User:Poliphois/sandbox

Trashwave is a plunderphonics-based electronic microgenre and artistic aesthetic that originated in late 2016. The Trashwave aesthetic has its roots on various internet-related references or phenomena, such as earrape audio and the bass boosting internet meme on the sonic side; and the needs more JPEG & the Nuked and Blackholed memes on the visual side. It also shares some conceptual elements with Black MIDI music. Trashwave is a good example of internet anti-art. Trashwave presents itself as a parody of any artistic product that is self-labeled as either “Lo-Fi”, “Experimental” or “Patrician”; in an act of calling out low quality music and art commonly excused by these umbrella terms, by blowing its own characteristics out of proportion. Although the Trashwave movement is evidently self-aware; the word itself may be used as a derogatory label of the very expressions Trashwave sets out to satirize. Sonically, Trashwave relies on chopped and looped samples, drastically increased bass and/or treble, extreme pitch and tempo shifting, overusing distortion, downsampling, flanger and phaser effects; unconventional time signatures and layer-stacked beatgrids. The Trashwave aesthetic appeal relies on the subject’s either ironic or unironic enjoyment of the exaggerated elements such compressed bass, deliberate mixing and time signature errors, etcetera.

Origins: The conceptual origins of Trashwave lie on a meta treatment of “shitposting” culture, the appropriation and self-identification of negative terms as positive (Eg. “Grade A Trash”). Trashwave acts will sometimes even be referred as “shitposting” by their creators or audience. The term “Trashwave” was coined by Bandcamp-based duo “Marcel” (named after famous 20th century anti-art exponent Marcel Duchamp), in their original “trashwave (play it safe; call it experimental postmodern lo-fi trashwave)” concept mixtape. However, this early iteration does not fully represent the characteristics of Trashwave. Many elements of early Trashwave music draw inspiration from experimental hip-hop trio Death Grips’ instrumental style, especifically songs like “Punk Weight” & “Death Grips 2.0”. Death Grips also touches upon the “Internet Trash” thematic and is aware of the bloated nature of the information age, much like Trashwave. DJ Screw was also a big influence for the Trashwave sonic style and other artists have also referenced the effect of massive internet disorder over industrial instrumentals, for example on the album Maya by M.I.A.