Vapor as industrial

Is vaporwave the industrial music of 21st century culture?
                                

Much has been made out of how vaporwave is the sound of capitalism and rightly so: the subversive, ironic 'yielding' to corporate aesthetics is refreshing, enjoyable and rich with potential (Check out Eyeliner's terrific album High Fashion Mood Music). The mall is to vaporwave what the Norwegian forest is to Black Metal.
  

We're invited to experience said malls in Metallic Ghosts' recent The Pleasure Centre, wait patiently for our call to connect throughout 회사AUTO's excellent カスタマーサービス Line✆NE or, with the genre's vibrant Ur-text Farside Virtual, allow our weary avatars to relax and luxuriate over Second Life sushi to the tune of ringtone symphonies.

Embracing the lush, easy fruits of capitalism (however ironically) is the order of the day because, lets face it, most of us in the West have computers, internet access, televisions and smartphones (to the students I teach, the iPhone 4 is old tech, and we have a large number of students from areas of high social deprivation i.e. relative poverty) which are luxuries of relative wonder to earlier eras; economic crisis or not, many people are comfy.

So, it's natural that music should reflect accurately our conditions, even if it is a winkingly self-aware one that appears to mix fuzzed-out VHS nostalgia with HD optimism rather too blithely. The re-appropriation of principally 80s pop, soul and funk songs that are smooth, easy-going hymns to the commerce of comfort and  torrid extravagance as valid self-expression, only seems to add credibility to the idea in that the chopping and skrewing of these peons to luxury appears to serve the function of acknowledging forebears, ancestors or even a 'better time', aesthetically; nostalgia for what the crop of young producers never actually experienced first hand.

While having these thoughts, I was reminded of the great cataclysmic activities of Throbbing Gristle, SPK and other progenitors of 'Industrial Music'. Now, Industrial music is my rock n' roll: Cabaret Voltaire are my Beatles, Throbbing Gristle my Rolling Stones and the likes of NON my Dylan. It struck a clangorous and memorable chord with me when I discovered these artists and, especially, the use of the term 'Industrial'.

Rather than simply imply a connection between their noisy, droning, grinding compositions and mere factory machinery (a mistake to do so), they instead referenced the culture of the industrial age: "it was unhip to glorify mass production" recalled Genesis P-Orridge of the generation of their chosen genre descriptor, also remarking that "We used to make joke comments like 'We churn out records like Ford make motor cars'" (October, 1980)*. Similarly, the music vapor artists use as their raw material is about as unhip (and less prankishly contrary than TG) as you can possibly get.

Whereas the name referenced socio-cultural conditions, the music produced under the Industrial banner was deliberately unpleasant and challenging, reflecting what TG saw as "vivid and accurate reportage"** of their conditions, their world. So, if the world was filled (which it was) with economic decline, serial killers, burns victims, crypto-fascism and pornography then, well, their music ought to reflect that. The result was hard upon the ears of many but a balm and rousing inspiration to generations since.

Vaporwave, similarly, has an element of reportage to it. We're visiting temple-like malls regularly, soaking up the latest fashions, unconsciously surfing new developments in technology, entertainment and social interaction, enduring (to the point of numb acceptance) hold music, retro-reactivations of decades past, corporation-compiled 'indie/alternative' music playlists and gorging ourselves on such a variety of gastronomical experiences that would constitute high luxury in TG's joyless 70s Britain.

I'm not criticizing. This is is life. I like my laptop, sushi, gym and iPhone. What I want to emphasise is that vaporwave's utilisation of stock sound, corporate muzak or high-gloss pop (which, to the stereotypical 'music lover', is intended to be unpleasant or unmusical) parallels TG's appropriation of feedback, tape noise,   samples and general unpleasantness as they're not intended to be music, not intended to be pleasurable artistic statements but at best byproducts of actual entertainment (parts of TG were often described as sounding like a Pink Floyd soundcheck). The sound of industrial activity, factories and forges, did seep into TG and other like-minded bands consciousness (Richard H Kirk once remarked how the drop forges of Sheffield could be heard around the clock and, as a result, in their music) just as Skype's functional plops and wheezes have seeped in James Ferraro's.
      회사AUTO includes telephone hold messages as intervals -blandly polite, empty facsimiles of genuine sentiments, not intended for aesthetic consumption, just as the feedback that TG foregrounded was once a side-effect of live rock music -not the main attraction, just a byproduct.

