| Blank Banshee 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 20 October 2013 | |||
| Recorded | 2012–2013, Victoria, Canada [1] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 31:03 | |||
| Label | Hologram Bay | |||
| Producer | Patrick Driscoll [2] | |||
| Blank Banshee chronology | ||||
| ||||
Blank Banshee 1 is the second studio album by Canadian musician and producer Blank Banshee. It was released as a free digital download via Bandcamp on October 20, 2013.
Production for Blank Banshee 1 began in late 2012 [3] [4] with tracks such as ‘Eco Zones’ appearing as early as February 2013. [5] [6] The album was announced officially through social media on September 22, 2013. [7] The music video for "Infinite Login" was released preceding the album on October 19, 2013. [8]
Blank Banshee 1 consists of 15 tracks, largely instrumental in nature. It was produced using an Akai APC40 [9] and features heavy use of 808 drums and micro-samples sourced from video games, and early 2000s computer software. Themes of consumerist detachment and alienation appear throughout the album. Song titles such as “Infinite Login”, “Anxiety Online!” and “Cyber Slums” assert a juxtaposition of modern technology, angst and desolation. [10] The album has been called Vaportrap and ‘Post-Internet’. [3] It manifests a "future sound that can be ‘cold’ and digital-and even carry connotations of luxury and the virtual world". [11] [12]
Blank Banshee 1 was produced in Victoria, Canada. [9]
The album artwork was designed by Blank Banshee and depicts a series of colored cubes in a triangular formation over a monochromatic gradient.
Blank Banshee 1 has been released on Cassette Tape, Compact Disc, Vinyl and USB Flash Drive independently through the online store Hologram Bay.
Paradise Disc is a series of 6 computer-animated videos produced by Banshee, serving as the official music videos for Blank Banshee 1. [6]
The series was released via YouTube between October 19, 2013 and January 1, 2014. [4]
The Fader called Blank Banshee 1 "a masterwork of the new digital psychedelia" [3] and a "definitive document of the Vaporwave era". [13]
Adapted from official liner notes. [14]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "B:/ Infinite Login" | 1:00 |
| 2. | "Eco Zones" | 2:24 |
| 3. | "Metamaterial" | 1:54 |
| 4. | "Anxiety Online !" | 2:02 |
| 5. | "Java Clouds/مجسمه سازی مهتاب" | 2:12 |
| 6. | "LSD Polyphony" | 1:38 |
| 7. | "Conflict Minerals" | 2:36 |
| 8. | "Metal Rain" | 2:12 |
| 9. | "Big Gulp" | 2:12 |
| 10. | "Doldrum Corp." | 1:22 |
| 11. | "Cyber Slums" | 2:02 |
| 12. | "Realization" | 1:41 |
| 13. | "Solar Plexus" | 2:30 |
| 14. | "Paradise Disc" | 3:09 |
| 15. | "B:/ Hidden/Reality" | 1:53 |
Notes
Curve were an English alternative rock and electronic music duo from London, formed in 1990 and dissolved in 2005. The band consisted of Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia. Halliday wrote the lyrics of their songs and they both contributed to songwriting. Producer Alan Moulder was a prominent collaborator who helped shape their blend of heavy beats and densely–layered guitar tracks set against Halliday's vocals.
Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music and a subgenre of hauntology, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s, and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970s elevator music, R&B, and lounge music from the 1980s and 1990s. The surrounding subculture is sometimes associated with an ambiguous or satirical take on consumer capitalism and pop culture, and tends to be characterized by a nostalgic or surrealist engagement with the popular entertainment, technology and advertising of previous decades. Visually, it incorporates early Internet imagery, late 1990s web design, glitch art, anime, stylized Greek sculptures, 3D-rendered objects, and cyberpunk tropes in its cover artwork and music videos.
Ramona Andra Langley is an American electronic musician from Portland, Oregon. She has released music under her primary Vektroid alias, as well as others, such as dstnt, Laserdisc Visions, New Dreams Ltd., Virtual Information Desk, and PrismCorp Virtual Enterprises. Langley played a prominent role in the popularization of the vaporwave subgenre with the release of her ninth studio album, Floral Shoppe, under the alias Macintosh Plus. The album helped popularize the vaporwave genre throughout the Internet. Since then, she has continued to release music through Bandcamp and other online platforms.
Floral Shoppe is the ninth studio album by the American electronic musician Ramona Andra Langley under the alias Macintosh Plus, released on December 9, 2011 by the independent record label Beer on the Rug. It was one of the first releases of the 2010s microgenre known as vaporwave to gain popular recognition on the Internet. Since then, Floral Shoppe has been considered by some critics to be the defining album of the style.
