Vaporwave has been a quiet internet revolution over the last five years, inspiring a ton of think pieces on specialized arty blogs about its ironic meta commentary on EDM and new age sounds. Its mangling of smooth pop music from the past makes for very hazy, kitschy, and weird tunes that wouldn’t sound out of place in a dentist’s office or your parents’ record collection.
// P E N T I U M 2 // ダニ is an artist from Ecuador who dabbles in this style. There’s little information about him/her/them – as is typical of vaporwave artists – and we’re not sure if [insert pronoun] are connected to other vaporwave artists from Latin America.
The music found on INTRAネット 1.0 features the ultra postmodern, retro sound imaging through a grainy VHS dub that’s associated with the scene, with nods to cyber culture, nostalgia, and capitalism. Still, // P E N T I U M 2 // ダニ has a few tricks up their sleeve that set them apart from contemporaries.
INTRAネット 1.0 is not your typical vaporwave release because, for starters, it’s one of the most fun and hilarious albums in the style. The first track on here features a chopped and screwed version of Fandango’s “Autos, Moda y Rock N’ Roll” (which for some reason, for me, makes the line “nuestra civilización” seem more ominous). Elsewhere, you can find a similar treatment of songs by Luis Miguel and Phil Collins, among others, making for a very funny listen, especially if you’re with polite company. Bust it out at a party, your guests will probably get a kick out of it, regardless of what they think about nostalgia and glitch art.
Sure, the commentary is there, but it’s aural ecstasy for those looking for a trippier kind of party.