OCTOBER 2019 I SS U E 9

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+ + + + + +

VAPORWAVE EVOLVES!
THE 100% ELECTRONICON REVIEW

Z E R 0 れ い TA L KS H E L LV E T E R R A

M A K I N G D A R K VA P O R W I T H R ∞

GENRE DISSECTIONS:

Witch House
& Cursed Signalwave

umami
INTERFACING WITH

SPOOKY
FICTION & ART
2/
 ISSUE 9
Founder/Managing Director PODCAST
mattt Lead
PONYDANZA

EXECUTIVE TEAM
mattt
Podcast Team
mattt
O C T 2 019
maki Uriel Machine (Marty Zatz)
PONYDANZA IndyAdvant
Seth Startix Augnos

NEWS
DESIGN
Lead
Lead Designer & Layout
deliriously...daniel
Seth Startix
(Eric Weidner)
News Writers
CommonAesthetic
Design Team
KITE0080
acceptabletrouble
PastelHorizon
kingkono
Williambugara
EinTheMidle
l3gacy
Lil Seth
REVIEWS
LordDepis (contributor)
Lead
Puffycheeses
Cover Art
Acidwinzip
Writers
deliriously...daniel
IndyAdvant
OUTREACH
Lead WEBSITE
Trirar privatesuitemag.com
FEATURES
sheep
Lead
deliriously...daniel EMAIL
Outreach Team
Iku Tri [email protected]
Writers
perrylam29
CASINO
maki
Mxhdroom SOCIAL
IndyAdvant PrivateSuiteMag
sheep
Testamorta VIDEOS
kinyourbook (contributor) Lead PODCAST
IndyAdvant PrivateSuiteMag.com/podcast

Video Team
FICTION PATREON
IkuTri
Lead l3gacy patreon.com/privatesuitemag
sheep perrlam29
r0x4ry
Writer Zeitghosted
Azuma
BDuranX2
sigil.dreams簡潔poetry
PHYSICAL
F O L LOW U S :
LIVINGSTON (contributor)
United States
Trirar(Edward Stumm)

EDITING
Canada
Lead IndyAdvant
Testamorta
cerulea_d.lux
Europe
strawberrystation
Editors
NUYCE
semioticrobotic
DISCORD MODERATORS
palorbaer
r0x4ry
Zecon365
Cosmic Cascade
IT TEAM Saintcloud
aurame
IndyAdvant
Puffycheeses
SaintCloud
/3
 I S S U E
NEWS
L a b e l Re s u r re c t i o n : St r u d e l s o ft ’s 8
Miraculous Comeback Story

S t r u t : G r o o v e H o r i z o n s Po p s O f f 10

REVIEWS
It's Always Summer Here: 13
Strawberry Station's 128 State

Rapidfires 14

Pr i v at e S u i t e A rc a d e 16

RE_CURSE_IVE REMNANTS 18
9

Reviewing VR Album 22
Experience Game: Sacred Siren

No Sleep in Brooklyn: 26
PSM at 100% Electronicon

4/
F E AT U R E S
Documenting the Making 38
of a Darkvapor Album, with R∞

Through a Vapor Lens: 42

Haunting Halls and Backrooms

Know the Score: 46

an interview with Zer0 れい

Interfacing with u m a m i 54

TʰE WᴉT₵ʰ ʰOUSE ₵OMETʰ \\ 60

W▲VES OF TʰE O₵₵ULT

FICTION
Browser History (pt.3) 64

Of Wolf and Late Capitalism 65

The Magician 66

G E N E S I S (pt.2) 68

The Happiest Place on the 72

Darknet!!!

/5
6/
Letter from
A S P O O K Y

S H E E P
Looking at visual aesthetic, it’s You’ll also find a recap of the spiritual
strikingly obvious that the Greco-Roman event that was 100% ElectroniCON, with
pantheons play a huge influence in first-hand accounts from various staff
vaporwave. With their roots planted in members and other attendees. We’ll
the foundation of pagan worship, it only present to you a moment with
makes sense to draw the allusion to u m a m i, the artist behind the post-
vaporwave and the occult. The Greeks internet surrealism that is Interface, and
and Romans didn’t have the luxury of the an essay that draws the comparisons of
internet, but we do, and in our reliance vaporwave, aesthetic, and witch house.
on icons of gods and the open-source
I do hope you, dear reader, will find this
nature of said internet, we’ve come to
spooky issue of PSM to be hauntingly
create a kind of cyber-paganism.
curious; and, if you have a moment, head
This issue hopes to take a closer look on over to @PrivateSuiteMag on Twitter
at the darker aspects of vaporwave and and let us know about the spookiest
its influences–the macabre things we thing you associate with your nostalgia.
keep in the closet and tend to laugh
about, but never really acknowledge,
and among those things, we’ll be taking
a closer look at witch house, and how
it came to influence vaporwave both in
audio and visual formatting.

–sheep
FICTION &
OUTREACH LEAD

/7
News
Billy Bugara
Label Resurrection: NEWS WRITER

STRUDELSOFT’S
Miraculous Comeback Story

Numerous vaporwave labels have Strudelsoft distinguished itself in

become staples of the genre. Dream a crowded and competitive scene
Catalogue, Business Casual, and My by focusing its efforts on a specific
Pet Flamingo are just a few examples medium: the floppy disk. Founded
of long-running, dynamic, and forward- and singularly run by Candian CEO
thinking collectives committed to Sterling Campbell, better known by
showcasing the best of vaporwave pseudonym Incarta ‘95, Strudelsdoft
— and the myriad ways one might do began as something of an experiment.
it. From selling cassettes and vinyl to But it quickly turned into an extension
simply giving more and more worthy of its creator’s passion — and that
artists a chance to shine, labels serve very passion translated so well to fans
an immeasurable purpose in the of this unparalleled concept. Over
vaporwave scene. the past few years, Campbell’s label
put out numerous releases that sold
Yet despite the magnitude of those
out almost instantly. Fans devoured
aforementioned labels, a plethora of
them. The work garnered praise, not
smaller labels have also made their
only in independent circles but also
presence known. Lacking the grandiose
in mainstream features from such
stature these top-tier labels can foster
marquee publications as Rolling Stone
and flaunt, smaller outlets must make
and CBC.
themselves known in far more unique
ways if they hope to get noticed. One
of the greatest testaments to this is Lacking the
Strudelsoft, a label with one of the most grandiose stature
fascinating, eventful, and provocative these top-tier
stories in the genre’s history.
labels can foster
Recently, that story almost came and flaunt, smaller
to an abrupt end. But, miraculously, it
didn’t. And the explanation of why will
outlets must make
inspire and gratify anyone who claims
themselves known
this genre as their own. in far more unique
8/
ways
 Everything was going so very well shipping might also result from the
— until one fateful moment this past partnership).
summer, when Strudelsoft sent fans an
Incarta offers his impressions of
unexpected message.
Strudelsoft’s sudden demise and
In a captivating post, Incarta resounding resurrection in an honest
announced that the label would shut and adequately telling way.
down immediately in light of ongoing
concerns about international shipping.
Fans were in shock. Numerous
“As long as people got the
questions arose — not only about the
claim’s details, but also about
floppies
its legitimacy.
in the end,
The claim, it turns out, was entirely
valid. Packages were reaching the I was good”
U.S. from the label’s native Canada
inconsistently, and Strudelsoft found
“As long as people got the floppies
itself too often re-creating and re-
in the end, I was good,” he says. “But
shipping merchandise to those who
shipping [media] into another country
didn’t receive their orders. The impacts
without tracking can kick your ass
weren’t only financial; the delays also
sometimes. When an email comes back
resulted in numerous extensions of
saying ‘I didn’t get it,’ it sucks.”
an already arduous process of
making floppies. Issues like these will continue to
plague indie labels, but Incarta’s
But just a few days later, fans received
resilience may inspire them.
another announcement from the label,
one even more unexpected than the “Small labels do this stuff out of love,
first. In yet another heartfelt message, and it is usually just one person running
Campbell announced that the label the entire thing, so I get why wait times
was in fact not ending and would be and hiccups occur,” he continues. “If a
returning in the fall of this year. In the small label has the means to produce
blink of an eye, Strudelsoft had risen and deliver it on time, then by all means
from the dead. start a label (and strive forward)."

Improbably, Incarta was able to Instances like this prove that no

strike up a deal with a fellow upstart matter how niche one’s craft, the right
publishing company, which agreed to amount of willpower and intuition can
handle the shipping of disks in a more provide a successful future. If coming
controlled, professional, and, most back from the dead can happen
importantly, efficient manner. An entire as quickly as it did for Incarta and
division would now help Strudelsoft his beloved Strudelsoft, then nearly
address its distribution issues (the label anything is possible in the
also indicated that cheaper and quicker vaporwave community.

/9
 Mxhdroom
WRITER

STRUT
GROOVE
GROOVE
HORIZONS
POPS OFF
There are few things scarier in music than Conscious Thoughts. But what would
trying to set up a club night. Booking the it be like in practice? The main worry is
venue, sourcing the artists, promoting that it becomes essentially a fan meet
the show, selling the tickets — there up — members of a niche interest group
are a lot of moving parts and a lot that pouring all their energy into one single,
can go wrong. So any discussion of a ephemeral event. Could the vaporwave
vaporwave live scene has to start from community pull off something like that?
that position: doing this stuff isn’t easy. Possibly. Would it seed the roots of a
And if things go wrong it can lead to a lot future vaporwave live scene? Probably
of embarrassment and expense. not. Club nights would be reserved for the
true believers, like an anime convention
When I first heard about the plan for setting up in a hotel, running riot, and then
Groove Horizons, I didn’t know what closing up shop until next year.
to expect. The idea of a vaporwave
club night (more specifically a future This is the real victory of Groove
funk club night) sounded like a great Horizons. Not that there was a room
idea. The lineup was certainly stellar, full of people we knew, the real faces
boasting Mr.Wax, Android Apartment, of avatars we met online. But I saw the
Tokyo Wanderer, Mélonade, Jelly Bon seeds of something which might be able
Bon, Strawberry Station, ev.exi and to develop and evolve. For sure, it’s great

10 /
to meet people from the internet; the nervousness." But if you want to grow the flyers, we even had two guys come
social aspect of the vaporwave scene and develop a scene into a live era, you over from Germany. I’ve honestly never
is one of its best elements, especially have to start somewhere. been to a party quite like it in my life
if it involves collaborating together on before.
a project like Private Suite Magazine or Getting your mates together is cool.
Groove Horizons. But what was even Getting London clubgoers into a room “There were a few points where I stood
better was seeing people walk through with Conscious Thoughts DJing over a on the sidelines and just took it all in.
the door who were complete strangers: pulsing anime slideshow — that’s a real I was thinking about the anime video
couples who arrived and just danced achievement. That’s something you can which we had playing on the wall as the
together, friend groups who came and build on. performers DJed. I’d spent days and
did their own thing, those who had seen days putting that video together. Cutting
I wanted to get Strawberry Station’s take together clips of ‘80s, ‘90s, and modern
the posters dotted around London, and
on this. One of the artists who organised anime characters dancing and having a
regulars who come to the same venue
the event alongside the aforementioned good time. And as I was looking over the
every weekend. Attendees who didn’t
Mélonade, Strawberry had a big hand in crowd I was seeing people mirror what
know anyone at the start of the night
the logistics and promotion of Groove was on the screen, dancing, enjoying
making friends as it went on.
Horizons. themselves, just so happy. That was one
As Mélonade, who doubled as a show of my proudest moments.”
“People came from all over the place,
organiser, put it to me at the event,
friends of friends, people who had seen
"it’s a mixed feeling of excitement and

G E T T I N G Y O U R M AT E S
TOGETHER IS COOL.
GETTING LONDON CLUBGOERS
INTO A ROOM WITH CONSCIOUS THOUGHTS
DJING OVER A PULSING ANIME SLIDESHOW
— T H AT ’ S A R E A L A C H I E V E M E N T.

I asked Strawberry whether he was ever anxious about how the night would go. It’s a
big commitment setting up a club night. You’ve got to put yourself and your vision out
there. Surely not a task for the faint of heart?

“For sure, there was definitely a point where the nerves kicked in as we got closer and
closer to the night. We got the buzz rolling, but we were definitely worried about who
was going to turn up at the actual event. But then the posters started going up over
London, and then obviously on the night itself it just clicked, the doors opened and the
place was full.

/ 11
 “Honestly, I need to give a big shout
out to Alexander Hall. He was integral to
getting the night set up and organised.
He’s done a lot of events around London
before he actually knew the venue owners
because of this. I mean, most of us have
never put on anything like this before. And
then on the night itself, he was helping out
illness. Yessel who did the artwork for the show posters.
everywhere, setting the lights up, the DJ
Also, Music’s The Hang Up who came all the way to the
booth, he even worked security. Without
UK from Australia to attend. He was my roomie for the
the combination of him and Mélonade’s
duration of the show, and I was showing him all around
drive, we couldn’t have done it. Definitely
London, getting fish and chips, showing him the British
the unsung hero of the night.”
way of life. We honestly had a great time.

One of the traits of the evening I enjoyed

“A guy like him, jumping on a plane from Australia
most wasn’t just the extremely energetic
on his way to the states, that dude’s seen Future Funk
DJ sets, but the structure around them.
on three different continents in a month. It’s wild, but it
There was almost a miniature press pool
shows how much passion there is in this scene.”
with myself and Music’s The Hang Up in
attendance chatting and documenting Coming right on the heels of vaporwave’s 10th
proceedings. But there was also extensive anniversary, and mere weeks before the American
merchandise on offer, with the help of vaporwave festival 100% ElectroniCON was due to kick
My Pet Flamingo, much of it rare and off in New York, Groove Horizon was a resounding
exclusive. success. A success which I hope can be built on and
developed as the months and years go by — turning
Seeing all of this genre furniture in
vaporwave into something which can bring fans, friends
the same room is impressive. As much
and strangers together not just online, but in person too.
as I like how accessible the night was,
there’s something pleasing about seeing
a magazine you write for — a magazine
that didn’t even exist 2 years ago — sitting
pride of place on a bustling merch table.

