Vaporwave has been increasing in popularity recently and many people online are left wondering, “What is it and where did it come from?”. To start, Vaporwave is an art and music movement that was started in the early 2010’s which mostly uses retro samples and imagery to invoke a feeling of nostalgia. Like most interesting things, it was started almost entirely on the internet and supported by sites like 4chan, reddit and tumblr.
Often referred to as 80s elevator music, Vaporwave has a distinct style of splicing and repeating samples to give a nostalgic calming feeling. Early on many experimental tracks resemble nothing of what Vaporwave is today and left much to be desired. Even when the music transitioned to a more catchy, mainstream style , It didn’t go viral right away. Rather, it slowly gained a cult following while artists of the genre built up their libraries and experimented with new styles and samples.
In 2011, arguably the most famous Vaporwave artist, Vektroid, released his album Floral Shoppe which came out to critical acclaim. Many of the songs on that album helped boost Vaporwave’s notoriety and cult status, especially Lisa Frank 420/Modern Computing known better as (リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュ) , which led to a large creation of memes. After a little while the community had grown to a decent size and started to use catch phrases like “Its all in your head” or “Aesthetics”.
The genre itself is often regarded as a critique of modern capitalism especially in how it essentially steals someone else’s music, remixes it and releases it to the masses. Vaporwave intentionally strives for an elevator/ mall music feel as a further criticism on capitalism. They are essentially stealing the music and throwing it back in the faces of the capitalistic market. Other subgenres of Vaporwave include new retro wave, Simpsons wave, Avertising wave and other obscure points. Each comes with their own style of sounds and music with unique additions to the genre.
With the current growth trend positive it looks like Vaporwave will continue to reach new ears for the time being, despite many thinking it will suffer the same fate as other internet trends. Below I have posted a few popular tracks. Comment and let me know what you think about vaporwave or if you have never heard of it before this post.
The following three tracks are my 3 favorite
Yung Bae -Fly With Me
Saint Pepsi- Private Caller
ΛDRIΛNWΛVE - it's good to see you again!!
-Calaber24p
I'd leave my link here lol, shameless plugl: https://steemit.com/vaporwave/@kevinwong/the-rise-of-vaporwave-and-new-age-aesthetics
Nice man, gettin' more producers on board pretty soon :)
hahaha good ones @calaber24p
some have transported me to that time 8]
Remember when they were going to bring Bob and his happy little trees to the Wii?
I found VaporWave through a youtubechannel called "this exists". he mainly talked about simpsonwave. I fell in love with the genre almost instantly.
For me the music is super nostalgic for some reason. My favorite album must be "Luxury elite - World Class" it's vaporawave gold! anyway you have my upvote :)
Great post. I like the 2nd one the best. Keep Steemin on my friend....
beautiful post. including catch phrases like "Its all in your head").
Cool :))
Thanks for the post. I've always known vaporware as a synonym for Marketing Propaganda.
For example: When a sales force comes in and tells you all of the feature their software "will" have. Until they complete the software, it's only vaporware, not software.
I find your description much more pleasant.
Great stuff!
Y2K is now sweet 16 and pregnant!! Vaporwave is the shit!!
there's something nostalgic about this vaporwave genre. liking it
Interesting, didn't know about Vaporware music. I've been listening to 90's alternative lately.
cool post i like this :-)
Cool stuff :)) This is really new to me and I have learned something new! thank you! you might be interested in my latest post about following!
👍nice post @calaber24p
I like that music. It reminds me of my childhood. I don't listen to it because I hate capitalism (kind of funny to read such criticism of capitalism on a site like Steemit), but because I just like it. It's nice music to have on in the background.
A E S T H E T I C
That is all.
I am also a fan of vaporwave, but it's a difficult genre to share with my friend via word of mouth! Many of the songs and artists I like in this genre are named in foreign language characters that I don't have the first clue of how to pronounce.
VAPORWAVE = BEST GENRE <3
This is my favorite post I've seen in a little while. Nice work. :D
The best most nestolgic vaporwave song ive listened to would have to be ESPRIT 空想 - SUMMER NIGHT
This song trips me the fuck out whenever im baked