When Did Vaporwave Begin? 

Know of any other jurassic vapor releases? let me know in the comments!

there's nobody here

I'd consider og plunderphonics to be the origins of vaporwave. While they are stylistically different they are both sampled based. (ex John Oswald, Negativland).

Boards of Canada already had some vaporwave vibe

OPN / Sunsetcorp uploaded a Vaporwave song titled "Angel" before "Nobody Here" !

“having a whole community to resonance with” *happy Resonance noises*

7:44 But what if I told you..... *ad turns on* EVERYDAY CAN BE YOUR DAY WITH EXTRAVAGANT YOGURT!

When you showed the Devon Hendryx album cover, my heart jumped. JPEG has really come far and I'm glad someone else has listened to his old music. The Ghostpop tape is one of my favorite albums ever.

Should've included Spent Passions by 18 Carat Affair, that album contains tracks from 2005 all the way to 2009

that sunsetcorp track is so dead on it's kind of crazy. the whole aesthetic, the name and everything is very much there.

Me: How many layers of vaporwave on you on? Dude: Like, five or six layers, my dude. Me: You are like baby. Watch this. Me: N E G A T I V L A N D

We've listened to the 10hr version of Nobody Here at my work, such a classic. Also how in the hell have you never heard Lady in Red, one of the biggest tracks ever

Daniel Lopatin is generally one of the most important artists of the 2000s and 2010s

James Ferraro's old 2005-2010 stuff like Clear that is usually categorized as Hypnagogic pop is what I think really started to produce some of the staple sounds of the gente

Nah we didnt need a video for this its obviously Minecraft soundtrack

A pretty convenient video, explaining the history of vaporwave music, just a day after 420 :)

2009-2010 was a strange time to be online

To me, there wasn't exactly a 'first album' for vaporwave as the techniques and art styles are a coalition of various sub cultures that came together thanks to the world wide web. What we know as the style of vaporwave's heavy usage of pastel colors, old CGI renderings, VCR recordings, all come from the movement known as seapunk. This is the precursor genre for vaporwave as its start reflects the growth of nostalgia for the 80s around 2009. A seminal need to ground a changing world after a transformative election the previous year, we were thinking back on how far we'd come since that time. There was a need to look over that. Broadband had taken on the basis of community internet, and wireless had settled into the default access. As for the chopping and skewing of samples, that goes WAY, WAY back. Back to the 40s and the origins of disk jockeys. Those that held records for radio play, and accidentally pulled on the records. Simple mistakes of putting the wrong speed on a record left an impression on the younger-minded and curoius, to where plunderphonics became a thing during the 70's. An almost Andy Worhol view of art in that even a simple sample of a song itself can be inspiration for new art. That pop culture itself IS art. So, people began to write songs with songs. The canvas becomes paint. Paint becomes the brush. Brush becomes canvas. And so the cycle repeats. This was the hey-day of disco and club style music, and so the disc jockey was needed. A golden touch of picking the right song for the right mood. Few knew how to transform a song completely by skewering it, but still could not fathom the idea of an entire genre of music dedicated to this. That nostalgia was forming, but hadn't settled yet. That wouldn't be until the transformation of a secret project of the 50s known as Darpanet into later what would become the information revolution. Now we live in a culture that isn't just the US as nostalgic culture, but an entire world at the height of prosperity. Consumerism seemed so obvious and available to the world with economies booming, and the ability to make money seeming at any time. That and the exciting future of rapid transition of technology, and the 90's brought about two radical changes in human culture. In 1989, the Berlin Wall had been opened in Germany, and 1991 saw the last of the Soviet Union dissolving. The decades-spanning Cold War had ended. It was time to party. A new millenia was upon us, and now we had a new technology in the form of a global information source was beginning to take shape. Computer culture had begun, and the video game era reached a zenith with the rapid transition from cartridge in the early 90's to the CD format in 1999. We were ready for that bright future that opened us with welcome arms. And then it never came. 2001 shook the world out of that hazy dream, showing that there was something darker to the world. That there were individuals who despised this concept to their beliefs, and that these individuals were chaotic. They used media to frighten and grip the world in its terror, and it's been that way ever since. The world culture created vaporwave as a look back on that lost dream of a bright future, recreating memories and hopes into digitial skewings. Yet it wasn't...hopeful. Some of it started out as faded and warped songs. Adult viewings of nostalgia given to the point of what could have been. Vaporwave is that hope that refuses to die. It may come out warped or distorted, and it may come out shinier than what it was, but it's that same singular hope of global prosperity. It's the fundamental belief that what we placed our dreams into, our childhood, had SOMETHING to merit. That it wasn't some sort of empty promise unfulfilled. Yet here we are, nearly ten years to the date that the first of this genre took root. we have vast amounts of home-made labels, pushing back against the idea of all-consuming digital online outlets for music as well as pushing the idea that people can't get into music like this. That you need a big company pushing and advertising you. Vaporwave is taking that hyperconsumerism and twisting it into something quaint. To reflect on time gone by unlike any time period. This truly is the genre of the internet culture. What will vaporwave become next? Sounds like a good speculation video, Pad. Might be something to do.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on DJ Screw’s “Chopped and Screwed” style, coming out of Texas in the 90’s. He became famous for pitch shifting and slowing down hip-hop tracks and releasing them on mixtapes. I’ve heard his name come up in Vaporwave conversations before and in other videos so yeah... RIP DJ Screw. Love your channel. Keep up the amazing work.