There are more superficial comparisons to be made between vaporwave and industrial: the repetitive nature, electronic manipulation of sounds, the use of found/re-appropriated sounds as mischievous juxtaposition, experiments with sound quality and, well, that vaporwave has realised better than TG ever could the idea of producing records "like Ford make motor cars". 회사AUTO has released an album a month since November, of excellent quality I might add, and the prolificacy of other vaporwave artists is not to be sniffed at.

For me, at least, who feels that vaporwave actually exists along the continuum of noise music (specifically the American noise tradition), I get a similar perverse kick out of listening to a morbidly slowed n' slurred version of Berlin's Take My Breath Away (by MJ Linckoln) as I did first hearing Throbbing Gristle holler and wail about the Moors Murders (Very Friendly from First Annual Report). Both were well known, even unconsciously embedded, parts of my culture of which I and others took a dim view of (admittedly comparing murder to Top Gun is still stretch for some), re-contextualized for a new purpose.

Any thoughts or opinions greatly appreciated to further the discussion.


*Quotations from P-Orridge taken from 'Wreckers of Civilisation' by Simon Ford.
*Also from Ford's book, p7.17

회사AUTO review

Ok, a bit overdue this one. Longing & Passion ⌘42 came out over a month and a half ago and I've probably given the album 7 or 8 plays since then, continually returning to it. The first track, Nu Haircut ⌘42 is a funky, breathless whoosh of scrambled back-and-forths, like the two tracks are duelling for attention, one subduing the other before its is grabbed and wrenched out of the limelight only to pull the same trick itself moments later.

One of the techniques the vaporwave artist needs to be adept at is the subtle edit and must possess a gentle, warping hand that smudges and smears the picture to just the right degree. 회사AUTO achieves this admirably, especially on the handsomely cool second track, Rendezvous (301 562-6824), which sees the not-quite-there skip n' jump disorientation being used to a deft, understated effect (the fleeting moments where the track runs back) before things clatter down in the last 30 seconds, the original track dying off to be replaced by a strident synth-jazz theme, all bicycle rides along the coast, pointing-to-the-future optimism.

The edit-as-artistry is present throughout but one of my favourites is ☄CRYSTAL☄COCOA☄, where the  scrambling and skipping gives the track bursts of energy at just the right moments. At its kaleidoscopic best, check out ☫☪reation☫ofMico☪hip {{loveME}} 01101110 01101111 (below)

The whole package, as with all 회사AUTO releases so far, the correct mix of decadence and distortion, with tracks zipping back and forth at points and for a duration that gives just the right emphasis to the moments or the sounds produced to be appreciated.

회사AUTO already has another excellent release out, カスタマーサービスLine✆NE, which I'll try to review before the weekend. Releases seem to appear on a monthly basis, hopefully with a good arc of development between the tracks. I'm enjoying the playful edits and aesthetic use of rewinds...oh, and the impeccable selection of tunes.

Taking the piss?

Vaporwave Thoughts

"Whether Mr Mutt made the fountain with his own hands or not has no importance. He CHOSE it. He took an article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view – created a new thought for that object" 

Anonymous editorial from The Blind Man, 1917

Vapor is addictive. I can't get enough of it. Also, the steady stream of releases from bandcamp, tumblr and elsewhere keep me serenely dosed up all through the week and, when there's a quiet patch of no releases, I get twitchy and start trawling soundcloud like a crackhead approaching members of the public on the street.

I recently read this far-too-brief write up of the excellent #SPF40.2 festival and thought I'd post my reflections on the event. However, due to some timezone trolling, I missed the live broadcast and spent the day after frothingly bugging the artists for their sets which, kindly, they obliged me by supplying or linking to.

