A new sub-genre of music and video art is looming, just as the world comes to terms with Simpsonwave and everyone’s latest obsession, the Pokémon GO mobile game.
While Pokémon-fever has been spreading this year, Pokewave — sometimes called ‘Pokemonwave’ or stylised as Ｐｏｋｅｗａｖｅ (because a e s t h e t i c s) — has been slowly rising from the worlds of Pokémon and the internet-fuelled genre of electronic music known as vaporwave.
Like Simpsonwave, Pokewave is an offshoot of vaporwave, in which samples of retro elevator music are remixed in order to parody pop music, accompanied by ~aesthetics~ which play with ideas of consumerism and technology.
Pokewave is still relatively young, and it doesn’t have much of a creative community just yet, but all that could change very, very quickly — because, well, the internet. Here’s what we know about it so far:
In April this year, YouTuber and Simpsonwave creator Neon Ian uploaded a creation titled ＰＳＹＢＥＡＭ – ＰＯＫｅＭＯＮ ＷＡＶＥ, which pairs clips from the Pokémon television series with the song Data Kiss by synthwave artist Com Truise, as well as VHS video effects in the vein of vaporwave’s a e s t h e t i c s.
Then, in May, YouTube user GreenYoshi265 uploaded their even more impressive ‘Ｐｏｋｅｗａｖｅ １９９７’ video, which also features original Pokémon clips with VHS effects and a very vaporwave-y soundtrack. The video has been viewed almost 4,000 times at the time of writing.
Some Pokewave-style videos are also appearing on Vine, largely as fan edits of clips from the Pokémon television series. They aren’t quite as true to vaporwave’s aesthetic form, but they’re still super-nostalgic and backed by some very chill soundtracks.
One of the more popular Pokémon Viners is user Taran, whose vines have viewed over 25 million times. Here’s some of Taran’s latest work:
https://vine.co/v/5zFaFTzq7TT
https://vine.co/v/ilQFAKm5bZd
https://vine.co/v/i3m7OTj3rxD
Pokewave’s roots are still pretty unclear, especially given that Imgur user Photoelectron uploaded this creation titled ‘Pokewave’ about a year ago, giving the Pokémon video games a touch of that vaporwave a e s t h e t i c:
Pokewave is still novel and niche, but given the popularity of Pokémon GO, the relative success of Simpsonwave and the wonders of the internet, it might eventually catch on in a big way.
Catch some more of Taran’s vines below as we wait for that to happen.
RELATED: Meet Simpsonwave, The New Sub-Genre Mixing ‘Simpsons’ Nostalgia With Super-Chill Tunes
https://vine.co/v/iVhzt66qAdm
https://vine.co/v/i07Ftr9FgMn
https://vine.co/v/ixiHipJppHM
https://vine.co/v/iFrTiLuQ92d