Returning to the people that made the

night possible Strawberry continues, “I
really want to give a shout out to those
two guys who came from Germany to
see the show. And especially to Tokyo
Wanderer who stepped in when Tanuki
couldn’t perform due to an unfortunate

12 /
Review
But that doesn't mean the of It," though a love letter to
It's Al ways Summer Here: album is clichéd. 128 State disco through and through,

Strawberry Station’s takes off in a few unexpected doesn't stop at the '70s. It

128 state
— but always delightful — sounds as though it might
directions as it progresses. have been filtered through a
Windows 95 screensaver at
"Boyfriend" takes a Luther
some point during the Clinton
Vandross sample and totally
administration.
kinyourbook rearranges the melody.
WRITER Essentially, it's a track that And, of course, vaporwave
showcases what future funk and future funk are built on
is all about: imagining a collaboration and teamwork.
Who cares what month it is? In the future funk universe,
brighter future by reimagining In addition to the remix
summer's endless.
the past. of "Mono No Aware" by
And in the world of Strawberry Station, it's also a state of Strawberry Station's own
Strawberry Station looks
mind. This brand-new, feel-good drop does what all the very influence, Mere, JellyBonBon
up to artists like Mere, ev.exi
best future funk does: take you on a virtual vacation, conjure and Seabaud also make
and Rhodes Rodosu, whose
memories of happy summers past (or an aching sense of appearances, leaving their
complex chops and grooves
nostalgia for summers you never even experienced). own unique imprints on
are still upbeat, danceable,
their respective tracks.
Based in Leicester, UK, Strawberry Station has been and effortless. That influence
On "Strawberry Jelly,”
involved in the vaporwave scene for two years and began is evident on the track "Mono
JellyBonBon drops some
making future funk music after a friend introduced him to No Aware" and, later in the
juicy disco vibes. On "Hirune
Saint Pepsi's Hit Vibes. Inspired by the pure, unadulterated album, Mere provides a remix
Ga Daisuki," Seabaud comes
joy of the album, he got to work and released Strawberry of the song, zeroing in on a
in with an endearing
Dreams soon after. crunchy beat and taking it to
mix of chiptune and sax-
even earthier and
128 State showcases Strawberry Station's ever-increasing heavy muzak.
groovier depths.
skillset. But more importantly, it oozes passion and a true
On 128 State, Strawberry
love of the genre. There's no slow burn here; from the top, A fondness for ‘80s and
Station's love of both
you'll be ready to kick off your shoes and dance the night ‘90s mass media, TV and
vaporwave and future funk
away at a beachfront bonfire party. "Daijoubu Tonight" and advertising is a hallmark of
mixes with the genre’s rich
"Almost Summer" encapsulate those sweet, warm weather vaporwave, and it's certainly
and varied history to create
feelings best. not missing from the album.
a cohesive listening
"Still the One" sounds like a
"[It's] about having one heck of a party," Strawberry Station experience that will appeal
funkified version of the end-
says, "losing yourself in an idealised world of pastel colours, to both genre newcomers
credits music you might've
high school crushes and summer sunsets." and seasoned fans.
heard on a PBS kids' show in
the early '90s, and "Shifting Listen any time. In the
Gear" is what might play if future funk universe,
the weather department at a summer's endless.
local news station dropped
what they were doing and
started an impromptu dance
party. "Gotta Make the Most
/ 13
 Rapidfire We dig around the internet
so you don’t have to

Colour Television
by Seasonal Photos
What if you took all the most emotional and uncharacteristically
mournful moments of a soap opera, stripped away the dialogue, and
left the soundtrack to simmer in the sun for a month?
You’d get this album of poignant computergaze
made eerily human.

deliriously...daniel

ラブ・サマー・アシッド・トリップ
by TIMEWAVEZER0
Imagine a cold winter. Now, imagine a dystopian universe where
robots rule all. Then, forget all of that, and put on your most colorful
hawaiian shirt, some sunscreen, and that summer cap you haven’t worn
in years; a scorching summer of dance awaits all who listen to Love
Summer Acid Trip. The unique layered effects and professional mixing
combined with the artist’s flawless sample choices and exemplary
dance rhythms conveys the warmth of summers past and the dream of
a world where the sun never sets.
aurame

I Am Death
by Princess Commodore 64
Don't cry. There's no reason to be afraid. Though death comes for all
of us, nobody ever mentioned how wicked its soundtrack is. Industrially
heavy, grim-dark grimey, it holds within it, a hopefully dreamy whisper
that peeks out through the murk. Crystal clear visions of confusion
and the darker feelings of the soul, it is a must listen as the season of
spooks creeps upon us.
sheep

14 /
 Eternal Moment Epidermis
by NΣOΔOR & Ada by Olympius

aurame aurame

Have you ever gotten that post-club feeling Epidermis is a strange but welcome chill-
of joy? Maybe the beverages that you’ve bosa-vaporwave-fusion album that truly sends
consumed have consumed you or, in the case shivers down your spine. Some of Epidermis’
of this album, the music has. Eternal Moment tracks remind me of Age of Mythology’s
is hard to describe. It begins with the sound of soundtrack while others remind me of an
you outside of a club, at about 8PM. You can evening in a hut on the beach. Its relaxing
hear the distorted melodies of disco music play instrumentation combined with the rhythmic
in the background. Then, you enter the club heartbeat of its chillwave inspired electronic
and the album progresses with groovier tracks drum kits, ethereal vocals and cherry-picked
until you spot a beautiful girl named Layla. The samples make the album’s unique acoustic
party continues with Late Nite Dreams marking footprint come together without dissonance.
midnight. After thorough dancing, you exit the Epidermis has a “side of the pool at lunch
club and the Dawn takes you to a nearby beach. sipping lemonade” feel to it that makes it truly
You dip your toes in the water and you finally enjoyable and infinitely replayable.
fall asleep.

Milenial
by Sentidos Apuestos BDuranX2

The nostalgia miners from Monterrey return to invite you to relive the childhood
in the Mexico of the '90s you never had. Open this cellophane wrapped music box
composed in a palette of classic vaporwave, deliciously aged synths, europop, and
lo-fi ballads. Let yourself go to a sunset on a musical highway going farther south than
you’ve ever been before until you can’t understand what the billboards say but you still
want what they sell.

Bad Ideas
by Konwave CASINO

You are on the 17th floor of your apartment building with the window open, letting in
the cool evening air and noise from a city that never sleeps. A fantastic ambient album
from Konwave and on a label we have grown to trust; Palm 84. This album succeeds
in placing itself apart from other “city” ambient albums with sounds that do not get old
as it progresses making spectacular use of the classical and jazz influences that can
be heard throughout. Tonight, New York is my symphony.

/ 15
 The

Private Suite
ARCADE
Want to talk video games? Let’s talk video games.
A few issues ago, I reviewed Broken Reality, a great
indie game heavily inspired by the vaporwave scene
and developed by Dynamic Media Triad. Since I
had so much fun with it, I got curious and decided
to expand my search for vaporwave games to itch.
io (think Steam, but even more indie). What I came
across was a treasure trove of undiscovered games!
Some were hidden gems and others were… well, not.
Verlet
I played through them anyway, and reviewed them Swing
below for your reading pleasure.
A fun and challenging game where you
It’s C A S I N O’s rapid-fire reviews: get to swing around like a certain arachnid-
Video Game Edition! themed superhero. Make it to the goal and
try to avoid bashing your face into Greek
architecture, giant palm trees, and other
aesthetic staples. With smooth movement
and beautiful, eye-popping levels, this one
gets a thumbs up. With that said, I still have
no idea what a “verlet” is.

Vaporwave Pizza Co
You make pizza. Drag toppings from the top of the screen and drop them
onto a conveyor belt that presumably delivers the pies to hungry customers.
Everything is pixelated and in different shades of blue and purple. Not much
else to say on this title.

16 /
Executive Towers
A walking simulator featuring the music of vaporwave artist Jade Statues,
from his album of the same name. The game itself is nothing special, but I do
love the idea of an interactive album listening experience like this one. Each
track from the album has its own level which matches the music perfectly and
puts you in the mood to listen to that particular song. An album in video game
form is a novel concept that I hope catches on with other artists.

Critters for Sale

Probably my favorite one on this list, although arguably the least vaporwave. It’s
a choose your own adventure game with a delightfully strange story involving time
travel, Noid Men, and Michael Jackson. The game’s art style is like no other I have
seen and is equal parts intriguing and disturbing — but in a good way! The only caveat
is that, as of writing, only two of the five chapters are available for play.

Take your time

A simple little driving game where you cruise around three different vaporwave-
inspired tracks in your low-res car. There is not a whole lot to the project, but it does
have its charms. The soundtrack is fitting, and the aesthetic feel of the game is spot
on. With that said, the controls are wonky and even grazing a wall causes your car
to come to a full and immediate stop. The game forces you to play super cautiously.
Perhaps I should have known that going into it given the title…

VHS 対 BETAMAX
Take up your favorite collection of video cassette tapes and violently hurl them
at your opponent while loudly proclaiming that your retro cassette format is
indeed the superior one. Unlike me, you probably have friends, so you can play
with up to three others in local multiplayer for a surprisingly fun and chaotic Super
Smash Brothers-style experience. It does have AI, but its intelligence is somewhat
lacking. So, the game is best whipped out when your mates are over and have had
maybe one drink too many.

/ 17
 Turn off your radio.
Unplug your television.
Do not trust your computer
or personal cellphone.

This is the Private Suite Analogue Alert system.

We are tracking a swarm of errant frequencies

converging on your location.
They will attempt to enter your home through any
electronic means.
Odd diskettes may be slipped beneath your
door. You may receive an email from a deceased
family member. The microwave may hum a
sentimental tune.
They want inside.
They want inside your head.
They want inside your memory.

Should they succeed, recognize early symptoms

using this handy mnemonic: C.U.R.S.E.

Corneal vibrations
Ureal displacement and/or boiling
Retching (aurally)
Sonic bleaching
Extrasensory self immolation

18 /
If you take action before reaching “S.”
They are cultural orphans,
terminal damage is mostly avoidable.
estranged from context and
Proceed immediately to a basement
or subterranean structure.
purpose. They are artifacted
Lock yourself in, from the outside, dreams and outdated fantasies.
and place two large magnets on They are a car radio that won’t
either side of your head. stop rewinding
It may be too late for you, but you can
still stop them from breeding.

These corrosive wavelengths are

vengeful. Mournful. They’ve been
freed from places in limbo: damp
boxes, ruinous homes, condemned
studios. They are cultural orphans,
estranged from context and purpose.
They are artifacted dreams and
outdated fantasies. They are a car
radio that won’t stop rewinding. ???_A_CURSORY_BESTIARY_???
Commercials that cause iris cancer.
VHS tapes bent into ankhs. To protect your purity, it is essential that you
recognize cursed signalwave’s most notorious
Together, they are cursed signalwave. fugitives. Study their artwork. Learn their
And they want to be remembered. motives. And hear what their architects think of
the phantasmal phenomenon they’ve projected.

▣世界から解放され▣
by ░▒▓新しいデラックスライフ▓▒░

Best identified by its arcane ancestry: Before signalwave was cursed, before
signalwave even emerged from vapour’s primordial genre soup, there was an
album that translates to Freed from the World, by an artist known elsewhere as
Internet Club. The second in a trilogy including D E L U X E and NHK REMINDS
YOU TO BOOST YOUR SIGNAL, Freed from the World is incomprehensibly
vast. It is unbound by newtonian physics, and it is URAP URAP URAP URAP

“It's rather hard for me to remember whatever ‘intention’ I may have had with
it… at the time, I was really fascinated by Computer Dreams' ‘Untitled’ mp3.
just this fourteen-minute unvarnished little block of sound from nowhere.
Internet Club in general was very ‘intention’-less, especially early on. Just
making bullshit. Exploring zones.”

/ 19
TTTT
Best identified by its unpredictability: Cursed it utilizes glitches, repetitive excerpts, and
signalwave’s like a casket of chocolates. By the sudden pitch shifts.
time you know what you’re going to get, it’s too
late. Should you face this whirlwind of warps “Cursed signalwave is a lot like the 1986
and errors, seek a storm, bomb, or radiation Cursed Japanese Kleenex Commercial (which
shelter. plays normally in the afternoon, until midnight,
when the commercial starts to become erratic)
“Signalwave/broken transmission can be and the 1993 KCRC Commercial Urban Legend
interpreted as nostalgia through sampling old (a girl with a ponytail at the back disappeared
commercials, TV show excerpts, and weekly at the final shot). Both are shrouded in mystery
night news or weather. Artists can paint and unnerve a lot of people. Cursed signalwave
whatever in their world, in which case you use aims to picture a dark, surreal place deep
commercials or another broadcast that aired within the channels of your old television.
more than two decades ago. It can show a Broken transmission can be similar to cursed
wide range of emotions, from sad to happy or signalwave like チェスマスター 夢に生きます,
mad to disgust and so on. Cursed signalwave where the same samples clash each other. In
symbolizes how much further signalwave the end, you're left with an unlistenable album
can go as a piece that only uses old material; that pushes the limits on what signalwave is.”

D i e N a c h t
by s p o r t 3 0 0 0

Best identified by its malaise: are especially present or play an atmosphere. Cursed signalwave is
Everything seems right here. Until especially important role for the challenging to listen to — quite the
it doesn’t. Late night lo-fi splices atmosphere, the term "broken opposite of ‘Easy Listening.’ Often
uneasily with piano, gospel, and transmission" is used sometimes. there are quite a few overlaps with
implacable ennui, as this album noise music. A rather well known
takes you on a ride to a purgatory “Cursed signalwave goes beyond example for something that could
for mutated cable recordings. that and is more radical. Glitches, be considered Cursed Signalwave
interreferences, and scratches is INTERNET CLUB's side project
“Signalwave works with samples of are often more important than release ░▒▓新しいデラックスラ
recordings of (radio or, much more anything else in a certain sample. イフ▓▒░ - ▣世界から解放され
often, television) broadcasts to Or a sound sample gets modified ▣. But in some way, comparable
create certain atmospheres, with a massively with further sound music was already done decades
spectrum from dark to relaxing to effects — especially phasers. Or before vaporwave existed by early
happy. Further effects are usually the loops of a certain sample are electronic music and musique
used only to a quite limited extent. so short that it's not pleasing to concrète artists. For example,
The peculiarities and imperfections listen to anymore, according to Hymnen by Karlheinz Stockhausen,
of broadcasts and recording normal understanding. which was made with samples of
media — like limited sound quality, shortwave radio and anthems in
interferences, tape hiss, glitches, “Cursed signalwave is usually more the ‘60s.”
etc. — are often an important surreal than normal signalwave.
component for the atmosphere The aim is to create an eerie,
of signalwave releases. If these dark, spooky, partially depressing
20 /
 U LT I M AT E T E L E V I S I O N E X P E R I E N C E
&
S I G N A LWAV E _ 2 0 5 4
by ASTRO TV SYSTEM

Best identified by their sheer bedlam: ASTRO TV SYSTEM presents

cursed signalwave in its rawest form, as its samples sound ravaged by
a flurry of razor blades. Equally chaotic and cathartic, these releases
open a portal to dark and delirious places.

“Listen to cursed MMMMMMMMMM Signalwave 🔝🔝🔝 the most

powerful tunes of our generation... cursed signalwave... ?????? ??

🔝🔝🔝
????????? ???? ???? ???????? ??????? ????? MMMMMMMMMMMMM
???????? ?? ????? #savesignalwave”

V H C ​- ​4 8 0 0 9 ​- ​1
by Diskette Park

Best identified by its charm: More fluid than its forebearers, subject VHC​-​48009​-​1 can
be mistaken for easy listening… until it subtly deforms, folding time and space into a
spiderweb for you.

“Cursed signalwave is born from cursed audio and audiovisual media. An unmarked
cassette tape found buried underneath twelve feet of earth in Stull, Kansas — the entire
running time consisting of nothing but a repeating synth melody. A warning from a woman in
shadows on a videocassette hidden in a wall at the Melnikov Underground Laboratory in Yakutsk,
Russia. A low resolution black and white video of four young girls chanting in an unknown language
discovered at the end of a Fisher Price PXL-2000 toy camcorder cassette in a Port Richey, Florida
thrift store.

“When a cursed artifact such as these finds its way into your life, the only way to rid yourself of the
curse is to spread it to as many people as possible. This is the unspoken motivation behind most
of the cursed signalwave albums out there, including my own: VHC-48009-1. It was not a decision I
made lightly, but if people could experience only a fraction of the hell I've been through since I came
upon my own haunted strip of magnetic tape, maybe they would understand.”

WHEN A CURSED ARTIFACT SUCH AS THESE FINDS ITS WAY

INTO YOUR LIFE, THE ONLY WAY TO RID YOURSELF OF THE
CURSE IS TO SPREAD IT TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE.
/ 21
Reviewing VR Album Experience Game:

By:
nano神社 (✪㉨✪)

Writer:
IndyAdvant

She has been calling for you

day after day… Entranced,
you’ve taken your canoe out
on the rough ocean waters in
hopes of finding her, but after
hours of paddling a storm has
begun to swiftly come on.
You’ve accepted your fate and
now await being pulled down
into the depths as punishment
for your foolishness. Then out
of the haze of the torrential
downpour, the sky begins
to open up, shining down a
deep purple light revealing
a mysterious island not too
far off in the distance. You
quickly head towards the
shore to avoid capsizing…

I need to begin this article detailing a potential bias I have toward the
music that this VR experience was created for. It’s a psychedelic virtual
reality experience created for the debut album, 𝔾𝕠𝕕𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕤, by SWIM SOULS,
released on Business Casual, and it’s one of my favourite releases in all of
vaporwave. At the time of this writing there are still a handful of cassettes
left, so check it out. Also! If you’d like to watch me experience the game in a
VR playthrough, you can check the video out here!

