"When elevator music appeases us."
(notes after a feud between Vapourwave and Fashwave)
(notes after a feud between Vapourwave and Fashwave)
That kind of music has no lyrics, and only tunes or ad-libs sneering everyone through the ears. But the title invokes something enough to curious about.
Created from synthesisers, using various samples, it created a sound like any other heavily edited synth tunes, but the difference lies in its creators who actually used music to culture jam the present decadence the world has ever encountered; and be described as an undercooked, nap-inducing mid/down-tempo kind of synth/electronic music, with producers like Macintosh Plus and Saint Pepsi (now Skylar Spence) warping muzak, smooth jazz, and dated adult contemporary into airless, warbling soundscapes.
And these being played in most music sites such as Soundcloud or Youtube and shared in social media sites such as Facebook.
And according to its creators, Vapourwave was described as a "progressive-leaning genre" that seemed to satirize consumer culture. "I always assumed it was transparent through my work that I leaned left," according to Ramona Xavier, the woman behind Macintosh Plus.
Fashwave: soundtracking the Alt-Right
Fashwave: soundtracking the Alt-Right
However, in spite of its anti-consumerist and even anti-system nature, the Left-wing oriented Vapourwave has its counterpart, this time carried over by the right who happened to be "taking" interest in the elevator music scene, that according to its creators and adherents:
"The National Socialists who lived in the time of Hitler were big fans of Richard Wagner," one wrote. "But in modern times, it is appropriate for us to turn to modern music."
Electronic Wagner indeed, although it even fails at that, lacking the controversial composer’s musicianship, bravado, and decades spent honing the craft he's well-known for. Also to think that kind of "modern electronic Wagner" carries the irony that the modern music being played may likely consider to be “African rhythms,” hence, frown to as “degenerate” in favour of military marches and to some extent, bands playing Punk, Oi, and Black Metal.
But the latter three, also the irony, are also influenced by "African rhythms" as well; with some of these musicians having anti-Nazi themes in it in case of Dead Kennedys.
But Fashwave adherents cling to the view that theirs is different from the dancey mood of "Electronic Dance Music" nor the anti-consumerist mockery of Vapourwave. Fashwave tends to be ambient, past-like, computer game-ish with all its synth unleashes its melodies. It tries to romanticise the 80s past such as a soundtrack to a vintage buddy cop movie- but instead of a white cop with a black henchman, both cops are white and "neither believes in the Holocaust".
Last August 2016, from a writeup titled “The Official Soundtrack of the Alt-Right,” Andrew Anglin, the founder of the Daily Stormer, described the genre as:
“the spirit of the childhoods of millennials” and “the sound of … our revolution.”,
And it also “fits perfectly with the ironic vibes of the movement”, also according to Anglin via BuzzFeed News.
Like its left-wing counterpart, Fashwave continues to be known amongst alt-right adherents, becoming its signature sound all in spite of its criticism by many as "trying to appropriate a post-apocalyptic mall/elevator music". That besides attracting the "right" as well as trying to appeal contemporary listeners, it frankly wants to infiltrate and remake popular culture the way its rival did in satirising present day consumerism.
The response from the Left
As the right hath appropriated vapour/synth wave to its own benefit, the left's response is rather: opposing. Last February 2016, a website called Rave News reported that leading vaporwave producers were gathering in Montreal for an emergency summit to discuss "creeping fascism" in the scene.
According to the article, it stated that Brooklyn’s DJ Karoda Night organized the event to help fight back against the creeping fascism that is slowly overtaking the Vaporwave scene:
“It’s getting a little ridiculous,” says Karoda. “Vaporwave has a good chance of becoming the future of techno, but not if we let fascists co-opt the genre.”
Besides Karoda, Ariel Honganswarth also expressed opposition on how right-wingers coopted the use of vapourwave for their cause:
“I want you to imagine pouring your heart in soul into creating something, like a painting or a statue...Now imagine if half the people who show up to appreciate your art have little red swastika bands on their arms and tiny Hitler moustaches on their face. That’s what’s happening to Vaporwave right now. It’s terrible. We don’t want fascists to listen to our music. Most of our tracks don’t even have lyrics, and the ones that do are aren’t singing the praises of National Socialism. There is no bloody reason for fascists to like Vaporwave over dubstep or psytrance or happy goddamn hardcore. But we’re the community that gets stuck with nazis. What the hell.”
Also according to the article that Hogansworth saidth that it’s impossible to stop people from listening to her music, but she’s going to work hard to ensure that Vapourwave doesn’t become associated with it’s less savoury fans:
“I’m going to be releasing an entire album of Antifa vaporware tracks. Nazis can fuck off.”
