On "Hot Takes" episode 88 this week, Quiz and Shiro tagged Agnar in for the show at the eleventh hour! Eccentric, well-spoken, and making waves with their unique spin on experimental IDM music, Agnar was just a natural pick for the show; and picking them paid off in dividends as we were entertained by their thoughts on the similarities between vaporwave and prog rock, "new internet" music, and making cool things on the computer. Agnar has been producing leftfield and vaporwave-adjacent music for a while now, releasing on various labels like First Class Collective and playing live at events like Nostalgia Lounge's Sanctuary Live. They even got a write up in their local Billings, Montana paper about "challenging the concept that music needs to be correct". Known for their inclusivity, open-mindedness, and experimental nature, how could we not bring a person like Agnar on "Hot Takes"? We spent two hours chatting about topics ranging from microgenres like deconstructed club music and hyperpop, sampling AI music, and the deep meaning behind their album 4:3. Quiz taught us the concept of Lane Behr, Agnar recommended a favorite IDM documentary called "Modulations: Cinema of the Ear", and Shiro extolled his favorite video game OST's. Won't you give our episode with Agnar a listen if you weren't able to be there for it live?

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This week on the "Hot Takes" vaporwave talk show, longtime podcast hosts Birk and Ross from Night Clerk Radio decided to do a crossover episode with us! Hosting two guests instead of just the typical one, we got to hear a myriad of thoughts and opinions on topics from them, ranging from liminal spaces and the backrooms, staying apprised of current outsider music and music history, and their commitment to watching awful films. With backgrounds in film and podcasting, Birk and Ross have a daunting degree of knowledge of art, film, and music between the two of them, and Ross evens runs an award-winning tabletop role-playing game podcast as well! Their production value is off the charts, they are both juggernauts of pop culture, and they both have a deep love of unintentionally bad art. During the evening that we spent with the boys from Night Clerk Radio, we talked about how to brainstorm content for an online talk show, over-categorization and granular niche genres, and decorum when throwing a live vaporwave show. Come for the shared love of Boards of Canada, and stay for the conversations about the best and worst tropes in horror cinema. What is the Long John Silver fuck tub? You're only going to find out if you watch the episode!

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On "Hot Takes" this week, we got Skylar Spence to come on the show! Arguably the most seminal artist that gave future funk its voice, Ryan regaled us with thoughts and tales during their episode about topics like Mac Tonight ads, Arrested Development, and their experience getting signed to Carpark Records. Having started with vaporwave and future funk in late 2012, Skylar Spence has not only released numerous albums within that genre as Saint Pepsi but is also known for their critically acclaimed indie pop releases as well. Not only has Ryan captivated the vaporwave scene, but he very literally defined what future funk is with his work as Saint Pepsi and pushed the boundaries with lauded singles and packed out high capacity venues as Skylar Spence. His album "Hit Vibes" is considered by many to not just be an iconic vaporwave album but to often be the literal archetype of future funk. During our visit with Skylar Spence, we discussed the importance of SPF420 to the independent net-based electronic music scene, we geeked out over chillwave acts like Star Slinger and Toro y Moi, and we got to hear some of the lore behind who the character of Saint Pepsi is supposed to be and the concepts behind various Saint Pepsi albums. It's "Hot Takes", so you know it's rough around the edges but made with love. Stream episode 86 if you want to hear Luxury Elite reminisce about the early vaporwave days. Shiro mused about how different his experience with vaporwave was from Lux and Skylar Spence's, and Ryan humored us with his explanation of his love for a memetic Youtube video of the Dave Matthews Band scat singing. Episode 86 of "Hot Takes" is not one you'll want to miss!

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On "Hot Takes" this week, Crystal Eternal and YUNG SHIRO 白 had a sit-down with influential artist, label owner, and scene builder Brickmason! Friendly, inviting, and bursting with well-tempered takes, we invited Brick to the show to get behind the curtain of not only his own project but his record label and IRL and URL show throwing experiences. Brickmason has been making music far longer than he cares to admit and has enjoyed a noteworthy degree of acclaim for his three part 2023 vaporwave album series "Pokédreams". Not only did he corner the hushwave subset of the vaporwave scene, but his label Hushtones has released several must-hear barber beats, slushwave, vaporbreaks, and vaportrap releases as well. For episode eighty-five, we discussed the working class background behind Brickmason's project name. Brick imparted his thoughts on releasing art by questionable artists, working with visualists like Solodolo84 and the whole WVSQD team, and acts that he likes a lot, like Bentoboy, Mabisyo, and Victory Over Death. Hearing Brickmason tell the stories behind the Beats for a Broken World livestream event with Cassette Cache and Doki Doki Beats was a highlight! Sharing our love of his recent hard copy VHS release of Dreamcastle's "LEGO Castle: 1979-1998" and hearing the story of seeing the album release live was a meaningful moment that also was not to be missed. Don't miss this fun and family-friendly episode with our friend Brickmason!

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"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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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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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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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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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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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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