E x t e n d e d - More Essential Albums of Vaporwave
My guide to The Essential Albums of Vaporwave in Entropy Magazine got a good reaction recently, especially from those new to vaporwave, a genre of electronic music that’s new in itself. In spite of its relative age though, the vaporwave scene has spawned a huge amount of albums deemed classic by its fervent fanbase, along with a wide array of different sub-genres that run the whole gamut on the nuance scale. Getting to know the scene therefore takes a lot of time to get your head around, and, in an 800 word article, choices have to be made, alongside painful omissions. It was meant to be a beginner’s guide to vaporwave, after all, not an encyclopedia.
The following five albums therefore can be the newbie’s next step when exploring the vaporware discography. Consider it a companion to the Entropy piece, with a third and final part on its way looking at one of those vaporwave sub-genres just mentioned.
g h o s t i n g - Telenights (2014)
Telenights is perhaps not the showiest record on Dream Catalogue, a label best known for taking the vaporwave genre into new and uncharted territory. It’s made up of the slowed down samples and 80s vibes which define vaporwave. All the tracks are brief and ethereal in nature. But the atmosphere of the album is perfect, and the samples perfectly chosen and blended. In some ways, Telenights isn’t even that atypical. While a lot of vaporwave is trance-like in nature, the music of ghosting is more punkish and frenetic. There’s no chance of falling asleep to these sounds — which is good, as a lot of vapor fans consider this to be a perfect night-time drive album. Safety first, people, safety first.
A lot of the 1980s samples here really do put you in the mind of the ‘French touch’ artists behind those tracks Ryan Gosling was at the wheel for during certain scenes of Drive. While those same artists look to the 80s for inspiration, e.g. Kavinsky, ghosting instead ripped those actual sounds straight from the source, making Telenights the equivalent of dipping in and out of various AM radio stations, the samples snatched from the tape deck of your retro Chevrolet.
Internet Club - Vanishing Vision (2012)
Vanishing Vision by the prolific Internet Club is more of a mix than an album, a collection of loops that blend in and out of each other for over half an hour. The overall effect of this unending stream is a calming one, as all the samples are basically muzak in vibe, soundtrack to the vain-glorious malls of pre-recession Japan, something a lot of vaporwave seems to be conceptually enraptured by.
Oscob / Digital Sex - OVERGROWTH (2015)
Being a form of IDM, it’s no surprise that a lot of vaporwave finds itself informed by the ambience of early Aphex Twin, or the hypnagogia of Boards of Canada. In that vein, the collab between Oscob and Digital Sex echoes another classic Warp Records artist, but not necessarily the one that you might expect. Listen to the jungle ambience and playful sound effects that decorate OVERGROWTH. Only Plaid did that back in the day, especially on albums such as Not For Threes. This is an equally playful listen, but in a way that’s neither Plaid V2.0, nor straight up vaporwave. It’s a genre all of its own, taking the spacious plunderphonic template of the genre and adding it to a hazy ambience full of flora and fauna. Most vaporwave has an urban-based nostalgia for the past or the past’s vision of our future; OVERGROWTH instead longs for the natural roots that we’ve all left behind.
death’s dynamic shroud.wmv - 世界大戦OLYMPICS (2014)
death’s dynamic shroud.wmv were on my other essentials list for the game-changing I’ll Try Living Like This. Before that release though was this one, 世界大戦OLYMPICS, the best out of a whole raft load of albums. It’s a genuinely intriguing listen, giving an ethereal, almost epic take on the slow-motion samples and shopping mall-vibes of the genre.
Dante Mars Ajeto ! - Celebrating Digital Artifacts (2016)
The most recent album on any of my lists, Celebrating Digital Artifacts is probably the first straight-up vapor release from Britain’s Dante Mars Ajeto !, an act more known for their work in the ‘future funk’ sub-genre, a kind of Daft Punk-take on vaporwave which really needs a whole list to itself, being, in my opinion, a genre of its own altogether.
Celebrating Digital Artifacts is similar to 世界大戦OLYMPICS in how it takes the standard template, but giving it a more technical, studious makeover i.e. not simply slowing down a bunch of samples. It’s also a really pleasant listen, and shows a way how these instrumentals could form the template for the pop and dance tracks of our near-future. Look out for more on the other future funk artists of vaporwave in a near-future article…
List of essential vaporwave albums in full:
death’s dynamic shroud.wmv — I’ll Try Living Like This (2015)
Eyeliner — LARP of Luxury (2013)
Mute Channel — 平白氣形 (2014)
2 8 1 4 — 新しい日の誕生 [Birth of a New Day] (2015)
Vaperror — Mana Pool (2014)
テレヴァペ (Televape) — 超越愛 (2015)
Macintosh Plus — Floral Shoppe (2011)
g h o s t i n g — Telenights (2014)
Internet Club — Vanishing Vision (2012)
Oscob / Digital Sex — OVERGROWTH (2015)
death’s dynamic shroud.wmv — 世界大戦OLYMPICS (2014)
Dante Mars Ajeto ! — Celebrating Digital Artifacts (2016)