And because of that, a rivalry between the left and right has going on, ranging from music to art, the battle over the scene hath been discussed over social media be it on Facebook or in Reddit. One right wing commentator, Thomas Cirnowitz, justified the appropriation of vapourwave for their cause, as he said:
"The reason we like vaporwave so much, is because it sounds good. It's aesthetically pleasing, and meant to be objectively beautiful and does this using machines that are able to replicate any sound on the audio spectrum. If classical composers of ages past were alive today, most of them would probably end up making some sort of electronic music, because they used the best instruments that where available to them at the time, which for them involved violins and drums, in modern times we have computers.
The National Socialists who lived in the time of Hitler were big fans of Richard Wagner, but in modern times, it is appropriate for us to turn to modern music. There are very few forms of modern music that do not promote hedonism and the degeneration of the civilized world, we have the major recording studios to thank for this. The only kind of music that a self respecting National Socialist can listen to with a clear conscience, is music that is made by independent musicians who are not signed to major record labels. Also, music that does not have any lyrics, is free or political pandering and cannot be objectionable on that front.
But anyways, if some of these artists are going to be such douchebags about it, I'll have no qualms about pirating their music and enjoying it anyway. I don't want to risk them getting any ad revenue from youtube.
The only way to get National Socialists to not like your music, is to stop making good music."
Indeed, but as what Karoda said:
“I don’t want to help enable their hatred. Music should be about bringing people together, not about establishing a 4th Reich under God Emperor Trump, lord of the Americas, or whatever the fuck it is that fascists are trying to do.”
Furthermore, Vice has described vaporwave as “chillwave for Marxists”, “post-elevator music”, and “corporate smooth jazz Windows 95 pop”, while Esquire said the genre was born of a “cynicism about capitalism”. Another outlet described it as “a dystopian critique of capitalism”, and a leading figure in vaporwave believes “it’s anticapitalist and antiglobalist”. A 2012 article by the musicologist Danny Harper went even further, suggesting a link with Marxism; “The name ‘vaporwave’ is reminiscent of a famous passage from Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, ‘all that is solid melts into air’, referring to the constant change society is subjected to under bourgeois capitalism”. It is hard to tell if these are fair and accurate summations or simply the projections of a liberal milieu whose job is to find sociological meaning in the latest fad.
Strange isn't it? But true.
Conclusion
As expected, the tune war is going on between the left and right. Over a music that is heavily edited with distortions and samplings, it has been an interesting topic that even this person afforded to read its articles and listening to its samples. For the Left, it represented criticism against capitalism and its injustices; while on the Right, it represented its stand for racial purity and unleashed capitalism. But both entities have warped themselves (or in case of Anglin, their souls) to the tunes being played and to the presentations being shown: representing an alternative future cherished about.
Also come to think of this: that these electronic tunes are a continuation of earlier experiments in music, part of invoking a future different from theirs. Or in case of the Italian Futurists, glorified speed and efficiency as well as the violence of heavy industry and war. And artists like CYBERN∆ZI, in its email to THUMP, claimed that futurism as its predecessor, being ditched itself to Italian fascism.
However, that Futurism was also appreciated by the Russians. It had been one of the staples for Agitprop and Proletkult during the earlier years of the Soviet Union, and artists like Vladimir Mayakovsky attests to their craft.
The response from the Left
As the right hath appropriated vapour/synth wave to its own benefit, the left's response is rather: opposing. Last February 2016, a website called Rave News reported that leading vaporwave producers were gathering in Montreal for an emergency summit to discuss "creeping fascism" in the scene.
According to the article, it stated that Brooklyn’s DJ Karoda Night organized the event to help fight back against the creeping fascism that is slowly overtaking the Vaporwave scene:
“It’s getting a little ridiculous,” says Karoda. “Vaporwave has a good chance of becoming the future of techno, but not if we let fascists co-opt the genre.”
Besides Karoda, Ariel Honganswarth also expressed opposition on how right-wingers coopted the use of vapourwave for their cause:
“I want you to imagine pouring your heart in soul into creating something, like a painting or a statue...Now imagine if half the people who show up to appreciate your art have little red swastika bands on their arms and tiny Hitler moustaches on their face. That’s what’s happening to Vaporwave right now. It’s terrible. We don’t want fascists to listen to our music. Most of our tracks don’t even have lyrics, and the ones that do are aren’t singing the praises of National Socialism. There is no bloody reason for fascists to like Vaporwave over dubstep or psytrance or happy goddamn hardcore. But we’re the community that gets stuck with nazis. What the hell.”
Also according to the article that Hogansworth saidth that it’s impossible to stop people from listening to her music, but she’s going to work hard to ensure that Vapourwave doesn’t become associated with it’s less savoury fans:
“I’m going to be releasing an entire album of Antifa vaporware tracks. Nazis can fuck off.”
