Discover more from Satellite Cult

the only weekly look at internet music, art, and visual culture, with nods to web history, online communities, old gaming, and retro tech.

satellite cult 41.41

404, WAVRIPPER, trans media archive

trshboyoli

Aug 25, 2023

welcome to this week’s satellite cult dispatch. i’m so glad you’re here. i hope the artifacts i present you with will dissolve your flesh and surroundings, distilling your body down to a 3D grid and giving you the freedom to finally explore the void of your heart.

please be aware that the void dive section below contains flashing gifs. if you’re viewing this on the website, forgive the way Substack formats some Bandcamp embeds.

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want more music recs? here’s my Bandcamp collection.

Zero Seven

starting us off this week is a 7th anniversary compilation released by Australian vaporwave net label Sunset Grid, featuring some satcult faves like P U D E R P O L L I and KENMORE Classic.

fixation

bursting with cool desire and yearning, this EP by invisible lover, an alias of eccodroid, is rooted in smooth R&B, funk, and slow jams. it’s lonely—the target of its affections is far away, perhaps recently gone, resulting in something much less come hither and more where did you go?

a monument to my sins

influenced equally by eccojams, broken transmission, witch house, and deathdream, this short, ultra-liminal album by WAVRIPPER gently searches for and prods at the contradictory comfort produced while living in a prolonged state of anxiety.

Falling Up

i never get vaporwave content on my FYP, but this week TikTok served video after video uploaded by people reminiscing about the peak of vaporware’s popularity. it was only a matter of time before the nostalgia cycle drew the attention of the masses back to vapor (i’ve been saying it for ages), but those of us who have stuck around know that while the genre has changed radically since FLORAL SHOPPE, the last couple years have seen a resurgence of the classic vaporwave sound. this album by R E A L I T Y テレビ brings classic vapor to the forefront.

404

this intelligent drum and bass released by lolratz brings some truly complex and inspired production decisions into the mix, leans a little into trip hop, and pays homage to two of my favorite ancient memes on track 4.

angel wings vol. 1

this two-track single by phosphorrgirl delivers hard, pulsing, acidic trance to keep you going long after its four minute runtime has passed.

theo’s transgender library

i’m always on the lookout for digital trans media archives, and i came across this link library recently. maintained by user @homohistoric, this carrd collects documentaries, historically important videos, books, and a growing list of magazines. if you’ve been searching for the classic trans doc Southern Comfort (2001), or if you wished writings by the likes of Leslie Feinberg, Kate Bornstein, and Lou Sullivan all lived in one place, this might be a great resource for you.

malls in the archive

want your mallsoft fantasies to come true? check out Shopping Centers and Malls: Book 2 by Robert Davis Rathbun, available to borrow on the Internet Archive.