Some Thoughts On Seapunk

(Disclaimer: I am old)

I’ve been hearing the word “seapunk” thrown around a lot in the past few months, but never really bothered to look into it (bc I’m really fucking lazy). More about me: I don’t really get Pinterest (you want me to arrange pictures of things I like, but on the internet? Like I used to do with actual paper?), I don’t Formspring (can I use that as a verb?), and I don’t have a Tumblr (stop looking at me like that). But my friend Dana wouldn’t stop talking about it, so the other day I asked my other friend Google (yes I know how to use that) what was up. And HOLY MOLY. What in Poseidon’s name is this?

From what I can tell from reading this New York Times article and a bunch of image searching: it is as if goth, rave, a surfer dude named Brody, the 90s, dolphins, and the Internet had a crazy drunken party in an abandoned basement, and the Internet got pregnant. The salty spawn of this debauchery is seapunk, a musical mini-genre which is neither punk nor particularly beachy, but rather more like an electro amalgamation of R&B, house, pop, and techno (with a distinctly “recorded under water” sound quality). And every musical genre, however big or small, has its accompanying style (see: Coldplay fans and leather wrist-wear). In the case of seapunk, the fashion might be more famous than the sound, with Tumblr icon Molly Soda (take a look at her blog; she keeps it real weird) as the sartorial face of seapunk style: blue/green hair, blue/green clothing and ocean imagery all mixed in with grunge and goth elements (you know, like a mermaid who wears dog collars and Dr. Martens).

Incidentally, Molly Soda’s roommates Zombelle and Ultrademon (also know as Shan Beaste and Albert Redwine) are basically the main and original engineers of the movement (although the phrase is credited to Twitter personality @LilInternet). Beaste is a blue-haired beauty with a Soundcloud full of songs with names like “Tropocalypse” and “Street Sharks”, and Redwine (incidentally also a blue-haired beauty) is a producer and DJ with aspirations of making beats for Souljaboy (#seapunkswag?). Weirdly enough, the genre’s physical homebase is Chicago, where this trio lives (and where there is no ocean for miles), but in reality, seapunk lives in the vast cradling arms of the Internet, in teenager’s blogs, on Twitter, and now, in my heart.

Because after this full day of research, I have decided I want in (even though I still don’t FULLY get it). Bring on the punky colors! I raise my glittery trident to you, new friends! Let’s wear clam-shells over our boobs and rave in the sand. (Then can you teach me to use Tumblr? Thanks!)

Yasea Punk

Click through the gallery to see photos of seapunk style. What do you think of the look?