Blank Banshee - Mega album review/dissection

Clean cut, rock solid, high quality Vaporwave. This is a combination of words that sums up Blank Banshee's album "Mega." In classic Blank Banshee form, Mega takes the Vaporwave form and produces an album that applies itself to the audio/visual genre attributes confidently and almost to the T. Blank Banshee's Mega takes creative directions and paths that form an album that is indeed very much Vaporwave,but also something uniquely itself and uniquely Blank Banshee. Mega takes something old made new and makes it a bit newer again.

Mega is Vaportrap. Mega is Vaporwave hopped up on itself and it's sample sources. It feels the need to take these genre qualifiers and push them into overdrive and almost completely into the dance and hip hop direction. Most tracks on Mega feel like they exist there to make you move, though there are some exceptions (like the 13th track JUNO.) There are still the Blank Banshee ambient dreamscapes that exist, but even some of those still lay a heavy back beat in its musical environment that wants to shatter something. The album, like said before is Vaporwave, but it does pull a pretty slick move right off of the bat that then echoes out into the rest of the album and doesn't really even try to recover it. From the opening, the album makes the statement that it wants to be high audio quality and this requires the removal of something that has and is pretty prevalent in Vaporwave and it's assorted micro and subgenres. What Mega removes from this album is essentially the "lo-fi" of Vaporwvae. The lo-fi sound quality, either produced artificially or natural occurring, is a consistently occurring formation in Vaporwave and its sub and micro genres. Beyond the sampling, it's the constant reminder of Vaporwave's nostalgic roots and time period based musical influence and the technology and media of those eras. But this album takes the low-fi into check and says it doesn't need it. The source samples are enough to place its chronologic pallet of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. And it is. Mega lives whole-heartedly in these times and places and the tech and assorted media they produced. From videogames to indie rock, this album makes positive and great musical use of these musical worlds and ambiances, all contributing to the Vaporwave tonal environment of this album, but also the quality of the music as well. Guitar strums and video game music are blended into a flurry of fast beats and pin point placement that create something very Vaporwave and very Blank Banshee. Something that could have easily ended up as a weird mess ends up as a neatly layered musical feat in Blank Banshees hands.

Mega, being an October 2016 release, is far from the grace period of Vaporwave in 2012 (masses were already stating and further still from the birth of the genre in 2010 (most voices consider the genre dead since 2014.) What this means is that Mega is mostly free from scrutiny from purists or really in general from most scrutiny beyond "why is vaporwave still a thing" or "vaporwave is a dead meme since 2014." The album did fare well in critical reception but that's only a handful of overall opinions. Because Blank Banshee with the release of Mega was really the one giant (popularity-wise) artist producing Vaporwave and releasing at the time, a certain freedom comes with that. Of course there was and still is a community of artists making this kind of music (and always will be.) mega is free to do what it wants with the Vaporwave formula with confidence, and it does so. Looking at Vaporwave now in 2016, there is so much room for change and things are changing. Artists all over the this musical environment on the internet are doing different things with this formula and creating different things and experimenting within Vaporwave. And with Mega, Blank Banshee does his part with this. It isn't flipping the script upside down, but it is a subtle shift for the artist and a shift Vaporwave and its subgenres.

Blank Banshee's album before this, "1" was released way back in 2013, which is a long time when it comes to the internet, and Vaporwave and its sub and microgenres are very much internet-reliant. If you look back, fans were waiting for this with strong anticipation. Three years is forever on the internet. And with Blank Banshee delivering solid albums back to back before this one with "0" and "1", the anticipation and waiting is emphasized for people looking forward to his next release and fans. Seemingly for a majority of the waiting audience, Mega delivered. It's not anti-anti-punk or reverse Vaporwave something, but it does its part in being a part of the Vaporwave shift in 2016 and onward. Like said before, it's clean cut and rock solid (like somebody took the sharpest knife they could find, heated it up a bit and cut the smoothest diagonal section off of the Vaporwave soap block and made sure to take off some of that root too.) It's also subtlety unique, like said before.