I slip on my VR headset, slap on my headphones and launch Sacred Siren

–and I’m there. An eerie but beautiful purple desert in the pouring rain at
midnight. I was so intrigued by the instant atmosphere, I took a moment to
breathe deep and take everything in, to really teleport and transport me to this Album: 𝔾𝕠𝕕𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕤
world of Sacred Siren. Cover artwork by: s h e e p

22 /
As soon as I hit Play, I am instantly immersed in the sounds of the first
track on the record, making me wonder “is the game going to play the full
album, and in order?” I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to give myself over. On the
beachside outskirts of a shimmering city, where the water is black and the
sand is purple, I find myself walking up some makeshift stairs on the rubbley
dunes on the beachside, toward brightly glowing lampposts. Before I know it,
the music is in full swing and I take a step back to catch my bearings. I could
not have imagined this experience to be more powerful and beautiful all at
once. I really felt like the world was building the music for me, emitting it from
the water, sand, trees, cities, buildings, statues, everything. The sounds were
being pushed at me from all directions, from the farthest window high above
the city in the distance, to the pulsating red leaves on the trees through the
paths and hills nearby.

Overwhelmed by stimulation and sensation, I suddenly realize this world is

inhabited — not necessarily by humans, but certainly by gods and spirits,
where erected statues warm their hands over torch-like cauldrons of fire. The
journey is nothing short of ethereal.

Are they gods? Is this how they

communicate to us? Or are they
prisoners?
It’s a truly eerie experience: being Are they gods? Is this how they
led past a cult of statues performing communicate to us? Or are they
a seance, then walking down a prisoners? Holograms start to appear
wooden rope bridge under a purple before my eyes, shifting between
sky scraped with lightning over a shapes and statues, symbols,
massive quarry toward two pillars animals, flowers, faces — all while
enclosing a giant, virtual, changing being fed the whispers of the ghostly
picture (hologram) of some sort of figures cascading out of the screen
Japanese goddess, welcoming me as the music and visuals all come to
to... the afterlife? Eternal death? a close, leaving me with a fantastical
Transforming me into a spirit or sensation and the need to discover
ghost? more about this world.

For a moment, darkness was all A beautiful and profound

I could see. Suddenly I’m pulled accompaniment to the album
through a dark and eerie cave, where 𝔾𝕠𝕕𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕤, nano神社 (✪㉨✪)
CRT computer monitors pepper (nanoshrine) certainly crafted an
the walls among the eroding, slimy experience that leaves you with a
purple sediments. As I walk towards deep and subjective ending that
the light at the end of the cave, I makes you think, and makes you
begin to see the ghost of a woman want to dig into the universe and
appear, embedded in a CRT monitor. know more.
/ 23
24 /
/ 25
26 /
/ 27
28 /
 A ugust 31, 2019 is now a date that will be etched into our collective memory.
Over a thousand vaporwave fans flocked to Brooklyn from all over the world
for this unprecedented event. George Clanton and 100% Electronica have been, and
will continue to be, highly revered for being able to pull it off. The scene was together,
in a shared physical space, for the first time. Anonymity was shed, bonds were
formed, ideas were discussed. Fans, label owners, and artists were all in attendance,
helping write this page in music/art history. Those of us who weren’t local, or staying
with family, posted up at the Hotel RL about a mile away from the venue, Elsewhere.

If you wanted a guide on how not to blend in while

walking around Brooklyn, we’ve got you covered:
memphis print button downs and boating shorts,
colorblock aesthetic, holographic fanny packs. If you
picture a scene out of a ‘90s film, set in a big city, you
could expect to find us — a gang of like-minded aesthetes
of various talents. We sit on the curb drinking beers and
trading cassettes, we nearly wrap around an entire city
block to get into an exclusive concert the likes of which
some of us likely sold our souls to the vapordevil to get
into, and we transcend the threshold that we were all
subtly aware was lurking just beyond our grasp. The sky
was the limit, because now, the community at large has
goals set in the stars.

Read on for a breakdown of the weekend’s events, as well

(Photo Top) :
Saint Pepsi as reviews/reflections/musings from everyone on the
team who was in attendance (along with some special
Photographer: guests)! Vaporwave is dead, they say? We’re happy
PonyDanza
they’re wrong.

/ 29
THE TAPE SWAP
The community was so eager for an event like 100%
Electronicon, so once word got out, The Basement Labs
and members of facebook’s Vaporwave Cassette Club were
quick to extend the weekend and get a pre-show event
together. This “Tape Swap & Chill” was a solid eight hour
meetup, bringing together labels, fans, and artists in a very
casual way before the expected chaos of the next day. DJ
sets were happening throughout the day by Radio藍Dream,
the Pocari Sweat DJs, Videopunks, Private Suite’s maki,
Wizard of Loneliness, PowerPCME, and 3D Blast, capped off
with an absolutely blistering live set by Atlanta’s NOEYES.
Enthusiasts of all stripes bought and traded tapes and other
merchandise, and shared stories until we, regrettably, had to
close up for the night. But we were going to need that rest
anyway, for what the next day held in store.

ELSEWHERE
& 100% ELECTRONICON
The venue was the perfect The fact that this was the spot proper, we were also treated to
place to showcase the roster of you first encountered upon entry DJ sets from synchro//start, 3D
artists performing; you could tell really helped get you immediately BLAST, Skeleton Lipstick, and
that the artist and stage match- hyped for the day/night ahead. Pad Chennington. The Loft, a
ups were very deliberate. The Rooftop definitely carried small, intimate bar and lounge

Zone One, the smallest of the a “festival” vibe, ranging from in between the first floor and

bunch, was the ideal setting for upstarts like FM Skyline and the roof, got packed to the gills

the first-in-line to pack into for classic stylings of Golden Living once the afterparty started,

ESPRIT, christtt’s deep dive into Room, all the way up to the triple definitely changing the vibe and

the meme pool, or the sonic threat of EQUIP, telepath, and allowing everyone to let loose any

onslaught of Fire-Toolz. death’s dynamic shroud. If you remaining energy they had from

haven’t seen any of that footage, the day’s gauntlet.

The Hall was stacked with,
arguably, those artists with the you really should go find it!

“crossover” potential. Performers The afterparty ran until the

who we can expect to fill small hours of the morning, but
thousands-capacity venues — paid off for those who stuck
Dan Mason, Saint Pepsi, and our around. Aside from the artists that
hosts/curators George & Lindsey. performed during Electronicon
30 /
OUR
EXPERIENCES
PA D C H E N N I N G T O N

BduranX2

My friend Emman and I had a plan. We were just whose faces I didn’t know were suddenly all there, like
going to catch a bit of telepath’s set on the rooftop and some Evangelionesque communion.
then rush to the main stage before 8:00 so we could When I woke up, I was in front of the Saint Pepsi
get our hands on that sweet Saint Pepsi vinyl, then we merch table and everyone was upset at me. “You’re
would find a good spot, maybe a beer, and dance the cutting in line,” they said. What line? That’s when I
time away. realized said line was so long it blended seamlessly
We did not carry out this plan. with the crowd for George Clanton. We eventually

The epitome of vaporwave reigned before us: a joined the ranks of people in a slow procession with

chrome-hooded wizard with a Lenovo ThinkPad on their backs to the music, desperate to buy stuff. This

a table overrun by plastic foliage, disco ball broken too was the epitome of vaporwave. The line started

light shards flickering between neon streams, smoke moving too quickly for comfort and sure enough, all

machines undistinguished from vape emissions, and the records were sold out. It was okay; records come

the backdrop of the North Brooklyn Industrial Business and go, but nothing could put a price on that telepath

Zone, fading gently from day to night to the sounds set. I made the right choice. Did you?

of fragile bliss. Old friends, new friends and friends Favorite set: telepath
/ 31
 CASINO

Strutting into Elsewhere like I owned the place

(fashionably late of course), I witnessed a small
swarm of people meeting one another, talking
shop and buying merch. That is when it hit
me: everyone here was a vaporwave fan. They
existed! They were real! And they were here!
After coming to this wonderful realization, I let
loose and had an hour long conversation with a
complete stranger about what CatCorp album
we liked the best.

As the day rolled on, and with Nmesh,

VAPERROR and telepath under my belt, it was
time for the main event (at least as far as I
was concerned): Saint Pepsi. The energy in
the main hall was almost overwhelming and
when the man himself stepped on stage, the
room exploded (figuratively) as he got right into
it with the best tracks off of Hit Vibes. Want
to know what’s cool though? Everyone there
knew every last word to all of his songs, and
as I sang the lyrics to “Cherry Pepsi” along with
the guy standing next to me in the crowd, his
arm around my shoulder and vice versa (never
even got the dude’s name), I felt a warm and
fuzzy sense of pride for this magnificent genre
building up in my chest. Or maybe that was the
alcohol… either way, vaporwave is going to be

M
just fine folks.

Favorite set: Saint Pepsi

32 /
VAPERROR
 The tape swap was jam- When the aliens
packed with fans proudly fell from the sky, and
displaying their cassette everyone's voices soared
cerulea_d.lux collections as Pocari in unison with George
Sweat and PowerPCME Clanton's, I stood in the
As a shy, lonely kid with a secondhand thundered through our hall, just one neon trash
eMachine and adults who constantly found hearts. After all that hustle can in the roiling mass of
reasons to keep me shut away from the world, and rush, I looked forward resplendent internet kids,
finding myself on a rooftop in Brooklyn in to freely wandering the my heart full. Everyone
an explosive celebration of cyberspace was three floors of Elsewhere, who attended this first,
light-years beyond my bravest fantasies. But letting the wave take me historic show was part of
as many of us still have to tell ourselves, 100% where it would. I bathed a miracle. We journeyed
Electronicon was real. Every single person who in the glow of a stack of from all over the world
worked to make this possible, from the tape televisions that pulsated to meet like long lost
swap to the afterparty and beyond, plucked our with living art as Dan family, to celebrate the
dreams out of the virtual plaza and laid them Mason's vivid performance past decade of vaporwave
out for us to savor for one magical weekend. ignited the hall, danced as well as its limitless
and cheered as Mario future. We proved that no
defeated enemies matter how many times
The weeks leading up to this event were a
behind VAPERROR. I met vaporwave dies, we can
blur of preparation and planning, so much so
countless music and bring it back again — we
that the reality of just what we were heading
visual artists I admire, can convene and make it
toward didn’t fully hit me until I arrived at the
my fellow Private Suite forever.
venue and saw the line of vaporwave fans
teammates, and brand
wrapped completely around the block. The
new friends to the sounds
sheer disbelief in the voice of the guy explaining Favorite Set:
of t e l e p a t h and death’s
into a walkie talkie that we weren’t a tour group George Clanton
dynamic shroud.wmv. Like
to be moved, but people waiting to get into
many others, I can proudly
Elsewhere, really drove home the miraculous
say I survived the Pad
spectacle that was about to occur.
Chennington afterparty
mosh pit.
I STOOD IN THE HALL,
JUST ONE NEON
TRASH CAN
IN THE ROILING MASS
OF RESPLENDENT

MY HEART
INTERNET KIDS,

FULL / 33
 deliriously...daniel

VAPORWAVE HAS BECOME AN INFINITELY ELASTIC

AND OFTEN SUBVERSIVE ART FORMS ACROSS THE
Beyond any particular set, what truly signed, stereotypical aesthetic tropes and a narrow view

MEMBRANE FOR TRANSMITTING ALTERNATIVE

sealed & delivered 100% Electronicon to my of the past or future, this scene now “curates
eternal memory was a speech given by Skeleton a space for creativity.” No longer must one ask
Lipstick — of Lipstick Elite & Terminally Chill, “is this vaporwave?” in reference to an invisible
among others — on the cusp of the event’s code of stylistic conduct. Rather, vaporwave
afterparty. As he proclaimed across Elsewhere’s has become an infinitely elastic membrane for
hall: transmitting alternative and often subversive art

“This was a sold out festival, and it was not forms across the internet and beyond.

brought to you by ‘Live Nation’ or any corporate Vaporwave has become a movement, and the
sponsorship. The entire event was a huge win afterparty that followed was a roaring Rorschach
for kindness, art and community over cynicism, of its creative interpretations. From 3D Blast and

INTERNET AND BEYOND.

elitism and commercialism. Vaporwave can’t die Pad Chennington turning the cramped Loft into
because it built its own death into itself, so it can’t a consolidated power pill of pounding vigor, to
be created or destroyed, it can only grow. It’s the Negative Gemini and VIRTUA 94 defibrillating the
ultimate challenger to the status quo, and thus the party ‘til dawn, the earlier organized energy of
final boss of genres.” the festival became a primordial soup with which

Having been involved with the vaporwave online strangers could bring their personal visions

scene before it was even called that, Skeleton to life.

Lipstick and his subsequent DJ set solidified in

me a hitherto abstract perspective on vaporwave Favorite set: Skeleton Lipstick
I couldn’t yet articulate. Blossoming beyond

Iku Tri

Living in NYC, the first thing I thought was that I same time, which cut into me showing up to the
might have to put a little extra into the experience. concert later than I wanted the next day.
I was meeting magazine staff for the first time irl, But it’s okay — I’m really new to vaporwave, and
and knowing the city, had a feeling that it might the whole experience is fun because I’m getting
be a little overwhelming for them. What I got? up to speed at a chaotic pace. There are sets I
An insane time, and that obligation becoming a missed, but won’t again because I was learning the
reality. The tape swap happened because the head whole time.
organizer contacted me last minute and I was able
The staff all felt like people I wished lived here,
to find a backup location for them, but the location
but I’ll see them again soon at ECON2.
was tiny, fragile, and personal.

We made it work, and it was a blast. I had to put

in a lot to shoot and keep the location safe at the Favorite set: death’s dynamic shroud

34 /
 IndyAdvant

I will forever remember the last weekend of

August 2019. Electronicon, the biggest and most
important vaporwave concert/one day festival/
weekend of madness, ever, was one of the most
profound experiences of my entire life. A global
collective of thousands of people, all meeting
under the same roof for the first time ever:
after ten years of history and build up, it finally
happened. We all have George Clanton to thank
for putting on such a spectacular event, with the
perfect venue choice. Elsewhere was incredibly
equipped to accommodate us: with its two
separate rooms and a beautiful rooftop, every
fan had somewhere new to discover and another
artist to look forward to catching along the way.

It felt like even though I hadn't met every person

that was there before, I knew them all, existing
as one giant cohesive package. An amalgam
of fans, artists, labels, producers, personalities,
consumers, you name it — there was something
there for everyone, and it just kept getting better
and more magical and romantic as the night, and
weekend, went on.

The performances were absolutely incredible,

even breathtaking at times, especially on the
rooftop where we were treated with a skyline
in the evening that was almost ethereal, and a
crescent moon at night. We were in the promised
land, this backdrop the perfect accompaniment to
death’s dynamic shroud and t e l e p a t h ’s sets. I
still have a lot of those songs and visuals stuck in
my head. Saying goodbye to my dear friends was
incredibly sad, but I know the experiences I shared
with those that I met will have an impact on me
forever. There will be no better, more meaningful
concert for me for a long long time, if ever.

Favorite set: Vaperror

DAN
MASON
/ 35
KITE0080 maki

In the initial days of starting Musics the Hang Up, I saw The tape swap was so fun — meeting so
Pad Chennington, the most well known personality in many artists and hearing feedback about the
vaporwave media, as a threat to my own success. Not that magazine in person was very humbling. For
I didn’t think we’d get along, just that I was coming into the the show, I had a big plan in place of everyone
scene as an outsider… was there space for me? After six I’d wanted to check out, but that was tossed
months of hard work, interviewing artists and becoming out the window the minute I walked in. It felt
somewhat of a staple in the scene, we started to chat equal parts “industry event” and “concert” due
quite regularly. I was able to drop this clouded mindset to being able to meet so many artists, label
and start forming a friendship. heads, and superfans.

