vaporwave
Nostalgic synth aesthetic
Vaporwave is a musical and visual aesthetic that emerged online in the early 2010s, characterized by slowed-down samples of 1980s and 90s smooth jazz, elevator music, and corporate muzak, paired with glitchy imagery of outdated technology, Japanese text, and pastel colors.
The genre satirizes and nostalgically embraces consumer capitalism and retro-futurism simultaneously.
I've been listening to vaporwave while studying.
The aesthetic has influenced fashion, graphic design, and internet art broadly.
Pale, gentle shade
- neonInert illuminating element
- glitchMinor system fault
- palm treesTropical plants with fronds
- marble statuesCarved figures in polite rock
anaglyph · pink · purple · teal · chrome · dolphins · Windows 95 · pixel art
Analog tape format
- cassetteMagnetic audio cartridge
- floppy diskFlexible magnetic storage medium
- Windows 951995 PC platform
- MacintoshApple's computer line
CRT monitor · dial-up · Netscape · GeoCities · screensaver · error messages · loading screens · LaserDisc
Preoccupation with acquiring goods
- capitalismPrivate profit-based economy
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- kitschTasteless, garish art
- utopiaImagined perfect society
dystopia · commodification · late capitalism · corporate · advertising · mass production · simulacrum · pastiche
Extracting subset for study
Hazy and fantastical
- etherealDelicate beyond earthly measure
- liminalAt a threshold
- uncannyEerily beyond normal
- distortedMisshapen from original form
otherworldly · hallucinatory · disorienting · time dilation · melancholic · hazy · floating · disconnected
Years from eighty-nine backward
- nineties1990-1999
- arcadeArched passageway or gaming hall
- mallEnclosed shopping center
- memoriesStored past experiences
youth · analog · consumer culture · Walkman · MTV · infomercials · home shopping · yuppie
pastel
Pale, gentle shade
- neonInert illuminating element
- glitchMinor system fault
- palm treesTropical plants with fronds
marble statues · anaglyph · pink · purple · teal · chrome · dolphins · Windows 95 · pixel art · geometric shapes
VHS
Analog tape format
- cassetteMagnetic audio cartridge
- floppy diskFlexible magnetic storage medium
- Windows 951995 PC platform
Macintosh · CRT monitor · dial-up · Netscape · GeoCities · screensaver · error messages · loading screens · LaserDisc · Betamax
consumerism
Preoccupation with acquiring goods
- capitalismPrivate profit-based economy
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- kitschTasteless, garish art
utopia · dystopia · commodification · late capitalism · corporate · advertising · mass production · simulacrum · pastiche · alienation
sampling
Extracting subset for study
reverb · echo · ambient · dreamy · elevator music · muzak · looped
dreamlike
Hazy and fantastical
distorted · otherworldly · hallucinatory · disorienting · time dilation · melancholic · hazy · floating · disconnected · timeless
eighties
Years from eighty-nine backward
memories · youth · analog · consumer culture · Walkman · MTV · infomercials · home shopping · yuppie · obsolescence
- genresaction, comedy, detective fiction, fantasy, horror
- music genresblues, pop, jazz, rock, classical
- art stylesimpressionism, surrealism, cubism, realism, pop art
- aesthetic stylesminimalism, vintage, retro, bohemian, industrial
- music trendsBeatlemania, disco fever, MTV era, streaming, rave culture
- retro aestheticsart deco, art nouveau, mid-century modern, vintage posters, pixel art
vaporwavesynthwave
Eighties-inspired electronic genre
outrun · drum and bass · thrash metal · gabber · punk rock
vaporwavefuturism
Study of tomorrow's possibilities
cyberpunk · progressive rock · avant-garde · modernism · accelerationism
vaporwaveacoustic music
Sound without amplification
folk music · traditional music · roots music · acoustic · live performance
wave, wavy, waves, vapor, wavering, evaporation, vaporous, vapors, vaporize