Personal Blog: My Personal Connection with the Holiday Season and Vaporelectronic Music

Why hello there! It's been a while, 8 months to be exact.
Blogging has been on the wayside, I've kinda gone through a personal rut of creativity of any kind.
I haven't written, recorded any music, done any VRChat avatar work, nothing of the sort.
But something about the holiday season always seems to resurrect my creative corpse and allows me to spew whatever for a few months until it inevitably peters out again.
That being said, I was listening to one of my favorite vaporelectronic albums, Hologram Plaza by Disconscious, after a nice homemade bowl of Japanese gyudon and I thought, why not write about how this genre of music is so connected to me and the holidays?

 In and around November of 2016, I discovered the internet beauty that is vaporwave.
I was in high school, and my close friend at the time, who's now since passed, showed me that silly video of that kid crying remixed to リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー by who other than Ramona Langley, a.k.a Vektroid, a.k.a MACINTOSH PLUS.
In said video was a sound byte of someone, from what I presume to be an ad for the actual Macintosh Plus line of classic Macintosh computers, saying the name of said computer.
My ears perked up, as I was, and still am, a huge fan of retro tech, especially classic Macs.
I asked, "Is that song from an actual Macintosh Plus ad?", to which he responded,
"Yeah!"
I believed him, however I would soon find out that that was, in fact, not the case.

Later that month, I decided to take the step and trace the origins of that video.
What I uncovered changed my music taste for good.
Of course, I found it was that glorious, infamous tune by Vektroid and I had to dive deeper.
Learning that this song didn't come from the 80's astounded me, as I was hit with that feeling that you're familiar with if you've read my previous blogs, anemoia. I could feel the VHS fuzz, I could smell the shopping mall, the flowers of said Floral Shoppe presented by MACINTOSH PLUS.
That warm, confusing, beautiful feeling drove my curiosity crazy, and I had to have more.

From there I'd discover Blank Banshee, iconic trapwave and EDM legend with his gripping debut LP, Blank Banshee 0.
The trap beats hypnotized me, along with the futuristic yet nostalgic samples and melodies made this a staple in my listening then, and it remains apart of my regular listening to this day.
After that, Our old buddy mallsoft came in like a train.
I have one very specific memory with Palm Mall. I was going through a silly long distance high school breakup (as one does), and I had to work on a project for some class.
Sitting at my local library on a frosty early December day, headphones in, listening to Palm Mall with the florescent lights beaming and buzzing above me, next to me a large window that I glanced out of for a minute.
I zoned out, listening to the melodic, rhythmic beats of the fictional mall, staring at the snow and ice on the dark pavement beyond the glass. That moment, that memory formed. That feeling, the cozy yet somehow sterile environment of the library gave me chills. The good kind.
The same feeling that the map cs_office from Counter-Strike (specifically Source) gives me.
Liminal, almost.

Later that same December, I discovered an absolute classic that I play often the week of Christmas,
Christmas at the Hypermall.

I specifically remember a really cold night, 2 days before Christmas, I was sitting on the couch of our dimly lit living room. Just one light on, and the only other being the TV in front of me, quietly playing this album.
Now THAT'S my kind of holiday spirit.

Happy holidays everyone, and stay safe.
Much love,
Ramona~