---
id: vapor
title: "Vaporwave"
year: 2011
category: "Sampling"
lang: en
canonical: https://nodemusic.cc/node/vapor
source: node.music
---

# Vaporwave (2011)

Sampling · https://nodemusic.cc/node/vapor

## Summary

A ghost genre born on the internet. It is an ironic epitaph to the global capitalism of the 80s, expressed through slowed-down shopping mall sounds, Japanese commercials, and Windows 95 glitches.

## Full text

Vaporwave is the first musical genre that could not have emerged without the internet and exists entirely within it. Musicians (often anonymous) engage in digital archaeology, digging up 'sonic trash' from the recent past: smooth jazz from elevators (Muzak), background music from weather forecasts, and soundtracks from corporate presentations.

Technically, the method inherits the 'chopped and screwed' hip-hop aesthetic: samples are radically slowed down, pitched down, and looped. Upbeat commercial jingles turn into a sluggish, surreal dream. This is a musical illustration of the concept of 'hauntology' — a longing for the 'lost future,' the high-tech paradise promised in the 90s but never arrived.

## Connections

### Influenced by

- [Napster / MP3](https://nodemusic.cc/node/napster.md) - ENABLED
- [Glitch / Autechre](https://nodemusic.cc/node/glitch.md) - INSPIRED
- [Fairlight CMI](https://nodemusic.cc/node/fairlight.md) - EVOLVED

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporwave