Obscure Genres: Vaporwave

Vaporwave is another one of those satirical subgenres born on the internet that really only people on the internet hear about and have a small community for. It has a strong emphasis on the arts aesthetic and less so on the music but with vaporwave I think more people into this subculture do actually listen to the music and are more involved in making the music of the genre.

The aesthetic is that 90s nostalgic aesthetic with a specific color palette and key items that make it vaporwave. With vaporwave what you tend to see is roman statues, windows 95, nihilistic comments done in japanese, glitch art, tropical settings and certain beverages like fiji water, arizona tea and sizzurp of all things. I'm not going to lie with vaporwave aesthetic art you do see mention of drug abuse like sizzurp aka lean or purple drank which is promethazine with codeine mixed with sprite and jolly ranchers, xanax pills, marijuana and sometimes over the counter cough syrups like nyquil. Why is this so? Well I think it has to do with the music which I will get into now:

Vaporwave music is a satire on contemporary consumerist society (whenever I say that to people they call me a hipster =/) and an avenue for nostalgia through sampling 80s and 90s pop, rnb, smooth jazz and muzak or easy listening/elevator music. Its a form of plunderphonics which if you don't know is essentially when you use audio piracy to revision a track making simple edits to make it something new. With Vaporwave what you're looking to do is get a deep vocal sound by slowing down the speed and make it really low fidelity with reverb and phaser or echo effects to get that vaporwave sound. Listen to some vaporwave and you'll understand what i'm talking about. I feel like for it to have a really vaporwave sound it has to have a drone in the background and with applying those effects you can attain that and also get a kind of lighter grainier sound that seems to resemble vapor. 

The name vaporwave doesn't actually constitute that vapor sound though the name comes from vaporware which is when a business puts adverts out about an upcoming product that may seem too good to be true and ends up being too good to be true they never release it but get all this attention for that product. It's nonexistent. I think that's where the nihilism came from with vaporwave because we know nihilism is the philosophy of life being meaningless all religions being false just your life being a big pile of nothing but that doesn't mean its a bad thing because if you know your life is meaningless then you can make the best of it by having fun or wearing your "yoloswagg" as it were lol. So we have the vapor in vaporware and wave actually being a marxist term to describe something that perpetuates itself and is meaningless in its philosophy giving it even more nihilist swag. 

All in all classic vaporwave is uninspired in its creation making use of its source content as a crutch for whether the song is good or not by itself but focusing on the vibe by the artist making the edit to whether its good vaporwave or not. There are of course subgenres within vaporwave like vaportrap for example that still has that vaporwave vibe and those iconic synths that really bring vaporwave to a new level as an artform to progress the genre which I believe is why this genre didn't die out fast like some other genres because there is room to explore with vaporwave and the vaporwave community welcomes that. One thing I really enjoy about this genre is the satire on consumerist society the nihilism in it (I'm not a nihilist myself but I enjoy nihilistic remarks) the fact that you can make a vaporwave track in around a minutes time and the fact that alot of the big vaporwave lp releases are released on cassette tape <3

Here comes the time where I share some videos to help you explore vaporwave for yourself giving you some examples and some interesting videos on the subject to help you grasp it.

How to Make Vaporwave by Frank Jav Cee

Vaporwave: A Brief History by Wolfenstein OS X

V A P O R W A V E  L P ' S playlist by myself



Key artists:

-Ramona Andra Xavier aka vektroid aka VectorFray aka vektordrum aka Macintosh Plus, New Dreams Ltd, PrismCorp Virtual Enterprises, Laserdisc Visions, 情報デスクVIRTUAL, and dstnt
-Saint Pepsi
-Oneohtrix point never aka chuck person
James Ferraro
Blank Banshee
T E L E P A T H
Internet Club

More Things to Check out:

Most Famous Record Label: http://dreamcatalogue.net/
The Archive of the Vaporwave Library Project: https://web.archive.org/web/20150219214318/http://vaporwave.me/
The Vaporwave Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Vaporwave/

Obscure Genres : Witchhouse

Witch House as the name would suggest is occult themed electronic music. It's dark and kind of mellow while having a hint of horror to it most of the time not always though. It also goes by the names drag, rapegaze and haunted house. Haunted House is my favorite name for it I think thats clever and punny but I call it Witch House 98% of the time. There is also an aesthetic and a fashion that is pretty interesting. The dress is kind of like goth meets punk meets the occult. To dress witch house you would dress goth lots of black and white with occult symbols but it takes more of a playful punk direction by doing things like "Cat Magick" and have a cat with an upside down pentacle and an upside down cross on its third eye like its poking fun at christians who think those are demonic or satanic exclusive symbols. For real pagan witches it might seem a bit offensive at time but most of the time it's not as offensive as that. There are a bunch of retailers you can find on etsy and instagram (I see alot on instagram) Here's what it looks like:

Contrary to the name though this music isnt actually house music in the slightest. its alot of screwey hip hop beats with like distorted industrial noises and distorted synth leads, drum machines and strange experimental sounds and vocal samples. To make it you want to go for dark and ethereal think of a ghost talking through the white noise on an old tv with hip hop or trap type beats with a slow tempo. The white noise sounding bassline is a staple for alot of the witch house tracks but so is chiptune and more contemporary synths.



The witch house aesthetic of writing uses alot of unicode symbols like triangles, omega symbols, random foreign special characters even ogham and futhark runes are common. It's like using 13375p34k but with unicode instead of numbers. They say to do this to thwart search engines so it's harder to find witch house on the internet to keep it an underground movement so hope I don't get in trouble with the witch house police for making a blog post about it lol but this isn't a popular blog so I think it should be fine. ;)

They say it was created as a joke to describe a certain groups (shams) production sound but music journalists got ahold of it and it kind of stuck and is here to stay. There really isn't any set defining sound that says if you don't use this sound its not witch house its more of a vibe that makes something witch house, a little confusing. Of course you should have those elements like the gritty distorted sounds the hip hop drums, dense reverb, synthpop melodies to create that vibe but no particular one thing makes it witch house. Even some witch house mixtapes have things that you might say don't even classify as "witchhousey" but still make it in and help that witch house vibe keep flowing which is the most important part of the genre.

To get into Witch House I would check out the reddit page and check out those artists and i'll also have a good witch house playlist here as well. Salem has a bunch of mixtapes up for free as well but I don't think they are that great. I also made a mixtape i'll put up here.



My Witchhouse Mixtapes:

Ƒ⨹ѪїȽĬϪᏒ ຣρīƦį♰ by Catapilla on Mixcloud

ʤѦ☨Ƕ-Ⴌჰ⨹Ϸ Ħ△ШЖ ѪФ†Ҥ by Catapilla on Mixcloud

ਹǗӍΔŊڸᶅ by Catapilla on Mixcloud

Top Artists

Salem
oOoOO
White Ring
Purity Ring
Balam Acab
Crim3s
Grimes
Crystal Castles
Ritualz
Holy Other

XXYYXX

Obscure Genres : Seapunk

Seapunk is sooooo bizarre. Its a strange subculture that started on the internet as a joke by some people who had a case of 90s internet culture nostalgia but the label stuck and it started this little subculture. Most people will say its not even the seapunk music thats that important its more about the fashion and the art which I think is true. The music isn't really that great you can tell it was meant as a joke and the art too but the art has weird horribly rendered 3d graphics in neon colors it just makes you go wtf am I even looking at right now O.o and it draws your attention and you forget all about the seapunk music that goes with it lol. I have to admit I actually really like the creativity put into the art and fashion of seapunk sure its all teal and seafoam green and hot pink or pastel colors but its kind of interesting and it looks kinda good if slightly bizarre. Most people don't know don't care and can't even comprehend what seapunkers are even doing its so different than mainstream culture its not even funny. like seriously.

A journalist once said seapunk music was "a style of music that incorporates bits of 90s house, the past 15 years or so of pop and R&B, and the latest in southern trap rap—all overlaid with a twinkly, narcotic energy that recalls new-age music and chopped and screwed hip-hop mix tapes in roughly equal measure."

If you listen to the music you will notice its got like a faster break beat or hip hop beat and like chiptune or trancey riffs and oftimes the weirdest vocal samples to make it random and a tad comical. There are a couple influences not every ones going to be the same but you definitely hear alot of those 2 things the faster breakbeat drums and chiptunes. Top Sea Punk Artists are Azealia Banks, Blank Banshee, Kreayshawn, Fire For Effect, Merman, Zombelle, Slava, Unicorn Kid, Baby Tap, Ideal Corpus and Splash Club 7

Being that this subculture is so underground and pretty much only on the internet thats where you are going to find the clothes and the media. KnowYourMeme which is a good database of good knowledge on internet culture has a page about seapunk [here] that has some good information and videos on it and [this] is the Tumblr Tag where most of the whole movement of seapunk takes place.

