Vaporwave, Mallsoft, and the Ambient Noise of Pachinko Parlors

　Vaporwave was already a genre with countless offshoots from the start, and even now it keeps branching out into increasingly specific subgenres. At its core, I think it's a concept built around nostalgia. Something that calms the heart. Once it splinters this far, it starts touching memories so specific that surely someone's forgotten past is hidden somewhere inside it.

　One genre I used to listen to often was Mallsoft.

　Mallsoft. As in shopping malls. This particular album narrows it down even further, to the lobby. In other words, it's a genre dedicated to "comforting music that feels like sitting in the lobby of a shopping mall." Vaporwave continues to spread quietly in directions nobody could have predicted.

　I love shopping malls. More broadly, I love large buildings. The reason is simple. Growing up in Okinawa, the most exciting place in the world was the local Jusco. Jusco usually played jazz arrangements of popular songs, though.

　Still, that sense of excitement you feel wandering through a department store is exactly what Mallsoft captures. On top of that, I've always loved Haruomi Hosono's idea, seen in some Namco soundtracks and parts of YMO's work, that ambient noise itself can become part of the music. Mallsoft embraces the chatter and background noise of shopping centers as part of the experience. That makes it incredibly soothing.

　Wellcome to the Lobby Part2。

　Personally, I prefer Part 2. The liminal atmosphere of an empty lobby is wonderful, but there's something equally comforting about a crowded department store full of people. Though maybe I just like the CRT artwork in the top-right corner.

　What I love most of all is the noise of arcade. This sense of comfort found in Mallsoft and crowds as ambient sound is something writer Satoshi Kizawa also discusses in his book A Spiritual History of Darkness. He talks about reading manga in the rest areas of pachinko parlors, treating the deafening sounds of the machines as environmental music.

　After reading it, I started using pachinko parlor lounges myself. They usually have shelves full of great manga. Inside the rest area, the volume is softened just enough, and the flashy electronic sounds of pachinko and slot machines become a kind of living Vaporwave. Perhaps I should call it Pachinko Night, a descendant of Mallsoft.

　These days pachinko parlors have become much more streamlined. You barely hear the clattering of metal balls or coins anymore. Most places track everything digitally through cards. You don't have to carry anything around, and you don't end up getting dust and grime from medals in your eyes.

　But those sounds were good. The rattling of pachinko balls. The metallic rain of medals spilling into a tray and bouncing against plastic. That's the true essence of Real Pachinko Night. I want it to sound like YMO's "Theme From The Circus" or Kraftwerk's "Pocket Calculator."

　Still, Real Pachinko Night doesn't exist. Even among Vaporwave's endless mutations, nobody seems to have reached pachinko parlors yet. But I believe in the dedication of these artists. Their pursuit of chill music always manages to reach places beyond anything I could imagine. So instead, I put on videos of people playing retro pachinko machines.

↑I hope that one day, those sounds become music.

　This was a more recent favorite of mine. Mallsoft mixed together with Chillwave, maybe? There are even stranger descendants now. Things like Mall Madness. Khaos.