vaporhistory

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Welcome to VaporHistory

Click on the “What is Vaporwave?” tab to get started.

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What do these albums tell us?

By using remixed songs and sounds of the 1980s and 90s Vaporwave evokes of feeling of nostalgia on its listeners. The tracks presented on this website all sound like something produced in the 80s or 90s, not something made in the 2010s. In addition, the album art and fan videos also evoke these feeling of nostalgia. They borrow things from the past but make it their own.

These albums show that Vaporwave is a form of Hauntology. The music sounds eerily familiar, but not something that actually existed in the past. Seeing Vaporwave influenced music videos and album art is a further extension of Hauntology. Its creators were imagining a future in which this retro style never went away. Vaporwave is influenced by a past that never happened and is an extension of a future that will never exist.

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Hit Vibes by Saint Pepsi

Hit Vibes is the ninth album by musician Ryan DeRobertis under the name Saint Pepsi (DeRobertis is more commonly known as his pseudonym Skylar Spence). DeRobertis is one of the first Vaporwave artists to be signed to an actual record label. Currently he is signed with Carpark Records and has released an album under this label.[1] Hit Vibes is an extremely popular album in the Vaporwave genre. It is freely available by DeRobertis and hit traction with its pop music influenced sound.

Rather than being purely Vaporwave, Hit Vibes is also described as a future funk album. Future Funk is a subgenre to come out of Vaporwave. Future Funk often is often more upbeat and a faster paced rhythm then traditional Vaporwave songs.[2]

DeRobertis describes his music as “pop music for freaks”. [3] The entire album has a very upbeat and pop music sound. The track Skylar Spence in particular sounds like a song that would play mall’s lobby during the 80s or 90s.

Saint Pepsi’s music has also inspired many fan made music videos on YouTube. Video editor David Dean Burkhart made a music video for the track Cherry Pepsi which also helped to launch Hit Vibes’ popularity. The video currently has about 4.7 million views on YouTube [4]

The album also has one of the most iconic openings to a Vaporwave song. At the beginning of the second track the listener is greeted with a woman saying, “It’s Saint Pepsi, bitch”. This phrase has been ironically used all around the Vaporwave community.

DeRobertis continues to make and produce under the name Skylar Spence. He has moved away from sample heavy music and turned to writing and creating his own original music. His music now still has some of the future funk vibes he is well known for. [5]

 “Carpark Records | Artists.” Accessed April 30, 2018. http://carparkrecords.com/artists/. ↩

“Vaporwave.” Wikipedia, April 29, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vaporwave&oldid=838764041. ↩

“Carpark Records | Artists | Skylar Spence.” Accessed April 30, 2018. http://carparkrecords.com/artists/skylarspence/. ↩

David Dean Burkhart. SAINT PEPSI - Cherry Pepsi. Accessed April 30, 2018. https://youtu.be/OrR1TGQY20Y.↩

Carpark Records. Saint Pepsi Is Now Skylar Spence. Accessed April 30, 2018. https://youtu.be/f8ZTDqYoSi4.↩

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Here are various pieces of album art for Hit Vibes by Saint Pepsi.The first image is the original album art for Hit Vibes. The second image is the red vinyl release of the album. The album was pressed in both red and black vinyl. The third image is the limited cassette release Hit Vibes had.

DeRobertis, Ryan. "Hit Vibes by Saint Pepsi." Digital image. Bandcamp. May 31, 2013. Accessed April 30, 2018. https://keatscollective.bandcamp.com/album/hit-vibes.

DeRobertis, Ryan. Hit Vibes by Saint Pepsi red vinyl. Digital image. SlyVinyl. March 9, 2015. Accessed April 30, 2018. https://slyvinyl.com/genres/shoegaze-chillwave/skylar-spence-saint-pepsi-hit-vibes-limited-to-500-red-500-black-promo-vinyl-lp.

DeRobertis, Ryan. Hit Vibes by Saint Pepsi cassette. Digital image. Bandcamp. January 17, 2014. Accessed April 30, 2018. https://sunuprecordings.bandcamp.com/album/hit-vibes.