Let's look at "Gunshots", the 4th track on Mega. It contains, basically, videogame sounds from the 90s, classic 2000s-2010s era dance samples about drinking, and Wonderwall. Yes, that Wonderwall. On top of all this there is the classic quick loud present funky bass that is practically a Blank Banshee staple. The song uses Wonder Wall as its flourishing intro statement even though it speed its p and place with it is recognizably Wonder Wall. It then uses a simple transition to then present the hook which is essentially the lyrical and tonal antithesis of Wonder Wall because it shifts into a 2000s-esque dance-like sample that is just some guy saying "shots" and then it continues the song on top of that. It's like saying "screw what this song is trying to say, maybe, not really, maybe." It's just such a jump to the future of vapid dance lyrics and that's what makes it so addictive to listen to. It's not really necessarily trying to say anything but it's slightly thematic, and on top of this the music is incredibly catchy. The bass is hard and it's an itchy thump that works into the brain. Work Blank Banshees bass string work into this and it's a slight masterpiece. It's just the minimal thematics that make the track seem to come off with a heavier value, it isn't entirely vapid, it's almost saying that something is vapid in comparison to something. It feels different because "Gunshots" blends two absolutely different source samples together. It's a work of synthesis. Take two things that don't go together, use Vaporwave to make them work. Indie rock like isn't really something used on Vaporwave classically, but it's not like some jerk is making sure it's forbidden. It's classic 90s media so it fits in perfectly to the defining genre attributes, but it feels different because it isn't often heard (if at all) inside of this genre. "Gunshots" blends two main source samples that are on very different musical points and works them together into a rock solid Vaporwave track with minimal seems.

"XENOS" is the 8th track on this album that is an example of how Blank Banshee can make a Vapoirtrap track that sounds completely entirely consumed with the feelings and tone of Vaporwave's genre defining attributes and guidelines without infusing the track with consistent recognizable samples layered in and out of the track if not totally based in whole (like Macintosh Plus' early ambient Vaporwave debut Floral Shoppe) on the samples that are irresistibly recognizable. Rather, XENOS finds a way to exude Vaporwave and the classical Vaporwave tone without touching any vocal samples or any media clips that are widespread or mainstream legible as samples even in the first place. Samples in the first place aren't even easily found for this song unless you're one of the lucky few who can pick them out due to being exposed to the samples earlier or just being able to tell due to musical experience or program and software experience, and that's a light guess. So what "XENOS" does to accomplish this is apply itself to the light musical ideas that Vaporwave follows and simulates the tonal connotation of those genre defining attributes in the song. It asks, what feels like Vaporwave? What makes something feel that way? Why does it feel that way? What old media, old tech, things that were audible en masse in the 80s, 90s, and 70s and how do those things affect why we think of Vaporwave as what it is? What connotation from those sounds makes those things so vital to the personality of this genre type? Is it just nostalgia? "XENOS" answers back "no." There's a way to create something that feels like it sounds old. Something, some type of sound usage, that emits the same feeling, but is in fact a recent production or creation. So "XENOS" uses custom recently created sounds to imitate the sounds and feelings of those samples from those past, to imitate what is classically sampled for Vaporwave and its subgenres. It creates Vaporwave mostly from the ground up. And on top of this it is undeniably Vaportrap with it's crunchy and fast beats and viscous bass, all dance music influence. Then, not kidding, it still has its minor moments where it feels unique to the genre itself. The track takes and uses the light strumming of a guitar that comes just after transition points after the hook, or chorus you could say. This ultimately adds a flare that also makes the song feel different within the confines of this genre. So "XENOS" as a whole is a binding work that builds the tone of Vaporwave almost from scratch but yet also is able to still feel unique within the genre thanks to the usage of creative sampling.

Let's mention the track "My Machine",the 2nd track on Mega. My machine is something that seems more "classic Vaporwave" when it comes to just how heavy the track relies on it's single sample, but of course this comes with the difference of overall being a part of the faster, more dance inspired subgenre of Vaporwave called Vaportrap so it is faster than something like, say Macintosh Plus, had put out in the past. But what this song does is just, put simply, real cool. It takes the yelling from the main source sample and utilizes it like a vocalist. It repeats and replies sections, as well as introducing new ones throughout that keep up with the up and down pace of the song at its lightning speed and comes off like there is a "singer" for this track. It's not something super unique to the formula, but it does something with the sampling that is very engaging and fun to listen to. basically, having somebody scream "my machine" at you over beats is something enthralling. It's so rapid and nonstop that it doesn't hurt to be yelled at. It is like enjoying a nice soda with high acid and carbonation content that you feel like should be hurting your mouth, but instead it goes down smooth. This is likely due in part to how the sampling just kind of doesn't stop. You have your initial jump on to the shouting train and then it all just kind of seamlessly flows together. "My Machine" becomes entrancing. it's just a slight amount of unique thrown into something that flows perfectly with the normal themes of Vaportrap.


