The Virtual Plaza: Exploring the emergence of the vaporwave genre and its relationship with glitch art and elevator music
Matthew Rhodes, NM1013
During the last two decades, computer technology has made great advances in all respects, leading to the increased use of computers by artists. The emergence of digital art has led to developments of new genres in all areas of the arts, especially music. Electronic music producers now have the tools at hand to create music of any kind they please, and this has been heavily demonstrated in the last five years with the emergence of the vaporwave genre; a glitchy, computerized form of easy listening electro music. This paper will address vaporwave and attempt to explain it in detail. What aspects of the …show more content…
Released in 2012 via Bandcamp, Blank Banshee 0 is considered along with Floral Shoppe and James Ferraro’s Far Side Virtual to be one of the essential genre defining vaporwave albums. Blank Banshee’s work on this album combines vaporwave with elements of trap music, a style referred to by fans as vaportrap. The artist keeps the synthesizers and general smooth, digital atmosphere of vaporwave while incorporating trap style drum beats. Throughout the album, Blank Banshee makes repeated use of 808 bass drums, sub-bass lines and kick drums, double or triple time hi-hats. He also uses sound effects from computer programs in his songs, such as Skype’s “hang up” sound effect being used on one track. His musical samples are more obscure, taking parts from songs by The Beach Boys and Grandmaster Flash, as well as parts from the soundtrack of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and the sounds that Windows 95 and Mac OSX play while booting up, which ties into the vaporwave theme of appreciation for 90s technology. Blank Banshee would later continue to sample pieces from Ocarina of Time on his second album, Blank Banshee …show more content…
The combination of both critique and parody of 21st century capitalism, and the accelerationist philosophy behind the genre gives it an artistic grounding which lends the music a far deeper meaning than would be apparent to most listeners at first glance. There is a history behind the genre that ties in with the history of elevator music and Muzak, one of the most famous production companies of the 20th century. Vaporwave’s internet-based culture lets it spread more and more to a larger community of producers, artists and music enthusiasts around the world through art, discussion and even humour. The genre has impacted on visual artists, giving its unique twist on glitch art by combining it with anime and product placement. Its chopped and screwed, digitized, sample based style of electro has inspired musicians in other genres, taking it outside of the realm of purely electronic music and off the internet, into the real world. The movement that is vaporwave has only been in existence for less than a decade at the time of writing, and has plenty of time to grow and evolve along with trends. During the last two decades, computer technology has made great advances in all respects, which is shown by vaporwave artists in their romanticism of 1990’s technology. Maybe two decades from now, they’ll be romanticising our current tech and glitching out Tame Impala
Matthew Rhodes, NM1013
During the last two decades, computer technology has made great advances in all respects, leading to the increased use of computers by artists. The emergence of digital art has led to developments of new genres in all areas of the arts, especially music. Electronic music producers now have the tools at hand to create music of any kind they please, and this has been heavily demonstrated in the last five years with the emergence of the vaporwave genre; a glitchy, computerized form of easy listening electro music. This paper will address vaporwave and attempt to explain it in detail. What aspects of the …show more content…
Released in 2012 via Bandcamp, Blank Banshee 0 is considered along with Floral Shoppe and James Ferraro’s Far Side Virtual to be one of the essential genre defining vaporwave albums. Blank Banshee’s work on this album combines vaporwave with elements of trap music, a style referred to by fans as vaportrap. The artist keeps the synthesizers and general smooth, digital atmosphere of vaporwave while incorporating trap style drum beats. Throughout the album, Blank Banshee makes repeated use of 808 bass drums, sub-bass lines and kick drums, double or triple time hi-hats. He also uses sound effects from computer programs in his songs, such as Skype’s “hang up” sound effect being used on one track. His musical samples are more obscure, taking parts from songs by The Beach Boys and Grandmaster Flash, as well as parts from the soundtrack of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and the sounds that Windows 95 and Mac OSX play while booting up, which ties into the vaporwave theme of appreciation for 90s technology. Blank Banshee would later continue to sample pieces from Ocarina of Time on his second album, Blank Banshee …show more content…
The combination of both critique and parody of 21st century capitalism, and the accelerationist philosophy behind the genre gives it an artistic grounding which lends the music a far deeper meaning than would be apparent to most listeners at first glance. There is a history behind the genre that ties in with the history of elevator music and Muzak, one of the most famous production companies of the 20th century. Vaporwave’s internet-based culture lets it spread more and more to a larger community of producers, artists and music enthusiasts around the world through art, discussion and even humour. The genre has impacted on visual artists, giving its unique twist on glitch art by combining it with anime and product placement. Its chopped and screwed, digitized, sample based style of electro has inspired musicians in other genres, taking it outside of the realm of purely electronic music and off the internet, into the real world. The movement that is vaporwave has only been in existence for less than a decade at the time of writing, and has plenty of time to grow and evolve along with trends. During the last two decades, computer technology has made great advances in all respects, which is shown by vaporwave artists in their romanticism of 1990’s technology. Maybe two decades from now, they’ll be romanticising our current tech and glitching out Tame Impala