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Ryan DeRobertis. 31 May 2013 . Skylar Spence. MP3.

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“It’s Saint Pepsi, bitch.”

Ryan DeRobertis. 31 May 2013 . Have Faith. MP3.

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David Dean Burkhart, “ SAINT PEPSI - Cherry Pepsi ,” YouTube video, 3:07, January 13, 2013 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=OrR1TGQY20Y

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Carpark Records, “Saint Pepsi is now Skylar Spece,” YouTube video, 1:02, January 14, 2015 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=62&v=uNZKmoOtTLk.

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Blank Banshee 0

Blank Banshee 0 is the first album of electronic music artist Blank Banshee. The album was released digitally in 2012 and in 2014 it got a CD release. Recently the album got a cassette tape release and a vinyl release is planned for later this year. [1]  

Blank Banshee 0 was the first notable Vaporwave album to incorporate elements of trap music. From this album the subgenre Vaportrap was born.

This album is unique in that it doesn’t just sample and remix music, it also incorporates Blank Banshee’s original music.  The album features samples of various 1980s-90s sounds remixed over original vocals, instrumentals, and beats. [2] The album starts with a remix of the windows 95 start up sound, then ends with a remix of the windows 95 shut down them. Between these two songs are 13 tracks that feature Blank Banshee’s own original mixes, instrumentals, and vocals.

A notable track off Blank Banshee 0 is the song Teen Pregnancy. The song was featured in the YouTube video ＳＵＮＤＡＹ ＳＣＨＯＯＬ by Lucien Hughes.  ＳＵＮＤＡＹ ＳＣＨＯＯＬ kick started the Simpsonswave movement on YouTube. In Simpsonswave artists will create Vaporwave music videos by editing clips of the television show The Simpsons. Often in these edited Simpsons clips artists will put a purple filter and a VHS-esque effect over the televisions clips.  ＳＵＮＤＡＹ ＳＣＨＯＯＬ boosted the popularity of Blank Banshee 0 [3]

“BB0-Information.” Blank Banshee. Accessed April 27, 2018. http://blankbanshee.com/bb0-information.html.↩

“Vaporwave: Subversive Dream Music for the Post-Internet Age.” Vaporwave: subversive dream music for the post-Internet age | Editorial | Bandwagon - Live music, bands and concert guide for Singapore, Manila and Jakarta, May 18, 2016. https://www.bandwagon.asia/articles/vaporwave-subversive-dream-music-for-the-post-internet-age.↩

Blevins, Joe. “‘Simpsonwave’ Is the Most Wack, Tripped-out Simpsons Meme Ever.” News. Accessed April 27, 2018. https://news.avclub.com/simpsonwave-is-the-most-wack-tripped-out-simpsons-me-1798247913. ↩

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This is the album art for Blank Banshee 0. The cover features a 3D computer rendered head by Blank Banshee. [1]

“BB0-Information.” Blank Banshee. Accessed April 27, 2018. http://blankbanshee.com/bb0-information.html. ↩

Blank Banshee. 2012. Cover of the album Blank Banshee 0 by Blank Banshee. Wikipedia . Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blank_Banshee_0

Blank Banshee 0 cassette. Digital image. Twitter. December 16, 2017. Accessed April 30, 2018. https://twitter.com/geometriclull/status/942121040767062023.

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Blank Banshee. 1 September 2012 . B:/ Start Up. MP3.

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Blank Banshee. 1 September 2012 . Teen Pregnancy. MP3.

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Blank Banshee. 1 September 2012 . B:/ Shut Down/Depression. MP3

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Lucien Hughes, “ ＳＵＮＤＡＹ ＳＣＨＯＯＬ,” YouTube video, 3:08, February 29, 2016 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTfa-9aCTYg.

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About the author

My name is Chloe Pignano. I made this site as a requirement for History 390: The Digital Past at George Mason University. 

Why Vaporwave?

I picked Vaporwave as my topic because I really enjoy listening to the retro sounding elevator music. I stumbled across some Saint Pepsi songs in 2016 and I fell into a deep rabbit hole. I really liked Saint Pepsi’s music, so I started looking into other artists and then I started to investigate the visual aesthetics of Vaporwave. The more I listened various Vaporwave artists, the more interested I got into the genre.