The seapunk clothing retailers are few most of them are home made and sold on etsy

 http://www.incontrolclothing.com/
 http://www.mainframe.im/
 http://ninjacosmico.com/shop/

Some honorable etsy mentions:

Psychic Trash

Forever Strange

Space Trash

Home Cooked Karma

Bionic Unicorn

Some fun parody videos on how to seapunk:






Some of my favorite seapunk digital art images:

Obscure Genres : Psytrance

Psy Trance. Some people can't stand it and some people really have a strong connection to it. Psychedelic Music has always been a bit weird and has a bad rap with the mainstream crowd. "Only druggies listen to that stuff" you know. While it is psychedelic in nature and i'm sure people on drugs like that type of music that doesn't mean you should dismiss it as only for druggies or to be heard on drugs. This music has its own subculture just like most subgenres do. It has its own art style, fashion, sound and community. Psy Trance is said "by the psytrance ravers" to be the last true subculture left. Usually only psytrance ravers know about psytrance raves that go on and keep it close knit because they don't need bad vibes or narks crowding around them. These are the still happening forest raves and illegal warehouse raves and psy trance rave promoters put on the best theatrics out of any other style rave in the scene. Its psytrance and its colorful and theres lots of lights and lasers and pretty pictures and good art.

Psy Trance started out in Goa, India in the 90s. It was meant to bring more spirituality to dance music. The music has a steady progressive rhythm with a fruity kick and fast bassline with seemingly random outer space inspired acid squelches and trance synths. It can seem kinda weird and it might be kinda weird but it does work and when you listen to it you can see what the initial idea was for the music. The put an image in your mind of what the music is like to me is its like a dance party right normal 4 on the floor beat but its deep and kinda strange its fast yet still a calm steady rhythm and you are flying through outer space and see the occasional shooting star or meteor and less frequent but still see nebulas and you know space dust and what not lol. Its like flying through space in my mind. Its all very outer spacey to me. All the basslines sound pretty similar with a trancey riff and some space samples. An hour long mix can go by like that. That kind of the point of the trance thing though.

Ancient Shamans and even Shamans today use a 4-7 beats per second rhythm a fast rhythm to induce a trance state so they can go visit the spirit world and this music recreates that atmosphere while giving you uplifting progressive melodies to heighten your experience with it. You can lose your self very easy listening to psytrance. I could easily dance 10 hours straight and not even realize its been 10 hours if its psy trance i'm not even kidding. Non stop dancing all through the night no problem. Its a good genre to rave to and to study or work to imo because of the trance state it can put you in. Its a very special and unique type of electronic and it deserves its praise. My father first got me into psytrance with artists like GMS and IM so its always going to have a special place in my heart. The Ravers are really nice sometimes theyre tripped out space cadets on drugs but alot of the time they are kind of new agey nice people who are partial to dance music.


Here are the Top Artists to get you into Psy Trance:
Growling Mad Scientists
Infected Mushroom
Astral Projection
1200 Micrograms
Shpongle
Hallucinogen
Astrix
Vibasphere

I think to listen and download these you have to make an account on the website which is a drag but I promise it is worth it these mixes are bomb!

Mothership by Alecsey
Star Burst by Outrunner
General Psy Trance search on House-Mixes

Obscure Genres : Dungeon

"The Dungeon Sound" is a subgenre of dubstep which is a subgenre of electronic music. Dubstep started in the 90s it's a mix of hip hop style beats  (the step) and deep often wobbly basslines  (the dub). Now the dungeon sound or dungeon sound dubstep or dungeon dubstep or just dungeon is defined as deep dark dubstep very very low bass with dark gritty soundscape and morbid vocals. It's really slow and most of it sounds like just that with deep wobbles mixed in with a deep bass and a slow minimal dubstep beat.

I've been listening to this since soon after I got into dubstep from an indie blog of a London underground dj who invited a guest to make a mix for his blog and then another person also made a mix and these two mixes were dungeon sound and I really liked it so I started researching and got into it and I even have my own 2 hour long dungeon mixtape:

Black Widow by Catapilla on Mixcloud

Last.fm doesn't have a listing for top dungeon artists but dubstep forum does so here it is artists like: Kryptic Minds, SP:MC, LX One, J:Kenzo, DJ Madd, Lurka, TMSV, Benton, Icicle, Ben Verse, Sleeper, District, V.I.V.E.K., Antics, Subreachers, Thelem, Triky. This is the forum thread dedicated to this style music right [here]. The original mix I heard the author took it down maybe I can reload it later somewhere but the 2nd mix I heard is [here].

