Barber Beats are simply a sub-genre of the micro-genre Vaporwave, or a spin-off, whatever. It was coined by Aloe City Records to refer to Haircuts for Men, who is often credited with popularizing the style and aesthetic. The sub-genre as an established style began gaining notoriety in early 2022, making it one of the newest iterations of Vaporwave. The style tends to be heavy on bass and have a slant towards melodic, not chaotic, and typically
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Barber Beats are simply a sub-genre of the micro-genre Vaporwave, or a spin-off, whatever. It was coined by Aloe City Records to refer to Haircuts for Men, who is often credited with popularizing the style and aesthetic. The sub-genre as an established style began gaining notoriety in early 2022, making it one of the newest iterations of Vaporwave. The style tends to be heavy on bass and have a slant towards melodic, not chaotic, and typically doesnt sound like a warbled melted tape in a broken deck like much of what Vaporwave is known for embodying, much to the chagrin of the self-styled vaporwave community. Inspiration for Barber Beats comes from a wide variety of other genres like downtempo, trip-hop, lounge, world music, jazz, house, or just about anything. The open format for the style is a refreshing exodus from what Vaporwave was in the past, which traditionally sampled only 80s/90s smooth jazz, muzak, Italo disco, city pop, etc. I can play some Barber Beats out in the open and not feel like a muppet when people ask me what I’m listening to. Maybe it’s just that Vaporwave itself sounds so pitifully dated, even the newer stuff, and mostly just a remnant of the 2010s that doesn’t really fit into modernity. Peoples’ taste evolves over time, and so I think Vaporwave, as much as some try to keep it going, is dead, real dead, not trendy slogan dead. It feels to me Barber Beats might be the future of what Vaporwave will become as more artists adopt the style.