One of the most important releases known to have inspired vaporwave was 2007s Person Pitch by Panda Bear. I'd be delighted to see you delve into what made vaporwave!

"EEGPROGRAMS - you were gone" is a pretty good semi-forgotten vapor relic from 2010.

William Basinski´s "The Disintegration Loops" should also be considered as proto Vapor. It really carries those qualities to me... oh you even included it in the video ! Nice one, pad

I just listened to “Nobody Here” and I think that I’m in love

Vaporwave essentially began once more people realize you can take an existing work and remix it to see it in another context.

Talk about proto vaporwave please!!

I like your idea for your next video. Boards of Canada definitely had a huge influence on this sound. I’ve always thought they were geniuses who were way ahead of their time. When kids were freaking out over dubstep, I was chillin with BOC, waiting for everyone to grow up.

When John Peel accidentally played funk on 33 instead of 45 on Radio 1

WosX a few years ago mentioned Joe Meek's 1962 "I hear a new world" would fit in a Dream Catalogue release. It's not aesthetically accurate as Vaporwave, but it is close and it was ahead of It's time. Considering Meek made that music as something he "heard in his dreams", I consider it as the very first Vaporwave music ever.

I love those sort of "Explanation Videos" keep up the good work!

That really is a good question, pad. Thanks for uploading.

Thanks so much for featuring me man! I wrote that shopping mall comment on the nobody here video. Great video!

Pad, I'm really impressed with how the quality of your videos has increased. It's been like 2/3 years since I found your channel via reddit. Keep up the great work.

People has been talking this video called "SEGA CD" it's like daniel lopatin's "nobody here", some people has been searching it, but it faded away in youtube, just like what thanos did to peter.

As a Vaporwaver I find this very very educational and I hope that vaporwave becomes a huge thing around the world

The inspiration that sparked the VA:10 project right here. Thanks Pad for the video. I won't have thought and went through with the project without this video to inspire me.

I'm currently working on a brand new vaporwave project and thought this was great! I would toss in Brian Eno originals, like Music for Airports, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and also My Bloody Valentine and Vangelis are all pretty rad.

Another banger from daddy pad. Really happy you touched on sunsetcorp, that video was amongst the first few things I had heard in vaporwave. That, along with Jason sanders’ legendary mixes

Happy easter, vaporfriends. Would love to hear the prehistoric vaporwave, chad.

Songs like Dj shadows Midnight in a perfect world really bring that dark city aesthetic, only darker and more hip hop based. Great 90s Plunderphonics

Pad you're the man, saving my week everytime you do those videos thx brother

Dude just discovered you - STOKED. Late comer to the Vaporwave scene ~ and your commentary and curation are impeccable. Picked up the MAC+ LP and been in love ever since. #stuckinashoppingmallforeternity - Big fan already

Yet another great vid! Yeah I'd love to see a proto vaporwave episode! Maybe taking a look at John Oswald's plunderphonics or some of the stuff that was going on in Japan during the 80's that would have a great effect on vaporwave's aesthetic as well as the music.

I love the way you dig it like Summoning salt and unwrap more through out the video. very impactful. both awesome video essay youtube channels.

Finally subbed!! Love your videos man!! Happy Easter

Man I love Skeleton. I wish so bad his first album was on vinyl. I’d love to see it on a nice dark pressing, with that eerie album art.