A lot of Vaporwave artists release their music on cassette tape. This got me thinking about the cassette tapes themselves. I remember the first time I used one was in 3rd grade and in school we had a “listening station” where we would play tape recorded books on portable cassette players. At the time I thought nothing of cassettes and just used it without a problem. The next time I used a cassette was when I was 18. My grandmother gave me her old boom box and my Mom found a copy of the Batman Forever soundtrack on cassette. The act of putting in a cassette and rewinding it felt so foreign and strange, but to my 3rd grade self it felt so natural. This feeling of being confused about something that felt so natural ten years ago was really strange.

Using cassettes now makes me feel nostalgic in a way, but I never used them as a kid. I only really used them in school because I had too. I was trying to find a term for this feeling. The feeling of being nostalgic for something that never really existed. Then I found out about Hauntology. Hauntology blew my mind. I experience Hauntology anytime I use a cassette tape. I think about my younger self using them, but I really have no distinct memories of using one, so instead of thinking of my actual memories, I think about the idea of having memories. 

This all sounds crazy, but to me Vaporwave is a extension of Hauntology. I was born in 1999. I shouldn’t feel nostalgic for malls of the 1980′s or early web design, yet I am. I am nostalgic for a past I never knew. Hauntology is the coolest concept to me. 

Challenges

When creating this site I faced a variety of different problems. It was hard for me to try and write about a few notable albums. Each notable album page took about 1.5-2.5 hours to create. It took forever to just listen to music, find sources, write about it, then upload it all in a certain way so they appear in a certain order, then cite everything and make footnotes. It took much more work than I realized.

Another challenge was just deciding on what albums to pick out that were notable. I read tons of articles listing important Vaporwave albums, but every article was different. There isn’t just one opinion on what makes a Vaporwave album notable. I tried choose albums that started a trend in Vaporwave music. I fear my choices might be a little biased. 

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About the site

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

This site uses the Win98 theme hosted by Tumblr.com

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Chuck Person’s Eccojams Vol. 1

Chuck Person’s Eccojams Vol.1 is considered to be the first Vaporwave album. It was created by electronic music artist Daniel Lopatin. The album features various 80′s rock songs and easy listening songs slowed down and chopped up. [1]

The digital magazine Crossfader describes the album as “pop culture looking in on itself and attempting to find a signal in the noise of a cavern of nostalgic malaise”. [2] With its repetitions of just a few lyrics in well-known songs the album forces the listener to examine the lyrics in a new light. The track A1 is the song Africa by Toto slowed down with sections of lyrics repeated. This forces the listener to hear the song in a totally different way and helps to shape new meaning around the song.

The album’s art features edited screenshots from the game Ecco the Dolphin by Sega. [3]

Not only did the album inspire Vaporwave as a genre, creators were inspired by the album itself. Creators made their own albums that featured similar art work, track names, and track sounds. A notable Eccojams inspired release is Sponge Person’s Eggo Jams. Both albums feature slowed down songs, similar names, and similar album art. Another notable Eccojams inspired album is Eccojams Vol. 1 (Nightcore). It’s just the entirety of Eccojams, but speed up and pitch shifted upwards. 

It’s interesting to see how different the tracks can sound when their speed is adjusted. Much like appropriation in art, the original Eccojams has been used to inspire so many other musicians and musicians still borrow elements from this 8 year old album.

“Chuck Person’s Eccojams Vol. 1.” Wikipedia, April 20, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chuck_Person%27s_Eccojams_Vol._1&oldid=837351987.↩

“Vaporwave - Music Primers.” Crossfader (blog), May 24, 2016. http://www.xfdrmag.net/crossfaders-vaporwave-primer/. ↩

“Vaporwave: Subversive Dream Music for the Post-Internet Age.” Vaporwave: subversive dream music for the post-Internet age | Editorial | Bandwagon - Live music, bands and concert guide for Singapore, Manila and Jakarta, May 18, 2016. https://www.bandwagon.asia/articles/vaporwave-subversive-dream-music-for-the-post-internet-age. ↩