What is Vaporwave?

First and foremost, Vaporwave (or at least the early days of it) is what many consider as a comment on commercialism and consumerism, mainly during the 80s and 90s. By warping the music from that era and recontextualizing it into a dreary, haunting song, the songs themselves echoed both the emptiness and the longing for a time long gone. Vaporwave, in a way most would consider impossible, both embraces and denies these capitalistic features that were so prominent in the past, and incorporates these feelings into music. Most artists in the current scene of vaporwave don’t make their music for this purpose anymore, instead opting for a general approach of niche nostalgia.

At its core of musical design, vaporwave is what could be considered as a ‘post genre’, or a genre that uses conventions of a genre while breaking most rules of that genre, effectively evolving from it, hence the ‘post’ part. The odd thing about Vaporwave is that it is not a post-genre to any genre in particular, which almost excludes it from the category of a post-genre (since usually the rules are broken of a specific genre). Vaporwave can be used to recontextualize almost any music through its usage of modifying and repurposing the samples of music it uses, leaving the listener with a song that feels both distant and close to it at the same time.

The only problem with Vaporwave that could stunt its growth is the time range it clings onto for dear life. Since music almost exclusively from the 80s and 90s (and occasionally from one decade forward or backwards) is used, this shows that vaporwave feeds on nostalgia, which admittedly, is an open selling point of the genre. If the genre itself requires nostalgia and looking back upon the past for inspiration, what will happen in only just one generation, when the newest creators of vaporwave look back upon a time like the late 00s and the ever growing 2010s, where our culture revolves around nothing but nostalgia, longing for a better time rather than creating one ourselves. What will there be for vaporwave to recontextualize then?

Vaporwave also defines itself by its aesthetic, which you will most often seen spelled obnoxiously in the Fullwidth font (ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ). The dictionary defines aesthetic as ‘A set of principles underlying and guiding the work of a particular artist or artistic movement.’, and that is exactly what the ‘aesthetic’ of vaporwave is. Vaporwave is one of the few genres where presentation of an album in its visual design can either make or break your album. Vaporwave relies heavily on nostalgia in visual design also, incorporating elements of retrofuturism, the vibrant and piercing colors of the 80s, and beautiful, but simplistic design. The genre itself exudes nostalgia from every aspect it uses, and the covers of the albums are no exception, even if they do break the previously mentioned rules. For example, the album Late Night Delight by Saint Pepsi, a large figure within the vaporwave community, depicts Mac Tonight, an old character used by Mcdonald’s as a campaign throughout the 80s.

Another huge part of vaporwave is the anonymity of the artists in the genre. Very few of the people in the vaporwave community make their identity public, and information on them, if it exists at all, is usually only revealed by accident. As said in an interview with Hong Kong Express (another big figure in the vaporwave community), he commented, “This is why I think producers shouldn’t divulge their real names or pictures, or anything else about them when presenting themselves. When I listen to a vaporwave album, I want to be captured in the moment that the producer has tried to create with their aesthetic choices, and not thinking about them making the music on their DAWs in their apartments or houses.”, adding that “When I got more into vapor and discovered who some of these artists were behind the mask, it kind of ruined the buzz for me a little bit. One of my favourites is still ECO VIRTUAL, because I have no idea who they are. To me, ECO VIRTUAL is the weird company who makes “atmospheric research” weather channel music. If I ever found out Eco Virtual was “Billy Orange” or whatever, it would ruin it a little bit for me.” (Eco Virtual being another artist).

What are the main subgenres of Vaporwave, and what defines them?

Eccojams is one of the earliest recognized subgenres of vaporwave, and is defined by the usage of older pop songs, then chopping them up and rearranging, editing, and looping them to create a new song. Very little extra samples or sounds are used in Eccojams albums. Chuck Person, an alias of Daniel Lopatin, had this to say about Eccojams Vol 1, the first recognized Eccojams album that he created: “[I] take music I like, […] loop up a segment, slow it down, and put a bunch of echo on it—just to placate my desire to hear things I like without things I don’t.”
When people think about ‘classic’ or ‘traditional’ vaporwave, this is one of the genres that is thought of.

Utopian Virtual is another subgenre that stemmed from early vaporwave, specifically that which was presented by Far Side Virtual, an album put out by the prestigious experimental artist James Ferraro, who had previously been into the noise and ambient genres. The album itself used elements of noise music and what would later be considered vaporwave, using the sounds of commercials, technology, and other sounds that sounded like it was produced commercially, such as elevator music and muzak. The sounds that Utopian Virtual music creates are usually intended to make a vision of a beautiful utopian future (hence the Utopian part), most of them being sleek and minimalist, not unlike the retrofuturism of the late 90s to early 2000s.