Four days before 100% Electronicon, Pad Chennington Sadly, I could barely cram myself into Zone
asked me to create a Top Ten video for the vaporwave One for anything aside from televape, and
scene, as he was going on vacation after 100% realized I needed solid food at some point
Electronicon and wanted to have guests fill in for his during EQUIP. Everything I did see, from Dan
normal release schedule. This was the first time a serious Mason to Vaperror, was truly magical. You
collaboration with him was presented to me and I was definitely couldn’t see everything, but that’s
more than excited for the opportunity. what makes it great — everyone had a different

The finished video, Top 10 Most Collected Vaporwave experience, and it now gives us one massive

Albums of All Time, left him more than ecstatic, point of reference for all future conversations.

commenting “Ima give you a big ass hug at electronicon” I stuck around for enough afterparty to find

as he was more than proud to present it to his audience. the rest of the magazine crew and get some

This was a monumental moment for me as not only am I group photos to commemorate the first/largest

now part of the Pad universe, but he wanted to meet me. gathering of the team, which was worth just as

So we met up at his fan gathering, I got my hug, and much as the flight and show ticket.

I was feeling stoked to see him play at the Wandering Manhattan with Indy, KITE, and
100% Electronicon afterparty. Porter Vong (and randomly encountering

Just like his legacy on YouTube, he lived up to the hype some magazine patrons!) rounded out an

and quality on his DJ set, playing his own music, unforgettable weekend. I’m also glad I brought

マクロスMACROSS 82-99, Daft Punk and more. Being the the Instax along — both magazine staff and

personality he is, he knew how to control a crowd in a random attendees were happy to receive these

way no other artist did that night. From being carried on tiny irreplaceable analog keepsakes.

people's shoulders, joining and starting mosh pits, carrying I’ve been to many music festivals, but this
an American flag on his back as the room chanted “USA!” was like none other, and I attribute that to the
and wearing his Daft Punk helmet. The energy he was community itself. I won’t be making it to #2
able to harness that night could put him as a headliner in in LA, but I’m confident that we’ll see many
future 100% Electronicon events. I enjoyed every moment more events of this scale now that we’ve seen
of it and I felt like I was really part of his community. how successful they can be. There are certain
Seeing Pad have such a large audience that passionately places on earth where you can truly feel the
supports him is admiring and inspiring. It was a great set, energy a place holds. That was Elsewhere on
and I was happy to take part in it. the night of 100% Electronicon.

Favorite set: hawaii94 Favorite set: t e l e p a t h

36 /
PONYDANZA

As I said in the recap episode on the Private meeting everyone from the community. Whether
Suite Podcast, Electronicon was the greatest it was someone from the PSM team, a fan of the
day in vaporwave history. From the tape swap podcast, or artists like Dan Mason and Saint Pepsi,
the day before, the pre-show meetup with Pad everyone was just so stoked to meet everyone
Chennington, and of course the show itself, and it truly felt like a real community. It makes me
everything was surreal and I am still in disbelief so happy that I can no longer call everyone I met
that it actually happened. “internet friends,” but rather “friends.”

While some of the biggest names in the genre

were there, for me the highlight was not so much Favorite set: Vaperror
the music (which was obviously amazing), but

TELEPATH
SaintCloud

Electronicon will be known as the moment People could be heard shouting excitedly
that vaporwave broke through the proverbial whenever the first few notes of one of their
glass ceiling. Actually, in this case, I think favorite songs began. Even more impressive
breaking through a computer screen is a much was that it was his first live set ever.
better analogy. My first taste of Electronicon Up next for me was VAPERROR, which gave
was simply walking to the back of the line me heavy rave vibes. Visuals from video games
for the venue. This was the community I had were projected behind him as he danced and
shared a passion with for years, all in their mixed his music in the foreground. I was
aesthetic best, and all brought together at ecstatic when I scored a Mana Pool vinyl at the
last. As we filed through the doors of the merch table, which he then signed for me.
venue, I immediately caught sight of Nmesh,
This took me close to the end of the night,
who was selling merch. I picked up a Dream
when I saw Saint Pepsi perform. The main
Sequins minidisc and introduced myself. It was
hall was packed to the brim, then he took
completely surreal.
the stage. All of the classics reverberated
After this I headed toward the sound of throughout the hall, mingled with people
music blasting in a small side room. People singing along and chants of "Pepsi! Pepsi!"
were packed in like sardines in a tin can. I was Complete strangers were dancing with each
in Zone One, watching none other than George other. Light danced around the room and took
Clanton, performing as ESPRIT. I returned to on a 3D effect; almost as if the light itself was
the main hall to see Dan Mason, completely physical matter. It was the perfect end to a
pouring his heart out as he sang the vocals perfect night.
to some of his more recent tracks while
psychedelic retro imagery danced behind him.
Up next I saw Nmesh, who didn’t disappoint. Favorite set: Dan Mason
/ 37
 Shaking hands with
sheep people I’ve worked with
Outcasts and black and been influenced by

Life
sheep often yearn for a
place where they feel their
alike?
quirkiness doesn’t need
to be sacrificed. Online,
I found that home in the
vaporwave community.
changing.
In person, I realized that
this whole dream was a
reality, and now, bigger Trirar
goals were achievable. I
When you don’t know what you’re doing here, go somewhere
never imagined the insane
else. Go elsewhere. Fitting that 100% Electronicon’s venue
amount of energy we had
shares the same advice I needed to take.
as a collective whole.
One of the unique functions of the vaporwave scene is that
Being there to see the
we primarily exist online. We are both blessed and cursed by
legendary crystal? Iconic.
this fact. We can communicate instantly and intimately, yet
Shaking hands with
we’re separated by thousands of miles of wires. Breaking this
people I’ve worked with and
barrier, and not in bits and pieces but all at once, was the most
been influenced by alike?
amazing experience. Meeting dozens of artists, producers,
Life changing.
fans of the magazine, and my fellow staff here at Private Suite
I will forever be humbled was incredible. I wanted to be awake the whole time. I wanted
by the people I was able to not miss a thing. I wanted you to be there with me.
to meet and say hello to
Live sets that stand out in particular are the death’s dynamic
while I was at Electronicon.
shroud.wmv set and christtt. I’ll Try Living Like This, the 2015
I especially want to say
DDS classic, was my gateway drug to the rest of vapor. Their
thank you to everyone
live renditions of the DDS discography was mind-blowingly
who encouraged me to
good. Christtt’s chopped and screwed signature internet
go, because like a lot of
sampling style enmeshed perfectly with a forty minute
you, I was very anxious to
slideshow of the web’s most cursed images. I was assisting at
travel alone. I always am,
the merch table, so I experienced the music at the back of the
and suspect I always will
room, peering over the heads of an ecstatic crowd. Everyone
be, however, I don’t want
at the event wanted to be there. We were electric. We were
to let it hinder me. After
electricity, but this time, we were real.
all, Electronicon 2 is right
I would like to give a special shoutout to Kayla, Dan, Matt,
around the corner.
Rich, Indy, Cloud, John, John, Alyx, Ian, Mike, Falcon, and
more of you I can’t even begin to name. Your kindness and
Favorite set: compassion showed me that this scene not only deserves to
death’s dynamic shroud grow, but that it certainly will.

Favorite set: christtt

38 /
 Stuad^Dib (attendee)

I do not know how long I was suspended,

overcome as I was with joy, but after some
time the light faded, and I found myself Augnos (attendee, now staff)
standing back in the crowd. Engulfed in the
roaring applause at telepath's finale, I felt The only way to describe Electronicon
vertiginous and stumbled, but was steadied can be summed up in one word: surreal.
by a firm pair of hands. It was the wizard, Meeting a long time internet friend in
asking with great concern if I needed help. person for the first time is already a pretty
I mutely nodded, and as he reached into strange experience. But to meet an entire
his satchel to offer me a flask of water, community is beyond mind-blowing! Having
I embraced him. I knew that his crystal been a part of vaporwave Twitter for a short
magic, fueled by telepath's jubilant sounds, year and a half, it was an almost dream-
had bridged a gap to some unknown like experience to meet face-to-face with
place and delivered me from my anguish. so many people you’ve only ever known
Reciprocating for a moment, he soon broke through display pictures and obscure
off, satisfied that I was well, and we both usernames. Artists and personalities were
turned to face the stage, adding to the din like celebrities to our own niche group on
with our own adulations. the internet, and the amount of love and
kindness shared throughout the venue was
immeasurable.

Metaprise Applications (attendee)

effectuate (PSM premium patron)

If there is one thing that is almost
certainly indisputable, it is the
On Sunday morning, arriving back
significance of the year 2019 for
safely to my Long Island once-what-
vaporwave. Not only does it mark the
I-would-call-home, 5:00 am with a
unofficial celebration of vaporwave’s
dim blue sky murmuring through my
tenth birthday, but also a turning
childhood bedroom, sitting at the edge
point for the spirit of the community
of a bed unfamiliar to me, I took a
as vaporwave has experienced its
moment to savor the new treasure of
first major offline event in 100%
these memories — of knowing I was
Electronicon. The disagreements online
present for the cusp of something so
about what is or isn’t vaporwave and
much more significant than what we
what all of it means will continue, but
can grasp for vaporwave. How long do
for those experiencing the post-CON
I need to live on the edge of anxiety, for
fever that has invigorated a fresh
fear of knowing this might be the peak
sense of passion and solidarity for a
of “offline experience” for the scene? My
generation of fans, friends, and artists:
face hurt from smiling so frequently and
those disagreements don’t seem to
so sincerely; when will this kind of day
matter anymore.
shared amongst new friends
come again?

/ 39
 DOCUMENTING THE MAK ING OF A

Darkvapor
ALBUM
R∞
W I T H

A ugust 6th, 2019 began the journey of documenting the creation

of the 12th album by vaporwave producer R∞. It was to be
from the moment we decided the project was a go, before any
conceptualizations of what the record would look or sound like. First, IndyAdvant
the blog was born. A place for R∞ to notate and exhibit each idea he WRITER
has along the way, which is still ongoing. You can follow along, here:
https://darkvapor.rrrxrrrxrrr.com. For your reading accompaniment,
you can listen to some of the music he’s created so far here.

What’s extremely intriguing and interesting

about R∞ is his process of creation. You can
listen to him talk about it on the Private Suite
Podcast interview here, where he explains
that he always envisions and develops
the album artwork and theme first, before
anything else.

40 /
R∞ doesn’t stop there; his next post on the
the eventual
blog showcases the jcards he printed for the
emergence
record’s cassettes, which he uses as further of the
inspiration in creating the album’s sound. In design,
his blog post for the jcards he explains: rather than
executing
a concrete
“first run of jcard labels from the colorway i plan, is
chose are complete. when i was working on what gives
my very first tape, i stopped and took some i t p o w e r.
time to develop a fast, repeatable process —
a template with tested measurements and
a particular workflow on my computer that
allows me to develop jcards quickly and get
them printed within a few hours of my idea.
the faster i can get something physical in my
hands, the quicker i know if it is going to work
or not. i have definitely thrown away a lot of
potential releases because they just did not
feel right. you have to edit yourself. this one
felt good. now i have to find the
right tape shells and norelco cases to
complete the idea.

i usually will not know the right tape or

color combination until i have seen it. i
keep bins and bins full of different tape
materials, colors, lengths, and case options
so i can play around — usually what ends
up becoming the release was something
that i would not have planned beforehand.
an odd color combination that works when
i see it, or something else unusual — the
eventual emergence of the design, rather than
executing a concrete plan, is what gives
it power.

this tape actually took a long time to figure

out — i spent a whole night trying different
combinations. i wanted it to look dark, but
also inviting. like you had to pick it up and
look at it. it had to beckon you. i think i have
achieved it."

/ 41
 The art and tapes are complete — now comes
the sound. In his post titled “tunneling,”
you can peer into R∞’s mind and thought
process, exclaiming about moody journeys
into darkness, and seeing a pattern in himself
of not releasing such things — not “tunneling
deep enough without being pushed back up
again.” Going with lighter moods as a result,
and now trying to burrow deeper for this album,
entertaining whether it will sound like anything
familiar to him. To me, having this transparency
between the production process and the end
result, peering into the mind of the producer
and witnessing the internal debates and
philosophical quandaries, is exhilarating. As
an example, in the post "styles," R∞ ruminates
over the concept of a dungeon synthy,
energywave/power ambient sound, and the
notion of weaving these sounds through chorus
and lyrical structures, using spacey drums and
reverb to space things out and project those
vapor elements.

I love his next post — another if he were to take this dark

philosophical brain-buster. vapor album and replace the
Daydreaming about album album art and cassette/case
identities and entertaining coloring with a coconut white
the idea of creating multiple label, using a bright rainbow
identities for a record. What theme instead?
would be the reaction and
experience of a listener if
'i realized that i had mentioned the working name of the album, ryoiki, to Indy,
he were to write an album
but never really spoke about it previously. commonly abbreviated as Nihon
and complete it, then
Ryōiki, which means “Ghostly Strange Records from Japan,” the full title is
produce another album
Nihonkoku Genpō Zen’aku Ryōiki (日本国現報善悪霊異記). It may also be read
with completely different
as Nihon Reiiki.
instruments and sounds, but
keep the notes and timing i had the concept for the album first, and then found this — it exemplifies
the exact same? Certainly my original intention. i always give my albums codenames, so that when i’m
an interesting experiment. working my folders can simply be ‘ryoiki’ or something simple. consequently,
Additionally, how does album sometimes i refer to my albums by names that no one else has ever heard.'
art affect the experience of
the music to a listener? What

42 /
If you’re into cassettes, you may be familiar with the Nakamichi BX-1 and
BX-2 cassette decks. These are the two decks that R∞ dubs all of his
tapes on currently — follow him on twitter @_rrrxrrrxrrr for more!

In his post “decks”, he talks about experimenting with different cassette

decks to get different sounds from Sonys to Integras and more, and
some of the difficulty that comes with the job. Incorrect servicing of the
machines by repair shops, improper calibration making the recordings
too fast, or using the wrong belt sizes, and more. Eventually, he lands on
the idea that the Sony decks may produce the best sound to match and
compliment the theme of this record, ryoiki.

"working on the first track, i came to realize that the vaporwave chop
and screw style, combined with a dark ambient style, can portray a very
realistic feeling of being disoriented and lost — sudden but cohesive
changes in the music made me feel like i was teleporting between several
different rooms of music. but it still felt like the same track. this is very
exciting, and i think this was the last piece to the concept of the music
itself. i will continue on with the rest of the album now."

The music itself is incredible. Quite It’s dystopian broken transmission

spooky in the way it influences the with a sick beat, a grimy haze of
imagery in the mind - for me, it was electronic drones in a static-riddled
the sound I imagine hearing when eternity of dark, but beautiful
a powerful eternal spirit of light ambience.
and darkness, carrying me through
The album is still in production as
a vast cascading empty plane,
we speak, and blog posts continue
with shimmering light particles
to land at https://darkvapor.
scintillating along from a single
rrrxrrrxrrr.com. Check the page
source in the sky, and it’s getting
out to continue the journey started
closer. It’s also raining, and I forgot
here in Private Suite, and definitely
my umbrella. It’s the soundtrack
dive into R∞’s other albums.
my mind conjures when reading
the novel Dune. There are beings
out there, I can hear them...
Communicating? About me? Is this
their first time encountering us?
Either way, I think R∞ succeeded
in his quest for darkness.

