Mallsoft
| Mallsoft | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Mid-2010s, Internet, 4chan |
Mallsoft (also known as mallwave) is a vaporwave subgenre centered around shopping malls.[1]
Overview
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Often based on corporate lounge music, mallsoft is meant to conjure images of shopping malls, grocery stores, lobbies, and other places of public commerce.[2] Mallsoft artists typically elicit nostalgic memories of these retail establishments, even to those who did not experience them firsthand,[3] sampling easy listening, bossa nova, and smooth jazz music. The genre also often attempts to provide commentary on consumerism and corporate capitalism.[4] Much of the enjoyment from listeners is derived from nostalgia and the "pleasure of remembering for the sake of the act of remembering itself".[5]
Characteristics
[edit]Some artists simply slow down and reverberate existing 1980s pop songs to make them sound like they're coming from the overhead speakers in an empty or abandoned mall.[6] Reverb and distortion are often overlaid on top of tracks to give them an isolating and disorienting feeling.[6] YouTube videos often pair mallsoft tracks with images of malls, with an emphasis on selected images that appear to have been taken from the 1980s and 1990s.[6][7] The visuals can often be meant to invoke a sense of loneliness along with the cold nature of meandering through overly-corporate mercantile environments.[8]
Reception
[edit]Music journalist Simon Chandler described Dutch artist Cat System Corp.'s 2014 album Palm Mall as being "perhaps the definitive mallsoft album".[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Vaporwave, the Millennial legacy of Daniel Lopatin". Revista cultural el Hype. 2020-02-21. Archived from the original on 2021-11-09. Retrieved 2021-11-09.
- ^ "Mallsoft is the New Elevator Music | Indie88". 23 September 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-05-04. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
- ^ "The Teens Who Listen to 'Mallwave' Are Nostalgic for an Experience They've Never Had". MEL Magazine. 2019-01-30. Archived from the original on 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
- ^ "Micro Genre Within a Micro Genre That Uses Ambience as an Instrument: Learn About Mallsoft". www.ultimate-guitar.com. Archived from the original on 2021-07-09. Retrieved 2021-07-04.
- ^ Glitsos, Laura (January 2018). "Vaporwave, or music optimised for abandoned malls". Popular Music. 37 (1): 100–118. doi:10.1017/S0261143017000599. ISSN 0261-1430. S2CID 165274914.
- ^ a b c Ballam-Cross, Paul (2021-03-01). "Reconstructed Nostalgia: Aesthetic Commonalities and Self-Soothing in Chillwave, Synthwave, and Vaporwave". Journal of Popular Music Studies. 33 (1): 70–93. doi:10.1525/jpms.2021.33.1.70. ISSN 1533-1598.
- ^ "Macross 82-99's 'Sailorwave' Should Be Every Retro Anime Fan's Soundtrack on CBR". 5 October 2020. Archived from the original on 2022-05-14. Retrieved 2022-06-05.
- ^ "Genre As Method: The Vaporwave Family Tree, From Eccojams to Hardvapour". Bandcamp Daily. 2016-11-21. Archived from the original on 2021-05-07. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
- ^ "The Mall, Nostalgia, and the Loss of Innocence: An Interview With 猫 シ Corp". Bandcamp Daily. 2017-03-08. Archived from the original on 2021-05-16. Retrieved 2021-07-05.