Haze

**Haze** is a popular music genre in the world of Hypnospace Outlaw. It is an electronic genre that celebrates cheap, dirty sounds, made on consumer-grade hardware, usually with a nostalgic, ballad-like feel. It has numerous descendent subgenres which have been crystallized by the emergence of internet subcultures, including Coolpunk and Fungus Scene.

## Background

Haze was made possible by the release of the Bellsound PTRS-1200 in 1983, a $300 4-track recorder/drum machine/effects unit that allowed consumers to have access to recording studio technology. The sounds of the Bellsound, which Slushmouth describes as "tinny", are still used in haze music. Dylan Merchant notes that, while purists think it's essential for a track to be made on the Bellsound to be considered haze, the overall 'dirt' and emotion are what is important. Not everything made on a Bellsound is haze, either - Tamara Frost makes her work on a Bellsound, but considers her pieces to be spoken word.

When people began trying to make New Style sounds (the commercial punk-influenced 80s synthesizer sound known in our universe as New Wave) on the Bellsound, it created a dirty, homemade version that became known as Digital Style. Haze is a descendant of Digital Style that incorporates more ballad-like song structures, tempo, and reverb than the more dancefloor-worthy Digital Style - it's also more guitar-based, incorporates more live instruments, and involves more reverb. Bill Aldrin says that all the haze genres have a 'sense-of-longing' aspect to them.

Slushmouth described haze as "loud but beautiful, like experiencing a thunderstorm from a safe space." Dylan Merchant sees it more as an aesthetic celebration of "rough edges," "beauty," "experimentation" and "emotion". However, Bill Aldrin struggles with the legitimacy of haze as a genre, pointing out that its lauded albums "don't have enough sonic consistency to live comfortably under one banner".

Haze has been popularised by Marc Elo's Esotonic Records, a label that started by signing Digital Style artists. The majority of homemade music in Hypnospace Outlaw is either haze or a subgenre of haze; for example, TheWizardEagle describes his Hypnopage as "CyberCog haze words and images."

Pure haze artists include Mursed and The Fractal Waves.

## Subgenres

### Coolpunk

Coolpunk was a haze subgenre created with the release of "Colder Than The Rest" by FRE3ZER in 1998. It's focused on 80s nostalgia imagery, with earlier releases having a satirical anti-capitalist vibe, but later work (especially FRE3ZER's later work) being more hyperkinetic, poppy, and festive, incorporating Christmas sounds. Slushmouth criticizes Coolpunk, saying it combines 'whatever genre the artist fancies' with samples of Chowder Man's 80s Gray's Peak Cola commercial, and that if he hears another sleigh bell he's "gonna have a nervous breakdown."

Gray's Peak claims that Coolpunk has become a phenomenon, with over 20 singles being released in the past year. Dylan suggests that the soda company is trying to make it bigger than it is when it is actually just "kids being weird online."

Coolpunk artists include FRE3ZER and a lot of internet subculture artists.

### Dirthaze

Dirthaze is a version of haze that is less focused on synthesizers and more on heavy, blown-out guitars; this genre emphasizes the songwriting itself. Dylan notes that this is the kind of haze most associated with drugs, despite not being the weirdest form of haze. Dirthaze artists include Glamocaster, Skies Asunder, Sacredhaze, and Real Salve.

### Dark Haze

A horror-themed haze that incorporates spooky sounds, which Dylan finds "silly". Artists include Ezmerelda, The Cauldron Kids, and Haunted Houses ("Check out Haunted Houses. The artist, not actual haunted houses.").

### Earth Haze

Hippie haze incorporating world instruments like drums and pan-pipes, and more heavy keyboard work. Dylan describes it as sounding as if 'the spirit of a wolf obtained a late 80s synthesizer.'

Artie Dispenza describes himself as 'the face of the Earthhaze movement since its inception,' having designed the album art for many of the major artists. Slushmouth claims to find the album covers funny.

Artists include Chet Pinehurst, Zared, Arcelo, EagleSong.

### Sparklehaze

A twinkly version of haze focused more on the aesthetic. Codified by HoloAngel, although everything else, according to Slushmouth, is 'trash.'

### Fungus scene

Positioned by Slushmouth as a subgenre of Dark Haze, fungus scene was created by Basidia, a pseudonym of FatherFungus, as a new movement after Coolpunk. Fungus scene incorporates drippy, cave-like sounds and has a stronger anti-capitalist position than Coolpunk, with their music being 'always free.'

Fungus scene artists include Basidia, PrinceOfFungi, Guttaural, Kavernous, Protospore, and Syringe Culture, but due to the scene's resistance to commercialization, it's difficult to identify the most notable artists.

### Inspirohaze

Created by CP\_Shaman after Coolpunk's death, inspirohaze is described by her as "a creative movement based on the idea that each person. (yes, you too.) is valuable. worth knowing. worth loving. just for being you." It's described by Slushmouth as haze with samples of people cheering the listener on. He doesn't consider it a real genre, but adds it to his guide anyway because CP\_Shaman is "a good person".

Inspirohaze artists include The Motivator and Peptalk.

### Pizzastyle

A post-death splinter of Coolpunk based around sampling Dr. Pizza's Pizza Dance song. Associated with lurid, brightly-colored imagery of aliens eating pizza.

### just\_c00l

More of an aesthetic than a music genre, c00l seems to revolve around stylish, aesthetic animated gifs of a specific resolution and whatever its inventor Harris Lawton says.

### Gooper Beat

Little is known about this genre except that Slushmouth lists it as one of the post-coolpunk microgenres he won't add to his page. He comments, "I QUIT".

## Trivia

* Coolpunk is most likely a parody of the real-world genre seapunk, an internet fad genre based around aquatic themes and samples of 80s/90s entertainment, which sharply declined in popularity after being appropriated by mainstream artists.
* According to Jay Tholen, dirthaze is equivalent to the real-world genre, shoegaze.