Faux-Utopian is the contrasting element to Utopian Virtual. While the premise of the music’s construction is the same, its purpose is the polar opposite of Utopian Virtual’s. While the latter seeks to create an ideal future, Faux-Utopian creates a future of decay and emptiness. Where cheerful jingles and sounds once reigned, their replacements are dark, sinister, and overbearing. Even in a Faux-Utopian album with minimal sound going on, you’ll feel oppressed by an invisible force. To create this effect, techniques from the Eccojams subgenre are also implemented.

Hypnagogic Drift is considered one of the earliest forms of vaporwave, and true to its name, its purpose is to create an atmosphere of drift off to sleep, but being just in between the two states. It mixes the usual conventions of vaporwave and mixes them with ambient styles, creating a sound just in the back of your head, aiding you in creating the hypnagogic state that this music embodies. A lot of Hypnagogic Drift uses computer graphics and old technology prominently, even more than other subgenres.

Broken Transmission is an odd form of vaporwave, and some are reluctant to try it at first, since it can be radically different than what it expected of the genre. Sounds of commercials and advertisements are chopped up into small parts, then repeated and warped in sequences to create of feeling of a tv with a broken transmission, as the name implies. Many vaporwave fans classify it as being noise music in addition to being vaporwave due to the lack of a beat or rhythm in many examples of the subgenre.

Mallsoft is another subgenre, comprised of traditions used in Faux-Utopian to create the empty atmosphere of a plaza, store, or mall. Muzak is used traditionally as a base, then is edited to become more empty and washed up to create the feeling of walking through aisles or a void, purchasing products from a store with no employees. Mallsoft is one of the easiest of vaporwave subgenres to start off with, as it is very easy for listening and simple to visualize with.

Late Night Lo-Fi is a subgenre very similar to Eccojams, also using traditions from Utopian Virtual and Faux-Utopian to create a retro-futuristic landscape. While Utopian Virtual and Faux-Utopian usually heavily utilize vaporwave’s origins in consumerist commentary, Late Night Lo-Fi is mostly devoid of this, and simply wants to create a world for the listener to explore. The worlds created by Late Night Lo-Fi are usually not as sinister or bleak as those used in Faux-Utopian, but are not as utopian as those mentioned in Utopian Virtual. Instead, the visuals are very devoid of feeling, giving the listener their choice of how they should feel about the landscape presented to them.

VHS Pop is an offshoot of Late Night Lo-Fi that eventually became one of the most popular subgenres to create for. It mixes the visual style of Late Night Lo-Fi with a more upbeat feel to the music, creating a happier landscape and more rhythmic music. In addition, while Late Night Lo-Fi is usually very low fidelity (meaning that it sounds very cheaply produced, as to add to the effect of its nostalgia, sounding like it was off of a cassette tape), VHS Pop usually will take this a little bit forward and apply VHS effects and distortion to achieve this effect.

Future Funk is an offshoot of VHS Pop, spawning from the seeds of a subgenre already sprouting from another subgenre. Future Funk does away with the obsession VHS Pop had with low fidelity and presents its music in a clean fashion. Most of what it does enhances the music it samples rather than distorts or edits, and in many cases the sounds can be original. Because of this lack of sampling, many people say that Future Funk is not vaporwave, though it hasn’t been removed as a subgenre due to it being close enough.

Vaportrap is an oddity of a subgenre. Starting with the album Blank Banshee 0 by Blank Banshee, Vaportrap uses both elements of trap beats and the sampling nature of vaporwave to create what could be considered both a Trap and Vaporwave song, though the style usually leans more towards vaporwave. A more recent form of vaporwave, it usually does not allude to scenarios or themes like most other styles of vaporwave does. It uses a lot of computer and early internet sounds, since they are easily complimented by the trap beat, and can even be used as the beat itself.

The Irony of Vaporwave

Vaporwave is a very ironic genre, and it especially was in its old days. Nothing it did was meant to be taken seriously, and people treated it like a secret clubhouse in its inner circles of which tiny artist was better. In this way, it had made itself almost impenetrable to the criticism hurled at it, because since it never took itself seriously as a genre, what could criticizing it do? Over the years, people started taking vaporwave more seriously as a genre, though its highlights of ironic circlejerking were not lost upon the people of the early days.

It became to the point where joke albums or albums poking fun at vaporwave were just as well produced and clever as the legitimate albums being put out, enough to classify joke vaporwave as its own miniscule subgenre, an area for those who enjoyed poking fun (and sometimes reliving) the early days of vaporwave, full of palm trees, roman busts, and slowed down pop music.

In addition, the irony of vaporwave is both its biggest strength and its biggest weakness. Due to the still existent ironic nature of itself it attempts to escape, vaporwave has put itself into a hole where it is difficult to take seriously, and most likely still will into the future. If the mishmash design of its past albums, such as Floral Shoppe, are what the public chooses to see vaporwave as (and does), then there is very little chance of it being taken seriously as a genre. In retrospect though, this also aid vaporwave, as it never intended to be popular. The underground, secret club aspect has never and will never die out, the club will just set up in a new, bigger treehouse a block away.

The history of vaporwave

Before ‘vaporwave’ was a commonly used term, there was most definitely music similar to it that used elements of vaporwave, which are now classified as ‘proto-vapor’, and though they are not the subject at hand, it is useful to acknowledge that vaporwave existed as a concept before it even started up in the small circles that gathered around a single artist at a time. In the year 2010, Daniel Lopatin, a prominent experimental musician, created a pet project known as Eccojams Vol 1, a collection of mismatched pop music, chopped into pieces, rearranged, edit, warped until they created a collage of sound that was reminiscent of a time long forgotten (or so listeners usually say). It sounded undoubtedly dreary and what many would call unlistenable. Even Daniel himself didn’t expect the popularity that it has today, only distributing them to friends through homemade cassettes, worth around $400 today.

In 2011, some of the earliest works of Vektroid, one of the most prominent members of the vaporwave community, appeared (though mostly under aliases). These include New Dreams Ltd. and Prism Genesis, released under Laserdisc Visions and Fuji Grid TV, respectively. Around this time, there was a decent following to the vaporwave community and it had become an underground genre. People were posting small amounts of good albums and the community nodded together, all knowing each other as a community, but not as people. In the remaining months of 2011, James Ferraro, the lauded experimental musician, created Far Side Virtual, an album that did not strictly fall under the scope of vaporwave, but was heavily similar to the genre to the point where many associated it with the genre. The popularity of Far Side Virtual due to Ferraro’s status allowed vaporwave to be seen under a larger scope of people.

Different artists were popping up under so many different aliases through the rest of the year that it almost wouldn’t be worth the time to catalog every release and every notable artist that appeared, especially since their anonymity and secretive design would make it terribly difficult to do research. Finally, one of the biggest events happened to vaporwave during the last month of 2012. Vektroid, under the alias of Macintosh Plus, released what is considered to be a cornerstone to the vaporwave genre, Floral Shoppe. Floral Shoppe was almost a callback to the design of Eccojams Vol 1, full of droning and twisted songs manipulated from the structure of a single song. The absurdity of the cover design (a roman bust in front of a pink and black tiled background, with the title and japanese characters in the top right) and the odd allure of the album caused many to view it, raising the popularity of vaporwave in addition.

The boom in popularity created even more albums in 2012 that are considered as hallmarks of the genre, and more and more artists that the community held in high regard were creating multitudes of music, such as Hantasi, Internet Club, Luxury Elite, Infinity Frequencies, and 18 Carat Affair, some even kickstarting their careers in vaporwave during this year. Newer vaporwave subgenres popped up as new albums were introduced that stretched the concept of classic vaporwave just slightly too far. Released on the first of January, ▣世界から解放され▣ (Liberated from the world), released by ░▒▓新しいデラックスライフ▓▒░ (New Deluxe Life), an alias of Internet Club. It was comprised of repeated short sounds that was jarring (at least for most new listeners of the subgenre) to listen to.

Eight months later in September, Blank Banshee created the album known as Blank Banshee 0, and released it to the general public, tagging what would normally be considered as a trap album if not analyzed, as a vaporwave album in addition. Vaporwave fans initially saw this odd new style of vaporwave, characterized heavily by computer and internet nostalgia, filled with 808 drums and snares, and doubted its validity. As it became immensely popular within both trap and vaporwave circles though, skeptics finally accepted the validity that this new subgenre, Vaportrap, had within the vaporwave community. The rest of 2012 ended without much of a hitch.

In the start of 2013, a new artist appeared, the now critically recognized artist formerly named Saint Pepsi (though he lost his rights to the name after PepsiCo asked him to change it). Over the span of just one month, he released three albums: new generation, WORLD TOUR, and Empire Building. His style slowly evolved over the month into something new, different from the VHS Pop and Late Night Lo-Fi that were classified as similar music. It was another subgenre, this one produced in a cleaner manner, sounding more upbeat, funkier, and crisper. Though it has been argued whether or not it is truly vaporwave, Future Funk, the genre that Saint Pepsi fathered, is an addition he provided to the vaporwave community through several albums with a style similar to Empire Building, one of the first true Future Funk albums. Though the line between VHS Pop and Future Funk can sometimes be blurred, leaving some albums left in the middle, Saint Pepsi had an undoubtable sound to his productions.

Just in the next month, he created a collaboration known as Late Night Delight with VHS Pop producer Luxury Elite, and to this day it is one of the highest appreciated albums of its time, boasting funky sounds with a less energetic feel than some of Saint Pepsi’s other albums, feeling less like Future Funk this time with the low fidelity of a VHS Pop album, but still giving off vibes that only Saint Pepsi could do. After only a couple of months, Saint Pepsi was out with another new album, his fifth that year, entitled Hit Vibes. Late Night Delight may have been popular within the vaporwave community, but Hit Vibes was popular in another way entirely, amassing over 1.5 Million views on YouTube. People outside of the vaporwave community were able to enjoy a funky album that seemed to focus in on every aspect of the childhoods of those from the 80s to early 90s, mashing up samples of artists from another time, creating something old but noticeably new music. This album truly started the discussion of whether or not Future Funk was truly vaporwave, sounding and feeling more like dance or house music rather than the style that vaporwave had. The argument is still debated to this day, with some believing it to be sample heavy dance music and others believing that Future Funk is well within its rights to be in the community.

With the rising popularity of vaporwave as a meme on the internet, many were poking fun at the genre, coming into the community only listening to more conventionally popular albums such as Floral Shoppe, and the joke albums reflected this. Many people entering the vaporwave community just to mock it thought from their listening of Floral Shoppe that the entire genre was simply slowing down pop songs and chopping them up and moving them with no particular design reasons. Their albums featured cover art mainly plastered with roman busts, palm trees, fluorescent colors, and other design choices made to poke fun at nostalgia culture and vaporwave album design. The music, as mentioned, was comprised heavily of just pop songs slowed down and rearranged in seemingly random orders. This was seen as the cause of what many called the ‘death’ of vaporwave.

Also within that year, Blank Banshee released his second album, aptly titled Blank Banshee 1, while not having the great effect it did outside of the vaporwave community as when Blank Banshee 0 was released, it was still greatly liked by those who had been fans of Blank Banshee since the release of Blank Banshee 0. Additionally, under the alias of PrismCorp Virtual Enterprises, Vektroid released two Utopian Virtual albums, Home™ and ClearSkies™, which shared a common theme. While most Utopian Virtual albums of the time were using similar samples to other styles of vaporwave, such as 80s and 90s music, these two albums used a variety of corporate sounding jingles and elevator music to portray a utopian future, and the popularity they had in the vaporwave community shifted the sampling style of the subgenre to include a new mood.

The year of 2014 started off well, and the year itself was known as the first peak of vaporwave, and the count of quality albums was at an all time high. The year started off with two Vektroid releases, and one of the more notable joke albums, created by Stereo Component, an alias of the notable vaporwave artist マクロスMACROSS 82-99, who mainly used themes of anime and Japanese pop songs in his music. Only eight days later, Macross used this alias again to co-release an album with up and coming vaporwave artist 猫 シ Corp. (Cat System Corp.) entitled Ocean Beach. Over the next couple of months, the influx of vaporwave joke albums started to slow down and the community was able to work more seriously. Just next month, 猫 シ Corp. managed to release another album, Late Night Stereo, solidifying himself as an artist in the community.

In the beginning of the year also, artist Hong Kong Express, the first owner of the Dream Catalogue label (though he left the community and gave away the label), released 浪漫的夢想 (romantic dream), starting up his new label. Hong Kong Express felt that vaporwave should tell a story, using the music as a cinematic, reflected in the composition of 浪漫的夢想. Over the years, his label picked only the best of what they were sent as demos, becoming known as one of the most prestigious labels in the community. They hosted many important albums on their label, including the originally overlooked 슈퍼마켓Yes! We’re Open.

Going seemingly unnoticed for a very long time, the artist 식료품groceries released an album known as 슈퍼마켓Yes! We’re Open, giving a new dimension to the starting subgenre of Mallsoft by expanding from the scenery of an empty mall to that of a grocery store, showing how the Mallsoft subgenre could be more versatile. Sadly, as previously said, it went unnoticed by the majority of the vaporwave community for about another year. Vaportrap was given another resurgence by the release of Mana Pool, a Vaportrap release from the artist Vaperror. Later in the year, another Vaportrap artist, Nxxxxxs (Pronounced N Five Xs), released the popular album Fujita Scale, which was a polarizing Vaportrap album, almost alternating between moody, tranquil, and exhilarating tracks. He had also produced Elevated Highway earlier in the year, though it didn’t gain much traction until after the release of Fujita Scale.

The year also marked the entrance and strongest pieces of many main contenders in the vaporwave scene today. The popular Death’s Dynamic Shroud (Stylized as dds.wmv), released 失われた時REGRET, a classic Eccojams release. The professionally recognized 2814 (A group project between Hong Kong Express and released their self-titled album, though they would have to wait another three months before their big break. 猫 シ Corp. managed to release a total of two albums that year, one with the artist Donovan Hikaru entitled Corporate Mixtape, and the other being Palm Mall, an essential Mallsoft album. Finally, there was experimentation within the vaporwave community that year. The artist HOME pioneered a new splinter genre, starting as a form of vaporwave and eventually taking a form of its own: Synthwave. Releasing the album Odyssey, it became a huge success, gathering traction outside of the vaporwave community, with the track “Resonance” from the album having over 15 million views on YouTube, and the album itself has almost 250,000. In the same year, artist George Clanton released the album Virtua.zip under the alias ESPRIT 空想, the album itself having the majority comprised of no samples, which seemed to break a major rule of the vaporwave design. However, his album undoubtedly had the vaporwave feel and structure, and started a trend of sample free vaporwave albums.

2015 also started out strong, as 2814 released their most recognized album, 新しい日の誕生 (Birth of a new day) within the first month of the year, the album itself even landing them in a Rolling Stone’s list of ‘10 New Artists You Need to Know’, describing the feel of them and their new album as ‘A late night cruise through the cyber-future dream highway’. Not many events happened for the rest of the year, and the state of vaporwave seemed great, though it was slowly approaching its inevitable decline due to fading interest. As a nail in the coffin, very little in terms of events happened in 2016 also, other than Blank Banshee returning with another album, Mega. As an internet genre, Vaporwave was destined to die out into obscurity, though its longevity was at least long enough for a good enough time of enjoyment. In 2017, there has been a noticeable lack of quality vaporwave releases, at least in comparison to the albums of old. While vaporwave will never truly die, it will revert back to its original state, with circles of the pretentious believing their obscure album is the best. Or maybe something may happen to give vaporwave the boost it needs to return. Only one thing is certain: No matter what they say, Vaporwave is Not Dead.

Famous Vaporwave Artists

Vektroid
Main Style: None
Also Makes Albums Under: ESC 不在, fuji grid tv, Laserdisc Visions, Macintosh Plus, New Dreams Ltd., Peace Forever Eternal, PrismCorp Virtual Enterprises, Sacred Tapestry, Tanning Salon, 情報デスクVIRTUAL
First Album Released: New Dreams Ltd. (July 1, 2011)
Description: One of the biggest names in Vaporwave as a whole, Vektroid had been experimenting with music for years before the genre appeared, and they took hold of it as soon as it did, releasing albums under various aliases since her first vaporwave release in 2011. Their styles can range from almost anything that you can find within traditionally styled vaporwave, and many of their albums have been recognized as some of the most popular works in the genre. With everything that Vektroid has created, there is sure to be an album from them that any vaporwave fan can connect with.

Saint Pepsi
Main Style: Future Funk
Also Makes Albums Under: Skylar Spence
First Album Released: Lazer Tag Zero (December 7, 2012)
Description: Though many may argue that Future Funk does not deserve a place in vaporwave, it is important to recognize Saint Pepsi and his roots. Starting as a producer of more traditional styles, Saint Pepsi found himself engaged with a new style of his own creation, Future Funk. With the release of Hit Vibes in 2013, Saint Pepsi put Future Funk, and by extension, the rest of vaporwave, in a broader spotlight as this album reached massive popularity even outside of vaporwave or future funk circles. Through a skirmish with Pepsico regarding his artist name, Saint Pepsi became Skylar Spence and he went on to make the music he was inspired by in his current endeavors, rather than transforming it as he had before.