Blank Banshee's third album Mega is a success at mixing the old made new again with new techniques and ideas that make it a bit newer once again. It synthesizes what makes up Vaporwave with some things that don't necessarily represent it all the time. It takes a look at what it needs and throws away genre conventions that it doesn't, like lo-fi buzz and noise. Mega is a unique musical Vaportrap experience that is a treat for fans and newcomers alike. It is a creative part of this ever growing and changing internet-influenced music genre. This isn't Vaporwave as the meme, this is Vaporwave as listening material.

Vaporwave and Internet Meme Culture Influence

It's likely that if you're reading this right now, you understand that Vaporwave is not a "serious" genre. That with every song that takes some alternative creative risk, or maybe just does something different in general, that there's also something else there in the audio or in any accompanying visuals that promotes thoughts or comments in the form of "A E S T H E T I C," "F E E L  T H E  V A P O R," or "I M  J U S T  A  K I D." That every song or video that conforms to the Vaporwave genre comes with the attitude either from the audience or from the work itself that it isn't being or doesn't want to be taken seriously. Vaporwave is one part self-indulgent joke and one part experimental music genre. What makes things more interesting is that the joke part is consistently in an almost always present state of exposure that can make it difficult for newcomers to understand what exactly is going on with the genre in the first place. If they raise their hand for help the only responses they'll often receive are things in the vain of "T H A T S  H O W  V A P O R W A V E  I S  S U P P O S E D  T O  W O R K." This is due to the large part of the Vaporwave audience present on media sharing sites that is very much involved in participating in the joke, or meme culture, of the Vaporwave genre. The meme culture here holds a fair amount of responsibility for creating how we think of Vaporwave today in terms of visuals and vocabulary but also for how the music itself sounds. The joke part, the meme part of this genre has strongly affected how Vaporwave sounds and has sounded in the past, even going so far as to help introduce and sustain micro-genres. You can just take a look at Chuck Person's Ecco Jams Vol. 1, considered one of the founding Vaporwave genre albums that was also  produced as a joke, as an example of this.

So what is meme culture? What even is a meme exactly? Let's define it basically. Think of a meme simply as a fad joke that lasts for a limited time, is generally exclusive to the internet, and requires the internet to pass along and grow. The fad joke only ends when the general public decides the joke has gotten old, thus it is named a "dead meme." The second part of this is that these are almost entirely done with a dry sense of humor (whenever one is posted or interacted with.) To not approach it or respond with completely unsubtle dryness would be the contrary of a point. You post or respond with something completely absurd, but you do it because you don't care, it isn't important enough or "serious" enough to be taken seriously. If there is a general tone for being "memey," unsubtle dry absurdity is a short way to put it. This is where Vaporwave comes in. Frequently referred to as a "meme genre," Vaporwave promotes this same sort of attitude among a select number of it's audience. This is most likely because either some of the musical ideas are so weird or simple (like having an entire album that's almost entirely slowed down old songs) or the accompanying visual aesthetic is so stylized (everything being themed thickly in old tech and media from the 80s, 90s and sometime 70s) that it can't be taken seriously. Vaporwave is so recognizably Vaporwave, so ridiculously and densely involved in its own audio visual scheme that it has to be taken more as a joke by certain community members. Maybe because some of these decisions in the audio visual department are seen by some members of the consuming audience as silly or non-serious decisions and thus taken as jokes. But despite the reasoning, since the beginning of Vaporwave's musical appearance, the "memey" side of things, the joke side of the audience and creative population in the genre have been a closely connected part of it. The meme culture surrounding Vaporwave since its birth has helped change and evolve the music itself.

Vaporwave wouldn't be here without Youtube. Youtube helped push Vaporwave to peak popularity and a majority of Vaporwave consumption is done through this platform. This isn't because all of this music just so happens to be on this platform en masse, it's due to the fact that Vaporwave's visual aesthetic is so completely vital to what Vaporwave is (mashing old tech and media of the 70s, 80s and 90s.) Because of this the visual aesthetic that so closely accompanies this music is not just vital to the sound and tone of the genre, but it's inclusion in most (if not all) Vaporwave media consumed makes it subject to "memery", or parody. Audience sees it on Youtube, creates parody (of the audio, visuals, or both) that goes back into Youtube. A great example of this creative process in action is the micro-genre "Simponswave."

