Macroblank, Mabisyo and slowerpace are the first three names to try if you like haircuts for men. All three are tagged barber beats, the downtempo, hip-hop-leaning branch of vaporwave that he gave his name to, and each shares two record labels with him in the Frekvenci archive. For a path back toward older vaporwave, add PZA and waterfront dining.
A name that became a genre
NTS Radio's guide to barber beats says the style took its name from a tongue-in-cheek label that Aloe City Wrld applied to haircuts for men, and credits him as its originator.[1] In NTS's account, barber beats keeps vaporwave's raw material of lounge pop, muzak and 1980s digital sound, but replaces the sleepy haze with clean downtempo closer to trip hop and instrumental hip hop.[1] A quick test: if a record sounds like a vaporwave sample turned into a slow, polished instrumental beat, you are in barber-beats territory. Our What is barber beats? The vaporwave micro-genre named after one prolific artist goes through the style in full.
A 2022 piece in Rensselaer's student paper adds colour: the 2018 album Down-Tumble and Die was described as his most successful, with about 1.3 million YouTube views at the time, and its cover swapped the pinks and purples of Macintosh Plus for blues and blacks.[2] It is a student publication, so we use it only for those details.
The scale of the catalogue is the unusual part. The archive lists 109 haircuts for men releases from 2012 to 2026. Genom Records holds 44 of them, with smaller runs on DMT Records (4), DMT Tapes FL (3), Celadon Plaza Records (3) and business casual (2). 2026 is a part year in the data, so the last bar is not a decline.
SHOW THE NUMBERS
| Year | Releases |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 1 |
| 2013 | 0 |
| 2014 | 1 |
| 2015 | 7 |
| 2016 | 12 |
| 2017 | 7 |
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2019 | 10 |
| 2020 | 8 |
| 2021 | 18 |
| 2022 | 5 |
| 2023 | 8 |
| 2024 | 16 |
| 2025 | 11 |
| 2026 | 2 |
Three neighbours that share two labels
The first group shares labels, and all carry the barber beats tag.
- Macroblank (50 releases, 2020–2026) shares Aloe City Records and Celadon Plaza Records with him. The Polytechnic piece compares Macroblank's sample choices and mood to haircuts for men, and calls the album Flesh and Soul calmer,[2] so think of it as a softer version of the same idea. The newest entry is 美容師 COLLECTION.
- Mabisyo (Chile, 47 releases, 2022–2026) shares No Problema Tapes and QINGDAO MARKET and adds slushwave and dreampunk tags. Try Vaportrap Mini Mix Vol.1.
- slowerpace 音楽 (30 releases, 2022–2026) shares Celadon Plaza Records and No Problema Tapes; the album Marvellus is on Celadon Plaza.
- FOR THE CVLTVRE (US, 43 releases, all in 2023) shares Genom Records, his biggest label: DELUXE '70 V1.
Dreamier and stranger variants
DΛRKNΣSS (Mexico, 46 releases, 2019–2026) combines barber beats with dreampunk; slubberdegullion is on Tabby Cat Tapes, and What is dreampunk? Vaporwave's dark, cinematic dream explains that tag. DARK DESIRE (US, 43 releases) shares Business Casual and carries barber beats, broken transmission and future funk tags: VANITY RENEGADE. Telenights (15 releases, 2019–2025) shares Business Casual and DMT Tapes FL; 24-25 is the latest. MOROSE (Japan, 8 releases) made a remix set from his material, HAIRCUTS FOR MEN REMIXES, and Majestic 12 (19 releases) has a 2026 album, REMINISCE.
Back toward older vaporwave
Two long-running names share several DMT labels with him: PZA (61 releases) and waterfront dining (51 releases). Their plunderphonics and slushwave tags mark the earlier sound barber beats grew out of; What is slushwave? Vaporwave stretched into ambient covers the second. Trademarks & Copyrights (Argentina, 24 releases) is tagged both barber beats and slushwave: Marble Girls Trilogy. Little Mac Tonight (US, 13 releases) leans on signalwave, which Bandcamp Daily describes as raw collages of old radio and TV clips;[3] see McPubSub and What is signalwave? Vaporwave made from old TV and radio broadcasts. OSCOB (Germany, 8 releases) has a 2025 album filed under barber beats, kingdom of gods and demons.
If your route into this started at Floral Shoppe, our If you like Macintosh Plus: artists to try next page maps the other branches. The matches here were made from label overlaps (counted twice) and shared tags, so a catalogue this size is best sampled with one track at a time. What is vaporwave? A guide to the internet's slowed-down mall music gives the wider context, and all vaporwave releases sit in the archive. Genom Records is his main home and DMT Tapes FL: label profile and where to start covers the older tapes.
Records to start with
- haircuts for men · 2026 · Genom Records · SINGLEA 2026 single on Genom Records, a way into the current sound.
- Mabisyo · 2026 · Casa De Retiro · LPA short mix that blends vaportrap into barber beats.
Sources
- The NTS Guide to Barber Beats · NTS Radio, 1 Apr 2026
- Haircuts for Men, Macroblank, and the new vaporwave aesthetic · The Polytechnic (Rensselaer), 15 Mar 2022
- Genre As Method: The Vaporwave Family Tree, From Eccojams to Hardvapour · Bandcamp Daily, 21 Nov 2016