Ideation Deluxe by Graham Kartna
“I went through a phase at that time where I would obsessively be looking into local neighborhood history to see what things used to be.”
Wilton,
Boot up your personal computer this week and enter the dreamy world of Ideation Deluxe by Graham Karnta. Pressed on “Red Guy©” tinted vinyl by Qrates, the “Classic Adventure of Yesterday and Today. .” has come to life to live on your turntable. This week I sat down with Graham to uncover the mysteries behind him and the peaks and valleys of this sample filled nostalgic trip. Join me as I guide you through the world of Graham Kartna and one of the most unique vaporwave albums I have ever listened to.
Clarkson,
Graham Kartna is a vaporwave producer, artist, and visual effects extraordinaire who has worked on such films and TV shows as Logan, Deadpool 2, Game of Thrones (Season 8), and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. Currently based out of Hamilton, Ontario, Graham is best known in the vaporwave scene for his unique and trippy albums that draw from a variety of sampled content and emotional experiences. Having a small role as one of the “Homeschooled Boys” in the cult classic film Mean Girls, Graham has had a pretty interesting past that I have absolutely enjoyed talking with him about. Back in 2008-2011, Graham was heavily invested in the genre of bizarre content creation labeled as “YouTube Poops” (YTPMVs and YTPs)... Some of you might recognize Graham as the oddly hilarious "Kurkop". Which, funnily enough, Graham stated: “fueled my drive to make conventional music in the first place”. Beyond all that though, what are some things that helped mold Graham into the musician he is today?
“Music has always really been a hobby — I do it to relax and it's sort of a meditative process for me; a vessel for expression. I'm a full-time VFX artist and have less and less time to compose but I always try and keep at it (for my own sanity). Can't stop, won't stop.
My biggest musical influences don't really inform my own work too much, but I grew up listening to a lot of trip-hop, breakcore, and other niche electronic genres. Overall I guess my biggest musical influences would be The Avalanches and their way of collaging sound really resonates with me. My biggest influences in my work are usually not other artists, but just mundane, everyday things. A memory from 16 years ago, a memory from 5 years ago, looking at a beat-up McDonald’s cup in an alleyway at 2 am, the way somebody is anxiously looking at their phone on the bus, the way a door creaks when it opens, anything! Most of my influence and ideas for my music come from minuscule, unimportant things and I don't spend too much time trying to understand why.
I don't come from a particularly musical or artistic family, but I took up things like piano, violin, saxophone, singing a little bit growing up (not to the point where I was particularly proficient at any of them). My parents always encouraged me to try all kinds of new things in arts, sports and studies growing up, I have been very fortunate.”
James
The mundane nuances that fuels Graham’s songwriting processes is ever-present on this album, and is one of the reasons why I think Ideation Deluxe is so unique. As an amalgam of electronic tones, quirky samples, and hypnotic bass, I couldn’t help but become lost amongst the grooves on this album, and I think that has a lot to do with just how much Graham pours into his work. As a creative outlet from his day job, Graham is able to meld all the experiences and influences of his life into this sort of crazy journalistic musical expression that I can’t stop thinking about. Something that has piqued my interest since I discovered this album was the correlation it had to video games. But how did the concept for this whacky album come about? Graham was more than delighted to share with me what Ideation Deluxe means to him, and how it’s a reflection of the world around him.
“The story behind the album isn't nearly as concrete as you may think. There's a story to it in so far as it's supposed to be the soundtrack for an obscure edutainment game from the mid-’90s that never existed. In terms of the track names, some songs have some meaning and others none at all. The song titles have no particular relationship with one another.
That said; The first song on the record, "Wilton, Clarkson, James" does have some significance to its title that can shine some light on the record as a whole. I'll go on a little history spiel here to explain (and I'll try to condense it as much as possible as to keep your readers from nodding off in boredom):
Wilton, Clarkson, and James are references to street names that once existed back in the early 1900s in the neighborhood of Roncesvalles, in Toronto where I grew up. However, unless you've looked into historical fire maps or various other archival maps of the city you'd never know they ever existed. These three streets were eventually consolidated into a parcel of land and became a massive steel bridge factory by the 1920s (Dominion Steel). They were responsible for building some major municipal projects like Toronto's Bloor Viaduct. Later on by the ‘70s, it was converted into a streetcar storage yard for the TTC, and ultimately by the ‘00s, it was all torn down and the area was cleaned, rejuvenated, and made into public park land, which is now what Torontonians commonly know as Sorauren Park.
