The Story

Back in 2011, Zach Mason released his first Bandcamp album via the moniker Zaturn Valley. Prior to this, he was creating and producing various projects and genres since 2003.

After hearing early vaporwave, he decided to create his 회사AUTO project in 2012, and then his ambient cyberpunk project Tech Noir in 2015. He has a multitude of other [secret] side projects as well. The majority of his releases are on his bandcamp, and many releases have seen physical releases on cassettes or CDs.

He continues to work with a wide variety of musicians in and out of the vaporwave community. All artwork and designs from the 회사AUTO album _N and onwards have been created by designer Carson Greenway.

F.A.Q.

How do you pronounce 회사AUTO?

"Hway Saw Ah Toe"

Why did you pick that name / what does it mean?

The first part of the name "회사" is Hangul lettering, and in Korean it means Company. The latter part "AUTO" is German and means car. Inspiration was drawn from his time living in Europe and Korea, and he used to drive a company car for a Seattle lawfirm, hence the name.

What genre is this?

회사AUTO started out as an experimental classic vaporwave project back in 2012. Since then, each album pulls from a wide array of genres from jazz, r&b, electronic music such as IDM and House, glitch, hip-hop, ambient, etc. Tech Noir is a side project that focuses more on cyberpunk atmospheres.

Have more questions?

Feel free to email him to have your question added to this F.A.Q.