Gen Z vaporwave kids are into IDM

#1

A close friend of mine reignited my interest in the vaporwave scene a few years ago, and got me involved in a really cool discord server that was pretty active for a long while.
So many gen Z kids are just getting into a lot of the IDM staples, and it’s really awesome, I fucking love it.

Anyway, I feel like there’s a bit of cross-over with elements of IDM (especially 90s stuff) and vaporwave. Vaporwave still feels a little stale sometimes as a whole cause a lot of people make it very formulaically, but if people brought 90s style IDM elements into it more, I feel like there’d be a ton of potential to breathe more life into the vaporwave scene

#2

Life is cyclic, so it’s not entirely surprising that IDM would make a “come-back” for kids who weren’t there then or people who were there and are nostalgic of their youth/miss those days when life was (seemingly?) more exciting or at least filled with more wonder. The 90’s are poised to be “in” as well this decade. Next decade, it will be the 00’s. Etc.

I have no idea what vaporwave is. Everything is somethingwave these days.

Everythingwave

Maybe I should use this to define my music

#3

Absolutely true. Artistic trends are always cyclic but people usually add something more to make it slightly modern.
Vaporwave was really popular in like 2010, and people have claimed it’s dead for a long time but it’s definitely making a resurgence. Idc about genre names or labels, good music is good music, even if it uses current or old trends… but there’s a lot of overlap in some sounds and I think that some IDM heads might appreciate it.

Oneohtrix point never is both vaporwave and IDM (and on Warp) and is arguably one of the biggest vaporwave artists currently

#4

Oh yeah, also people are already nostalgic about the 00’s lol
Hyperpop is a genre I’m not really into but it’s kinda about using some of the most annoying characteristics of pop and emo music from like 2007ish

#5

I didn’t really feel like I was there for the first go-around (I was probably like 2 when Aphex Twin started releasing music on Warp) but I definitely caught some kind of internet IDM wave in 2007. If it comes back around again, that’s going to be awesome IMO.

I made a similar thread about nu metal here recently, and it definitely seems like we’ve gone full-circle from even the music I grew up listening to straight to having gen Z making their own version. Pretty cool, even if I don’t find any bands that really resonate with me. It’s nice to see old stuff through a new lens sometimes.

Even weirder, I hated grunge the first time around but I’m digging these newer grunge artists. You never know what might hit that sweet spot