WHAT IS VAPORWAVE? The | AESTHETIC DIGITAL CULTURE

DIGITAL

The vaporwave is a natively digital artistic movement, It is a countercultural current that mixes the aesthetic and auditory with the intention of recovering elements that long ago were discredited. It was born around 2010, combining in one, all the alternative currents arising from the 80 hectares so far.

MUSIC

Musically it is a movement derived from independent genres such as the new age, city pop, smooth jazz or chillwave among others. It is about sampling and reconstructing ideas that seemed already forgotten, with the benefits and tools that new technologies provide us.

The final product is a re-contextualization of music that mixes nostalgia, technology and repetition to give us a sense of "distorted reality." A reality, which, like steam, is not material. Where repetition, or rather, its replication, creates a state of escapist trance to the material and commercial world

ESTHETIC

Aesthetics and vaporwave are two totally inherent elements, having developed a highly beautiful and recognizable visual distillation. The images used in videos are taken from mass media, and from movies and series that are part of pop culture. The focus is on bringing and amplifying the feelings of music, through visual images and artistic creativity. Japan, the Hellenistic period and Florida, are the fundamental trident that supports vaporwave branding. The contrast of a classical sculpture with Japanese letters and techno music, generates an attraction never seen and only viable in the crazy world of internet.

Sight and hearing constantly walk hand in hand in this subculture, and it becomes impossible to consume one without counting on the other.

PHILOSOPHY

It is said that this style was born from the mind of a handful of misunderstood crazy people. It is a partly nihilistic style, a dystopia that aims to parody and criticize capitalism and the consumer society, however, many specialists have indicated, that in addition to this. Vaporwave is a new psychological response, created by individuals with new pathological aspects of anxiety, sadness and depression, generated by the loneliness and isolation that occurs secondarily with the development of new technologies and the dehumanization of societies.

In addition, vaporwave is based on nostalgia, on returning past times describing them better than they ever were. Nostalgia is a feeling deeply rooted in the human condition, which for centuries, has been recreated through novels and poetry. It is believed that vaporwave is the new way we have to express nostalgia in the digital age.

STYLES

This type of music v a p o r w a v e suffers the ravages of being considered an industrial art, since it is only possible to produce it through new digital media and technologies, through the recycling of already created material. It gives off a multitude of sub-styles such as simpsonwave, retro wave, Korea Wave and many others.

Their references continue to spread, becoming increasingly complicated to handle and understand. In Spain, artists like Yung Beef and Pedro Ladroga have experimented slightly with this style, as an example, highlights the single, "No time" Pedrito music video that we ourselves have produced.

In conclusion, it can be said that these new rhythms and memes are the maximum representative of the music conceived in the modern era we live.