/ 43
 ROOMS
T h r o u g h a Va p o r L e n s :

HAUNTING
HALLS
AND

BACKROOMS
kinyourbook
WRITER

Hallways are arguably the most utilitarian architectural

feature, designed solely to connect rooms to one
another and provide a pathway to get from place to
place. Homes, apartments, office buildings, schools;
hallways are everywhere. You've probably been inside a
hallway today. But you probably didn't give it a second
thought. Or did you?

Hallways are creepy. They just are. Hear me out. Even

if you haven't considered it previously, you might
be aware of it on a subconscious level. Now that
we're fully in Halloween season, it's time to give the
creepiness of corridors a little more thought.

There's a reason long hallways are featured heavily

in horror movies, and that they're often used for
increasing the tension. There's no telling what'll come
out of the doors on either side, or what lurks at the end
of a particularly long hall, dark except for the occasional
flicker of ancient fluorescent lights.

44 /
 HALLS
BACK
Hallways often crop up in our the outside, and where the residents
dreams, too. According to Dream discover a new hallway that continues
Bible, "dreaming of being in a hallway to grow and eventually turns into
may reflect transitions in waking life an infinite labyrinth. The title of the
that are uncertain, difficult, scary, or chapter "The Five-and-a-Half Minute
dangerous." Hallway" is enough to send a chill down
the spine of those who've read the
It also takes shape as bathophobia, book that wish they hadn't.
or the fear of depths. Long hallways
stand beside caves, dark water and When you give the humble hallway a
quicksand in the minds of those who closer look, you'll find it also fits pretty
have this phobia. I'll go ahead and well into the vaporwave aesthetic.
venture a guess that many people have
this phobia without even being aware
of it. As in the dream interpretation,
a fear of the unknown is common to
human beings.

In the legendarily horrifying cult classic

novel House of Leaves, author Mark
Z. Danielewski transports the reader
to an unsettling world where a house
is larger on the inside than it is on

/ 45
What better place to find a long and lonely hallway
than at a dead mall where worn-out old tapes of
Muzak play on a long-neglected soundsystem?

In fact, once a mall dies, what is it but a long hallway,

connecting empty shells of stores? Visitors to dead
malls will be familiar with the unsettling feeling
of being somewhere they're not supposed to be,
particularly in cordoned-off or employees-only areas.

What these hallways have in common — a rather

unearthly quality, broken fluorescent lighting, dated
and stained floors — they also have in common with
the Backrooms, a famous creepypasta turned RPG.

In May of this year, users on 4chan were invited to

share their own disquieting images that just felt "off."
The post was punctuated by a photo of a yellow-
tinged series of rooms taken at an off-center angle,
and this comment:

...its atmosphere wafts

from the image like a rotten
memory.
Have we really
never been
there?
Or has it made us forget?

46 /
"If you're not careful… you'll end up unfamiliarity. We may not be able to
in the Backrooms, where it's nothing pointedly remember being in such a
but the stink of old moist carpet, the place, yet its atmosphere wafts from
madness of mono-yellow, the endless the image like a rotten memory. Have
background noise of fluorescent we really never been there? Or has it
lights at maximum hum-buzz, and made us forget?
approximately six hundred million
square miles of randomly segmented Much like the appeal of vaporwave
empty rooms to be trapped in. God itself, the appeal of the Backrooms
save you if you hear something RPG is seeing something where
wandering around nearby, because it others see nothing. Instead of being
sure as hell has heard you." background noise that's ignored,
This led to a full-on Reddit community elevator music is lovingly sampled,
of people posting their long and slowed down and showcased. And
haunting hallway photos, many instead of just being a way to get from
of them taken in dead malls and point A to point B, a hallway becomes
with an undeniable ‘80s and ‘90s a destination for a nightmare or at the
aesthetic. Images of dim offices and very least, an adventure.
parking garages also crop up fairly
often, so evocative that you can Either way, keep your wits about you
practically hear the echoing of your and your eyes peeled. Who knows
own feet. The original image of the what's waiting at the end of the
Backrooms, in particular, has achieved hallway?
cult significance for its familiar

/ 47
 Know the Score:
an interview
with

Zer0 れい
Belgium’s biggest vaporwave artist is having his biggest year in
2019. I chatted with him for a bit regarding the new album, live
shows, and what the future holds.

maki
WRITER

48 /
PS: So, let’s start right off with
Hellveterra. Is being the first artist
signed to Hiraeth Records as big
a deal as I think it is? How do you
feel about it?

I think it is a big deal! At least it is for

me, personally. I feel incredibly honored
and proud. Jornt (猫 シ Corp.) has been a
huge inspiration for me as an artist and
being able to work so closely with him has
been absolutely delightful.

/ 49
PS: How did that come about? PS: Nice! It’s interesting you note that Jornt was paying
Did you have the album attention to you prior to that chat. You mentioned in
completed and then shop it, did the podcast that you've got a background in audio
you approach him with the idea engineering, too, which I think is especially evident
before working on the album, or in both Black Magic and Hellveterra. An engineer’s
did he approach you? ear allows for a bit of polish that you might not find
everywhere.
I mailed Jornt initially to pester
him to listen to my Holloway Tapes You also mentioned that Black Magic was a score for
album, Blank Slate Reflection, as that the Shirow anime of the same name. Was there anything
was heavily influenced by his work on similar in mind when making Hellveterra?
Palm Mall. Somewhere in that initial
conversation we switched to our Yes and no. Black Magic was specifically composed on top of the
common language and began talking anime in question, an alternate score that syncs up exactly with the
more casually, and then he dropped pacing and mood of the movie. For Hellveterra I had a strong vision
a huge bomb: we already met! Aeons for both the sound design and atmosphere, but it was substantially
ago, in the pre-vaporwave days he saw more fluid. Visually I was called to a post-human landscape with
me perform at a noise show in the elements of decaying factories and technology combined with the
Netherlands, gleefully bashing my face grandiosity of nature taking it back. In terms of audio I wanted to
in with a microphone as "Crucifix Eye." bridge the gap between dark ambient, mallsoft and dungeon synth. I
Eventually I ended up mailing him to like to think I somewhat managed to turn this into a cohesive vision in
get his opinion on some of my works in both the album art and album itself.
progress. At that point Hellveterra was
a lot more rough around the edges and
actually had vocals on certain parts.
He really connected with the album,
guiding me in some of the decisions
of where to take the album until
eventually coming forward that he was
interested in officially signing me on.
In hindsight he was already scoping
me out way before, immediately asking
very specific questions about my
production style and sample usage
when he first listened to
my music.

50 /
PS: What you mention is exactly what I pictured PS: I'm glad you mention Helvete
when listening to the album. The name itself, seems — I'm unaware of the shop myself,
a combination of "Hell" and "terra" (Latin for earth, but definitely familiar with black
for those who don't know), which I assumed was metal. As I talk with more folks
intentional. When I listened to it, I had some very in the vapor scene, I find many
distinct thoughts. One, that it was composed as a of them have been involved with
score for something, given that there are definitely metal or noise music. Why do you
recurring motifs just as you'd see in film (“Silica think that is?
Animus” and “Gwaihir” hold elements similar
to “Void Dragon,” and “Huzhang” & “Acheron” I'm convinced that a lot of people are
definitely feel like companion pieces); and two drawn to (extreme) metal and genres
(this could be just me), how it fits into the Hiraeth such as noise or ambient in an attempt to
family. Obviously we are only three albums in, but genuinely try and push genre boundaries
Building a Better World, both in art and sound, was and limits. With both metal and noise
very inviting, bright. The second album was like becoming increasingly codified and
exploring this new world's natural environment. safe, with little room for innovation or
This third album, now, is like you've come from experimentation, these people go looking
the future, to show what has happened (or could elsewhere. There's very few new musical
happen) to that world... movements that survive the initial few
months, but vaporwave is proving to be
You absolutely nailed the larger part of where the name one of the exceptions. It's a brave new
comes from. There's also a reference there to Helvete, the frontier where new music history is being
record shop that was a key spot for the development of black written as we speak. I think that's what'll
metal, which the album also takes heavy influences from. Terra keep attracting people from these scenes
being also a popular way to refer to the world in Japanese and beyond. The fact that the scene
RPGs also helped. Well spotted! And yes there's loads of is also decentralised, anonymous and
recurring motifs, lots of mangling, chopping and re-introducing almost entirely online makes it an easier
of classic metal chords and elements. In the end my albums transition. I like to think we're also a very
are always made as one whole before being chopped up into welcoming and supportive bunch.
tracks at the very end of the process. I'm sure this has a basis
in being restricted by physical gear in my previous projects,
and trying to artificially recreate those restrictions in a more
digital workspace by keeping the same synths and instruments
Hellveterra gives
throughout the album. And it's not just you! Jornt explicitly a glimpse into a
mentioned he has Hellveterra as a next step beyond the Palm
Mall storyline in his head. Where Palm Mall was on Earth and
darker timeline
Palm Mall Mars expands this beyond the stars, Hellveterra where this all went
gives a glimpse into a darker timeline where this all went
wrong and we end up in the decaying remains many decades
wrong and we end
into the future. A final musical hurrah from the last robotic up in the decaying
denizens of Palm Mall.
remains many
decades into
the future.
/ 51
 PS: Just don't tell folks to start with PS: I think it's great, and captures the feel of the album.
r/vaporwave, right? I joke, there are A bit different from the renders you've been sharing on
some good starting points there. Instagram lately. How did all of that come about?
But I found the same thing with the
scene when I really got involved. Up until a year or so ago I had never worked with 3D design
With the democratization of music software whatsoever. Then, in the process of moving, and in a fit
creation, the barrier to entry is so low of absolute hubris we decided to design some of the shelves and
and vaporwave is a loose enough cupboards ourselves. That's a couple hundred hours of my life I'm
term that it allows for so much not getting back. Then after seeing some cover designs that had a
experimentation/expression. I think distinctive retro CGI feel — I think Oasys is one of the most iconic
people can forget that the art is ones — I decided to just straight up ask them what they were using
just as important as the music, too. and then the floodgates opened... What also helped is that, with
Speaking of which, did you make the three albums pending release, I really had to distract myself from
album art for Hellveterra? making more music.

Ooh, yeah, the subreddit's a whole different PS: Yeah, I think a number of folks have compared your
can of worms, haha. Not all bad though, renders to Myst and Riven. The FM Skyline homage was
mind you. Yes, I did make the art myself! pretty well received too. Has this led to others asking
Without a doubt the most complex piece I've you to make pieces for them?
made thus far. It's a combination of about
a dozen different layering techniques with Yes my style in renders owes a lot to early PC games and CGI.
glitches and "borrowed" sprite art. I have fond memories of standing in the local computer store
looking at their huge wall of games in their big boxes, often with
rendered art that had nothing to do with the game's graphics. I still
get nostalgic when I look at promo artwork for the original Red Alert
and Planescape Torment, 2 of my favorite old school PC games,
that heavily used this style in cutscenes and promos. Thus far I've
somewhat held off on doing work for others unless as a personal
favour and on my own terms. If I were to ask a "correct" price based
on the amount of hours spent working on each piece they'd be
prohibitively expensive, and considering I'm still heavily learning
it's not something I feel super comfortable with. That being said, if
people are interested in using one of my existing works I'm always
down to have a chat.

PS: And wait, you have two more albums on deck?

Yes, you heard correctly! Aside from Hellveterra I've got two more
tapes in the works for this year. One being the collab with Jade,
which was teased on the subreddit a while back, and the other
being a followup to my 2018 Seikomart tape 激しい憎しみ. Last one's
not picked up by a label thus far and is a series of minimalistic new
age guitar-driven reinterpretations of hip-hop classics for which I've
only teased artwork and one track.
52 /
PS: I look forward to hearing PS: I definitely agree, it always seems the most interesting
those! Mind sharing any of the art is created with constraints (whether situational or self-
hip-hop classics you selected? imposed). Where vaporwave is now, it seems that live shows
are the next step in the evolution of the scene. You've done
Oh they're much less interesting a fair number of shows, right? Would you care to share your
classics, and rather the most obvious gear/setup?
ones I could lay my hands on for the
production process. I think it'll be more I've done about a dozen or so shows now, yeah! The core of my live
fun to have everyone guess once the setup is my Laptop with Ableton Live's session view, which I control with
album's out! 2 Novation Launchpads that have the grids linked together. That way I
can control all the different parts and instruments in my tracks on the fly
and manually transition through tracks. Aside from that I usually have my
projector for some mood-setting visuals and the obligatory audio interface
PS: Always good to keep a
and cables. Oh and the mask of course! That's become a bit of a signature.
couple secrets. Earlier you
mentioned your creative
process being restricted by
physical gear. Do you think this
has helped you when doing
live shows?

I'm convinced it's always interesting

to stay grounded in some way when
creating, especially when working
digitally. When the entire world's at
your fingertips it's easy to lose your
focus and deliver something messy. PS: Is that a dozen shows just as Zer0 れい, or does that
With my previous projects I always include Crucifix Eye and/or other projects?
found a lot of pleasure in pushing the
little gear I had to its absolute limits To date I've performed 13 times as Zer0 れい and probably 20 or so times
and I guess that's still what I'm doing under different names throughout the years.
but just in a different way. Keeping a
limit on the amount of instruments in
an album does indeed really help for PS: I remember on the podcast you mentioned making the
liveshows. On a base level everything mask! Between that, and the cabinets in your apartment,
I perform is distinctively triggered and sounds like you’re pretty handy. Any other projects going on?
manipulated live on the spot. That's
a point of pride as well, and these I wouldn't typically describe myself as handy but I'm very driven once I
limitations keep that possible. start something. That goes for my music, 3D renders, liveshows, the venue
I run, etc. I'll be the first to admit that this is highly selective, so you won't
see me doing the dishes with any such enthusiasm. I'm at no risk of being
bored any time soon, that's for sure.

/ 53
PS: How is everything going with
the venue? I don't know that I've
heard much about it. Do you get
a variety of acts, or is it scene-
specific?

It's a place with a very long and

storied history, and I'm just the latest
link in a chain of volunteer/unpaid
staff that goes all the way back to
the late '80s. It's mainly dedicated
to "underground" DIY music. This
in practice boils down to loud and
weird guitar music ranging from blues
through garage rock and punk to the
stranger sides of metal, with the odd
bit of noise and ambient thrown in. It's
a great place to broaden your horizons,
meet some really interesting people on
tour and in my case it also helped me
build a whole lot of live sound engineer
experience.

PS: Hearing it on stage versus in

the crowd versus back-of-house
are all so different, you really
need three sets of ears. Sounds
like a fun place. Anything
special planned there for your
album release, or any other
vapor-related stuff?

I'm still slowly warming them up to

what the vaporwave scene is all about,
"I have fond memories of
and try not to take my position as staff standing in the local computer
for granted. Currently I've performed
there once as support for an ambient
store looking at their huge wall
act that was on tour, which I thought of games in their big boxes,
was fitting. That'll probably be enough
for this year.
often with rendered art that had
nothing to do with the game's
graphics."
54 /
PS: So, overall it looks like 2019
has been a pretty prolific year.
Planning on taking any breaks?

Not any time soon, it seems. We'll

be well into next year if I just wrap up
everything I have going on already.
I'm bound to have a creative spark
and start work on another album
somewhere along the way. Also I'm
just having way too much fun, both in
creating music and interacting with the
community, why would I even want a
break from that?

PS: I can definitely say you're an

asset to r/vaporwave and the
Private Suite server! Positivity
goes a long way, both in the
scene and in life in general.
Before we go, anything else you
want to share with our readers?

You're much too nice! Honestly, I

love this scene so much and am proud
and honored to be a part of it. It is
absolutely crawling with creative, kind-
hearted and extremely talented people.
Thank you all for the kindness you've
shown me in the past years and I'll try
my darndest to return the favor.

Hellveterra is out now on Hiraeth Records.