Ryan DeRobertis is an American electronic musician and singer who grew up in Farmingville, New York and attended Boston College for two years studying music. His electronic music project SAINT PEPSI began in December 2012. After the release of his ninth studio album Hit Vibes in May 2013, he would retire the SAINT PEPSI name due to legal threats from the soft-drink company PepsiCo. He would adopt the name Skylar Spence in 2015, and release his debut record under that moniker, Prom King. In 2019, he would return under the name SAINT PEPSI with the release of Mannequin Challenge, and he currently uses that name for live performances and certain releases.
Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1 is a 2010 album of remixes by American electronic musician Daniel Lopatin under the pseudonym Chuck Person. Its tracks consist of chopped, looped samples of various songs—including popular songs from the 1980s and 1990s—processed with effects such as delay, reverb, and pitch shifting; the results highlight mournful or existential moments from the sources. It was used as an initial template for the vaporwave internet microgenre.
Birth of a New Day is the second studio album by English-American electronic music duo of dreampunk producers David Russo and Luke Laurila or Telepath, both collaborating under the alias 2814. It was released on January 21, 2015 by HKE's record label Dream Catalogue. With the popularity of vaporwave in the early to mid-2010s, the duo experimented with the genre by not using any form of samples to compose the album, thus becoming notable for being one of the first vaporwave releases not to include such production techniques. 2814 stated that they wanted it to "have a strong sense of place"; its themes reflect the dark worldviews of HKE.
Blank Banshee 0 is the debut studio album by Canadian artist and producer Blank Banshee. It was released for free via Bandcamp on September 1, 2012.
Hardvapour is an Internet-based microgenre of music that emerged in late 2015 as a tongue-in-cheek response to vaporwave, departing from the calm, muzak-sampling capitalist utopia concept of the latter in favor of a gabber- and punk-influenced sound. Canadian music producer Wolfenstein OS X album End of World Rave (2015) and the Antifur record label are credited with having first defined the hardvapour sound.
Pharma is a double album by American vaporwave producer Alex Koenig, also known as Nmesh. It was released August 4, 2017 on Orange Milk Records. It follows the same vaporwave style as other Nmesh albums like Nu.wav Hallucinations (2013) and Dream Sequins (2014).
Mega, is the third studio album by Canadian musician and producer Blank Banshee. It was released via Bandcamp on October 10, 2016.
Patrick Driscoll, known professionally as Blank Banshee, is a Canadian artist, musician and producer from Saint John, New Brunswick. He rose to popularity in 2012 with his album Blank Banshee 0, which combined traditional elements of vaporwave with trap music, a style now known as vaportrap. Blank Banshee's music has been described as a "balance of abstract ambience and dance-able trap".
George Clanton is an American electronic musician and singer known for his involvement with the vaporwave music scene. He established his independent record label 100% Electronica in 2015, and in 2019 launched the first vaporwave music festival, 100% ElectroniCON.
Macross 82-99 is a Mexican electronic music producer and DJ from Mexico City.
Jornt Elzinga, commonly known as Cat System Corp., is a Dutch musician regarded as a vaporwave figure that originated the mallsoft subgenre. He also previously recorded as Mesektet for his dark ambient releases.
News at 11 is the fourteenth studio album by Cat System Corp., the alias of Dutch electronic musician Jornt Elzinga. Released on September 11, 2016, it samples smooth jazz songs and excerpts from TV talk shows and commercials as a tribute to the victims of the September 11 attacks. Inspired by a vaporwave mix featuring a picture of the burning Twin Towers, Elzinga produced News at 11 as a portrayal of "a parallel universe where it never happened." Initially intended to be a Weather Channel-themed release, the album was produced over the course of nine months, and drew comparisons to the themes of author Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018).
Luxury Elite, also simply known as Lux, is an anonymous American musician known for her significant influence in the vaporwave genre. During the 2010s, her lo-fi sound and visual style, along with her relaxed melodies, made her an impactful figure in the "late night lo-fi" subgenre. She also produced music under the aliases 1-800-TONIGHT, night video, and television archives.
Palm Mall is the sixth studio album by Cat System Corp., the alias of Dutch electronic musician Jornt Elzinga. Released on 2 October 2014, its nine tracks use samples of elevator music to explore shopping malls. Following the success of Hiraeth (2014), Elzinga drew inspiration from the "vaporwave vibe" he felt in the video game Grand Theft Auto V (2013), and produced Palm Mall as his first "serious try" at a mallsoft release. It was a turning point for Elzinga's music and is his favorite release of the Cat System Corp. discography, featuring participation of several other vaporwave musicians.
Luke Laurila, better known as Telepath, is an American musician notable for his considerable impact within the vaporwave scene. During the mid-2010s, his ambient sound and dream-like presentation turned him into the main originator of the slushwave subgenre. He also released albums under the alias Virtual Dream Plaza, and he currently releases music under the pseudonym Tianhuojian.
