New Subscriber Playlist: “Vapor Trails”

2020’s final subscriber playlist offers a look at the mercurial and mystifying sounds of vaporwave, a musical genre that can seem, by turns, daunting and trivial. But the best vaporwave makes for some truly otherworldly listening that twists and deconstructs nostalgia in some curious and even beautiful ways.

This month’s subscriber playlist, titled “Vapor Trails,” features nearly two hours of some of my favorite vaporwave songs from artists including 2814, HKE, Macros 82 – 99, and t e l e p a t h.

Accompanying the playlist is the latest episode of my“Playlist Breakdown” podcast, in which I spotlight one of the playlist’s songs and why it’s so special and meaningful. In this latest breakdown, I talk about“Inside the Sphere,” the final song on 2814’s excellent Rain Temple.

Both of these are little bonuses for subscribers who support Opus financially. If you’d like to get access to them (and more), subscribe to Opus for $5/month or $50/year. (Also, if you just want to check it out, you can subscribe for free and get weekend reading recommendations.)