This is the first song I wrote for the album and it really shaped the record (It's also what the blurb on the back cover is referring to). Basically things from the past we never knew about, and I guess that's the loose concept for the album, paired with the 90's PC game aesthetic.”
Baby, Don't You Know?
This history lesson was much appreciated and gives a lot of insight into your inspirations for this album Graham, so no worries there. The concept of wondering what came before is truly a mundane thought that often comes up in most people’s minds — chasing that rabbit though is what can become interesting. Diving deep into the culture and world around us often becomes a driving factor for how we sculpt and mold our futures. In the case of Graham and this album, what has been done here is the personification of that thought through music. Resonating and bouncing off the corridors within the hidden recesses of your mind, Ideation Deluxe is truly surreal in the way it makes you feel. By discovering the world around him, Graham was able to reach into the subconscious history of his hometown and pull out something so profound. A true love letter to what has passed, and what is yet to come — Ideation Deluxe is one of those albums that will keep you coming back for subsequent listening sessions. Beyond the history and mundane what were some gaming experiences that helped to fuel this album’s creation, anything that gave rise to this album’s aesthetic?
“I'm admittedly not really a big gamer at all, hahaha. I don't really play any games now, but my interest in collecting old games and watching people play games is still something I enjoy. I like learning about games, mostly old games — Playing them not so much.
I used to play far more games growing up then I do now. Edutainment games you'd play on the school computer and things — Games like SuperSolvers: Outnumbered, Math Blaster, Jumpstart Grades 4 and 5, anything from the mid-late 90s that was geared towards children and meant to teach them something. I'm still really interested in these old games and I think about them often.
When I start a song I just sort of write a melody and sometimes things stick and I'll build from there. I throw out a lot of music that just doesn't work for me, I have a lot of unfinished music. I'll flesh out the ones I deem good enough, sprinkle samples all over them, make it a big stew of sound, and that's sort of the working process for me. When I sample I try my best to rework the audio so it's incomprehensible or as derivative as possible.
I try to listen to as little music from other people if I can during my composition time. My classic tropes and stylistic doo-dads just sort of happen, and I embrace it. I'm extremely fortunate to have a very very open-minded and kindhearted fanbase that are happy with seemingly anything I put out and wish me well no matter what — That means the world to me making the sort of niche music I do.
Lots of my newer songs sound much more disjointed and make jarring changes very frequently because I'm constantly picking up projects left over from the other week, or month, etc. I have so little free time that I have to work this way, but it is what it is.”
My Great Movie 01
In a way, Graham has made his own little edutainment game on vinyl that gives us all a little window into our shared past, present, and future. The explanation that Graham gives for his compositional process makes so much sense when you put into context with the music on this album. Many times while spinning this record, I found myself completely enamored by the trippy and hypnotic vocals that cascade around the background — Giving way to an almost dream-like experience, Graham will have you reaching for that tonearm to track this album back and back ad infinitum. That’s what I really like about Graham’s music in general. It’s all so incoherent that it makes it so easy to just sit down and listen to it play out. There no real commitment needed. You just press play and let the journey take you where your mind allows. The freedom of expression that Graham breeds so heavily into his music resonates out of every beat, chime, and creative embellishment that he painstakingly crafts in his very limited downtime. Ideation Deluxe is a break from the world around us in the most beautiful and nostalgic way. But just how did Graham craft this nostalgic and sample filled experience?
“Ideation Deluxe was pretty much 100% a computer thing. I have a vast collection of sounds from sampled keyboards, drums, games, field recordings, you name it. I composed exclusively in FLStudio while making the record and did some additional periodic effects in Audacity. No VSTs, just straight sampling
Between around 2014-2016 my interest in reacquainting myself with old childhood games was really growing and I would make an effort to find just about any PC games from the ‘90s-’00s in thrift stores, online and elsewhere. When I was making this record I had hundreds of these discs (that wouldn't work on a modern computer of course, without emulators, etc.), but I wanted to salvage any information from them that I could. I would take any surface-level data I could find in the game's directories - Any audio, any images, any videos. Eventually, I started using unpacker tools to open otherwise unreadable file types like .dat files and other container formats and I was able to find so much more material. After mining these discs for long enough I had thousands and thousands of sounds from these games that I organized into folders to use in my own musical compositions (these sounds are all over Ideation Deluxe and many of my other albums). Other than that I would also rip weird 70's, 80's and 90's commercials and things from YouTube, that kind of stuff. I sample everything!”
