[Column] Complete history of vaporwave culture — label history, acoustic analysis, sociocultural theory, illustrations, chronology
Column en Ambient History Vaporwave![[Column] Complete history of vaporwave culture — label history, acoustic analysis, sociocultural theory, illustrations, chronology](/../assets/images/column-vaporwave.webp)
Introduction: What is Vaporwave?
Text: mmr｜Theme: Vaporwave, a movement that started as a music genre, is a huge cultural sphere surrounding memory, history, media, and social psychology.
Vaporwave is a cultural phenomenon that was born around 2010 at the intersection of Internet culture, post-financial crisis emotions, and archived images of the past. This article synthesizes label history, aesthetics, acoustic structure, sociocultural theory, derivative genres, semiotics, chronology, and illustrations, and redefines vaporwave as a ““comprehensive art born in an era of lost future.’’
Chapter 1: Label history and background of establishment
1-1 Context of the early days of vaporwave and Internet culture
The establishment of vaporwave is closely related to the blogging culture of the late 2000s, Tumblr”s image collecting culture, and the dawn of YouTube”s algorithm era. In particular, the excessive slowdown processing by Eccojams (Oneohtrix Point Never) became the seeds of subsequent genres and became established as a ““method of destroying real time.’’
1-2 Main labels (Beer On The Rug / Constellation Tatsu / Dream Catalog / Orange Milk)
- Beer On The Rug is the label that most emblematically recorded early vaporwave, producing many iconic artists such as MACINTOSH PLUS, Laserdisc Visions, and Luxury Elite.
- Constellation Tatsu has deepened their approach to ambient music, fusing tape culture and spiritual aesthetics.
- Dream Catalog emphasized the reconstruction of the image of China and Japan, a sci-fi view of the future, and the ghostly nature of cities.
- Orange Milk Records expanded the possibilities of music after Vaporwave in the context of experimental electronic music, and also established a unique position in terms of artwork.
Chapter 2: Transformation of Vaporwave Aesthetics
2-1 Aesthetic changes: Eccojams → Classic Vaporwave → Cultural divergence
Early Eccojams were not just slowdowns, but devices that created new emotions by ““distorting, pinning, and looping” the symbols of pop music. In Classic Vaporwave, references to corporate music, CM sound sources, and 90s advertisements accelerate, and symbols such as malls, CRTs, and Windows 95 are presented as ““future images of the past.”
2-2 Direction of aesthetics
- The collapse of an artificial utopia (Utopian Virtual)
- Decadence, industrialization, and destructive future vision (Hardvapour)
- The sweetness and irony of consumer culture (Future Funk)
- Fusion of urban ghostliness and environmental sounds (Mallsoft)
2-3 Core of aesthetics
Aesthetics is based on the ““ambivalence of criticism and pleasure,” and all symbols are presented as ““the future.”
Chapter 3: Acoustic analysis by label
3-1 BPM range and speed aesthetics
- Eccojams: 55–70 BPM (extremely slow)
- Classic Vaporwave: 70–90 BPM (advertisement music speed range)
- Mallsoft: BPM settings are ambiguous due to environmental sounds
- Future Funk: 110–130 BPM (connected to dance music)
- Hardvapour: 150–190 BPM (Gaba Hard Techno)
3-2 Acoustic structure
Vaporwave sound is based on the principles of “attenuation, elongation, deterioration, and repetition.” In particular, pitch shift (-20 to -35%) is synonymous with the genre.
3-3 Frequency band characteristics
- Low: cloudy attack, soft mall environment
- Midrange: Artificial brightness of advertising vocal cords
- High frequency: VHS noise, CRT scan line
3-4 Production method
- SP-404 texture processing
- Extreme Time Stretch by Audacity
- Deterioration processing due to VHS actual recording
- EQ cut and compression suppression in DAW
These can be said to be techniques for reconstructing ““lost materiality.’’
Chapter 4: Sociocultural Theory — Consumption Criticism, Semiotics, and Psychology of the Internet Generation
4-1 Background: Art born in an era of lost future
Around 2010, when the feeling of confinement after the financial crisis and the archive culture of the internet overlapped, vaporwave became a cultural device that reconstructed the “future image of the past.”
4-2 Semiotics
Statues, UI, pink and cyan, palm trees, Japanese… these symbols are all remnants of futuristic symbols, and in Vaporwave they are distorted and reproduced as “ghosts of an attempted future.”
4-3 Social psychology
Generation Z’s “nostalgia for an era they have not experienced” creates the emotion of vaporwave. This is synthetic nostalgia, a new emotional device for the internet age.
4-4 Criticism or enjoyment?
Vaporwave critiques consumer society while simultaneously embracing its pleasures. This ambivalence is at the heart of the genre.
4-5 Why Japan is an important symbol
In the 1990s, Japan was a technological powerhouse and was a symbol of the future worldwide. That memory is directly connected to vaporwave aesthetics.
Illustrations
Figure 1: Vaporwave acoustic map
Figure 2: Derivative genre diagram
Figure 3: Symbol structure diagram
Chapter 5: Conclusion/Summary
What is vaporwave and its core definition**
5-1 Towards an existence that transcends “genre”
Vaporwave was initially treated as a ““minor genre that originated on the Internet’’, but After spreading for more than 10 years, it has become a cultural device that transcends genres, as shown below.
- music
- design
- Meme culture
- SNS psychology
- Criticism of consumer society
- Semiotic play
- Nostalgia industry
In other words, vaporwave is a complex phenomenon that combines sound, video, and social psychology. The vast amount of media symbols accumulated in the late 20th century and early 21st century, It is a product of the “recompression” of the Internet generation.
5-2 Three cores that drive Vaporwave
Nuke ①: Lost Future
The ““bright future of techno’’ envisioned in the 1990s never materialized. That “unexpected future” floats around like a ghost—that is the emotion of vaporwave.
Nuclear ②: Synthetic Nostalgia
Many listeners feel nostalgic for an era they did not experience. This is a new psychological structure in the internet age, and is the core emotion of vaporwave.
Core ③: Aesthetic Ambivalence
Criticize and enjoy at the same time. Destroy and praise at the same time. This contradiction is postmodern, and is the very essence of vaporwave’s aesthetics.
5-3 Conclusion: Philosophical definition of vaporwave (final version)
**Vaporwave is a world where the past vision of the future has collapsed, The Internet generation re-edited the fragments of symbols, Visualizing the “pain of losing the future” and the “pleasure of consumer society” at the same time, It is a comprehensive art of the post-capitalist era. **
The movement started as a musical genre, It has now become a huge cultural sphere surrounding memory, history, media, and social psychology.
And this “art of manipulating the ghosts of the past” is Further amplified in the AI era, We will continue to draw a new self-image for those of us who live in an “archived world.”
**Final definition: Vaporwave is a comprehensive art form in the Internet age that commemorates the future vision of the past. **
Explore more like this
![[Column] Comprehensively elucidating the myth, history, science, and cultural influence of 432Hz music - What psychological effects does frequency have on music?](/../assets/images/column-432hz.webp)
[Column] Comprehensively elucidating the myth, history, science, and cultural influence of 432Hz music - What psychological effects does frequency have on music?
Prologue: Why is 432Hz treated as “special”?
![[Column] The miracle of listening: the future of](/../assets/images/column-hearing-health.webp)