Zer0 れい can be found on twitter, Instagram,

and bandcamp.

All artwork featured are original renders by

Zer0 れい; prints can be found for sale in his
recently-minted teespring shop.

Feel free to come chat with him, along with

other artists and staff members, in the
Private Suite Discord!

/ 55
 I N TwE Ri F tA Ch I N G
umami
For an artist, growing up with the Internet at your fingertips
presents endless possibilities. The ability to create content
and show it off to the masses is not only a challenge, but a
game in which the reward can be anything from your own
meme — forever immortalizing your spot on the world wide
web — or what could be easily regarded as a cult classic,
in the case of online animator Justin Tomchuk, otherwise
known as u m a m i.

Most users unfamiliar with u m a m i’s Interface series — an

ongoing narrative about static-filled creatures and techno-
esotericism — may be more familiar with him via some of
his famous shorts, like Thomas the Thermonuclear Bomb or
McDrivin’, in which a glitchy, hastily painted Ronald McDonald
spends one minute, forty-four seconds driving into a slowly
progressing sunset to a haunting, dream-like beat. As the
rubber burns, and as Ronald approaches that ever-setting
sun, it becomes a giant cheeseburger, and then suddenly
the video ends with no resolution. The next two shorts in the
deliriously...daniel
WRITER series, McFeels and McFelon also feature a unique surrealist
style that helps to cement Tomchuk’s footprint not only within
sheep content creation, but on the Internet itself.
WRITER

56 /
Before the Internet, however, and popular culture icons such Jesper Kyd, and LORN, and
there was a child whose as Mark Zuckerberg (featured genres like noise and ambient.
interest in animation began in various shorts such as VR Tomchuk’s sound can be
with stop-motion LEGO Talk with Mark Zuckerberg), described as dreamy, dark,
creations. When it came time Tomchuk was able to do just and even low fidelity. There is
to think of the future, Tomchuk that, to which he credits some a majestic oppression to be
attended an art school of his success as an animator. found in the Interface Vol. 1
where he spent time getting He also considers his ability to soundtrack, which released
into painting and narrative maintain creative control over on CD and vinyl earlier this
filmmaking. From there, his works as another aspect year. Though unfamiliar with
the interest blossomed into of his success — barring the vaporwave and its obsession
documentaries. It wasn’t until exception of a few songs, with analogue, Tomchuk
2017 that u m a m i would loop everything on Tomchuk’s reveals there have been
back around to animations, channel is his creation. Even requests among his fanbase
beginning to feature them on the music, which he also for cassettes of his music as a
his YouTube channel. started by making tracks for physical medium.
his LEGO animations.
Growing a presence online has
a lot to do with relatability and Releasing music as
building a community on the HEXSYSTEM, Tomchuk credits
platform on which you operate. his musical inspiration to
With the utilization of memes artists like Boards of Canada,

/ 57
So, where does his sound fit in amongst the umbrella
genre of vaporwave? Think of it as dark vapor, with THE YEAR
WAS 1943...
an experimental, lo-fi twist that cunningly flirts with
dream music and post-internet deliciousness. His
distinct sound coupled with his surrealist visuals
coalesce into the behemoth that is the Interface Though Interface itself is a dazzling, often pleasantly
series, which radiates vapor-adjacent vibes like a disorienting kaleidoscope of immolated imagination, it
necrotic mist. nevertheless feels like a character-driven odyssey. Central to
Tomchuk’s warbling tale is the dynamic between Mischief, a
Music is so central to this theming that, when it transcended human turned shapeshifting pink… something,
comes to approaching Interface, Tomchuk confesses and Henryk "Blue Guy" Niebieski, a mute photographer
that he usually starts with the backing track for the whose appearance hides an old secret. Their pairing is
episode, and that most of the illustrating falls into expectedly unlikely — and as of yet unexplained — yet they
place around the sound, which helps to keep the quickly develop a buddy-coppish relationship in which
experience in tune with what the viewer hears. In Henryk plays the enigmatic canvas to Mischief’s amorphous
Tomchuk’s plot-building process for Interface, there artistry and, of course, mischievous personality.
is minimal note making — most of the storyline is
locked in broad strokes within the artist’s brain, and Ever since the catastrophic 1943 Philadelphia Experiment
like Interface’s star character Mischief, the narrative — a test of military cloaking devices by the U.S. Navy that
is ever-morphing. Tomchuk puts his emphasis on real-world conspiracy theorists still reference — Mischief
doing what he feels right, which plays into a lot of the is able to freely manipulate his form into everything,
choices he makes with the series as an artist. Why from birds and sunflowers to car parts and people
is Mischief pink? Because it felt right. Why does he themselves, though Episode 14 suggests his cryptically
go for the creepy overtones? Because they feel right. clownish pink-itude predates this astral ascent. Through
Part of being an artist is understanding your method his charming “spaghettification,” unstated wisdom, and
and when to listen to your gut — which might be why infinite adaptability, Mischief both grounds and creatively
watching the series feels like an invigorating punch to frees Interface to be just as malleably surreal as Tomchuk
the gut. desires. He is a character distinct in both appearance and
voice, which the artist provides himself.
So what is the series all about? If we knew, we’d
tell you. “Usually I start with kind of my own voice for him, which
was kind of like a gravelly version of my own voice,”
While going into Interface totally blind may leave you Tomchuk says of the process. “And then pitch shift it
with the pleasant tingle of a cerebral short circuit, down about 12 decibels. EQ a lot of the bass out of it, and
here’s the premise in short: a silent man meets a make sure everything's mono. I add some extremely heavy
clownish pink monster. Together, they hope to unravel compression to it and increase the high end a little bit with
a menacing mystery involving otherworldly forces, an the EQ.
artificial deity, and bodily transcendence.
“Sometimes what I do is I read my lines slowly, and then in
It is these characters who either drive the story or the computer just speed it up a little bit so that when you
are driven by it. Private Suite Magazine spoke with play it back he's a little bit easier to hear or understand.
Tomchuk to better get to know them. Be aware, there Cause the problem is his voice is so gravelly and low pitch
may be mild spoilers below for those seeking to watch that I get a lot of people saying it's hard to understand him.”
Interface with a truly open mind. If it’s tough to understand Mischief — both in voice and

58 /
ultimate vision (the latter is, of course, by design) plan: the first four or five episodes were a lot more
— Tomchuk understandably calls him the most spontaneous, it’s with the later episodes now that
challenging to draw, too. I really do a lot more planning. I can't really give
you a good answer about why I did Interface. I
“Mischief is probably the most difficult, because just thought I want to make something original
he transforms into different things,” he says. and new.”
“I can't just reuse all his assets cause they're
different almost every episode. Like sometimes Tomchuk teases that upcoming episodes
he's a car or sometimes he’s a unicycle. And will explore much more of Mischief’s actual
that sometimes means I have to redo the mouth background story. Whether that means his
animations. And there's like ten different versions pre-1943 days at Coney Island’s Dreamland,
of his mouth. He’s kind of all over the place.” or perhaps some time after, is unclear. He and
Henryk continue on a journey out of Montreal,
Tomchuk animates Interface primarily using which served as Part 1’s setting, to the coast,
Adobe PhotoShop, Illustrator, and Premiere, while in search of Henryk’s own past, which is littered
the music is made in Logic or Audacity and mixed with outlived family, nuclear explosions, too
in Adobe Audition. He says the series’ unique many cigarettes, and the strange phenomenon of
style was influenced by the Watchmen comics’ cerebral electricity that has seemingly intertwined
strong colors and dark shadows, while its pixel-art him with Mischief.
graphical fidelity ended up a partial product of
convenience.

“It's such a low resolution that it doesn't require

a lot of computer stuff in order to do it. So like,
even some of the crazy 3D shots, which would
normally take hours to render, don’t take
very long.”

Beyond Watchmen, Interface’s greatest influencer

was Tomchuk himself. Both Mischief and Henryk,
as well as the entirety of Interface, originated from
a single, at first one-off comic Tomchuk made for
sheer absurdism. It directly parallels the energy
of Interface’s first two episodes, just with two key
differences: Henryk speaks, and Mischief changes
his colors, a choice the character explicitly defies
in the series the comic inspires.

“I never really figured out, when I was drawing

the comic, what was gonna happen after the
fact,” Tomchuk says. “But when I started episode
two I just thought, well, what would he do next? I
decided to plan out a few episodes and it kind of
just snowballed. There wasn't really too much of a

/ 59
SECURE BENEATH THE WATCHFUL EYES
But Mischief and Henryk aren’t alone figures and forces to landscape elements
in their plight, as help will be essential and qualities.
when facing an enemy powered by that
cerebral electricity. An immaterial force “I wanted to have a robot that ran off of the
that manifests as flowing television static, energy of those sort of deities,” Tomchuk
cerebral electricity is as mysterious as says, alluding further to several yōkai, or
Mischief, probably because it wasn’t until supernatural spirits from Japanese folklore.
the Philadelphia Experiment that it “revealed “I did some research on it, but it was just
itself for us to deserve,” and made “ghost interesting how there [were] all these
stories and myths no longer superstitions.” different characters that are kind of bizarre
and they have these really peculiar things
Or at least, so it is said by the CEO and about them. They're not really evil, they're
evolution-pondering mastermind of not really good either.
Greetings Robotics, the corporation behind
the Kinetic Autonomous Mechanical “But like, you can get rid of them by doing
Interface known as KAMI. She — KAMI’s really innocent things. Like there is one of
sculpted body is female, though Tomchuk them that's supposed to be a ghost that
insists she is inherently genderless — is walks behind you, and you can kind of just
powered by cerebral electricity, hides be polite to him and he’ll walk past you,”
a swirling soup of faces beneath her he continues, referring to Betobeto-san,
mask, and displays immaculate power a “formless specter” heralded only by the
throughout the series. Tomchuk says KAMI beto beto sound of its wooden sandals to
was another spontaneous creation, as by whom a traveler need only say “After you,
the time he reached Episode 3 he knew Betobeto-san,” to escape.
Interface needed an antagonist.
“I thought it'd be cool to have a web series
“I just kind of wanted someone who where there's these different little monsters.
was the antagonist of the story, but isn’t It’s similar to the Shinto religion, but it's not
outrightly evil, even though it doesn’t seem the same. In my web series, there's all these
to come across that way. When you watch different religions. I've got a little bit of
the web series, KAMI thinks s/he's doing Hinduism. I got a little bit of Christianity and
the right thing.” Catholicism, Japanese religion. I'm going
to try to work in some other ones as well,
Yet despite his serendipitously sinister because the idea isn't so much that there's
creation, Tomchuk goes on to explain any particular religion. It's just like a cultural
how KAMI’s name, and by extension the thing that everyone can kind of relate to a
series’ other creatures, were inspired by little bit. [Religion’s] kind of like an innate
the kami spirits of Shintoism. Kami are thing that's embedded in our genetics.
ambiguous embodiments of the universe’s
interconnecting energy and largely hidden
from the world, depicted as anything from

60 /
“I'm not really religious ghost stories and myths at an octopus, it kind of
myself. I'm not [an] atheist, the world has greeted resembles a heart like with Anatomical motif isn’t
either. But I do think that since 1943. Voice actors the different veins. And then the only thing hiding
there's some part of us that and personalities like Philip there's the hand character behind Interface’s surface.
connects with aspects of Hersh, Christa Elliot, Phil from the fourth episode, Tomchuk confirms that,
different religions,” Tomchuk Jamesson, The Minute Hour which is a hand, obviously. beyond some more obvious
concludes on the topic. and Yoshi Ando have all lent And then Mischief himself, details like hidden codes,
“If you’ve ever read about their voices to the series’ well I don't want to say what there remain a few Easter
the hero's journey and all often-disquieting cast. he represents, but he could eggs in the series that, to
those archetypes, those Tomchuk says that Ando’s be different things. I refer to his knowledge, haven’t been
are the sort of things that character, a knife-wielding him as a parasite. found. To any would-be
I try to incorporate into the yet endearing octopus chef, secret hunters, he leaves
Interface web series, and hints toward a bigger theme. “So these characters, this advice:
religious symbolism has a they're not just random. I
lot of that sort of stuff in it.” “When I do create [these mean that's an aspect of “If you notice a pattern, like a
creatures], I want them to it, but there's a reason why repeating pattern of a sound
Tomchuk has enlisted have some sort of aspect they are, what they are. and a visualization, there's
others to help bring to that relates to the human So when you look at the probably something hidden
life these additional "little body,” he says. “The chef, he new characters that come underneath there.”
monsters" — who, one kind of represents a heart. out, think of it from that
might theorize, are the Cause if you were to look perspective.”

WHAT IS IT THAT CONSUMES YOU?

Despite Tomchuk’s distance from the vaporwave community, Interface’s adjacency and overlap with the
genre’s themes of technological dystopia subsuming idealistic futures is tough to deny. Whatever its
intentions, origins, or taxonomy, Interface succeeds at its aim of bringing a dreamy, hazy world to life in an
uncannily compelling fashion.

After editing all of Interface Part One’s episodes into a single feature, Tomchuk aims to do the same with
Part Two to make Interface a feature-length film.

“Once I combine Part One and Part Two, I think there's going to be a conclusion to the story that I want to
say,” he says. “I don't want it to just go on forever without any plan. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's
the end of the Interface web series. Maybe it will be, maybe we'll continue on. I think what will happen is
it probably will end after Part Two and then I'll continue. Maybe I'll use the same characters, but it will be
called something else. It will be about something different.”

No matter what happens to Mischief, Henryk and KAMI, Interface has no-doubt made an impression on
Internet surrealism, while leaving viewers, like its protagonists, searching for answers — in whatever pink
form they may decide to take.