Hay River, NWT (3D)
The creativity involved in making this album is so compelling to me. The way that Graham took pieces of his past and brought them back to life in this new explorative way goes to show just how talented he is as a creator and musician. By completely immersing himself within his own nostalgic past, Graham was able to craft an album that altogether feels present while being totally and completely disjointed from the reality we all inhabit. Ideation Deluxe goes beyond what I think Graham even imagined was possible, and has truly become a cornerstone in the VGM Vapor sub-genre that holds many of us fans captive in its synthetic tendrils! I’ll leave you all with Graham’s favorite memory from the writing process of this album. I think it truly encapsulates that moment in his life and brings a whole new understanding of what this album truly means.
“With the aforementioned historical blurb in mind, the most vivid memories I have from my time writing Ideation Deluxe were sitting on the streetcar, going to work, looking out the window at buildings and houses and wondering what was there before, and before that, and before that. I went through a phase at that time where I would obsessively be looking into local neighborhood history to see what things used to be. Those were the most pertinent memories.”
Star U
Dropping your needle into the rolling hills of this oasis of grooves will take you back to a simpler time. The transient synthetic tones whir around and around as each revolution of this maroon disc pulls you deeper and deeper into this melodic adventure. Drawing breath from out of the nostalgic ether, Graham’s compositions evolve into an incoherent dreamlike valley of notes and samples that leaves you utterly and completely surrendered to time itself. Distorted vocals and playful chimes dance across your eardrums in spectacular fashion — this album feels so alive! Ideation Deluxe isn’t just another vaporwave album, it is the melding of every minute experience, emotion, and inspiration that drives Graham’s creative process. I could not help but laugh and smile after every rotation as my needle plucked out this lovingly crafted symphonic journey. Brought to life before our very eyes, Graham’s wild imagination grows beyond anything I have experienced on vinyl in some time. Whimsical in its presentation and charming in its execution, Ideation Deluxe is an album that’s a must-own for every vaporwave vinyl collector out there!
Blank 2 Nowhere
Pressed through a crowdfunding campaign on Qrates, Ideation Deluxe is a very limited release and something of a labor of love for Graham. Completely written, designed, and mastered by himself, Ideation Deluxe is the embodiment of his dedication to creativity. Getting to see just how well this album has been executed on vinyl has been a real treat, to say the least. The amount of passion that went into the artwork on this album is truly special, and something that wowed me as much as the music itself. Designed to mimic a classic Windows 95 computer game, and featuring these weird little red blob dudes on a grassy hillside, the artwork, and layout for this jacket is on point from the front, back, all the way to the spine. The artwork on this album brings the surreal nature of his music to life. The pure nostalgic injection you get from just holding this album is truly amazing. Mastering here was carried out by Graham himself and having a clear vision for what one’s own album should sound like has gone a long way in helping this be the best way to experience Ideation Deluxe in my opinion!
What's next for Graham Kartna?
“Lots!
I've been working on my next album for about 2 years now and I anticipate a mid-late spring release date. It is my longest record yet and it's been a very involved process, I’m very excited about it. I've already begun floating ideas for the album proceeding this coming one, where I want to work exclusively with sequencing gear (synths, drum machines, etc.) - A new direction once again. I also want to continue my latest ongoing effort which has been singing on my records.
I'll also be reissuing a handful of older records in my discography this year but I can't be too specific about that just yet!
You can expect more music for years to come, I will not be stopping any time soon!
Other than that I'm looking forward to doing a lot of traveling this year, going to Mexico, Japan and various places in the states. Proud to also say my first US show will be taking place this year but I can't talk about that yet!”
//”How long has that been there?”//
//”What importance has it lost? Gained? When? Why?”//
//”What has occurred here?”//
//”..And before that?”//
Album Details
Music by:
Remastered for vinyl by:
Artwork by:
Vinyl produced & distributed by:
Qrates & Cartridge Thunder
Where to Buy?
Unfortunately due to the crowd-funding nature of Qrates, most of the copies that were produced have been claimed by those who originally helped fund the campaign. Cartridge Thunder, the Chicago-based design/entertainment hub and pop-culture company turned record label, had a few of the remaining copies of this album available on their web store late last year for US distribution. I have talked with Graham, and he says that plans for a repress may be a possibility if the demand warrants it. So, if you missed out on this little gem of an album and would like to see this album or work with him in bringing that amazing album back to vinyl in the form a brand new pressing drop Graham a line over on his website or Bandcamp page!
Purchase Vinyl Here: SOLD OUT
