Vaporwave is, perhaps, the best example of exterior music. By this I mean that it's appeal lies not in the sounds that are presented to the listener, but in the imagery and ideas attached to the sounds. Some might call it conceptual, but because vaporwave acts don't normally offer much of a unified concept, I think that's somewhat erroneous.
Occasionally vaporwave albums will attach themselves to unified concepts, Housewares by 식료품groceries and most of the Dream Catalogue releases, for example. These conceptual albums never really sat well with me, though. Attaching a concept to the mostly shallow sound of vaporwave eliminates the ability for the mind to wonder.
Dead Mall, 2005, however, is an album that has managed to attach conception to vaporwave in the right way.
NETMD present a trip through a quiet, nigh-abandoned shopping mall. The sounds run the gamut from people talking, to distorted arcade noises, to remixed elevator music, to future funk. NETMD guide you through different locations in the mall, maintaining the ambiance through the use of constant, echoing footstep sounds.
The album's strength, of course, is not the sounds itself, but of the feelings they conjure. The concept is kept loose. Who was walking through this mall? Why are they there? Are the sounds of the mall imagined? What year is it?
I recommend this for listeners who want something to mull over, but don't expect much richness in sound.
Listen here.
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