God only knows who is responsible for these mixes but it almost falls under “the most fucked up thing I found on the internet today.” It’s not though, so fucked up. It’s a micro-genre of vaporwave called signalwave that consists of samples and sounds/music from old television and radio broadcasts, and it’s a thing. It’s a nostalgia trip maybe. If any of this sounds familiar it’s because it’s probably played countless times in the background in the morning while you get ready for work or whatnot. You’ve never really played attention to it except for that last ten minutes when you’re actually waiting for that last update before leaving. Weather… Traffic… Etc. I’ve never given more than a moment of thought but as soon as this started playing I knew exactly what it was and where it was from. Insert warm smile here, so maybe not that fucked up at all. Just a nostalgia trip. It’s your true soundtrack despite that were you to consciously choose a soundtrack you’d pick out your favorite genre of music and artists and songs. The fact is you very well may have heard more of this in any given day than any of your favorites. It’s a trip down Memory Lane to find memories you forgot you had, and it says a lot about how we actually experience and process music and sounds in our lives.

It also says a lot about how music is conceived and written. You’ve got a broadcast that is mostly infographics but you have to present it in a way that it doesn’t disappear altogether. it still has to draw attention without being intrusive. And without being intrusive it has to maintain a certain level of attention. The listener has to know it’s there, but on a level just below consciousness so they don’t think about it being there. And sure enough it sticks. Like I said, I’d never given it a moment of thought but as soon as this started to play it was entirely obvious what it was. I can actually see the 5-day forecast graphics and the sunrise over the highway images when I close my eyes and listen. It’s kind of like sleep learning, I suppose.

I’m utterly impressed that people have thought enough about it to create a genre and market for signalwave. It would have been entirely beyond my imaginative capabilities. Hats off to them. I can’t count the number of mornings this was on in the background while I readied myself for the day. Day after day after day without it ever having registered on a conscious level. Yet… it’s a thing.

It’s a thing.

Gets me thinking though that there are countless things in my head that I’ve recorded, with any number of associations, without ever consciously making note of it. We’re not talking about things that I simply don’t remember, but all the sights and sounds that made their way in without my paying attention.

Signalwave… Again, I am impressed.