What is Vaporwave?
That is something I think the entire community has struggled to truly answer for over a decade now. It's easy to try and muster up really vague or surface-level descriptions of it due to how monumentally complex it can appear. Knowing this, I am going to attempt to define it here as best I can. Feel free to offer improvements to this definition by contacting me via my e-mail.
Vaporwave refers to an experimental electronic music genre born in the early 2010s that originally characterized itself by its use of samples and effects to create specific atmospheres in its listening experience. As it grew and developed as a sort of supergenre with a plethora of related subgenres, the emphasis on sample usage became far more minimized and the focus began to lean towards the unifying atmospheres, textures, and heavy ambiant/muzak inspiration. Also paramount to the genre is its critiques of consumerist culture and the various ways that media is presented and sold to us, primarily through the use of subtext as opposed to outwardly saying such. This tends to be filtered through an early internet/primatively digital aesthetic that celebrates the garish neolibralist western societies of the 90s in a fairly tongue-in-cheek manner.
The subculture of the same name was born out of the shared interest of these subjects and approaches, with many people getting into the Vaporwave subculture due to a genuine enjoyment for the art and music associated with Vaporwave whilst being seperated from the philosophies that guided these albums towards that sound. Because of the amorphous nature of internet culture, Vaporwave began to resemble more of a traditional internet meme or fad rather than the complex themes that sprouted it. That all said, the golden era of Vaporwave subculture has largely come to an end, I think we can agree. That's not to say it cannot be revived, but much of the community that banded together for the unique culmination that Vaporwave offered fled after maturing and finding other microcosms and rabbit holes that interested them or, alternatively, after being more properly satiated by the rise of mainstream 90s nostalgia in the late 2010s and early 2020s. This is even without going into how much of the genre and subculture stagnated in later years as its early edge waned into a faint memory for the majority of the community.
That is not to imply that there's a "correct" way to enjoy Vaporwave or its countless bevy of subgenres. Rather, I merely believe that the correlation between the shifting priorities of those creating and listening to the genre did indeed influence its current state of affairs. It is also my opinion that one of the genres many strengths is how diverse and varied the emotions from any given project or even subgenre can be. The insane levels of subdivision just go to show how abundant creativity can be under this one umbrella of Vaporwave and that should never be taken as anything but an achievement in my humblest of opinions.
What are the subgenres of Vaporwave?
This is by no means a definitive list, however I have made an attempt to highlight the most relevant and beloved of Vaporwave's nigh uncountable subgenres. There are several key resources out there like the various Vapor music charts and the RYM Vaporwave sections(Thank you, Harley_Magoo) that I feel I must recommend for being fantastic ways to expose yourself to more art and music. It should be noted preemptively that due to the very unstructured nature of the subcultre and genre, many albums will end up listed as being apart of several subgenres. I'm going to do my best to try and make sure everything is as organized as possible, but forgive me because there's so much debate to be had in so much of catagorization with Vaporwave. As with the above description, feel free to reach out if you think I could do a little better explaining and feel free to offer amendments.
Eccojams(Vapor Classic)
Eccojams, sometimes referred to as Vapor Classic, refers to early Vaporwave that tends to follow many of the genre codifiers set by the eponymous Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1. These projects heavily focus on looping harshly cut together samples with a heavy amount of reverb, texture, delay, and downward pitch-shifting that almost causes them to be as dreamy as they are harsh and jagged. Eccojams technically predate Vaporwave as a genre, but it falls snugly into Vaporwave after the fact much like labels such as "proto-metal."
Segahaze
Also sprouting from Daniel Lopatin's Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1, Segahaze takes the video game aesthetic originating from the cover of Eccojams and extrapolates that feeling for a more ambiant take on the Eccojams formula, steeped in the imagery and feeling of many early to mid-90s video games. The hard chopping of many Eccojams is traded for a greater focus on the ethereal, surreal, and dreamy. The similarities between 'haze & 'jams cause this genre to typically be folded back into the greater Eccojams umbrella despite its distinctive qualities being important to several releases.
Utopian Virtual
Born out of James Ferarro's Far Side Virtual, Utopian Virtual expands on many of the themes of other classic approaches to Vaporwave without relying as heavily on sample looping. Rather, the genre tends to use the "language" of muzak, soulless corporate soundtracks, and explores the various feelings of music so perfect that it sounds more plastic the more you listen to it.
Faux-Utopian
Faux-Utopian takes many of the tropes, approaches, and conceptual beliefs behind the previous three subgenres mentioned and combines them into audio explorations of truly imperfect corporate masquarades. It dangles the promises of the future as a carrot to distract from a more sinister reality that seems to constantly be peaking through. If Utopian Virtual is music that is too perfect to feel real, Faux-Utopian's mask of perfection is breaking apart in real-time in front of the listener.
Mallsoft
Future Funk
Vaportrap
Hypnagogic Drift(Post-Internet)
Broken Transmission(Signalwave)
Hardvapour
Vapornoise
Late Night Lo-Fi
Vapormeme(Parody/Satire)
Slushwave
VHS Pop
Barber Beats
Post-Vaporwave