Hold Muzak DJ sets from Prism Corp aside, this was a rich audio experience from a group of musicians whose curatorial recontextualization of ready-mades are often mistaken for lazy re-appropriations devoid of musicianship, a vindication of sorts.  The core of vaporwave's sampling principle -using corporate jingles, elevator soul, waiting room funk and corporate video ephemera is, to me, the audio equivalent of Duchamp's Urinal, both in end result and status/perception of raw materials: the urinal is as functional and intrinsically unpleasant as the calming, pan-pipe drift of hotline hold music but, once signed by the artist ('R. Mutt'/ Veracom) and placed in the correct artistic context (Society of Independent Artists Exhibit 1917/bandcamp label 2013), it takes on a new aesthetic quality.

Bear with me. Look at Duchamp's Fountain. Once signed, photographed, rejected, scandalized and immortalised it begins to transform before us. You notice the alien-elegance of the shape, the organic and almost fish-like protrusions, guppy 'mouth' at the front and odd curvature of the main bowl. Then you remember it's for pissing in. It's not art, it's for pissing in. But Duchamp has made you, even for just a second, reconsider Fountain as a product of human society, as an artifact as ridiculous as it is somehow profound.

Similarly, 情報デスクVIRTUAL's (Virtual Information Desk)landmark album “札幌コンテンポラ (Contemporary Sapporo), the best approximation of Duchamp's message for the internet age, presents dead-eyed capitalist sax solos and dreamy Mall symphonies is almost unaltered form. In the same way the appellation of R. Mutt 1917 constitutes the only alteration or influence on the condition of Fountain, other than its placement in and presentation as art, the slights skips, occasional warps and subtly discernible shifts in pitch and tempo work as reminders that this isn't just straight up theft; signs to look (or rather think) closer.

The genius of Contemporary Sapporo is just how slight these alterations and intrusions into the original are. We are aware that this is an electronic music album -there are a slight alterations and we know of the context, the genre, the set of rules and conventions the artist is operating within -but before long the effects, the artists' hand, become difficult to hear. A couple of tracks in, your brain notices that that last smear of saxophone schmaltz sounded pretty unmolested...was it pitch-shifted down? Probably...maybe...of course, it must've been. The artist wouldn't just put the original (nasty?), intolerable original in there without some interference...would they?

Doubt creeps in; you listen closer. An investigation of the textures, in hope of revealing evidence of inspired manipulation, gradually transforms into an appreciation: you catch yourself thinking 'that synth sound was quite enjoyable...those drums are sorta cool...'. Similar to my description of the aesthetic qualities of Fountain above, the functional and inoffensive chords designed to sedate (or to efficiently contain your piss) suddenly become choices, or rather, perceived as artistic intention. 

Except, is the intention there at all? Did a Japanese composer circa 1991 receive a brief requesting a set of 'relaxing mood music for our waiting room' or 'a confident, stylishly modern soundtrack to our conference in Singapore' and think 'I'm going to create something lasting, something that'll stop them in their tracks and gain me the respect of my peers' or did he take his $200 commission and do what he's told?

Intention is an ambiguous issue. On the one hand, the composer must create something of musical merit (using chord progressions, be in time and show an understanding of timbre and melody necessary for mass consumption and -importantly -acceptance by and adherence to the requirements of the customer) and so any critical appreciation we have of it is hampered by the corporate origin and its purpose being a conflict of interests: we expect our music to be stimulating, creative and enjoyable where this is merely meant to be comforting and unobtrusive.

 On the other hand, part of the conceptual attraction of music that uses these sonic artifacts is to take something that is perceived as being devoid of artistic merit and of any intention to entertain in this way; we're subverting its original purpose by presenting it as a post-modern pop-art, just as the inherent joke and value of Duchamp's celebrated pisspot disappears if we discover that, in fact, the creators of this Bedfordshire standard urinal from J.L. Mott Ironworks fully intended it as a piece of art, took inspiration from Renaissance design and intended the work to be reproduced, disseminated commercially and appreciated as such (like a major label album).  

Can we appreciate these as pieces of music? Well, vaporwave allows us to. It provides the necessary transformation and validation. The band names, album art, track-titling conventions and distribution models (announcements via Facebook, bandcamp/soundcloud releases and dearth of physical presence) all contribute greatly to the thrill and I'll be sure to write more on these later, but for now, before the joke wears thin, let the wave wash over you.

This post was meant to be about #SPF420.2....I got sidetracked. I'll do that later today.