even Doc Delay's Galactic series that used slowed down Italodisco and similar. All of which I love. Maybe I just like slowed music. 

    I'm going to delve deep and see what it do. So far, I think it's better on video as more of an art form than just music to listen to.
  • mateomateo 163 Posts
    It's like tomita sloslylove and tame impala had a threesome and xxyyxx slipped them all some stuff
  • mateomateo 163 Posts
    Oh, and I can dig it too
  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    Okem said:
    ✝ℌεґε❝﹩ α ł☺⊥ @ßøʊ☂ ḯт ḯ ℓḯḱε, ßüт ☤☂❝﹩ @ʟẘα¥ṧ łℯƒ⊥ μℯ @ ʟї⊥тℓε ∂ḯ﹩@℘℘◎їη⊥ℯ∂▣


    Hilarious man. 

    DOR said:
    Is this like that Outrun stuff? Synthwave, Retrowave, etc etc etc?
    No idea?

    trzakhstan said:
    Is this like those guys from pc music who make the same awful music with female avatars and got tons of attention they people realize the music isn't that good and they post offensive stuff under their avatars but they think they get some pass because they are popular or its all under online avatars and they're a bunch of dudes anyway
    That sounds a bit more like J-pop no?

    CBear said:
     So far, I think it's better on video as more of an art form than just music to listen to.
    I agree!


    -spidey


  • kalakala 3,362 Posts
    i’ve been aware of this from it’s inception from reddit and another forum where there is a 70 page thread dedicated to it.
    i have to conclude sampling kenny g,patrick o’hearn the private music catalog,Muzak etc  and pepsi adverts from the 80’s is a signifier that we have reached the bottom.If this music reflects our capitalist consumer culture of empty nothingness than yea it’s perfectly empty and shitty.
    Sampling shit music to make shittier boring vapidwave with powerful modern computers is depressing to me since the end result is unmemorable synthetic crap.
    The potential for something new to happen like the uprising of “idm” in the early 90’s that actually was innovative and contained actual elements of genius is missing here and trust me I have been looking and listening.


    Jimstercai
  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts

    Ariel Pink getting influenced by Vaporwave. 
  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,960 Posts
    kala said:
    i’ve been aware of this from it’s inception from reddit and another forum where there is a 70 page thread dedicated to it.
    i have to conclude sampling kenny g,patrick o’hearn the private music catalog,Muzak etc  and pepsi adverts from the 80’s is a signifier that we have reached the bottom.If this music reflects our capitalist consumer culture of empty nothingness than yea it’s perfectly empty and shitty.
    Sampling shit music to make shittier boring vapidwave with powerful modern computers is depressing to me since the end result is unmemorable synthetic crap.
    The potential for something new to happen like the uprising of “idm” in the early 90’s that actually was innovative and contained actual elements of genius is missing here and trust me I have been looking and listening.
    Musical equivalent of The Emperors New Clothes.

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,960 Posts

  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    There's a reddit forum called Mealtime Videos. Basically 10-20 minute videos to watch while you're eating dinner. It works great for my schedule, as I've been obsessed with r/Documentaries. I just stumbled upon the Vaporwave documentary. I watched it about 5 days ago knowing nothing about the genre. It was a bit interesting to me as a musician. In the documentary the guy mentions that, because it originated from the internet it is one of the first truly global genres, and looking at it's parallels with Hip Hop culture.

    I posted about it here, because I was interested to see what you guys would think about it. Seems to me like it started as a joke by Ohnotronix that got an internet fanbase. From a small idea the internet ran wild with it, and actually made some music with true artistic merit. I wouldn't say it has been truly legitimized to even be called a genre. Though looking at the Wikipedia on Genre this sticks out to me. "Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions."

    So yeah.. I guess it's just as legitimate as any of the genres we normally listen to. The true question is will it last the test of the time, but personally I feel Vaporwave is about to go the way of the dodo. Like many other failed genres before it.  

    - Damo
  • OkemOkem 4,617 Posts
    I don't think it's accurate to say it started as a joke, I just think they were partially formed ideas that OPN posted for fun because they weren't developed enough to be properly released. Anyone who produces will have those nuggets of a good idea that may or may not grow into something but doesn't deserve to simply be deleted. There's a clear link between 
    This (joke)

    & This (critically acclaimed)

    bonus 


    There are plenty of legitimate, lauded artists who have taken something from Vaporwave. The fact that it exists in this weird bubble on the internet is one of it's biggest strengths and weaknesses. It is like punk in the way it can theoretically be created easily, so the resulting quality will always vary. It's the is it crap or art conversation that's been had many time before. Either way I think there is definitely something undeniably fascinating about it on various levels.  
  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,782 Posts
    I can get with Vaporwave... 

    Love how Macintosh Plus sampled one of my favorite yacht rock tunes:


  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    Do you think Future Funk has the potential to break off from Vaporwave?



    - spidey
  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,793 Posts
    Okem said:

    & This (critically acclaimed)


    There are plenty of legitimate, lauded artists who have taken something from Vaporwave. The fact that it exists in this weird bubble on the internet is one of it's biggest strengths and weaknesses. It is like punk in the way it can theoretically be created easily, so the resulting quality will always vary. It's the is it crap or art conversation that's been had many time before. Either way I think there is definitely something undeniably fascinating about it on various levels.  
    I think I first heard some of ^This^ when maybe Junior (RIP/exit stage left etc) poasted it as one of his favourite tracks of the year. I listened, and did indeed wondered if it was a joke. This stuff got pressed to vinyl!
    There is some interesting sounds coming out of it, and I don't think there's any reason to get sniffy about it based on the sample sources... rather, I think I'd be doubly impressed if someone could flip Kenny G and make it sound dope. But a lot of the stuff in that "brief history" vid left me feeling physically nauseous (incidentally the last time music did that to me was on here when someone poasted beats that were overly compressed & sidechained). At the moment I haven't heard anything that I would want to hear twice, and the sound feels like something that may have been used before as a weird album interlude. The PoMo angle makes it easy to dismiss.
  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    SPlDEY said:
    Do you think Future Funk has the potential to break off from Vaporwave?
    - spidey
    Okay so, Future Funk sounds more like Downtempo/Videogames/French House re-edits/Boogie/Disco loosely influenced by Vaporwave.

    https://bandcamp.com/tag/future-funk


    Bluntside - http://music.businesscasual.biz/album/--6
    Aloe Island Adventures - http://music.businesscasual.biz/track/downtown
    Solitaire - https://keatscollective.bandcamp.com/album/delayed-pleasure
    Dragonball Wave - https://maitro.bandcamp.com/album/dragonball-wave
    Macross 82-99 - https://macross82-99.bandcamp.com/track/lost-without-you

    Saint Pepsi was already touching on Future Funk, and later for legal reasons changed his name to Skylar Spence. 
    Saint Pepsi - https://keatscollective.bandcamp.com/album/hit-vibes
    Skylar Spence - Fiona Coyne 


    Onra considers himself hip hop but his Long Distance album is definitely touching on Vaporwave/Future Funk



    - spidey


  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    onra is dabbling in future funk and G-funk revival
    i was just with him a few weeks ago

    but he is bring  the boom bap back with Chinoiserie 3 later this year
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