I’m kind of surprised the vaporwave community didn’t pay more homage to DJ Screw. There’s a ton of similarities (stylistic/musical, compositionally, philosophically)

Hey man. New to your channel. Just wanted to say I really dig your perspective on music, and the textural way you describe it. Makes me feel like we hear the same way. Nice job, and I'm looking forward to catching up on your vids. Liked, subscribed, and hit the bell 3 times. Lol. Peace.

I’d add The Art of Noise - ‘Into Battle with the Art of Noise’ and ‘Who’s Afraid of the Art of Noise’. Heavy use of looping and sampling. Very much an early idea of those who would become Vaporwave. Perhaps not the same nostalgia trip, but definitely a touch of futurism promised by the early 80s

I've looked into this topic a lot. I always find some really interesting results. Older vaporwave albums just give me more of that floaty nostalgic feeling if I'm making any sense. It's always a treat for me to do a deep dive through bandcamp to find the oldest stuff out in the vaporwave library that not many people would know about. Great video! I have to check that skeleton album out now.

I love finding older music that has a vaporwave sound, so yes please do a video on that I would love to find more of those!

Don’t forget the “Whitewoods - Beachwalk” music video which was uploaded on 22 October 2010. This video set the style for the whole genre

I loved the video i hope you make another one like you mentioned at the end of this video💙👍

I got nobody here on my recommended today. It’s so cool to see and hear something so old, yet so familiar. The driving across the dark, with highlights of neon.

I just found this channel. It sounds like you did your PHd thesis on this genre, and now teach a course on the subject.

Love your channel and your discussion of vaporwave. I saw that you mentioned Boards of Canada towards the end of your video. They were actually the first thing to come to mind the first time I listen to vaporwave. Anyway I would love to see a video where you dug even further into the origins of vaporwave.

You know you’ve watched a good video when you already know the info talked about but you still enjoyed every minute of it.

Thanks for opening my ears and eyes to this subgenre of electronic music. Thanks for the video sir!

can’t believe how long it’s been since i first watched this vid, finding out about skeleton and listening to it for the first time was super trippy. thanks again for everything pad 🙏

This was a dope video. Glad I stumbled upon it. Its crazy im getting into Daniel Lopatin now

This is the kind of content i love from pad!

Happy to see you included Boards of Canada in you're outro, they were a huge precursor to sample-influenced vaporwave

vaporwave beginning: is nobody here? vaporwave after: everybody is here.

I was legit thinking of where it began while listening to a future funk mix and love your Channel bro💓

Nice video. Love the old feels of the old vaporwave, it's like nostalgia plus vaporwave nostalgia. It is nice looking back at the music that got me into the genre.

Great video Pad, keep it up!

A little before "vaporwave" was an endless amount of low fi, nostalgic sounding soundscapes made by James Ferraro and sometimes his partner Spencer Clark, under pseudonyms like 'Acid Eagle'.. 'Vodka Soap', if you look up any of that, you'll go down a rabbit hole of mystical noise music, which eventually caught up to vaporwave with releases like 'Night Dolls With Hairspray', again, not the complete vaporwave package, but it contains a lot of the same tendencies at times... fascinating nonetheless.

I really understand vaporwave and its appeal thanks to you. I always look forward to these videos even though I'm not in the scene

I'm really glad you did this! I had never heard of that Nobody Here song before but I will say I've always thought that people don't talk about Skeleton enough as being so early in the genre. I also believe that Replica is an under discussed record in Vaporwave. Anyway, thanks, your videos always inspire me!

I think it's OPN's Memory Vague. Released June 1 2009 and contains some tracks that would later end up on Eccojams Vol 1 -- "Angel" and "Nobody Here", as you featured here. Memory Vague is so good and I implore everyone to listen to it. The opening track is killer. Skeleton is also damn good and one of the most underrated vaporwave releases I've ever heard.

Dude I love the way you explain how the songs make you feel bro. Always spot on but that expired cereal analogy had me laughing.

Great trip in the late proto-vapors, I already posted a comment about Plunderphonics, but I think that since eccojams is recognized as some, Plunders are like the vaporwave of 80s and 90s, even if its off vaporwave, it could be great to hear about the very origins, way before vaporwave was even a noun. Also your videos are always getting better and better for the past few months, this idea of digging deeper in the genre and explore obscure genres and themes, I love it, keep the good work Pad :D

I would like to see you talk about its influence s like chopped and screwed and the 80s aesthetic.

