Hot Takes

Episode 84: Super Retrospective Mega Episode II Turbo

"Hot Takes" season four had to come to an end at some point, so Skelly and Shiro decided to let the mod team take the reins; and they flipped the entire format upside down, posing their own recommendations and takes and lobbing questions at the hosts for the three-hour run. A deviation from the show's typical fare, we got to get some phenomenal insight into the "Hot Takes" mod team's tastes and get the know the two show hosts and their backgrounds quite a bit better too! Six profoundly important scene builders and taste making titans gave us their valuable time, going beyond their duties as Discord server mods and basically running the show themselves instead of Skelly and Shiro being in charge, for once. There were so many memorable moments, from conversations about how to attract and retain female/femme and POC attendees at URL vaporwave show to thoughts about the longevity of artist Patreons and limited runs of exclusive fan club vinyl releases; and let's not forget Shiro getting raked over the coals for editing track metadata in the tracks he downloads, changing capitalization and tags without artists' knowledge or consent! Bad boy! Despite some audio woes, long monologues, and one weary, energy drink chugging co-host towards the end, the episode was noteworthy, well attended, and shined an important light on six incredibly important figures in the scene right now: Crystal Eternal, Luxury Elite, Luxury Noise, Minidisc.Wiki, Quiz, and Roge Corp. Make sure to block out some time for this one, because it is lengthy and brimming with rants, raves, and rarities!

 

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Episode 83: Solodolo84

We showcased ubiquitous visual artist and vaporwave superfan Solodolo84 on the 83rd episode of "Hot Takes"! We brought back the community vote format, and Solo had a strong lead from the beginning that he maintained during the entire two weeks of polling, so we gave the people what they wanted. Solodolo84 is a natural conversationalist and man of the people, so the hours felt like minutes as memorable moments abounded, like Solo's story of his experience hearing vaporwave for the first time and the moving series of passionate shout outs he gave at the episode's conclusion. Solodolo84 may or may not have had some very strong opinions about genres and arbitrary categorization of music styles. Solo definitely had some wise words, including a particularly apt metaphor he used about bouillon cubes. Stories about crate digging and late night quiet storm radio stations may have been told, and convos about boom bap beats and the nebulous nature of cassette sound quality may have transpired. If you don't listen in, though, you are never going to know what did or did not happen on "Hot Takes", are you?

 

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Episode 82: V4NGOE

For episode 82 of "Hot Takes", the bois decided to bring another act from the vaporwave zero genre to the broadcast! Skilled breaks-influenced vaporwave producer and 1/2 of VaporVA alongside Roge Corp, V4NGOE is known for being a pioneer of a subset of vaporwave that is more vocal-driven and influenced by breaks and 90's R&B than your typical slowed and reverb fare. He helped drive the growth of that new sound alongside acts like Ahero, Satin Sheets, and Simple Syrup; he and Roge Corp together threw a blockbuster show called i2K in Richmond, Virginia in Summer 2024; and he's just an absolute sweetie pie. Noteworthy moments include Vincent's game plan for how to treat acts that he books and how to network with other artists in addition to his experiences discovering acts that were seminal to him like George Clanton, Nmesh, and Windows 96. Joking around about Christian rock and reminiscing about the George Clanton fanclub and the Big Stream during the pandemic era also happened during our two hours with V4NGOE! How many chances do you give an album before you decide if you like it or dislike it? What beverages does Shiro drink while he's dieting? Is OSCOB truly the laziest vaporwave producer of all time? Only one way to find out and that's by listening to "Hot Takes"!

 

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Episode 81: Quiz

During the eighty-first episode of "Hot Takes", the bois used an ace in the hole and brought on Quiz, a path-finding colleague and friend to the show, spending the evening chatting about a number of things, including the story behind the curation of "Hot Takes Vol. 1" and the difference between listening to metal music and playing it live. Known primarily for his flashy tracksuits and dance moves at live shows, Quiz is also known for being a scene builder, show thrower, and community activist in his personal life. He's a member of Philadelphia-based band Burning Sunrise, de-facto leader of the Artifaqt Collective, and a mod for the "Hot Takes" server as well. Come be privy to the conversation that was had about Bee Fant's iconic art style, and be regaled by Quiz's story about his first experience hearing vaporwave at a Neon Nights-themed IRL party.

 

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Episode 80: Vitesse X

For the eightieth episode of "Hot Takes", we were honored to be graced by the presence of Vitesse X. With a background in cross country skiing, track, and field and having played live in shoegaze and punk rock bands, independent electronic artist and label owner Vitesse X told us her stories and divulged some intensely personal and edifying advice about being sincere with your art. Lots of talk about acts like Fugazi, Paul McCartney, and The Orb, advice on how to sell yourself and get work in New York City performance spaces, and a comical series of takes about cut-and-paste color-by-number breakbeat music were the highlights of our two hours with the incredibly skilled, profoundly personable Vitesse X! You heard it on "Hot Takes"!

