Blank Banshee 0
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''Blank Banshee 0'' is the debut studio album by Canadian artist and producer Blank Banshee. It was released for free via
Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...
on September 1, 2012.


Background and composition

In 2010, Patrick Driscoll and Curtis "Cormorant" Ferguson began performing live as Blank Banshees (previously Shinjuku Mad) which consisted of "predominantly instrumental" compositions. By 2012, the duo had become a solo act, with Driscoll continuing to release instrumental music under the pseudonym Blank Banshee and Ferguson appearing as a recurrent guest vocalist. ''Blank Banshee 0'' was produced between 2011 and 2012 in Driscoll's hometown of Saint John, Canada. In the summer of 2012, Driscoll made a move for the West Coast, seeking to escape the "bubble of economic and demographic slump" plaguing the creative industry of his
Maritimes The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of ...
hometown at the time; he relocated to
Vancouver, Canada Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The Me ...
, releasing ''Blank Banshee 0'' shortly thereafter. The album was released as a pay what you want digital download via
Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...
on September 1, 2012. ''Blank Banshee 0'' was composed with an Akai MPD26 using Ableton Live. The album consists of largely 1980s and 1990s sourced samples layered over original beats, instrumentation and vocals. Several aspects of the album, including song titles, allude to
computer technology Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientif ...
. Many tracks blend trap-style beats with elements of
seapunk Seapunk is a subculture that originated on Tumblr in 2011. It is associated with an aquatic-themed style of fashion, 3D net art, iconography, and allusions to popular culture of the 1990s. The advent of seapunk also spawned its own electronic ...
and
vaporwave Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970 ...
, such as
operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...
start-up sounds and 1990s-era
video game music Video game music (VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to t ...
. ''
Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...
'' named "Teen Pregnancy" among notable songs featuring samples inspired by "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Commenting on his use of sampling, Driscoll states it "stemmed from a desire to separate myself from the guitar driven music I was making and listening to at the time." Many songs on the album feature vocal and lyrical contributions by Cormorant, the stage name accredited to Curtis Ferguson. The song "Dreamcast" features a vocal melody by Ferguson from a Shinjuku Mad song originally released in 2010. ''Blank Banshee 0'' has been released on cassette tape, compact disc, vinyl, and USB flash drive independently through the online store Hologram Bay.


Reception

''Blank Banshee 0'''s "vaportrap" production style helped popularize
vaporwave Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, a visual art style, and an Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s and became well-known in 2015. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, 1970 ...
in the 2010s. The album's influence has since been attributed to a shift in the direction of the genre. ''Esquire'' calls it "more approachable" than other vaporwave subgenres while building "on the basic premise". In 2016 ''
The Fader ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...
'' called ''Blank Banshee 0'' a "definitive document of the vaporwave era." ''Bandcamp Daily'' called the album "a progressive record, abandoning the often dissonant nature of vaporwave but emphasizing the more accessible elements, and incorporating beats characteristic of trap music."


In popular culture

"Teen Pregnancy" became part of a viral video trend in 2016 called Simpsonwave.


Track listing

Adapted from official liner notes. Notes * "Wavestep", "Venus Death Trap", "Hyper Object", "Photosynthesis" and "Dreamcast" feature words and vocals by Cormorant.


References

{{Authority control 2012 debut albums Blank Banshee albums Vaporwave albums