Nice video, it takes time to do this type of research

Loved the video! Im new to this kind of music- random playlists and Floral Shoppe mostly. What are the necessary classics and best new things I need to know?

Absolutely would love to see you look at Boards of Canada! Their "A Few Old Tunes" tapes were some of the first I was ever able to have on my own devices as a kid, due to the uploads of them on that website, and it ABSOLUTELY changed what music I listened to from then on.

talented narration. nice similies and metaphors.

Hey Pad! Great video! Are you ever going to review or talk about Vaporwave/Future Funk recordings by fans? I think that would be a very cool concept for a single video or a series

i can't believe this is the first time i've heard on sunsetcorp - nobody hear.... awesome vid, thanks Pad!

So cool. I only recently...like the last year...found vaporwave and related genres. And i have never been so into a sound.

I would actually think that the soundtrack to The Minds Eye A Computer Animated Odyssey from 1990 to be the first start of Vaporwave. It gave the push and ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ to the Vaporwave genre.

art of noise always seems to be ahead of its time, especially with "moments in love"

9:34 Whoa! How does one comment perfectly describe an emotion that was indescribable up to that point? I could actually picture that abandoned mall while listening to this track.

So I absolutely love proto-vapor. So glad to see that you (rightfully) nailed “nobody here” as the first instance of vaporwave. I highly recommend basically all the tracks on the sunsetcorp channel, skeleton’s entire discography (holograms is my fav) and also all those vapor albums on Beer on the Rug that predate Floral Shoppe (mostly other works by vektroid haha). Also the now defunct Fortune 500 was home to so many classic vaporwave albums as well as the back catalogue from Illuminated Paths and Ialanthus. Porto-vapor and classic vaporwave is honestly my favorite style. Bit of shameless self promotion here but my own vaporwave album “New Coke II” on Seikomart is basically a love letter to that era. Thanks for making this video Pad, I’m glad somebody is highlighting this bit of vaporwave history!

Ferraro under multiple names had a TON of lofi material pre-FSV even back in 2004 that oozes qualities that eventually became vaporwave

I've been a fan of strange, experimental electronic music and consider myself to have had a keen pulse on the music of 2000-present. When I first discovered the music of Daniel Lopatin after finding an obscure DVD of his collection of songs and music videos (created in windows movie maker sourced from found footage), it was something I had never heard before. I later discovered vaporwave in 2015 but will always remember this song and the album/DVD "Memory Vague" as being the first song that embodied its soon to follow genre.

Fantastic video! And now there are plenty of albums for me to look into! X3 Thanks for the fantastic info, as always! I would love to know your thoughts regarding James Reynolds' album "The Mind's Eye". There was a video album released with the same title, and honestly, the imagery of that early computer animation, combined with the dreamy and nostalgic music, that's often what I visualize with vaporwave music today. It may not be full of remixed samples, but it evokes that same feeling, at least for me! Perhaps this album helped inspire what we listen to today? Always looking forward to more from you!

I bring to the table that, Daft Punk's Discovery is the earliest example of vaporwave, with tracks such as High Life that use much of the techniques we now associate with vaporwave same with more than a few songs both Discovery and Homework.

Just been binging your videos recently and your channel is awesome stuff, keep it up! Also another thing, but doesn't anyone else think you sound like Sig? (From PuyoPuyoTetris)

In case anyone was wandering, if you look closely to the cover of skeleton's album you realize it's an overlap of two different (analogue?) photos, one of the great pyramids and another one of a clouded sky at sunset (taken from the ground, looking up), the orange part is the sunset sky, going up it is stopped by the clouds and when it re-emerges from behind them it has more of a pink tone, you know how the sky at sunset is less and less orange the further you look from the sun, it's usually gradual but in this case we can't see the grdient because it's blocked by the clouds, so we only see the upper pink part and the orange in the middle, going down the orange is nullified by a darker part of the overlayed pyramids photo (maybe the horizon? it could very well be a third overlayed photo actually) and becomes completely black in the lower part where it's probably blocked by clouds again, since they're less intense than the orange sunlight the very dark part of the other photo prevails. It would be really interesting to look at the original photos individually, before realizing they're two overlayed photos I always tought it portrayed the pyramids with a wall of fire between them and the viewer, with a lot of smoke in the air (the clouds) and that the dark lower part was some jungly vegetation in front of the viewer, like if the pyramids were on the verge of some kind of jungle where the photographer is standing, never struck me as being a night shot

The earliest modern examples of hauntology in electronic music I can think of-that quality of nostalgia for something that never really existed, a sort of warped reflection of the past through the lens of personal aesthetic-have to be Throbbing Gristle's little homages to the weird end of '50s lounge and library music, particularly "Exotica" from their 1979 album 20 Jazz Funk Greats and "AB/7A" off of D.O.A.: The Third and Final Annual Report from 1978.