 

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Episode 79 REMIX: FrankJavCee x Luxury Elite

We brought back the remix format for "Hot Takes" episode 79, featuring previous guests and friends of the show FrankJavCee and Luxury Elite! When it comes to dear friends, engaged members of the community, and perfectly inspirational conversationalists, Frank and Lux were some of the first two people that came to mind when planning for this episode. The energy of episode 79 was at an all time high, with both bois fully nerding out, Lux ranting away, and Frank frenetically jumping from topic to topic in rapid, rampant fashion. Lux may have divulged some info about a secret Vektroid release and given some much needed advice to vaporwave up-and-comers. Frank told some tales and talked lost media, stolen samples, stalkers, and so much more. So much geeking out, interrupting, collaborating, and laughing transpired during the remix episode with Lux and Frank, so don't sleep on it! Restream "Hot Takes" today!

 

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Episode 78: Miami Nights 1984

Skelly, Shiro, and the "Hot Takes" horde got to spend a night with Miami Nights 1984 on the latest episode of the show! A veritable pathfinder of the outrun synthwave music scene, Michael has been recognized as one of the forefathers of the synthwave resurgence and has been involved with numerous high profile projects such as remixing acts like Gotye and Gunship, being featured in Rolling Stone, and sharing a lineup with John Carpenter on the "Rise of the Synths" documentary soundtrack. Our two hours with Miami Nights 1984 blazed by as we discussed things like his enormous hardware collection, his experiences with Gotye and Rolling Stone, and of course the story behind how he coined the genre name "outrun".

 

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Episode 77: Desert Sand Feels Warm at Night

Desert Sand Feels Warm at Night visited us this week on "Hot Takes"! An astoundingly skilled and popular vaporwave artist, Desert was surely the people's choice for a guest, and he did not disappoint in the slightest as we discussed all manner of subjects like Desert's social habits, hands-on application of music theory with regards to production, and his experience playing ambient music live at Slushwave 2024. Growing up in a musical household and trained in audio engineering with classical music, Desert Sand Feels Warm at Night came on the scene in the late 2010's and has since released countless sample-free slushwave albums. He has collaborated with multiple other ambient and slushwave acts and even runs a label/collective called Hallworth Collective! I don't know if we've ever had so many enthusiastic questions locked and loaded for a guest, chatting about everything from Skelly's thoughts on curating one's own sense of style to Desert's experience discovering Telepath テレパシー能力者 and Private Suite Magazine. Desert Sand Feels Warm at Night spoke to so many topics, such as using Maltese for the titles in his new collaborative album with Days of Blue, cool shirts, and the Slushwave Social Club Discord server. Don't miss his extensive thoughts about Cantopop, his beard care routine, and a very special top three album recommendation session in the intermission by previous guest Drinkyourtears. Follow/subscribe and be sure to be there for the next live episode if you enjoy rewatching this episode!

 

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Episode 76: Zer0 Rei

Zer0 Rei came on "Hot Takes" this week to chat with us! A well respected musician and visual artist in the vaporwave scene, Zer0 Rei was someone we wanted to amplify and celebrate; and he clued us in about a lot of things during his episode, like his daily work ethic, his work with Desert Sand Feels Warm at Night, and his longtime love of Japanese noise rock band Melt-Banana. Starting with harsh noise music and bringing with him a wealth of experience in the live punk rock and metal scenes, Zer0 now not only runs a vaporwave and experimental music label but also produces his own music and designs hyperreal 3-D rendered graphics as well. He's multifaceted and full of knowledge and experience, so rapping with him for two hours was a delight! During the night, there were discussions about topics like the local art collectives he runs, his unique production method with MIDI files and samples within Ableton, and the differences between future funk and vaporfunk. The temperature went up noticeably as Zer0 Rei regaled us with his experience on HKE and Shima33's new defunct podcast. The trio groaned over shipping and warranty issues with boutique synths, the chat erupted in laughs as Zer0 presented on camera the giant goose plushie he received as a gift from his spouse for Christmas, and Shiro raged about artists' propensity to play unreleased material live but then never release it. If you weren't there live during our visit with Zer0 Rei, check it out!

 

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Episode 75: DV-i

We were visited by the lovely and skilled artist DV-i on "Hot Takes" this week! A mysterious vapor-adjacent audio/visual artist that has been growing meteorically in popularity lately, Valerie's presence on our show meant we were able to share a memorable evening full of anecdotes and quips about topics like escapism, perfectionism, DAWs, VSTs, and more. A consummate multimedia artist that has been creating for over a decade, DV-i has played countless live shows in several countries and has scored a couple of video games as well. We got to hear lore like the concept behind DV-i being a defense contractor and Valerie's decision to use vocals in her recent work during the episode. We also got to discuss the merits of using FM synthesis and splice packs, favorite film directors and types of architecture, and the differences between DJing and production. Valerie's interplay with the audience and her breadth of knowledge of art and media made for a very fun and vibrant session with Skelly and Shiro. Yaoi? Puppy death wave? Special salsa?! DV-i's episode on "Hot Takes" features all this and then some, so check it out!

 

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