'chillwave continuum'?

other_life

bioconfused
i used to be really upset about the shift from sample detournement to nicely cleaned up spotify ambient because it felt political but now i can't be bothered. it'd be cool to see small online communities self-consciously continue the sample and collage exploration, though. i found this stuff on rym in 2012 before vaporwave, chillwave or hypnagogic pop were genre tags there looking for sound collage from the 2010's. alex grey (deep magic/dreamcolour, heat wave, dj purple image, d/p/i) is another example of a very interesting evolution. he went from looper jams into screwy collages into something i'd almost describe as 'musique surface digital' (borrowing a term from wakesleep), inscrutable microsampling or unnerving/unlikely macrosampling juxtaposed w atonal electronics
 

other_life

bioconfused
the obstacle to mapping this stuff out, getting people excited about it again seems to be a general malaise and cynicism, regret that we've invested so much in the internet creatively in the past decade and (seemingly) gotten so little in return.
 

other_life

bioconfused
And i feel this is the weakness of this stuff, it is too much based on the personality gimmics of internet 2.0 as opposed to the somewhat more depersonalised communality of internet 1.0.[/url]
is something like "internet club" or "prism corp." not, like an anonymous collective gesture though? to my mind vaporwave in its early stages felt like a reaction to the personality gimmicks of earlier stuff
 

mvuent

Void Dweller
it's basically bourgeois concrete with the strikingly visceral immediacy of the post-war era of concrete abscent though isn't it?
that's what woebot used to say about ae, and he didn't get them at all

and yeah, surely the first vaporwave artists were very enamored with internet 1.0 and the facelessness of it. arguably vektroid et al releasing albums under so many different pseudonyms is what gave the impression that it was an actual "genre" at all; I think people became interested partly because it seemed more like a depersonalized movement than it even really was.

i used to be really upset about the shift from sample detournement to nicely cleaned up spotify ambient because it felt political but now i can't be bothered. it'd be cool to see small online communities self-consciously continue the sample and collage exploration, though. i found this stuff on rym in 2012 before vaporwave, chillwave or hypnagogic pop were genre tags there looking for sound collage from the 2010's. alex grey (deep magic/dreamcolour, heat wave, dj purple image, d/p/i) is another example of a very interesting evolution. he went from looper jams into screwy collages into something i'd almost describe as 'musique surface digital' (borrowing a term from wakesleep), inscrutable microsampling or unnerving/unlikely macrosampling juxtaposed w atonal electronics
rec is very appreciated, thanks. tbh I've never really understood what is supposed to be so subversive about vaporwave politically (I barely even know what detournement is lol). is there some kind of 'wake up call' aspect to it that I've missed? but will try to articulate what I find interesting about the earlier stuff and recent vektroid at some point, just in case there's any interesting agreement/disagreement there...
 
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other_life

bioconfused
the political aspect is tiredness overextension confusion, feeling boxed out of any 'wake up call' meaning anything
 

Trillhouse

Well-known member
Was chillwave ever actually a thing? I remember there was indie music with somewhat similar vibe around the end of the 00s and journos/blogers trying to make it a thing, but it never really took hold & soon enough another group of music journalists were saying it was never a thing anyway, labelled it bourgeois, at which everyone seemed to rather embarrassed and dissociated.

Vaporwave had its own style, aesthetic, philosophy and it has been one of the few genres of the internet age to actually have enough about it to survive in that ADHD world. Besides bubbling out a similar ideas pot, and stealing from Dj Screw, I don't see too much linking what vaporwave became with what chillwave was claimed to be. Besides that is, the things that have been said and written about them. Musically what does reheated dream-pop-shoegaze actually have to do with pitched down smooth jazz or 90s vgm?
 

Trillhouse

Well-known member
I remember the term "hypnagogic pop" being chucked around a lot with regard to that stuff.

Yeah, I'm probably missing the point. Hypnagogic & hauntology seem like better labels to discuss, although they're rather large umbrellas. I guess that's inevitable when talking about music defined by a shared approach and why I find the discussion a little wooly as a result.
 

other_life

bioconfused
hypnagogia and hauntology are more descriptive yes but chillwave is a fucking hipster runoff joke and has a Ring to it
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
the obstacle to mapping this stuff out, getting people excited about it again seems to be a general malaise and cynicism, regret that we've invested so much in the internet creatively in the past decade and (seemingly) gotten so little in return.


We (me and my mates at the time, i can't hang onto mates for some weird reason) spoke about this when i used to spend £40 on weed every day. ah how times change...
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
and yeah, surely the first vaporwave artists were very enamored with internet 1.0 and the facelessness of it. arguably vektroid et al releasing albums under so many different pseudonyms is what gave the impression that it was an actual "genre" at all; I think people became interested partly because it seemed more like a depersonalized movement than it even really was.

Ah no sorry my mistake I was talking about the deconstructed club end of internet music, Rabit, some stuff on pan, etc.

Some of its decent some isn't it but it's not like something i can get hugely interested in beyond certain artists. whereas early electronics i can never have enough of that, in the same way that i still can't get over anything with a chopped amen and ragga/soul sample.

as for vapourwave i have no idea and i think a lot of its a visual rather than a tactile aspect. prefer florian hecker for that kinda vibe.
 
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thirdform

pass the sick bucket
i always thought hauntology was like when you were on acid and u were traversing the home counties just for laughs and saw an open house window and were like hey let's jump through it into the bog and see what's in here, and then getting that ghostly sensation of a little boy (maybe even ur doppelganger from another parallel universe) running at u cackling maniacally and trying to riggle onto u and then jumping with fright with heart palpitations and then suddenly being jolted back to reality in the house and saying this place is crap let's go back into the bog and climb out the window.

or playing with an 8 track tape machine's rewind/fast forward functions to get the funny voices and squidgy lifeforms after smoking 10 spliffs.

Yeah man, that shits creepy and weird.

but no.
 
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luka

Well-known member
regret that we've invested so much in the internet creatively in the past decade and (seemingly) gotten so little in return.

Me:-worlds greatest greatest writer having devoted his entire output to 4 or 5 blokes on dissensus.
 

Trillhouse

Well-known member
It's kinda telling that the end point for the internet side of this stuff seems to be Fashwave. We've come so far.
 

mvuent

Void Dweller
That's funny because AE cuss out modern concrete practitioners as limited. they are electro through and through tbh, just a spectral take on it.
yeah totally, that's what I meant--he was holding them to standards that aren't what they're aiming for.
 
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mvuent

Void Dweller
also, for anyone itt, what are the best albums/projects to come out of the "chillwave continuum"? if there wasn't much in the way of scenius, are there any high points that justify its existence?
 
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