Babbling Corpse

Vaporwave and the Commodification of Ghosts

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Grafton Tanner: Babbling Corpse (2016, Zero Books)

84 pages

English language

Published June 30, 2016 by Zero Books.

ISBN:
978-1-78279-759-3
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OCLC Number:
938394744

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4 stars (1 review)

"The concept of vaporwave is a function of franken music. Taking samples of other music, endlessly repeating sounds, words and phrases either spoken or musical, and slapping them all together into an mp3 package, vaporwave can infuriate, bore or be completely ignored. It can have zero musical value, or appear as outright theft. It is a rebellion of sorts against the powerful commercial music establishment that dictates our tastes. To Grafton Tanner, it is the poster child of the decline and fall of western civilization. It is at very least yet another symptom"--David Wineberg, Amazon via NetGalley.

1 edition

Meet me at the dead mall

4 stars

Left me wanting much more about the music. Interesting references to hauntology, post-modernism, the emergence of this kind of music due to late-stage capitalism commodifying everything and the trauma of missing dead futures that never came to be, etc. An expanded version would be great. Feels a bit like a paper for college, with various sources lined up to make a line of argument, but not much depth. A fine intro.

Subjects

  • Capitalism and mass media
  • Social aspects
  • Analysis, appreciation
  • Popular culture
  • History and criticism
  • Ambient music
  • Music and the Internet
  • Popular music
  • Internet
  • Production and direction