And because of that, a rivalry between the left and right has going on, ranging from music to art, the battle over the scene hath been discussed over social media be it on Facebook or in Reddit. One right wing commentator, Thomas Cirnowitz, justified the appropriation of vapourwave for their cause, as he said:
"The reason we like vaporwave so much, is because it sounds good. It's aesthetically pleasing, and meant to be objectively beautiful and does this using machines that are able to replicate any sound on the audio spectrum. If classical composers of ages past were alive today, most of them would probably end up making some sort of electronic music, because they used the best instruments that where available to them at the time, which for them involved violins and drums, in modern times we have computers.
The National Socialists who lived in the time of Hitler were big fans of Richard Wagner, but in modern times, it is appropriate for us to turn to modern music. There are very few forms of modern music that do not promote hedonism and the degeneration of the civilized world, we have the major recording studios to thank for this. The only kind of music that a self respecting National Socialist can listen to with a clear conscience, is music that is made by independent musicians who are not signed to major record labels. Also, music that does not have any lyrics, is free or political pandering and cannot be objectionable on that front.
But anyways, if some of these artists are going to be such douchebags about it, I'll have no qualms about pirating their music and enjoying it anyway. I don't want to risk them getting any ad revenue from youtube.
The only way to get National Socialists to not like your music, is to stop making good music."
Indeed, but as what Karoda said:
“I don’t want to help enable their hatred. Music should be about bringing people together, not about establishing a 4th Reich under God Emperor Trump, lord of the Americas, or whatever the fuck it is that fascists are trying to do.”
Furthermore, Vice has described vaporwave as “chillwave for Marxists”, “post-elevator music”, and “corporate smooth jazz Windows 95 pop”, while Esquire said the genre was born of a “cynicism about capitalism”. Another outlet described it as “a dystopian critique of capitalism”, and a leading figure in vaporwave believes “it’s anticapitalist and antiglobalist”. A 2012 article by the musicologist Danny Harper went even further, suggesting a link with Marxism; “The name ‘vaporwave’ is reminiscent of a famous passage from Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, ‘all that is solid melts into air’, referring to the constant change society is subjected to under bourgeois capitalism”. It is hard to tell if these are fair and accurate summations or simply the projections of a liberal milieu whose job is to find sociological meaning in the latest fad.
Strange isn't it? But true.
Conclusion
As expected, the tune war is going on between the left and right. Over a music that is heavily edited with distortions and samplings, it has been an interesting topic that even this person afforded to read its articles and listening to its samples. For the Left, it represented criticism against capitalism and its injustices; while on the Right, it represented its stand for racial purity and unleashed capitalism. But both entities have warped themselves (or in case of Anglin, their souls) to the tunes being played and to the presentations being shown: representing an alternative future cherished about.
Also come to think of this: that these electronic tunes are a continuation of earlier experiments in music, part of invoking a future different from theirs. Or in case of the Italian Futurists, glorified speed and efficiency as well as the violence of heavy industry and war. And artists like CYBERN∆ZI, in its email to THUMP, claimed that futurism as its predecessor, being ditched itself to Italian fascism.
However, that Futurism was also appreciated by the Russians. It had been one of the staples for Agitprop and Proletkult during the earlier years of the Soviet Union, and artists like Vladimir Mayakovsky attests to their craft.
For a writer (who is also a listener of both tunes and finds it "good), these are elevator tunes that invoked an appeal, and most of which are reappropriated and became different, turning dancable tunes into weapons of mass mobilisation against the current situation. It is indeed admitting that the tune quite interesting such as "CYBERN∆ZI"'s "Take Back out Future" creating a sense of ContemporAntiquity whilst traversing the streets of Ortigas. There are those who didn't think that most vapourwave tunes as intentionally political, but to some extent that the source material and imagery used attach certain (unintentional) political undertones to both art and music.
And whereas there are those who appropriated synthwave and vaporwave and stamped it with a swastika, there are also those continue using both Synth and vapourwave as a musical tool pointing against both capitalism and its injustices. The music of 帰宅します， Ａｍａｄｏ is one example for that.
But all in all, the music, with its sonically inoffensive, largely lyric-free instrumentals brought about by remixes and distortions, is trying to have mainstream appeal. By the way, here's a vapourwave playlist from 帰宅します， Ａｍａｄｏ, enjoy!
https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/24054174
https://www.buzzfeed.com/reggieugwu/fashwave?utm_term=.vuQbzab4KB#.ojd0vQ0j3l
http://www.laweekly.com/music/fashwave-is-fascist-synthesizer-music-and-yes-its-an-actual-thing-7726607
http://hipsterconservative.com/tag/fashwave/