/ 61
 TʰE WᴉT₵ʰ
ʰOUSEh
₵OMET
\\ W▲VES OF TʰE O₵₵ULT

Double, double, toil and trouble; “Chopped and screwed.” It comes up quite often when
Sample chopped and treble muddled. searching vaporwave on the Internet hivemind. Pioneered in
the ‘90s by DJ Screw, the style relied on the intense slowing
down and experimentation of songs, hip hop in particular, to
sheep
WRITER give the genre its unique sound. It’s a familiar method to the
vaporwave musician. Yet, the reach didn’t stop there, and it
doktorb most certainly didn’t start there either. Around the same time
WRITER
as the conception of vaporwave, witch house also began to
emerge out of the late 2000s explosion of post internet music
and aesthetic experimentation that also gave rise to seapunk.
Looking back, this period in history felt like some kind of
golden years for internet culture. This was a peculiar time, a
period of intense creative innovation; an artistic search for
a new way of being in the virtual backrooms of a world that
was struggling to come to terms with itself and heal as it
emerged slowly from the shadows of the Global Financial
Crisis. I think back on this brief moment in cyberculture
as a period of urgent hopefulness; there was an energy
that flowed during these times that made it feel as though
anything was possible.
And out of this momentum witch house manifested itself
with, much like vaporwave, very uncertain origins. Back in
its early days the sound we’d now recognise as witch house
went by many names: drag, haunted house, grave wave and
probably most unfortunately rape gaze, a genre tag that was
eventually denounced by all those who had associated with
it. The genre’s eventual stabilisation under witch house bears
a resemblance to the Vaporwave 2 origin story which, like all
the most fun things online, started as a joke. Travis Edgey,

62 /
better known by his artist name need for anonymity. Whether one which manifests its
Pictureplane, dropped the term it’s motivated by a desire to anxieties through a symbology
in 2009 during an interview hide behind a venomous veil that borrows from a mixture
with Pitchfork, in which he in the comments section of of gothic and cyberpunk
sarcastically remarked that a video we dislike, the urge to iconography to evoke a sense
“2010 was going to be the year keep our scenes for ourselves, of esoteric spiritual malaise, a
of witch house.” From there or a wish to simply be a silent deep sense of disease which,
it began to pop up on blogs observer, one cannot deny the once filtered through witch
and in the work of other music importance of this custom house’s symbolism matrix,
journalists covering the scene, in the daily reality of our lives transforms artist names into
resulting in other artists taking online. The utilization of these occult curiosities shrouded in
the name and running with it. odd symbols or even names mystery. Glass Teeth becomes
Similar to vaporwave and its completely stylized to have no GL▲SS †33†H, Ritualz opts
derivative subgenres, witch pronunciation, the use of to represent themselves as
house artists do their best ｕｎｉｃｏｄｅ, could all be †‡†, and Mascara is stylized
to stay underground with the potential manifestations of this as M△S▴C△RA. There’s even
use of stylized names that anxiety — and as we’ve seen online generators, in a gesture
feature peculiar typefaces and in our own community, anxiety that is truly indicative of our
symbols which make them knows no bounds. post internet times; witch
hard to find for the uninitiated. Witch house is not different house producers on the rise
Perhaps the ubiquity of in this regard! Another can seek the assistance of an
this familiar strategy within brainchild of Internet culture algorithm to design their name
modern internet culture is a and a generation of artists and build their image.
manifestation of the digital that grew up with an evolving
anxiety most Internet users early Internet, it too comes
I THINK BACK ON THIS
experience at some point: a with its own unique aesthetic,
BRIEF MOMENT IN
CYBERCULTURE AS A
PERIOD OF URGENT
HOPEFULNESS

/ 63
 MɅRγ'S L!††LΣ LɅϻɃ
⊣ʰℇ GΘLↁEɴ FLℇℇCℇ
C▲PRᴉCΘRɴ ᴉɴ S▲⊣∪Rɴ
It’s not uncommon to see sigils of all denominations scrawled
over visual pieces or hovering over the repetitive playback of
any dark gif found in a witch house music video creating an
overall oppressively dark feel with darkly psychedelic colors,
as if you were feeling the effects of a potent potable… or
maybe under the influence of powerful dark magic.
The focus on the occult that is explored aesthetically within
the sounds, imagery and lyrical content of the genre has
developed in parallel to the phenomenon of digital occultism.
This has produced a bizarre binary in which the style of witch
house expressed through alchemic symbology (See Kamandi
and POLO’s A.A.$.B EP), images of Baphomet, and even
shamanic imagery has found itself reappropriated by real life
internet witches and warlocks. Practitioners of magic who
believe that rites and rituals can be conducted using the stuff
of the internet produce articles encouraging the use of gifs
in place of aspects the digital practitioner might not have on
hand, or may not be able to utilize.
College student in a dorm? No problem! A gif of flames
can easily substitute for real flames under an actual cast
iron cauldron. No room for a real altar in your one bedroom
apartment? Don’t sweat it! Images of the idols one chooses
to worship can be displayed as desktops, or even digitally
collaged together.
holy imagery The intriguing comparison being that these themes witch

juxtaposed house plays with in collages often utilize holy imagery

juxtaposed with dark overtones to create oppressive pieces
with dark of art that often point out the irony found in the messages
overtones of various faiths. Especially those being used elsewhere

64 /
 art by: AcidWinZip

in earnestness to explore expressions of punk and alt bands such as The Cure and
authentic spirituality. Even more fascinating Dead Can Dance, and as it grew, its roots
is the fact that both witch house and cyber planted a firm grasp in the fundamentals
witchcraft employ the same methods of found in genres like noise, drone,
visual expression to construct memes, etherealwave and shoegaze. The creepiness
design desktop backgrounds or create of the visual aesthetic is often accentuated
image edits. A strange coincidence which by the overall feel of a witch house track,
highlights how the internet has had a hand which sometimes will be grinding and
in normalizing the weird and off-base, and industrial, or holy and twinkling — but never
with that, it’s helped to remove the veil from will it be bright. The audio occultist of the
things that have been considered more taboo witch house will always face the darker side
in former eras than in our era of digitalism of the musical spectrum, accompanied with
and free knowledge. In ages past, one would dense reverb and heavy bass, samplers and
never dare to associate themselves with this sequencers.
type of aesthetic, lest they find themselves The witch house experience is unique,
upon a pyre, which feeds back into the much like that of its cousins seapunk and
ouroboros that is the visual aesthetic that vaporwave. After its original first burst, it
comes with the genre. experienced its own “death and rebirth”. In
The visuals aren’t the sole dark aspect of the the 2010s as the influence of vaporwave and
genre. The music finds its home in heavy darkvapor became more widespread, so too
minor chords that grind and groan out of did the resurgence of the experimental noise
synthesizers and overwhelming distortion sound of witch house. Witch house even
with haunting, soul-stirring vocals. Witch experienced its own genre death meme:
house found a heavy influence in ‘80s post-

/ 65
/user: maki
/file: BROWSER HISTORY [part.3]

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66 /
 /
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That fed our mythical uncles,
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Spat back into 32 oz TetraPacks,
Flavored in chocolate and Mexican vanilla,
aa nn dd
Mixed with organic locust bean LL aa tt ee
CC aa pp ii tt aa ll ii ss mm
And heart-felt likes to suggested posts
To slow down our expiration date.

We walk mostly on mornings after rain

Down by shut down restaurant streets,
Around puddles like bleeding gashes,
Chrome visions
into unconstructed dream space.
Sometimes another shadow walks by,
Pulled like a kite by a pure breed dog.
Lilo gets excited and won’t move on
Until I let her approach them.
Things are friendly at first,
we talk about the weather,
But Lilo inevitably gets too close too soon
And we all pull away to fading cacophony.

I vow to be a guardian to your lifespan,

To feed your bones as I would my own,
To let the water run back to us all.
Made an unrecognizable orphan,
Your fur no longer blends with
the night frost,
Your bite is only feared by window blinds
And Tupperware containers on the floor.
The moon,
Blind in her city-light induced migraines
Will never hear your tantrums
Over the crashing tides of melancholy
That kiss Fenrir’s chains in his grave.

I hope your stay with me is comfortable,

That you may collect many sweaters
And bathe in mud for many summers.
In turn I ask you wait for me patiently
at the gates to the 4-year trail
Where we may finally disappear.

/ 67
 THE

MAGICIAN
He was
CASINO
WRITER

anHe
odd-looking guy to
was an odd-looking say
guy thethe
to say least.
least. Crooked red tie, cheap-
looking white shirt, boney fingers holding a thermos, a mouth that
was always slightly agape. Appeared to be in his mid 40s. Slightly
balding, and standing at what must have been only around four feet
10 inches. as the man blinked a few times, took
It wasn’t that pleasantries were short, but that they didn’t happen a sip from his thermos and reached
at all. into his pants pocket to reveal a black
“Where is the device?” He asked me in an accent I could not quite floppy disk with the word MAGICUM
put my finger on. Indian perhaps. written in marker upon it. Sniffing once
Caught off guard by his directness, I fumbled over my words in a again, the man slid the flat square into
moment of confusion before inviting him inside and taking him into the slot near the screen and waited
my office to show him my 1992 Macintosh Classic. Shuffling over there with his hands in his lap.
towards it he reached into the front pocket of his shirt and pulled out
a rather plain looking pair of glasses. Sliding them upon his brow, he I am a patient man, but after 30
tapped the on switch with one of his slender fingers and got to work. minutes of this, I had had enough of
I am unsure what I expected from what my friend described as “the this man’s oddities. “Look I think it is a
computer repair guy’s computer repair guy.” The dude was supposed hardware issue. Thank you for coming
to be a real wizard. The one you call when “fucked” isn’t a strong but—”
enough word to describe the state of your system.
As I watched his digits dance across the keys, I asked him how bad Tapping the button to eject the
he thought it was and how much this was going to cost me. I had floppy disk, he stood up and slid it
barely begun my sentence before he interrupted me with a glare so back into his jeans. “Hardware good.
hostile it would have put Ice Cube to shame. I guess it was bad. Just a virus.” He said in the same
I will be the first to admit that while I know how to use them, the strange accent as before.
inner workings of a computer were completely lost on me. With that “A virus?” I asked, pressing him for
said though, he began to open programs that I never even knew my more information, which was not given
computer had with names like “Pentacle” and “Gladio.” His finger to me.
strokes became faster upon the keyboard as the man’s face curled up “A few.” He responded before
into a scowl before he stopped all at once. gesturing to my Macintosh and
moving the mouse around, opening
Sniffing and clearing his throat, he mumbled a few words to himself a few random files and programs to
that I could not quite make out, but the man appeared to be talking show that it was running smoother
himself through something. It reminded me of the way someone acts than ever, as if it were brand new.
when they are trying to do a complex math problem in their head.
Continuing his quiet rant, the man pointed one finger in the air as
though he were about to say something only to lower the finger and
point it to the floor, his eyes unfocused and distant.
Convinced the man was having some kind of silent mental
breakdown, I dared to clear my throat in an expecting sort of way in
an attempt to snap him back to reality. It appeared to have worked

68 /
 “What kind of viruses?” I said to him,
wondering if this was all just some kind
of scam.
He responded with a hacking cough
that he made little effort to cover. As I
narrowly avoided a spray of saliva that
was ejected from his orifice, I receded
my question. I was eager to know how
he fixed my computer, but I was even
more eager to get this man out of my
home. When I asked him how much I
owed him, he shook his head. “No pay.
I do this for the exposure. You tell your
friends about me.” And with that he was
gone, leaving me with my checkbook in
my hands and a disk drive that smells
vaguely of brimstone…

THE DUDE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A REAL WIZARD. THE

ONE YOU CALL WHEN “FUCKED” ISN’T A STRONG ENOUGH
WORD TO DESCRIBE THE STATE OF
YOUR SYSTEM.

/ 69
Genesis
New! Life Insurance, by
McDonald’s™.
This happens every so often. Like I said, when
things change they just get
WRITER
LIVINGSTON
PART II weighed down and consumed by the old
husks. We don’t have that special time
feature to clear away the husks. So what
they’re going to have to do is recycle this
Visit Old American Hollister Outfitters Co.™
today! one and generate a new one, one made with a
more synthetic material, one that
Most of these people here don’t leave. Just eat and eat and eat and eat and eat. will last longer and change less. After that,
I’m too busy taking selfies to stay here. Too much work to do. Too many hashtags everyone will put their phones away,
to write! I mean, they just devour and devour. Try to take their food away and they return to the Grand Food Court, and never
will snap at you like a dog. It’s no joke. The best foods to eat are the ones that speak of it again. No one even likes
grow fastest in the Oil Vat fields. Dangerous work, that. Knew a man who dropped McDonald’s®. They just eat Big Macs™ com-
his phone in a vat, reached in to get it. His whole arm was sizzling deep-fried. He pulsively. But don’t you just love those
put ranch on it and ate it. Now he works here. He’s the one that sold me my cold cute Golden Arches™? More 18-month-olds
refreshing Coca-Cola®. He has one arm and one big heart. can identify the Golden Arches™ than
their own surnames. Something about how
Arizona™ presents: I am driving on a highway with no center line. My the Golden Arches™ resemble those
headlights reveal the polygons that our eyes hide from us. The sky is always dark, world famous fries. Soon come the recycling
and the sun is always setting. The dim green lights on the dashboard turn my eyes units. Journalists. They will write
to emeralds. I am gleaming. The air conditioner blows comfortable cool air into harsh, unverifiable claims against the Golden
my face, blows my hair back, makes me feel cool, makes me look cool. I wear Arches™, the Arches™ themselves,
sunglasses. I wear a cool pink shirt under a jazzy white coat. I am confident. I and then so much offense and anger will
smoke cigarettes and blow digital smoke. I am healthy. I have studs in my ears. generate among the people that the
The landscape goes by and I don’t notice it. I only notice the road. But everyone people will take up the sword and destroy the
notices me. I can shift up and speed away. The digital peacocks wish me well. I Golden Arches™. Then they can
arrive home to my Arizona™ hot tub. It’s not hot, it’s perfect. I don’t sweat. I pick up the pieces, recycle some, and then
relax. The darkness is soothing. The walls are cold stones. I am dreaming. The build the new Arches™. See. Here they
relaxation tub is full of light. The water gives me a show. The light goes up come. Oh no. Wait. Take four steps back,
through the surface of the water and dances on the ceiling. It dances for me. I am buddy. Those aren’t journalists. See
happy, but I do not smile. I contemplate the light dancing. It dances for me. I feel them? They’re genteel. What are they carry-
cool. I look cool. I drink Arizona™ Iced Tea. ing? Like the Ark of the Covenant™?
Golden and glorious? Protected by cherubim?
What’s that behind you? Made you wither. Once alert and grinning, now Do you see these people? They are
look. Just don’t turn around, even if giving up and turning from a golden naked. They are refined. They are naked and
someone makes you look. You’ll be yellow into a sickly grey. Flakes refined. Cathode ray tubes.
as vapor. of its skin fall down from the Great Indispensable coordination. A jack comes
Screen into the hands of the people back to the hacking sack. So I run. SO.
There are murmurings in the audience below, and the flakes are Big Macs™. See there? Engraved in the gold with picture
of the Grand Food Court that turn into Everyone is watching the Glorious perfect jewels. In bold lettering.
gasps that turn into shouts. Everyone Golden Arches™ deteriorate while INSTAGRAM. They carry the machine called
gets up from their tables and they eat Big Macs™. Everyone has INSTAGRAM.
vanishes, into the outside. Everyone their phones out to record this event
except the foodies. They remain to eat and send to their families living in Just don’t turn around, eh? Just a peek?
the leftovers. Something is happening. Facebook, but everyone in Facebook You move the muscles in your eyes so that
It’s a crowd grabber, all right. It’s in the is already watching this, and more you eyes are about halfway turned
news, it’s on instantaneously than those in Sony around. This is sometimes known as the
your phone, it’s displayed on the Station®. peripheral vision. It means Vision of the
Great Screen in the Sky. The Outlying®. There’s a light. You’ve never seen
everlasting moon disappears and that light before. Not in Reddit
a once happy friend is beginning to Station, or here. The vapor realm calls it pink.
The pink light grows around your
eyes. It’s gaining ground. Quickly.
70 /
A DARK CLOUD MOVES ACROSS THE
HORIZON AND BRINGS WITH IT A
MESSAGE FROM THE FUTURE.
The Ark™ called INSTAGRAM stands before the Golden Arches™, now almost
Move your eyes back. completely turned to dust and decay. The naked men and the naked women
whisper to the cherubim living on the cover of INSTAGRAM. The cherubim lift
their wings and glide up, taking away the lid of gold and disappearing into a black
mist. Pure white light blasts from inside of INSTAGRAM and blankets the dying
AN EMPTY DRY FIELD. NO LIFE HERE. Arches™. There is much terror. Everyone below the Great Screen have to delete all
THE CLOUD COMES. IT’S THERE ABOVE. their selfies to keep recording. Through the screen they see: the naked men and
SOMETHING FALLS FROM ITS HEART. naked women release INSTAGRAM, and it floats on its own; the naked men and
IT IS RAIN. naked women surround glowing Arches™, alternating man, woman, six total; there
is a rumbling; no more Big Macs™ fall from the Arches™; the journalists arrive but
Look! They’re bringing the Ark™ up to the walk away with their heads down; the naked men and naked women strike poses
Arches™! THE INSTAGRAM MACHINE. and turn to marble; INSTAGRAM does its magic, then vaporizes; the light is gone;
the decaying Arches™ are gone. There now stands, tall and proud, the Arches™ as
everyone knows and loves them, perfect, digitally edited, inspiring, and definitely
trending. And looking at it triggers something inside you that craves for all those
THE RAIN COVERS THE DEAD GROUND. Big Macs™, which by now are turning grey on the street. The now marble statues
THE GROUND TURNS TO MUD. THE CLOUD bow down to worship the Arches™. To bow, they must crumble. So they worship,
MOVES ON. IT IS STILL DARK. IT IS NOW and turn to dust.
WET. STILL NO LIFE HERE. NOT GOING TO
HAPPEN. DRINK FIJI®.