Simponswave came around in in early 2016 and with Vaporwave starting up in 2010, this is far from the genres 2012 grace period in internet time. Most audiences were calling Vaporwave a "dead meme" by 2014. Simpsonswave is a series of still-growing Youtube videos that are based on a pretty simple formula. Take classic The Simpsons episodes, stitch and edit them together to portray a simple story or theme, add vaporwave or soft electronic music on top, and add claasic Vaporwave visual attributes over the video such as VHS lines, codeine purple, and cheesy or glitched visual transitions. Simponswave was started up by a Youtube user called Lucien Hughes with a video called Sunday School which utilizes Blank Banshee's "Teen Pregnancy" off of the album 0. It grew in popularity then and there and drew in a big following for a few months. What's interesting about Simpsonswave is once creators mixed the tracks with a light stiched together story from older Simpsons episodes it radically changed the tonal atmosphere and really created something different. Songs could get more sad such as in "Crisis", but songs could also become hopeful or nostalgic like in the video "Millhouse 1996." This along with the addition of periodic quotes or audio clips from The Simpsons used as well really topped off and made Simponswave into its own transformative creative experience. Once the fall of 2016 swung in, the micro genre had lost a lot of steam with a fair amount of people already throwing it into "dead meme" territory. Though Simpsonswave has so soon already been claimed lost accounts like Lucien Hughes still do occasionally put out Simpsonswave audio visual pieces.

So what happens when somebody wants to do a parody of really just the music alone? It's simple, you get mash-ups and edits. People wanting to take the music and alter it so it becomes something different in order just to tease at it or maybe to actually insult a certain aspect. Just searching "Macintosh Plus" and "Blank Banshee" on Bandcamp's website causes a massive influx of audience created parody material to pop up. Everything from "Floral Cop" to "Death Banshee" appears. "Floral Cop" takes the opening themes from classic cop or detective procedural television programs, much in the vein of Macintosh Plus' Floral Shoppe. Then "Death Banshee" Mixes an assortment of Blank Banshee and Death Grips tracks to create something new. Once again, these follow in the same kind of meme tone. It's done for fun, don't take it too seriously, this is silly. Which is what makes something that works out very well musically but starts out as just a joke very interesting.

As an example, look at the Youtube video Resonance/80808. It's a mash up of a Death Grips and ambient electronic song called "Resonance" (a track also later used in short Simpsonswave videos) from the artist Home. Looking at how the video is flared with the classic Vaporwave visual aesthetic, flashes of purple and the hand-drawn face of Death Grips' lead Vocalist, MC Ride, we can see this video falling in line with the host of other similar Youtube videos that are also kind of done as a joke. What makes this one different though is that the mash-up comes out as a high quality musical example that exceeds the expectations of the Death Grips mash-up video meme. The audio in both songs is only tweaked minimally but is done in such a way that causes both tracks to synthesize beautifully. It gets more interesting when you see that the comments section, that on this kind of video would normally filled with comments like "D E A T H  G R I P S" and "A E S T H E T I C" has audience members genuinely taken back and appreciative of the track in the video. What it does here is sort of break the meme you could say. It breaks the tone of the meme culture in these videos and has people participating in appreciating the musical form. Of course there are still spaced lettered comments and absurd humor still present in this comment section, it is Youtube after all.

The last example here is the album "Vapor.wav" from December 2016. Currently audible on Bandcamp the album comes from Odaxelagnia. What this album does is fuse the the meme culture reception of Vaporwave over the last few years with the creative, more direct, not-so-memey side of the Vaporwave genre. What comes out is an album that on one hand knows, right down from the visuals to the music, that sometimes Vaporwave is silly and can be taken very, very lightly, but on the other hand makes an effort to create something that sounds great and is unique within the genre. "Vapor.wav" is a quality Future Funk album that feels different, feels like it understands the genre, and has an opening track with a sinister edge that knocks the socks off.

Meme culture is ingrained and intertwined in the Vaporwave genre. The jokes and the parodies produced by this will be around as long as there is Vaporwave to listen to and to watch. People constantly want to reinvent and recreate, this causes the music to undergo constant transformation as well in response. Vaporwave reacts to the meme culture surrounding it and is manipulated because of it, but sometimes Vaporwave is just a meme all on it's own and happy accidents occur. Looking back at Chuck Persons' Ecco Jams Vol. 1, the album produced as a joke that some say helped create the genre, maybe Vaporwave is the happy accident.

A Light Genre History of Vaporwave and Relating Genre Elements

So where exactly did what we call Vaporwave come from? Where did all these sounds and following sonic qualities that show up in Vaporwave arrive? Aren't they just beeps and boops that sound electronic while other beeps and boops sound more real? What makes these individual and where did they come from? Well, despite Vaporwave being fairly recent musical pop-up, everything's got a history. From Aphex Twin to Macintosh Plus, this post is going to walk through some of that history.

