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not just for programming tho—ambient drone-y deep cuts and mysterious artists
Jan 30, 2024
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imagine the sound of early 2000s Japanese tech commercials —
polished, slow-motion shots of cellphones spinning midair, ambient synths playing over translucent interfaces, a clean digital world full of artificial calm.
that’s where "PurData" lives.
born in some facebook groups between 2017–2018, it didn’t start as a genre — it emerged as a mood. ppl began tagging certain tracks that felt like lost soundtracks for futuristic devices: synthetic but emotional, nostalgic but unplaceable. music that could play on the home screen of a PlayStation 2, or during the boot sequence of a dream you forgot.
and no, it’s not vaporwave lol. PurData isn’t ironic or consumerist — it’s tender, high-res, and full of emotional architecture. its roots are in Japanese video game soundtracks, ambient music, and old tech aesthetics that felt utopian, not decayed.
the artist who crystallized this language is DV-i — her visual + sonic work feels like interactive dreams from another OS. but she’s part of a constellation: Yesterdayneverhappened (who played on my radio show here in Brazil — his whole discography drips with PurData textures), ViRiX Dreamcore, UNIT KAI, NOLANBEROLLIN — each building sound worlds of translucent synths, gentle glitches and emotional stillness.
it also carries the DNA of: — Joe Hisaishi’s Ghibli soundtracks, — the ambient spirituality of Susumu Yokota, — Boogiepop Phantom’s eerie calm, — the surreal beauty of LSD: Dream Emulator, — ghostly ad loops like Ancetantina’s tapes, — and the sonic melancholy of Final Fantasy,Phantasy Star Online, Ghost in the Shell, and Love-de-Lic games.
rhythmically, it’s connected to Soichi Terada, Koji Nakagawa, and Studio Pressure, where jazz fusion meets breakbeat, trip-hop, jungle, dnb and synthetic longing.
some of it works on the dancefloor — soft, glitched, emotionally encrypted. but most of it feels like ambient music for a city inside a mainframe. music that opens like a file you didn’t know you missed.
🧬 I wrote a full deep dive on this digital microgenre — its roots, its references, its feeling. 👉 https://poliedral.substack.com/p/arqueologia-digital-purdata-ep02
I also left a link attached to this post to a great playlist on Spotify curated by me.
if you’re into soft futurism, synthetic nostalgia, ambient game scores and delicate internet ruins — follow my Substack called Poliedral. I write about glitch aesthetics (in Portuguese but it is easy to translate the page) , forgotten formats, and music that remembers. 💿🌫️🌐
born in some facebook groups between 2017–2018, it didn’t start as a genre — it emerged as a mood. ppl began tagging certain tracks that felt like lost soundtracks for futuristic devices: synthetic but emotional, nostalgic but unplaceable. music that could play on the home screen of a PlayStation 2, or during the boot sequence of a dream you forgot.
and no, it’s not vaporwave lol. PurData isn’t ironic or consumerist — it’s tender, high-res, and full of emotional architecture. its roots are in Japanese video game soundtracks, ambient music, and old tech aesthetics that felt utopian, not decayed.
the artist who crystallized this language is DV-i — her visual + sonic work feels like interactive dreams from another OS. but she’s part of a constellation: Yesterdayneverhappened (who played on my radio show here in Brazil — his whole discography drips with PurData textures), ViRiX Dreamcore, UNIT KAI, NOLANBEROLLIN — each building sound worlds of translucent synths, gentle glitches and emotional stillness.
it also carries the DNA of: — Joe Hisaishi’s Ghibli soundtracks, — the ambient spirituality of Susumu Yokota, — Boogiepop Phantom’s eerie calm, — the surreal beauty of LSD: Dream Emulator, — ghostly ad loops like Ancetantina’s tapes, — and the sonic melancholy of Final Fantasy,Phantasy Star Online, Ghost in the Shell, and Love-de-Lic games.
rhythmically, it’s connected to Soichi Terada, Koji Nakagawa, and Studio Pressure, where jazz fusion meets breakbeat, trip-hop, jungle, dnb and synthetic longing.
some of it works on the dancefloor — soft, glitched, emotionally encrypted. but most of it feels like ambient music for a city inside a mainframe. music that opens like a file you didn’t know you missed.
🧬 I wrote a full deep dive on this digital microgenre — its roots, its references, its feeling. 👉 https://poliedral.substack.com/p/arqueologia-digital-purdata-ep02
I also left a link attached to this post to a great playlist on Spotify curated by me.
if you’re into soft futurism, synthetic nostalgia, ambient game scores and delicate internet ruins — follow my Substack called Poliedral. I write about glitch aesthetics (in Portuguese but it is easy to translate the page) , forgotten formats, and music that remembers. 💿🌫️🌐
Rec
I’ve been maintaining a looong playlist spanning jazz, folk, ambient, r&b/doo-wop, shoegaze, soundtrack scores and more, I’m sure. The main theme is imagining tracks that would sound good in an empty old dusty bar, or maybe walking along a foggy river bank on a still night. Sonically, I’m aiming for interesting textures, catchy melodies, or sparse production. Throw it on shuffle and see what catches yr ear.
Sampler of artists: Mary Lattimore, Eno/Fripp, Cassandra Jenkins, Harry Nilsson, Beach House ✨
Sampler of artists: Mary Lattimore, Eno/Fripp, Cassandra Jenkins, Harry Nilsson, Beach House ✨
Jul 24, 2024
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