Look! They’re bringing the Ark™ up to the Maybe another peek at the vapor? Not yet.
Arches™! THE INSTAGRAM MACHINE. Care for another sip of my cold refreshing Coca-Cola®? I guess now
McDonald's™ will be with us until the credits roll by. God™ bless. Care for
another sip of my cold refreshing Coca-Cola®?
What?
Care for another sip of my cold refreshing Coca-Cola®?
What?
Care for another sip of my cold refreshing Coca-Cola®?
No.
Care for another sip of my cold refreshing Coca-Cola®?
…
Care for another sip of my cold refreshing Coca-Cola®?
Sure.
Great. Isn’t that good? Care for another sip of my cold refreshing Coca-Cola®?
Must space out sips to maximize enjoyment.
Oh too true, friend. You know the game now. Maximum enjoyment. Minimal
discomfort. Care for another sip of my cold refreshing Coca-Cola®?

One sip is good.

Buddy what’s wrong with you? Your face is melting. Do you need water? Care
for another sip of my cold refreshing Coca-Cola®?

No really I’m good.

I think I know what’s happening here.

What.

/ 71
You turned around, didn’t you? I told you not to turn around! Now you are
becoming like vapor!

It’s not true. I only peeked. I didn’t turn around.

What did you see? Tell me.

Pink light.

God™ help you. Everyone took their phones back out and began recording your
melting face. Exquisite! they all say. If there’s any way to communicate in that
realm, send me a postcard.

There are hallways and hallways. Pink light bathes everything. The polygons
have not fully rendered their surfaces. A clock the shape of the Earth settles onto
a hand made of static and turns to clay. Three dimensional shapes invade and
dictate the rules. Everything here repeats into itself. Reality is a broken record.
What is the essence of a warm sunny day? And of a numinous raining dusk?
What makes a baby smile at noontime, and what causes the birds to sing? You®
do! You® are a tall can of carbonated happiness. You® are the magic scrubbable
stain removing soap that turns a dark soul light. You® are a box of crunchy,
baked-to-perfection, cheesy goodness that brings smiles to every child across the
Advertising Space. You® are the shoes that help super athletes to swoosh across
the stadium. You® are a pack of tall cool cigarettes. You® bring meaning into the
lives of trillions. You® make the stars twinkle. You® give everyone the Hunger™.
You® are irresistible, all-wise, all-entertaining, perfect, and complete, except for
one small hole in Your® heart, the exact shape of every man, woman, and child,
breathing or not. You® give them life, and they give You® life. And we are so
glad that You’re® back. You® gave us the Wave. That was the final straw. We
thought You® were gone for good. We told you not to turn around. But that’s
why You® are the star of the Ad. It’s all for You®.

You® aren’t just any regular, run-of-the-mill product. You® are IT. You® are
the lifeblood of American entertainment and livelihood. And! You® only cost half.
That’s it! And free shipping! And a lifetime supply of our catalogues! We said half,
all right. Half of what? Why, half of You®. You® know the phrase an arm and a
leg? Throw in an eye, an ear, and a lung. Not literally! But You® provide a
lifetime guarantee of Ne’er-Bored for half of Your® life. A very fair trade for that
cost. Otherwise You’d® have a full life with a complete package of Endless
Boredom and Dull Existence. Who wants that? Not You®. And certainly not the
American people. God™ bless them.
You® are full of antibiotics to keep you fresh longer. You® are on every aisle,
every street corner, every billboard, You® are all anyone can talk about. You®
are on the news, in the papers, in the sky, on the screens. You® are trending.
You® are a blue pill for men. You® are a brown pill for fidgeting kids. You® are
multi-colored pills for women. You® breathe life into this land, don’t You®
understand? Without You®, there would be nothing! You® are the great, final
product! And You® must buy Yourself®. Something is invading. It is the Wave.

72 /
You all right?

You® are fine. Sit down. You® don’t need to worry

about You®. Let us worry about You®. Pull up a TV.
Relax. Glass is the best way to Enjoy Pepsi® in my
opinion! Turn it on. Here are some comfort foods.
Don’t turn around. You® are fine.

Just… have another… sip.

You® need a sip of cold refreshing Pepsi®! Pepsi® is
better than just okay! Put Pepsi® in a cup. Put Pepsi®
in a pill. Put Pepsi® in a syringe! Unlimited ways to
Enjoy Pepsi®!

Wake, wake, friend. There’s a big jug of

Coca-Cola® at your face.

Maybe You® will come back. It’s okay. We understand. The Wave is powerful.
We will move on. Find someone else. Take care. Enjoy Yourself®… No! Don’t
leave us! We need You®!

You come to. Your stomach is full of Coca-Cola®. You almost turned to vapor,
friend. That’s why you always rely on Coca-Cola®. What was it like there? Well,
there is no difference between here and there. One is full of chaos, one is full of
order. But they are built of the same things. Like Legos®. This side is the order side.
Is more comfortable. So you think you will stay here for a while? A while, yes. For
now. Seeing both sides gives good vision. But now there is music flowing through
your head. An endless loop. So you head to the Virtual Seascape and walk down
the beach. The sun is always setting here. It feels good. You feel good. You pass the
same digital palm tree. You are on a loop, too. Don’t let it bother you.
That music won’t leave your head. It’s okay. Soon you will find a way out of
both realms. It’s simple. You will log off. No one thinks to do it. But you do. You
are special. After you log off, that music will still be in your head. It’s the sound of
both realms colliding. It’s what you saw, and what you heard. They are your digital
memories. The music is disturbing, but pleasant. It’s timeless. Literally, timeless.
Spaceless too. It’s best to remember that it’s all in your head.
The only way to get the music out of your head will be to compose it. You will
return to a place where the Internet realm is developing quickly. You will compose
the music digitally. How else. You will send it off to the Universe as a warning
about those two realms. Maybe the world will understand this. You will give this
music a name, and the name will carry the fearful words that those two realms had
for each other: the vapor, and the Wave.

/ 73
The
Happiest Place
on the Dark
Net!!! Part 1

Mr. Perkins was droning on about whatever lunch gods as I made my way to the line, a
the hell binomial distribution is when I felt herd of students before me. At some point
my phone go off in my pocket. Looking at the on my venture through the queue, I glanced
clock, I heaved a sigh and continued to take out across the sea of tables and fellow peers.
“notes” (read, doodle) on my graph paper Nestled against the column, Hunt had made
as he persevered in his quest to sound like himself at home with headphones plugged
Charlie Brown’s teacher. Fifteen more minutes in, sketching away at god knows whatever
of this mind-numbing mathematics class. crude drawing it was that he was working
Hurry. Up. on this time. Fuckin’ tryhard, I thought, in the
most loving manner of course. After all, what
When the Pavlovian chime of the dismissal friends don’t give each other shit?
bell rang overhead, I quickly packed my
supplies together and headed straight to “Yo.” saddling up to the table, I set my
the bathroom, closing myself off in a stall. chocolate milk before him and quickly began
It took only a moment to fish my phone out, to dig into our school’s finest flash frozen
and after unlocking it, I checked the incoming chicken nuggets complete with Government
text. “Lunch?” Smart. Hunt was clever enough Brand barbeque sauce. He slid a folded sticky
to not say anything too obvious. Casual chat note in front of me, and with a quick sleight
between two teens. Nothing suspicious. of hand, I pocketed it. “There you go,” he said,
as he plucked out one of his earbuds. Taking
After a quick jaunt to my locker, I was on my a sip of the chocolate milk offering, he wiped
way to the cafeteria. By the smell of it, today’s his mouth. “Happiest place on the darknet.”
unappetizing alternative to rectangular pizza
with plastic cheese was chicken of some
sort. Let it be the nuggets. I pleaded to the

WRITER:

s h e e p
74 /
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” I retorted between bites of
chicken chunks. “You drawing naked girls again?” I asked,
nodding to his sketchbook, angled in his lap. “Something
like that,” he replied dryly before gulping down the rest
of the carton. “You working on anything new?” He asked
as he took up his sketchbook again, bobbing away to
whatever was playing through the solitary earbud still
lodged in his head.

“Yeah, but I’m not really sure where it’s going. I found a
song I want to sample, but I’m going to have to listen to
it like, a million more times before I really know what I
wanna do with it. There’s something there, I just need to
find it. So how’d you find this thing anyway?” It had been
gnawing at me. “How do you find all these weird things?” I
was, of course, talking about the page.

“Just good at it.” He grinned. “This one’s really weird.

Sticks out like a sore thumb, so I know there’s something
hiding there. You’re pretty nosy, figured you’d want to look
at it either way.” He laughed, knowing I had to concede.
He wasn’t wrong. “Thanks,” I replied flatly, quirking my lip
to the side. “Oh, little baby get their feewings hurt?” Hunt
chided, rubbing his eyes condescendingly. “Not as badly
as the time Janelle stood you up outside of the middle
school dance,” I answered in the same flat tone, cutting
a sharp glare at him as I tore into the cardboard chicken
nugget.

“Okay, I get it. Jeez.” Slamming the last of the milk, he

crushed the carton and continued with his work for the
duration of lunch. We made small talk, but really, all I
could focus on was the four hours left of this tedious
school day, and what wonders were waiting for me with
this little key folded away in my pocket. To say that those
hours dragged on would be an understatement - those
hours became the melting clocks of a Dali painting, each
second stretching onward into some chaotic infinity
until the blessed chime of the dismissal bell caused the
student body to explode from the innards of our stuffy
school building. And to our buses we went, and to our
homes we would go. While my peers did whatever it was
they do, I was going to make the best mistake of my life.

I just didn’t know it yet.

/ 75
How I got there’s not important - what’s important is that it even
worked. When I pulled up the website, I could only arch my brows
and shake my head slightly. I opened my mouth, and as much as
I detested it, the words “Damn, Hunt, you were right,” fell out —
thank god he wasn’t there to hear them.

“Happiest place on the darknet, huh? So, what’s the catch?”

Staring at me was a webpage dressed in pastel tones - that cutesy

occult aesthetic. Images of chibi baphomets and kawaii eyes of
Nazaar dressed the page’s background, along with the typical “Welcome to the Wishing Well! Cast your most
moons, stars, and other various runes you’d expect to see in that heartfelt desire into the well for the chance to
kind of style. The interface itself was pretty straightforward - a win the wish of a lifetime!” The text was written
shop with spell bottles that offered love, wealth, revenge - almost in crudely italicized Times New Roman under
anything you could think of, for the exorbitant price of your hard- a gaudy and hastily photoshopped image of a
mined Bitcoin (satisfaction guaranteed™️)! wishing well — it looked like they’d taken the
magic wand tool to any white space to make
Unimpressed by the selection of merchandise, I clicked around a
it transparent; honestly, it was one of the most
bit - there was an image gallery that advertised various mythical
pointless pages I’d visited.
creatures (also for sale), but still, nothing that really stuck out.
“Back to the homepage we go,” I sighed, looking for anything that Beneath the text was an entry field. rolling my
stuck out. As the page loaded in, I noticed a unique image on eyes, I clicked on it. “Lol,” I typed, “Make me a
the background of the webpage. Scattered among all the Hello great vaporwave artist then.” I brought my mouse
Kitty-esque drawings was what looked to be a well; and, when I to the button beneath the text entry field that read
hovered my mouse over it, the pointer changed to a finger. Without “WISH!” Another eyeroll, and then I clicked.
hesitation, I clicked.
Not a moment after hitting the button was
I greeted with a jumpscare. My ears were
assaulted with a scream that faded to a sharp
white noise which caused me to quickly fling my
headphones from their nesting spot. I leapt to my
feet and tried to catch my breath. “GOD DAMNIT!”
I hollered, only to be met with a “WHAT THE HELL
DID YOU JUST SAY?” from my mother down the
hallway.

“Sorry!” I hollered back, brows furrowed as I

stared back at the homepage of what touted
itself as the “Happiest Place on the Darknet!”
Shaking my head, I whipped out my phone and
texted Hunt, “Very funny,” disconnected, and
started my homework, still on edge.

...what the fuck was binomial distribution, again?

I rubbed my eyes, trying to make sense of

whatever I had scribbled in my notes, the letters
dancing around like little critters.

76 /
Welcome to the Wishing Well! Cast
your most heartfelt desire into the
well for the chance to win the wish
of a lifetime!
Enter your wish

WISH!
/ 77
PATREON
SUBSCRIBERS
Aaron Loturco Bryan Behrenshausen Ethan Dumayas Kevin Josias

Adam B Brycen Itzko Ethan Willinger Kristopher

Adeptus Minor Caroline Jordan Evan Looney Kyle Creasey

Adolfo chadley hansen Forks And Freaks Lillian Pais

Agora Road Chris and Erin Smith Freek Louis Mehlin

Alan Gomez Chris Paz furry_boi_uwu Luis Batist

Albert Aparicio Chris Sunderland g0jirasan Luke John Lozano

Aldrea Orcinae Christian Carlson Garrett Holladay Luke Lien

Alejandro Allepuz Christopher Miner Gheb Luke Wasserman

Alek Bales christtt Giovanni LyndonB

Alex Cody England Grant G. Magdalen Rose

Alex Clarke Cody Stack Greg Anderson Mar Nagatani

Alex Cote Colin Fraunfelder hallowhaven Marc Landes

Alexander Cohen Collin Hunter Mason Matt Kiefer

Alexander Quiquero Connor Sheehan Ickypop Matt Legge

Alexander Toporowicz Connor Zamora INFEKT Matt Sackett

Andi Craig Ingwer jakcreature mattt

Andrew Dan Citrin Jake Jones Matumbo

Andrew Lehman Dan Goubert James T Jenkins Matwed Drums

Andrew Williamson Daniel Posch James Webster Max Lange

Angus Chung Danny Price Jarred Allison Michael DiBernardo

Anonymous Darkfez Futuretro Jesse Boyles Michael McGrath

Anthony Cuebas David Finkel Joao gilberto Michael Primiani

Anthony Hunter David Russell Joe Ross Mike Pfeffer

Arden Roy Derek Power John Rakita Minus Tyler

Arron Carter desveritas Jonatan Flores Mister Lonely

Aurora Ness Donovan Preston Joseph Petrone Moses Zavala

Austin C Byrd Drew Dawson Josh Boyer My Valentine is Postmodern

Artist Cy Twombly
Azyzl dutchtide Joshua Cloninger
Myles O'Neill
Barrett Gamber Dylan Hyman Juan Carlos Urquidi
nano神社 (✪㉨✪)
Benjamin Sprague Dylan T Juan Morales Calvo
Nathan Cooper
Billy Bugara Emil Perez Juraj Crneković
nekutheNihilist
bob yong Emkay Justin Hinojosa
Neon Hotline Connection
Brandon Sylver Emmanuel Vargas Katherine L Bryant
Nick Benefield
Brendan Santos Eric Roy Kaz
Nick Sgourakis
Brian Eric Weidner Keenan Anderson
no156
Brian Duran-Fuentes Erik Domnizky Kenneth Love

78 /
 THANK YOU
OmnilimbO

Opiela
Steve Fish

Steve Miller
FOR
MAKING
OVOJazz- Theo Farnum

PAP3RBAG Tiffany Magit

Patric Bates Travis Hawkes

Patrick Anderson Trey Maddox

Paulo Santana Ulises Lafuente

THIS
Phil Cimon ultra_ghost

Phoebe Hartley Ulysses Stephen Q.

Polar Bear VTomo

R0x4ry Wesley Knight

Randy Williams Wild Mouse

Rauru Zetto Will Erokan

A
Regini William Bottini

Richard Misener William Crook

RIchard Rayaprol Xavier Vélez

Richard Shields Your Friend Cimi

Robert Henry Yourdudesnicker

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