Like was just said, Aphex Twin. Well, what's Aphex Twin's influence on Vaporwave today? Aphex Twin was a popular EDM/Techno producer in the 1990s but really hit his stride in the late 90s. Aphex twin was a popular mainstream audience by the late 90s despite having an experimental edge. Some people today might say the sound is "tryhard" or "edgy." What this is saying is that it almost has an accidental camp element. This could come from having dark sounds/themes or inserts like voice samples of "I'll eat your soul" and screaming/moaning. Either way you take it, either genuine or slightly too edgy, there are sonic elements within Aphex Twin's that can be linked up to Vaporwave. Let's look at two of Aphex Twin's biggest songs, Window Licker and Come to Daddy. First of all, both songs use a lot of vocal samples manipulated through synthesizers, now this isn't something Vaporwave now has exclusively, quite the opposite. Aphex Twin hit heavy critical claim with his latter 90s songs (you can can't 1992 as his first major achievement) and from that comes influence. Synthed voice samples are everywhere, even outside of electronic music groups. But nonetheless, synthed vocal samples do also find their spot in Vaporwave. Not just the usage of them but the amount of time they exist within the song. Vaporwave uses samples as the entire song backbone at the very least if not more in most cases generally. While Aphex Twin has lots of sample work in this track it isn't the same case. The influence still stands though. just look at the heavy vocal sampling in Macintosh Plus' Floral Shoppe. Come to Daddy is based around several vocal samples as his the other Aphex Twin track this post is bringing up, Window Licker. Window Licker is not only features an even more heavily manipulated vocal sample but also employs a consistently present bass line riff that is shifted and changed throughout. By the end, the bass taken from individual ringing notes and forced into a buzz. This kind of thing is recoverable in Blank Banshee's Ammonia Clouds, Venus Death Trap, and Hyper Object all off of the album "0." These three tracks find themselves doing a similar thing as Window Licker, but of course with their own creative style. For instance, Blank Banshee's tracks use bass that sounds much more like a physical bass guitar being plucked, sample or not.

Speaking of samples, this post wouldn't be able to talk about Vaporwave, a sample based genre of music, without talking about Plunderphonics. Plunderphonics was a sect of music coined by composer John Oswald in a 1985 essay. Plunderphonic music refers to music that is not sample based, but entirely a single sample source manipulated into a track with a beat and rhythm (sometimes this isn't also the case though.) It takes the sample and re-edits, speeds up, slows down, etc, and plays with it, but the sample source is the only thing introduced into the song (some tracks does use a backbeat though.) John Oswald has a track that is just Judy Garland from the wizard of oz saying "rainbow" from the track "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" slowed down to last over a minute. A more recent track from a Vimeo user named "jessethaulfilm" is Br Ba which takes the first episode of the show "Breaking Bad" and re-edits sounds of guns being pulled and Bryan Cranston being nervous into a punchy and quick beat. So it's easy to see the connection from Plunderphonics to Vaporwave, especially with some of the most mainstream and flagship tracks the genre has to offer being so based in a single sample area. Just look at what some call the Vaporwave album, Macintosh Plus' album Floral Shoppe. A lot of the tracks here are mainly a single sample being manipulated and played with into its own unique new track and then having a few new things placed on top (if any.)

From Floral Shoppe theres the opener, ブート(Booting.) This track is entirely the song "Tar Baby" from the artist "Sade" off of the 1985 album "Promise" just slowed down by a lot, re-edited, and with key words and parts repeated and reorder for musical effect. There are no other samples on top of this track beyond Tar Baby. "Booting" is truly one single sample edited and reshaped to make something different within  Vaporwave sonic qualities and thus at heart something within Plunderphonics' qualities as well.

Something worth mentioning in this short history is Muzak. Muzak (word trademarked back in 1954) is a term that refers to a brand ambient music that plays in elevators and stores. So how does this play into Vaporwave? These songs are most always put together to great a positive shopping or consumer environment. Because of this, most things within the designation of Muzak are almost always very soft, smooth, ambient, and attempt to put together a soothing sometimes totally harmonious musical environment. Now, some of these words do clash with some of the general attributes. Things like being constantly soft and consistently harmonious or non-dissonant/positive sounding. But at the same time some of these things work into Vaporwave well, such as ambience and a consumer environment. If you think about it, store music isn't such a ground up production anymore (but I'm no expert in the spread and usage of store music across the world) and elevator music seems to be something of the past. But that's how this jives back into Vaporwave. Exactly due to the fact that it is a bit of an older thing that has passed. Just look at Far Side Virtual.