Midnight Television's self-titled EP predates Floral Shoppe and in my opinion is one of the most perfect pieces of art ever created, let alone Vaporwave, but admittedly it does not predate most of the stuff you cover. Also, in all sincerity, Windows Audio Player is an important pregenitor to Vaporwave, considering both the vital Windows pre-95 aesthetic and the ability to slow down, add echo, and reverse samples. I spent months playing with .WAV files in very... Vapor Ways ;) in the early 1990s, and I bet some of these artists did too.

I feel like a lot of the Drag/Witchhouse + Seapunk scene that was slowly coming up in the late 2000’s early 2010s slowly transitioned into Vaporwave. Artists like Holy Other, Saint Pepsi, Esprit, Baby Sloth, Kid A & Walkie Talkie were the first Artists I heard at the time that I consider early vaporwave. It’s super weird growing up while this stuff was starting to emerge and how it’s become a lot more popular now!

Jam and Spoon's album Tripomatic Fairytales 2002. This was released on April 20th 1993. Points of interest: Jam and Spoon-LSD Nikon. Seriously give this album a listen to, you will be blown away. Make sure to have a good amount of time set aside, a comfy chair or bed, nice headphones and be ready for a ride!

Omg I'm so happy you made a vaporwave vid I am a huge fan thanks for the awesome vid! #vaporwave

Hey great video ! I've been thinking a lot about which were the first songs I ever heard that had the "Vaporwave" Sound ever since I came across "LisaFrank 420" 6 or so years ago. The sound immediately appealed to me and also immediately seemed familiar. The Vaporwave sound reminds me a lot of late 1990's European Ambient music, experimental techno , as well as Lo-Fi Trip-Hop. Personally I would argue that the first "Vaporwavish" track ever would be "Gobi. The Desert EP" ([ml/i], 1999). This amazing work was completed by German Techno Artist "Monolake", who was room-mates with Gerhard Behles, one of the other original designers of the all-genre-changing software Ableton Live. Want to hear the u-l-t-i-m-a-t-e slow-down? Just play "Gobi" , and take a seat , couch if available. "Gobi" is actually an older Techno track by Henke himself, called "Polaroid" , which is a medium-paced Berlin Techno track. After he puts ridiculous slow-down, echo , reverb and insane sound-stretching on it , its absolutely unrecognizable, and maybe one of the best Ambient tracks of the last 35 years. So potentially, the Vaporwave sound is 20 years old, also imagine having a copy of Ableton Live kicking around the house in 1999 ! Interestingly enough , the Vaporwave aesthetic time-line seems to end in the early 2000's , so from a visual timing perspective thats an interesting coincidence to say the least. The cover of "Floral Shoppe" has a picture of Manhattan on it, complete with the World Trade Center Twin Towers. Ableton Live was released to the public on the 30th of October 2001, just about 6 weeks after 9/11 , and I'm sure you as well as many of your other subscribers have seen the RU-vid documentary "Vaporwave & 9/11: A Nostalgic Connection" (which I just realized YOU made, lol) which I think has a lot of truth to it. So I reckon the biggest influences of the sound of the Genre were Robert Henke (Monolake) and Robert Earl Davis Jr. (DJ Screw).

do a video on seapunk ocean grunge🌊🌊🌊🐬 please please

I'd love to see you talk about The Caretaker, his stuff isnt necessarily proto vapor I'd say but his projects deal a lot with memories, nostalgia, and the same kind of old sampling techniques as vaporwave

First vaporwave video for me is Lou Reed's Legendary Hearts video. So ahead of its time.

I'd like to mention Software's album "Digital Dance" from all the way back in 1987. It's all original work, not containing any samples, but it sounds so much like remixed vaporwave tracks that somebody could've made today. When I first heard it I thought I was being lied to when I read the release date. While it was intended as an experimental album decades before vaporwave was even a term, it definitely has a similar feel to what we know as vaporwave today.

I clearly remember when Nobody Here dropped. It was stunning