Obscure Genres : Dark Cabaret

Dark Cabaret Music is essentially like Gothic or dark circus and cabaret music. The aesthetic is important to the genre is really is just goth meets Cirque Couture. They say it is inspired by Weimar Era Cabaret, Burlesque and Vaudeville. The idea you wanna go for with dark cabaret is like a poor traveling circus who is out casted and can only get gigs in bad parts of town. The whole goth thing fits right in and you ofttimes find dark cabaret songs talking about grotesque or tragic events. Storytelling is a big part of the music you wanna tell a chilling tale about be able to act it out like theater but dark theater accompanied by music.

There dark cabaret fashion is excellent it's my favorite thing and I try to incorporate Cirque into my daily dress because I'm avid about the circus and goth and dark cabaret I feel right at home with. The dress is goth + circus like I mentioned before. The music you hear circus waltzes, cabaret songs and polka rock type stuff it's never really electronic music it's real classical instruments you would find in a circus or gypsy band. The most popular artist has got to be dresden dolls which are wonderful but I personally think circus contraption is my favorite group. They do a whole live circus show using their songs and the albums are amazing.

 

Top Artists:

Voltaire 

The Tiger Lillies

Vermillion Lies

The Dresden Dolls

Evelyn Evelyn

Beat Circus

Circus Contraption

Obscure Genres : Gabber

Gabber Baby! In Europe this isn't so obscure but in the usa it is. It's also known as Rotterdam Techno. So I've loved gabber for a pretty long time since I was a like 13 years old I've listened to this shit. It's basically the heavy metal of electronic music. At that time I listened to alot of punk rock and metal music all goth status but my true passion lies with EDM I'm a raver at heart and it affects me the most out of other kinds of music. Anyways this music is 160-200BPM, uses a distorted bassline with trance, techno and electro riffs or screaming / disturbing vocals. It's the dark side. It's Evil techno lol. It can be happy the more old Skool gabber is fun and bouncy but modern Gabber like angerfist is fast and sinister. If you like heavy bass and insane drops with 200bpm distorted kicks you'll love this too. Some may think it's not creative enough not involved enough but gabber isn't about creative it's about hardcore music and this is the best of it. On a side note there's even a dance to go rough this music it's called hakken. I might talk about dances later

Not to say it isn't possible to be creative. I believe some of the mixes I've done of gabber music are creative. They are structured a certain artistic way and the way I DJed the mixes was influenced by the artistic experience I was trying to conjure up. Here are my gabber mixes:

Nokturnika by Catapilla on Mixcloud

El Demento by Catapilla on Mixcloud

U WOT M8?! by Catapilla on Mixcloud

Top Artists via last.fm give em a listen :)

Angerfist

Neophyte

3 Steps Ahead

DJ Sharpnel

Evil Activities

The Prophet

Helblinde

Endymion

Obscure Genres : Neurofunk

So Neurofunk. The name is kinda weird. This is a more  darker sounding subgenre of drum and bass electronic music. It started around 97 in London and got its name from critics saying it sounded like funk but done differently thus neurofunk.

It's close relatives in my opinion are jungle,  darkstep and intelligent.

The music is good it's kinda like jump up dim and bass but without that usual bum tat dida dida bum tat and more unusual usually more like a bum bump bump doot... doot... do da bum bum bum blat... blat.. blat dut dut. You probably can't really understand that but that's what it's kinda like as best as I can put it in a blog.

They usually use a dark gritty bass stab as the synth melody to a track and emphasize it with the drum and bass kicks and snares and what not usually a serene soundscape for the breaks and build up then they drop dirty neurofunk style basslines that emphasize darkness and a feeling of sudden anxiety after being in a happy place. That's what it's like to me and that's definitely interesting and artistic in my book. I enjoy it. I made a mix of mostly spor he's a producer spor is actually just the name for his drum and bass projects his name is really Jon Gooch. But anyways I made a mix you can listen to it it's neurofunk.

Sugar High by Catapilla on Mixcloud

Top Artists via last.fm give em a listen :)

Noisia

Spor

Black Sun Empire

Phace

Calyx & TeeBee

Ed Rush & Optical

Black Sun Empire & Noisia

Mefjus