Far Side Virtual is an album from James Ferraro that is first and foremost is an electronic Muzak work. It's a work that pulls together feelings of early computer programs and 90's/80's elevator music. Because of the aesthetic that it creates, basing itself in 80s/90s technology and consumerism ambiance, people also place it within the Vaporwave category. Though it's interesting because it does utilize samples to create its audio world (as Vaporwave and other sample based genres do), but at the same time many of the tracks and individual sounds in the album are created from the ground up. Everything from melodies to the digital voices going over menu options can often be found without base samples. So Far Side Virtual is kind of an artificial nostalgia creation that fits itself inside of the Vaporwave space due to those reaches at nostalgia within the electronic space. The same way Muzak as a whole has been reaching towards feelings of a different time and place (I.E. Nostalgia) for some time now. The influence on Vaporwave and the individuality of Muzak seems to be notable, and if anything, Vaporwave can always be found sampling Muzak for its own gain.

Lastly, Hardvapour is going to be brought up. Hardvapour is a Vaporwave subgenre that rose up in late 2015 and positioned itself in opposition to the Vaporwave sound with the release of End of the World Rave from Wolfenstein OS X. There's even an album titled "Vaporwave is Dead" featuring a monologue that states "...in the beginnings in the end of the world, vaporwave is dead." Think of Hardvapour as Vaporwave with a punk attitude, faster tempo, and much more musical influence from electronic dance music (like hardcore techno.) All of this, but with the core sampling and sample/aesthetic inspirations of Vaporwave. It completely considers itself the anti-vaporwave, vaporwave sound. This is something present in it's core values as a subgenre as mentioned above. It throws out the smooth muzak feelings and tones of the Vaporwave sound for something more aggressive, hard hitting, and swift. Hardvapour peaked with the release of "Hardvpour." a compilation album from DJ VLAD featuring many different Hardvapour tracks from a large assortment of producers, maxing out at 54 tracks. Since that, most say that the subgenre of Hardvapour has gone pretty quiet.

Today, Vaporwave is still changing and some say it's having it's "second life." We have albums that are very much emphasizing the new age roots of the genre like the self-titled album from New Gaia, and we also have Future Funk tunes from the artist Odaxelagnia and their recent LP "Vapor.wav" that are able to combine the hyperbolic and satirical view of the early Vaporwave visual aesthetic with a unique musical approach to make something new that satisfies the innate humour of the genre as well as the experimentation present in its identity. Vaporwave is something special. It has such a vague definition as to what it is that almost a mysticism surrounds what actually makes Vaporwave Vaporwave to the newcomer. The humor and the memes can also make that much harder, but once you clear through that fog you can clearly see how much creative opportunity exists within this and can still be defined as Vaporwave.

Blank Banshee - 0 album review

Blank Banshee's album "0" is primarily a work of ambience and techno sampled relaxed beats. The album sounds like an old computer from the mid 90s being booted up and brought into the music-scape of the 2010s, and it might as well be. A lot of the manipulated, sampled, and even created sounds come straight from the tech and computer sounds and vibrations from those days passed. At face value, this is a slow tempo electronic album and it utilizes the "past" setting to its musical advantage. Mainly because the aesthetic of Blank Banshee's "0", the nostalgic warped tones, the jazzy and dance-like melodies, and the relaxed speed. "0" comes off as un-aggressive and unforced. The album is cooperative with the listener. It doesn't force the feelings of enjoyment or ambiance into the audience's face, rather it uses its buzzing tones that drone on for sometimes song lengths of time to become enjoyable to the person listening. And this feeling probably comes up from the individual samples and tones chosen for each individual song. None of them really sting or pop in a way that feels like other modern electric music. Blank Banshee created music here that has tones that rather slide into the rest of the musical combination. This is done either by the way of slowly increasing the volume of an individual element, such as the aforementioned tones, or selecting a sample or synthetic sound that is "softer" and feels, like I said before, unforced.

Some have classified this piece as more specifically a "Vaportrap" kind of sound. "Vaportrap" being ,as the name implies, more hip hop influenced. This being usually through the samples chosen as the track backbones mixed with the beats chosen and the beat tempo. All these being closer to something hip hop influenced. This being said, the reason for the classification as "Vaportrap" sometimes is probably because of 2 or 3 tracks on here with increased tempo and definitely a more rave-type feeling or vibe to them. For one of these main culprits just look at the track "Bathsalts."

