10 Reasons To Get Into Vaporwave Now
I hope you'll read this even if you didn't like Floral Shoppe
I recently met a friend for a walk and talk. We’ve both been working in music for decades – we’d originally bonded over our shared love of electronic music and its experimental edges. We regularly go to shows together, and he’s been a vocal supporter of zensounds.
During our conversation, I mentioned my rekindled love for vaporwave since the pandemic. I’d started writing more about it here in my newsletter too – to the expected mixed reactions from long-time subscribers. My friend echoed the negative sentiments held by a part of my reader base: “Yeah, that’s actually why I haven’t been reading you as much recently.”
Coming from a friend and supporter, of course that hurt. But I also get it. I don’t expect every reader who signed up for my explorations of ambient and experimental music to suddenly develop an interest in vaporwave. Though I do think it isn’t too far off from what I’ve been writing about previously, I totally understand it’s just not everyone’s cup of tea.
At the same time, I think many music fans – including my friend – still judge the genre on a set of records pushed by the media in the early to mid-2010s. They might have casually checked out Floral Shoppe at one point in their lives and decided they didn’t like it. Maybe they got annoyed by the ironic memes, or maybe they think it’s still all about Roman busts, slowed-down muzak and badly edited 80s samples. Whatever it is, it makes their brain jump to a quick conclusion whenever they hear the word ‘vaporwave’: “Not my thing.”
Case closed.
While this reaction is understandable, a certain danger lies in closing your mind off like that. Because, you know, genres don’t really exist. They’re just made-up words for clusters of music bearing vague similarities in someone’s opinion.
These distinctions can be helpful in the discussion of art and its context, but they can also prevent us from discovering music we would like. Instead of truly listening, we make assumptions based on theoretical constructs.
In the case of my friend who thinks of vaporwave as a genre he’s just not very interested in, I could rattle off a list of artists and records that he would most definitely be able to get into. There’s only one prerequisite: He’d have to listen to the music with an open mind.
“Well, maybe I should look more deeply into vaporwave one day”, he added to his comment when we met. “Yeah, I really think you should”, I echoed, knowing very well that one day might never come, even though I’d argue there’s no better time to get into vaporwave than right now.
Here are 10 solid arguments:
Vaporwave is alive and kicking. Looking at the history of the genre, there was the early formation and first peak, followed by a period of stagnation and reorganization. Since the end of the pandemic, the scene has been on a roll – not even because of the popularity of the barber beats subgenre (which has significantly cooled off in the last few years), but because of the creativity in subgenres like signalwave and slushwave. I’m not aware of many places where real experimentation gets to unfold as freely as here.
It’s diverse. Vaporwave spans such a wide array of wildly different styles – from fun, upbeat future funk to relaxed, organic barber beats, and from nostalgic, melodic mallsoft to mysterious, dark signalwave. There are influences and samples from all types of music to be found in vaporwave projects, and I’ve spoken to producers with wildly different backgrounds coming from EDM, metal, pop, hip-hop, house, drum’n’bass or jazz.
It’s open-minded. Some of vaporwave’s founding figures are openly queer and/or trans. To this date that seems to lead to a statistic clustering of queer and trans people in the scene. Like most subcultures, it’s still a male-skewing community from my experience, but I’m doing my best to highlight female and gender-expansive artists in my Vapor Talks series.
It’s global. Many first- and second-wave producers came from the U.S., Canada and Western Europe, but the genre has now spread into other parts of the world. Barber beats and future funk are immensely popular in Latin America and Southeast Asia, while Eastern Europeans and Russians are among the most innovative producers in signalwave.
It’s (mostly) free. Many producers give their music away as name-your-price downloads on Bandcamp. If you’re into a certain producer, you can usually buy their whole, often abundant discography for just a few bucks. If you’re a collector of physical media like tapes, CDs and vinyl records, you can of course spend a small fortune on rarities and such, but if you just want to listen to the music, you don’t need to spend any money at all.
It’s not about money. It’s as simple as that: People don’t get involved in vaporwave to make money or even get rich – it’s just not popular enough, and there are too many monetization hurdles in terms of unlicensed samples. Most of the music isn’t available on streaming services. There’s no real live industry; many producers choose to not perform outside of the occasional audiovisual livestream. The activists that put on IRL vaporwave shows or festivals do it out of love for the community. Vaporwave is really just a fun creative hobby for most producers, and that eliminates the pressure of commercial performance and competition. Less focus on money and greed equals more focus on self-expression and artistic integrity.
It isn’t part of the entertainment industry complex. As someone who’s been working in music for many years but always felt more drawn to the independent side of that world, vaporwave’s radical DIY attitude feels refreshing and liberating. The non-commercial nature of the music means that it’s never tied to major record labels, entertainment corporations, private equity hedge funds or other deplorable schemes of capitalist extraction. Even that little amount of money you’re paying to the producers will not support exploitation, war and genocide, but mostly land directly in their pockets, with a certain percentage going to independent labels and platforms like Bandcamp.
It has a low entrance barrier. Especially Gen Z seems to enjoy the fact that you can literally start making vaporwave today – you don’t need to know any music theory, know how to play an instrument, buy expensive software or become a member of a band. All you need is a simple, free digital audio workstation (many vaporwave classics were literally made with Audacity or GarageBand), an internet connection, good ears and creativity. Due to platforms like Discord and the communal spirit in the scene, it’s easier than ever to get in touch with other producers, which means it’s also easier to make the leap from consumer to creator.
It’s a positive, welcoming community. Producers and listeners regularly gather on YouTube livestreams or Discord servers, and most of the time, they behave respectfully towards each other. In live comment sections, people tend to shower the artists – even beginners – with virtual hearts and other expressions of love and support. You’ll very rarely come across any negativity or snark. There’s just such a genuine overall positive tone in this scene; I’ve rarely witnessed that positivity in any other type of online music community.
The music is brilliant. Sure, there’s still a lot of generic, low-effort stuff being churned out, but even in the last few years I have discovered so much outstanding, deeply emotional music that will stay in my life for a long time. Just an in-depth look at the discographies of the artists I interviewed over the last three months in my Vapor Talks series will keep you occupied for weeks.
Want to read more about vaporwave?
In the article below (no paywall), you’ll find my personal history with the genre and a list of my personal favorite 10 vaporwave albums of all time:
10 excellent arguments. To which I would add, it has the best names in the business!
Well written. I agree 100%