2814
Members: Hong Kong Express & Telepath テレパシー能力者
Main Style: Ambient Vaporwave
First Album Released: 2814 (Oct 25, 2014)
Description: A group effort between HKE and Telepath created one of the first widely recognized vaporwave artists, the band 2814. Extending their reach using ambient styles mixed fluidly with vaporwave themes, 2814 were noticed to a larger degree upon the release of 新しい日の誕生, even appearing in a Rolling Stone article. 2814’s efforts have undoubtedly helped in the effort to show vaporwave to a larger audience, and although work from 2814 has been stagnant as of late, each current album in their discography is powerful, pushing past its subtle ambient synths and sounds to create a vivid soundscape within your mind.

HKE
Main Style:
Also Makes Albums Under: Over 20 Other Aliases
First Album Released: 浪漫的夢想 (January 29, 2014)
Description: The founder of the Dream Catalogue and a big figure in the newest wave of vapor stylings, Hong Kong Express (HKE) started his career with the release of 浪漫的夢想 and a call to reform vaporwave as what it currently was. He emphasized storytelling and themes within vaporwave albums and brought out one of vaporwave’s most unique traits, that being its ability to do the previous tasks without ever doing so blatantly with its presentation. Over his career, he spanned over many aliases and experimented with many different styles, most recently hardvapour.

Blank Banshee
Main Style: Vaportrap
First Album Released: Blank Banshee 0 (September 1, 2012)
Description: Not a vaporwave artist in the traditional sense, Blank Banshee was a huge part of the vaportrap movement that stemmed from the release of Blank Banshee 0 in 2012, though it didn’t really catch on as much until mid-2014. Characterizing his music through the nostalgia of early technology and the beginning of the internet era, he mixes beat structures most commonly found in trap music and works them in tandem with vaporwave themes and ideas. Outside of his musical career he is a recluse to the community, rarely interacting with others in it other than live shows, though he always wears a mask to conceal his identity

Eco Virtual
Main Style: Classic
First Album Released: Atmospheres 第1 (January 1, 2013)
Description: Very little about Eco Virtual is known outside of their music, having been one of the few major early vaporwave artists to keep their identity to themselves. Having pioneered the ethereal style and themes of weather themed vaporwave, Eco Virtual went on to release only a few albums within their lifespan, yet still managed to be incredibly well known for their stylings in their music. Though it has appeared that Eco Virtual has retired, due to their reclusive nature, there is no way to know if this is temporary or a permanent shutdown.

Internet Club
Main Style: Utopian Virtual
Also Makes Albums Under: ░▒▓新しいデラックスライフ▓▒░, Datavis, DJ Internet Visions, Ecco Unlimited, Memorex Dawn, Monument XIII, SunCoast Web Series, Wakesleep
First Album Released: New Millennium Concepts (December 15, 2011)
Description: Alongside Vektroid, Internet Club was one of the first large forces in vaporwave. Under his main alias, he created albums centralizing around Utopian Virtual and corporate themes, though he did experiment with different themes and styles under his other aliases, most infamously ░▒▓新しいデラックスライフ▓▒░. Under this alias he created
▣世界から解放され▣, an album filled with broken, glitchy snippets of commercials and television programming, which started the trend of Broken Transmission. Though most of his known aliases are inactive, due to his nature of using these, it is unknown if he is still making music under a new alias to this day.

Vaperror
Main Style: Vaportrap
Also Makes Albums Under: DJ CAMGIRL, Useless
First Album Released: Mana Pool (June 2, 2014)
Description: As vaportrap became a more tangible genre, many creators reached out to gain fame from the accessible style, since many traditional trap artists could put a vaporwave spin on their music. However, Vaperror did not fall under this category and took the scene by storm after he released his hit album, Mana Pool, in June of 2014. Its fluidity of simple, but resonating beats struck a chord with audiences, solidifying him as a big piece of the vaportrap style. However, Vaperror does a lot of work outside of vapor works, and the influences it has on some of his later vapor, such as Polychromatic Compiler, are very visible and show a big transition in his style from Mana Pool. With his success with his albums over the years, he has also opened up his own label, Plus100, and uses it to host a variety of albums from himself and others.