 "Bathsalts" features deep percussive elements akin to popular hip hop and dance tracks. There's a deep loose drum present throughout the entirety of the song. We get the consistent wirey flare of a rave siren as the front facing feature of the main melody. We even have the sample word and namesake "bathsalts" being played, warped, and re-warped for changing pitches and speeds past the halfway point. This track is very much a dance/hip hop song. These are the classic attributes of such a thing. It's mostly obvious that it's a dance/hip hop track after just one listen. This track as well as the tracks "Hyper Object" and "Photosynthesis" are probably the reason for the occasional classification as "Vaportrap." Those tracks all contain qualities that feel more on the "Vaportrap" side of things. Faster tempo, stinging dance type beats, loose and heavy percussion, and familiar dance aesthetics like "sirens." These songs are in contrast to the ambient Vaporwave feelings that encapsulate the rest of "0" featured in songs like "B:/ Start UP."

On the other side of the coin we have a track that fully embodies the ambient Vaporwave qualities of Blank Banshee's "0." This being "B:/ Start Up." At its heart and soul this album is an ambient electronic piece featuring full bodied buzzing electronic tones with heavy sampling and a relaxed tone. "B:/ Start up" is the thesis for the aesthetic qualities of this album. This track is basically the windows start up sound manipulate to move forward then in reverse with claps and a back beat for the whole first half. After that more tones moving at a faster speed are added. "B:/ Start Up" is an ambient, fun, and light track with buzzing, oscillating waves all inspired by the sounds of old technology.

The descriptions above may make it seem like this album is all in similar tone, but that's not true. For example the first half of "0" features three tracks all featuring (if not based around, than at the forefront) fairly complex bass melodies and bass manipulation. These tracks are "Ammonia Clouds", "Venus Death Trap", and "Hyper Object." They keep the overall "Vaporwave" feelings of the the album but still remain creative within that. "Venus Death Trap" has almost a jazzy feel to it's bass line while mixing a warped piano sample into it as well. What we get here is a puzzled but still calm feeling. All these three tracks keep that tone of calm confusion, like a maze that's easy to figure out but you're taking your own time with it because you have the whole day. Basically, it's a positive and enjoyable tone.

Blank Banshee's album "0" is one of the early flagship and entry level piece's of Vaporwave work. It's a unique and creative handful of ambient electronic that will always cause heads to nod out of enjoyment. With its classic feelings and vibrations with phasing slow electronics that have way of just sliding right into the good parts of your head, Blank Banshee's "0" is a good piece of music to check out. This is a banger.

Macintosh Plus - Floral Shoppe review

As an album, Floral Shoppe (2011) from Macintosh Plus (who also goes by the name Vektroid), is a relaxing mix of ambient dissonance and many manipulated samples from the past. It's for many among the 'mainstream' or 'netstream' the flagship seminal Vaporwave piece that represents the visual and sonic aesthetic of the genre. The album contains works that are loaded with, if not entirely composed of, samples from 80s/90s audio media and 80s/90s technology (such as computer start up and old program sounds.) This post is going to follow through and evaluate each track on Floral Shoppe, from its sonic elements to how those interior elements fall into and represent the audio qualities of Vaporwave.

1:ブート (Booting)
First off, in terms of length of the song in the context as an opener track we're looking at around three minutes. This isn't nearly the longest track on here but isn't one of the shorter ones either. The song is made entirely out a manipulated, heavily slowed down version of "Tar Baby" from the artist Sade's 1985 album "Promise." It's mostly the song playing out without much interruption, just slowed down. It feels passive and unaggressive. Periodically the artist does go back and loop some sections and play previous sections over the current, prominent sounds. At the most you have three different points in the track playing at the same time. Some people say this isn't very creative while others say it leans more experimental or playful.

2: リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー (Lisa Frank 420/ Modern Computing)
If you've only ever heard one Vaporwave track, odds are high that it's this one. Seriously, this is The Vaporwave track from anything to simple examples, but mainly, to jokes and the 'meme culture' that surrounds the genre. This track is in its entirety a slowed down version of Diana Ross' 1984 track "It's Your Move" off of the album "Swept Away." The same comments about creativity on the opener track can definitely extend to this one. This is a heavily ambient sound created here.

3: 花の専門店 (Flower Shoppe)
At this point you may be noticing a pattern of not just sampling, but making tracks almost entirely out of a sample. The sample in this track is "If I Saw You Again" off the self-titles album from Pages in 1978. In terms of editing, it's a bit more on the Booting side of things with a bit more actual editing and manipulation of the sample in the track. Opening guitar and drums are stopped and repeated at regular intervals that great a dissonant atmosphere, but a smooth one that then contrasts the slowed down version of the track when the repeating stops. It almost feels like a sci-fi neo-jazz type sound at the speed it has.

