Pushing squares

December 08, 2023

Pushing squares

Promises are hard to keep. We can blame it on our humanity; we aren't perfect. However, we do try to be perfect by creating - often faceless - corporations with bold ideas and promises to make them a reality. Unfortunately they too fail in doing so; blame it on humanity? Growing up I used to struggle with digital landscapes that couldn't be explored. This could go from parts of a videogame that were accesible but aren't anymore, like Lutari Island in Neopets (yes, I now know why it wasn't accesible to me back then), to even as little as items that could never be obtained (clothing items in Stardoll immediately come to mind). Just imagine yourself finally receiving an item in the mail you'd ordered online only for it to look nothing like the actual product; all your hopes - shattered! This is just an aspect of the prime issue with consumer culture in a capitalist society: products being promoted create a promise to consumers that its quality and experience will be the way depicted in the ads. This is never really true because the main goal of these ads is to make their existence public and to enter the market; it isn't to give consumers what they actually want. In the tech industry this is called vaporware. This encompasses both hardware and software that hasn't been released or has been released without living up to its expectations.

Picture I took when I'd received the cassette (2015)

More than a decade ago artists online got inspired by this idea which is how Vaporwave came into existence. With playful commentary on 20th century's consumerism it managed to gain an audience by mixing pitched down samples with elevator music, jazz and pop songs from the 80s or 90s. Like many other people I fell in love with this genre. It's the first subculture I'd actually been, and still am, a part of even if I've hung up my white Nike Windrunner and Air Force 1 sneakers for good. Luxury Elite's album Fantasy will forever have a special place in my desk drawer because I could never get rid of that cute pink cassette that I got a cassette player for (gifted to me by a friend) so I could listen to it. My Tumblr and Instagram still have remnants of this era and it will serve its purpose as a nice timecapsule. Please do keep in mind that you're going to have to scroll a bit (read: a lot) down to see it.

Witloof Bar at Le Botanique, Brussels

After ten years I finally got to attend a live set by Blank Banshee at Le Botanique in Brussels. To me this was actually surreal. I honestly thought the concert would be sold out, but it wasn't as busy as I'd assumed it to be. I'd expected the Belgian IDM and Vaporwave scene to be a bit bigger. On the other hand I was also happy there weren't that many people because that meant I could enjoy the music without others shoving me aside, having beer splashed on me or whatnot. Once it was finally time everybody started gathering up at the front to see Blank Banshee make his entrance. He was wearing a white Champion packable anorak with trousers to match. Of course he had his face covered by his signature disco ball mask (face reveal when?). The full set was about an hour long and it was perfect. He alternated tracks from all of his albums starting with Run from his newest album 4D. He ended the evening with his hit Teen Pregnancy. I made a playlist on Spotify for those aching to hear the full setlist. It probably does miss some tracks, but I think I got almost all of them.

Blank Banshee playing along on his MIDI Pad controller

At the end he took his setlist, balled it up and threw it into the crowd. Unfortunately I didn't catch it, but the girl next to me did. Then he ripped off the gaffer tape that was keeping his Akai MPD226 in place. He picked it up and raised it to the sky while everyone was cheering his name: we'd all enjoyed him sharing his music with us that night. After that he came to the people at the front shaking our hands. And yes, I did get to shake Blank Banshee's hand. And no, I did not stop washing the hand he shook. Oh, I was so thrilled I'd experienced that evening. I already said it was surreal to me and that's because I'd never spoken about Vaporwave and other mostly online subcultures and music genres with people offline. So it was just amazing to actually be able to be part of something "materialized." I used to vibe to this music by myself in my dorm room and now I'm enjoying it while the artist is mixing it live - I love it!