Macross 82-99
Main Style: Future Funk
First Album Released: Sailorwave (December 31, 2013)
Description: Throughout 2013, many Future Funk and vaporwave artists sprouted that found inspiration from Japanese pop and funk music, one of them being Macross. With visuals, song structure, and a name linking back to Japanese sources, it is unsurprising to find that Macross is one of the most notable names in this area of Future Funk. While vaporwave became a more serious genre, Macross embraced the irony and lack of formality the genre had previously, and uses these principles in his compositions.

Luxury Elite
Main Style: Hypnagogic
First Album Released: I (October 28, 2012)
Description: In earlier days of vaporwave, Luxury Elite released some of the highest quality of what many would consider classic vaporwave. Smooth, funky, and jazzy samples were edited and moved around to create an all-around nostalgic, hypnagogic feel that enraptured listeners in the scenes of early and later vaporwave alike. Experimenting with low fidelity in the emerging field of Late Night Lo-Fi, Luxury Elite found their stylings to be very versatile, fitting very well into whatever they tried. Luxury Elite also hosted the label Fortune 500, though sadly both the label and Luxury Elite seem defunct from the community.

Nmesh
Main Style: None
Also Makes Albums Under: Hyperlink, Metal Ballerina, スポーツのLACROSSE 82-99
First Album Released: Nu.wav Hallucinations (April 19, 2013)
Description: Traditionally a metal musician, Nmesh started making various electronic music projects in the early 2000s as Nmesh, eventually stumbling his way into the burgeoning genre of vaporwave with Nu.wav Hallucinations. His contributions to vaporwave are very eerie and dark, taking elements from styles such as Broken Transmission and making them into a fluid, almost post-vapor style of his own. His style also heavily evokes commercials and television programming from the 80s and 90s, warping them into a dark and reflective tone.

猫 シ Corp.
Main Style: None
Also Makes Albums Under: いすゞ・ピアッツァENTERPRISES, 地球
First Album Released: Special Edition (August 28, 2013)
Description: Having released over 30 albums to date, 猫 シ Corp. has experimented with many different themes and ideas, all cohesively bundled by their adherence to a generally soft and classic style, especially in his earlier works. Upon his release of Palm Mall, he became especially entranced in the Mallsoft styles, releasing several Mallsoft albums afterwards. More recently he has also become interested in introducing lo-fi techniques into his works, though unlike how older lo-fi vaporwave albums have been doing so, he uses techniques used more commonly by pure lo-fi artists.

Famous Vaporwave Labels

Adhesive Sounds
Started On: (Proxy of first album release if no response) April 1, 2014
Founded By: Unknown
Recurring Artists: CVLTVRΣ, TVVIN_PINEZ_M4LL, Ursula’s Cartridges, Donovan Hikaru, Form
Centered In: Ontario, Canada
Albums Currently in Catalog: 132
Description: Under a stretch of housebound illness, the founder of A/S, Kel, found themselves entranced in experimental music and eventually through this found the world of Vaporwave. Through studying the genre and developing abilities in graphic design, Kel eventually decided to start up a new cassette label, named Adhesive Sounds. Kel admits that while Adhesive Sounds itself doesn’t conform to any one style or visual design, the music they do accept just sort of “clicks” with them. Adhesive Sounds also manages its quality with its quantity, releasing upwards of 40 albums per year due to its heavily inclusive nature towards most forms of vaporwave and experimental music in general.

Beer on the Rug
Started On: (Proxy of first album release if no response) April 6, 2011
Founded By: C V L T S
Recurring Artists: Vektroid, Location Services, Euglossine
Centered In: Kansas
Albums Currently in Catalog: 62
Description: One of the first labels to pick up the trend of vaporwave, Beer on the Rug has hosted many influential and important vaporwave albums, as well as some of the earlier classics. As the label grew though, they expanded their usually incredibly high standards to become more efficient, leading them to be one of the biggest names in vaporwave. While they do not host as many big hits as they used to, their catalogue is very versatile in style and offers something for everyone.

Business Casual
Started On: May 10, 2013
Founded By: chris†††
Recurring Artists: Fla.mingo, Pop Up!, 静脈 v e n o, chris†††, Windows彡96
Centered In: United States
Albums Currently in Catalog: 165
Description: Business Casual is one of the most lauded labels in the vaporwave industry, boasting a catalogue of heavily varied albums in its repertoire and constantly adding more, boasting a weekly release cycle and over 150 albums in its belt. Started out of spite through the ‘secret treehouse’ nature a lot of labels would have in the early days of vaporwave, Business Casual was created to give up and coming artists a chance, and both the quality and quantity of the Business Casual catalogue reflects the incredible effort put into the label. As Bandcamp released the ability to buy the entire discography of a label or artist, the popularity of Business Casual skyrocketed, as the label offers their entire catalogue of albums at a humble price of one simple dollar. Now one of the biggest vaporwave cassette labels, Business Casual has undoubtedly evolved from its simple beginnings into a powerhouse of the modern vaporwave age.

Dream Catalogue
Started On: January 29, 2014
Founded By: Hong Kong Express
Recurring Artists: Hong Kong Express, 2814, wosX, t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者, R23X, Golden Living Room
Centered In: London
Albums Currently in Catalog: 93
Description: Founded by Hong Kong Express, Dream Catalogue lives upon the principle that HKE set with his albums: The usage of vaporwave to tell stories and set themes using only the indirect influence of the music sampled and created within its albums. Hosting many obtuse albums and styles over the years (Such as the infamous Floral Shoppe 2 and Brasil World Cup 2034), and while their catalog of albums boasts such a large number, the effort that goes into managing the standard of quality for the label is immense and it is difficult to get a release in without having it stick out as high quality. Unlike most other vaporwave labels, Dream Catalogue also supplies its listeners with cd copies of certain albums in their discography instead of sticking mainly to cassettes and vinyl. Most of the cassettes and other physicals that Dream Catalogue provides are made to be top quality and are a huge focus of the label itself.

Fortune 500
Started On: (Proxy of first album release if no response) January 29, 2013
Founded By: Luxury Elite
Recurring Artists: Topaz Gang, Saint Pepsi, Luxury Elite, ULTRA ウルトラ
Centered In: United States
Albums Currently in Catalog: 50
Description: As Luxury Elite climbed their way to the top of the vaporwave scene with release after release, they finally decided to create a label of their own, making Fortune 500. Many prominent artists listed their works on this label, as it was one of the only huge vaporwave centric labels at the time. Unfortunately, the label ended only two years later as both Luxury Elite and Fortune 500 started leaving the vaporwave scene. While short lived, the vast amount of important albums on their catalogue makes Fortune 500 needed in any list of prominent vaporwave labels.

Orange Milk Records
Started On: September 2009
Founded By: Seth Graham
Recurring Artists: Nico Niquo, Giant Claw, Death’s Dynamic Shroud.wmv, Machine Girl, Seth Graham
Albums Currently in Catalog: 101
Centered In: Ohio
Description: Originally started as a way for Seth and Keith Rankin to host their solo releases, Orange Milk Records has evolved over time to host many types of odd, experimental music in its catalog from many sources, most evident in their expansive catalog of over 75 bandcamp releases, hosting many different artists of many different styles. Orange Milk prides itself upon this, standing for music that defies the usual expectations of the genres and styles they would normally take part in and as Seth himself states, “Anything defiant is interesting to me, gross, irreverent, has no time for pleasing any genre.” Because of this, the standard of quality for Orange Milk is highly subjective when Graham picks albums to release, not turning away something that others may say is ‘bad’ or pursuing what is being called ‘good’. By keeping this standard of unconventionally styled music that is released, Seth hope that people will be able to realize the expansive and versatile nature of the Orange Milk catalogue.

Plus 100 Records
Started On: August 2015
Founded By: Jeff Cardinal (Vaperror)
Recurring Artists: Vaperror, Telepath, Remember
Albums Currently in Catalog: 28
Centered In: Georgia
Description: As he became a large name in the Vaporwave community, Jeff Cardinal (Also known as Vaperror) started the label Plus100 Records as a way to take what he saw as the next step in his music career: To help other artists have a platform and to run a vaporwave centric business of his own. Starting with the release of 超越愛 as a collaborative effort between Vaperror and Telepath テレパシー能力者, Plus100 started to make a name for itself in the industry by hosting these two prominent artists as well as picking up releases from other artists. Rather than asking for demos from artists, Plus100 seeks out talent to ensure the most quality releases possible are put onto the label, and it shows in the concise catalog, consisting of only 28 releases in the two year span that the label has been in existence. While Plus100 mainly consists of vaporwave releases, Vaperror hopes to expand the style of the catalogue into a larger expanse of electronic music. In addition, profits from Plus100 also go to charities, and a total of $500 of the money earned by Plus100 has gone to charity through 2017.