4:ライブラリ (Library)
The sample here is the track "You Need a Hero" from Pages off of their 1981 self-titled album. What we get here is a 2 minute 43 second track that is a slowed down version of the song. The only other edits that are up front made to the sample are some points where one of the main melodies is repeated and played on top of the ongoing track. Because of the slow down, the jazz vibes are made even smoother. You could say, even less crispy.

5: 地理 (Geography)
This is really interesting because this song's main sample is the underwater level theme from the 1997 Turok videogame. It's mostly just once again a slowed down version with some selective track layering but that doesn't mean that the sound isn't super entrancing and relaxing, because it is. It takes something that I assume was to add to the action elements of an action game and makes it dreamlike.  
6:  ECCOと悪寒ダイビング (Chill Divin' with ECCO)
If the previous song was calm and dreamlike, this track is actually a dream, or at least, that's the feeling it seems to be going for and comes off with. Using the sample of "Deja Vu" from Dancing Fantasy's album "Worldwide" (1993) the song comes off as a sleeping ocean of sound, and by that i mean it's an extremely ambient and slow song. Think elevator music or the background sound in a spa. It's calm with the goal of calming. Though once again, from a creative standpoint, this track is another within the "slow down and introduce repetition at some points" formula of this album. Though in the end, the path to get to the piece doesn't affect the piece of music itself. 

7: 数学 (Mathematics)
This track once again takes a piece from Dancing Fantasy's 1993 album "Worldwide", this time heavily utilizing the self titled track. The track is very transformative with this sample though. It all opens up really ambient, noisy, and fuzzy, bordering on glitch noise and continues into an insert of the sample's saxophones. As the track continues the background glitch noise fades into the background somewhat and the horns take more foreground space. A very passive and positive track at an over 6 minute runtime.

8: 外ギン Aviation (Foreign Banks Aviation)
This track adds onto Flower Shoppe's list of songs that use Dancing fantasy's "Worldwide." The sample here is Carioca Groove. The track feels like the title implies. It feels like you're relaxing at a swanky tropical airport, early for your flight, spending your time lounging around and taking in the fresh air and upscale scenery. Out of all the tracks here, this one sounds the most entirely positive. By that I mean consonant, most of, if not all, the other tracks on Floral Shoppe utilize a lot of crunchy, or dissonant, harmonies that create a constant surreal atmosphere, but "外ギン Aviation" is sticking itself firmly in a serene actuality.

9: て (Te)
No matter where you may look, it seems like it might be impossible to find a proper source sample(s?) for this song. It seems every noise in this is original, or it's such a deep mix of multiple samples that you can't identify an original. At face value, the feeling that falls out of this song is like the game save screen of an old JRPG, which is fitting considering the Vaporwave mold of old technology and media. The track cracks at peak high notes with the fuzz of an older SD television and creates an atmospheric that seems fitting to the realm of witches and wizards or Final Fantasy.

10: 月 (Moon)
This track makes fantastic use of the song "I Only Have Eyes for You" from Zapp's 1988 album The New Zapp IVU. It's simultaneously disorienting and a banger. The main thing this track does is slow down the main sample, but doing that really transforms it. It's an otherworldly ambient atmosphere that is really easy to get your body into thanks to the thudding repetitious bass and long vocal notes being stretched out for so long due to the slow down. This is one of the top tracks on the album. It's dizzying and almost on the verge of danceable at the same time. 

11: 海底 (Seabed)
This song breaks the established mold of this album and the general definition of Vaporwave to some extent by featuring a very contemporary sample of Jamie Foxx's "Sleeping Pill" from the album Best Night of My Life (2010). Imagine the previous track, but more poppy.  It's the same general approach, but the pleasant atmosphere is promoted to something mainly in the dissonant space that causes the track to sit mostly in the "uncomfortable" ambient range. And in a very Vaporwave move, this track just sort of ends at 2:18. 

What we can take away from this album is that it's an incredibly unique ambient piece that can satisfy somebody looking for something on the experimental side. There are known qualms in regards to the creativity, or lack there of, related to Floral Shoppe and whether or not Macintosh Plus is really producing new work here because they pull so heavily from each sample. I think those comments are pretty quickly dismissed once you see how Macintosh Plus is so transformative with every sample used. Floral Shoppe takes something familiar and turns into something that is simultaneously still familiar and absolutely different at the same time.