Utopian Virtual

Utopian virtual is an offshoot of vaporwave, named by *James Ferraro* for his 2011 album "Far Side Virtual", that renders the sound of an idealized digital consumer utopia. Rather than vaporwave's slowed, chopped samples, it favors crisp, synthetic MIDI instrumentation — stock piano, strings and marimba presets, notification chimes, ringtones and interface sounds — arranged into bright, weightless compositions evoking early 3D graphics, corporate lobbies, airports and virtual worlds. Associated with the Frutiger Aero aesthetic of glossy, optimistic technology design, the style treats the frictionless surfaces of late twentieth-century techno-capitalism as both subject and sound source, at once sincere and uncanny.