Understanding Vaporwave

コンセプト Concept  アルバム Albums  and  場所 Places  in  the   仮想プラザ Virtual Plaza









Generally,    VAPORWAVE    is    
about    a    feeling    and    
not    a    specific    type    
of    sound.    So    the    
sampling    used    in    
VAPORWAVE    tracks    
seems    random.    
However,    some    
VAPORWAVE    albums      
use  sampling  in  order  to
transport    the    
listener    to    a    
specific    place.    




One  example  is  the  subgenre    of    
VAPORWAVE    called    
mallsoft.    This    genre    
attempts    to    capture    
the    experience    of    being    in    a    
1990s    shopping    mall.    





Perhaps    the    most    
important    
mallsoft    album    is    
"Hologram    Plaza"      (2013)
by    Disconscious.    







A    more    recent    entry    in    
mallsoft    is    "Palm    Mall"    
(2014)by      the    Netherlands    
based    猫    シ    Corp.



This    album    begins    with    what    
sounds    like    an    ambient    
recording    of    people    
chatting    in    a    shopping    
mall.    This    effect    shows    
up    intermittently    throughout    
the    album,    interspersed    
with    smooth    jazz    muzak    that    
is    all    too    familiar    to    shoppers. 





식료품groceries        produced    
an    album    called        
"슈퍼마켓Yes!        We're        Open"    
(2014),    which    tries    
to    capture    the    audio    
AESTHETICS    of    
grocery    shopping.  

    



No    list    of    VAPORWAVE    concept    
albums    would    be    complete    
without    the    work    of    
ECO    VIRTUAL,    a    Vancouver    
based    producer.






ECO    VIRTUAL    describes    
itself    as    "大気研究音楽    
ATMOSPHERIC        RESEARCH        
&        ANALYSIS        MUSIC."(1)
ECO    VIRTUAL's        
"ATMOSPHERES    第1"    (2013)
mimics    the    soothing    
jazz    and    synths    
heard    on    the    Weather    
Channel    in    the    1990s.    




Another  important  VAPORWAVE  
concept  album is "Redefining  
the  Workplace"  (2012)  
by  Internet  Club.




This  album's  AESTHETIC  
is  about  smooth  sounding  
corporate  muzak  which  
turns  ominous  as  
Internet  Club  chops,  
warps,  and  screws  the  samples.
From  the  cover  art  showing  
an  early  2000s  CGI  rendering  
of  a  modern,  glass  office  
building  to  track  titles  
that  replicate  corporate  
cliches,this  album  takes  
the  listener  back  to  
the  innocent  days  of  the  
dot-com  boom.

-
NOTE:
All translations were made using
Google. “Google Translate.” Google. Google. N.d. Web. < 
https://translate.google.com/ >.
All Unicode formatting was made with
Martin. “Generator For Fullwidth Characters.” Linkstrasse. Wordpress. 26 August 2011. Web. < 
http://www.linkstrasse.de/en/%EF%BD%86%EF%BD%95%EF%BD%8C%EF%BD%8C%EF%BD%97%EF%BD%89%EF%BD%84%EF%BD%94%EF%BD%88%EF%BC%8D%EF%BD%83%EF%BD%8F%EF%BD%8E%EF%BD%96%EF%BD%85%EF%BD%92%EF%BD%94%EF%BD%85%EF%BD%92 >.
All Windows style popup images were made with
Atom Smasher. “Make your own Error Message.” Atom Smasher’s Error Message Generator. Atom Smasher. N.d. Web. < 
http://atom.smasher.org/error/ >.

References from top to bottom:

TEXT
(1) ECO VIRTUAL. “ATMOSPHERES 第1.” ECO VIRTUAL. Bandcamp. 1 January 2013. Web. <
https://ecovirtual.bandcamp.com/album/atmospheres-1 >. 

IMAGES/MUSIC

Vaperror – Topic. “Start Up.” Youtube. Youtube. 16 September 2015. Online video clip. 
saberToothedcat. “Made my first vaporwave wallpaper, 4k and all.” Vaporwave Art. Reddit. 23 March 2016. Online image. <
https://www.reddit.com/r/VaporwaveArt/comments/4blnr8/> . 
GalacTech. “C A S T A W A Y.” Vaporwave Art. Reddit. 11 April 2016. Online image.
<
https://www.reddit.com/r/VaporwaveArt/comments/4eb4qc/c_a_s_t_a_w_a_y/ >. 
AAAAAAAAAA42. “Disconscious - Hologram Plaza [Full album].” Youtube. Youtube. 4 August 2014. Online video clip.
Frevzah. “i s t h i s a r t ?” Vaporwave Art. Reddit. 5 March 2016. Online image. 
DREAM CATALOGUE™. “식료품groceries - 슈퍼마켓Yes! We're Open [Full Album].” Youtube. Youtube. 11 May 2014. Online video clip.
ImpendingRiot83.”ECO VIRTUAL - ATMOSPHERES 第1 [Full Album](HD).” Youtube. Youtube. 12 July 2015. Online video clip.
R3NSTARK. “First attempt at Vaporwave Art.” Vaporwave Art. Reddit. 11 March 2016. Online image.  
AAAAAAAAAA42. ”INTERNET CLUB - REDEFINING THE WORKPLACE [Full album] INTERNET CLUB - REDEFINING THE WORKPLACE [Full album].” Youtube. Youtube. 27 July 2014. Online video clip.
selaonerofficial. “猫 シ Corp. - A1 - Palm Mall.” Youtube. Youtube. 8 April 2015. Online video clip.

Contents of this path:

This page references: