Introduction:
This is a guide created with the intent of getting the intrigued listener into vaporwave, and then furthering the listener’s experience with explanations of different subgenres, and recommendations from myself. Please take note of a few things before we kick off this guide. 1. This guide is relatively long and requires access to YouTube, so get comfy, preferably get a pair of headphones and start reading on. 2. This genre is incredibly abstract for the average listener and can take time getting used to, so for the sake of immersion please dismiss all confused thoughts you may have on the genre, and try to become immersed in it. With all that out of the way, let’s begin!
What is vaporwave?:
Vaporwave is a subgenre of plunderphonics, which in itself is a genre about taking song and modifying it to make a completely new song. Basically a more in depth form of remixing. Vaporwave is like that, except it takes samples mainly from 80s and 90s smooth jazz, funk and soul music. It is usually stereotypically characterized by taking these samples and slowing them down and editing them. However the style of vaporwave is perhaps not the musical stylings, but the visual stylings. The stylings or ‘aesthetics’ usually use bright and pastel colours, pictures of 80s and 90s technology, Japanese writing and, sometimes, Roman statues and busts. These aesthetics have, unfortunately, become more recognized than the actual genre itself. However this is only one of the examples of the many different stylings of vaporwave, these stylings, along with their corresponding styles of music, we will talk about now.
Genres and subgenres:
Vaporwave
The main genre that started it all. Originally created back in 2012 by an artist under the name Macintosh Plus, with the album Floral Shoppe, this artist spawned a countless amount of imitators desperately hoping to capture what Macintosh Plus had. Generally characterized with barely edited slowed down samples of smooth jazz, soul and funk music.
EXAMPLE: Macintosh Plus – Floral Shoppe // The one that started it all, best example of Vaporwave.Hypnagogic
Generally samples a whole lot of everything, noted as being the more accessible twin of vaporwave. The term was coined by netlabel Fortune 500 and its many releases followed the term and style. The most prominent substyle of Hypnagogic is TV-inspired vaporwave which is very easily characterized by its use of multiple TV samples, and it’s 80s TV inspired aesthetic. Hypnagogic is often mislabeled as being plain Vaporwave.
EXAMPLE: LUXURY ELITE X SAINT PEPSI – Late Night Delight // Very good example of TV inspired vaporwave.Mallsoft
Take Hypnagogic, play it in an abandoned shopping mall and throw in some elevator music and you have Mallsoft. One of my personal favourite subgenres. Characterised by heavy reverb and mall ambience
EXAMPLE: 猫 シ Corp. – Palm Mall // My personal favourite mallsoft release, I even have it on cassette!Post-vaporwave
Very unusual genre, almost not vaporwave, but still fits in there because of its method of creation, its origin and its aesthetic. Characterised by its unusual vaporwave-like feel, but doesn’t fit into vaporwave quite well
EXAMPLE: Nostalgia Corp – Nostalgia Corp // An album I created specifically for me to try out post-vaporwave creation.Dreamwave
Often also referred to as dream music, not only because of its dreamy feel, but because of the label it started on, Dream Catalogue. Because this is a genre I haven’t produced, I do not know the sampling or creation process. Characterised by slow moving melodies and lots of ambience and atmosphere.
EXAMPLE: Generally anything by t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 // Pretty much the pioneer of Dreamwave.Vaportrap
Take vaporwave inspired sample usage, throw in some hip hop / trap beats and you have Vaportrap. A very hard genre to get right. Characterised by fast paced music, hip hop instrumental feelings and little sample usage.
Blank Banshee – Blank Banshee 1 // Universally recognized as the best vaportrap album out there, and in my opinion one of the best albums of all time.NOTE: There are vaporwave albums out there that are unclassifiable because of the lack of people participating in creation of the genre. This lack of people means it isn’t a genre, but more a specific artist’s style. A good example of this is ECO VIRTUAL’s first album ATMOSPHERES 第1.
Recommendations
List of recommended albumsRecommended artists
List of recommended artistsAfterword
Thanks a lot for reading this far! I spent ages writing this guide, and I hope it helped you get into vaporwave! At this point you are armed with enough knowledge to jump right into the wide world of vaporwave! But I’ll give you a few links just so you know where to look.
Vaporwave LabelsThanks for reading !!!