Desired, Macross 82-99 and Yung Bae are the first three artists to try after Night Tempo. All three share record labels with him in the Frekvenci archive, and all three sit in future funk, the branch of vaporwave built from disco, funk and pop samples sped up into dance music. He treats his source songs more gently than most of the genre does, so the best neighbours are the producers who also respect the song.
An editor with a collector's habits
Night Tempo was born in South Korea in 1986 and trained as an engineer; Tokion's 2020 profile says he made music as a hobby alongside that work.[1] He collects Shōwa-era objects, such as cassettes, Walkmans and VHS tapes, and says his edits of city pop and kayōkyoku songs do not change the originals drastically: done well, a small change is enough to lift a song.[1] That restraint is what sets him apart from future funk made to be unrecognisable. Bandcamp Daily describes the genre as an upbeat vaporwave offshoot drawing on disco, funk, soul and retro Japanese pop samples, with vintage-anime visuals.[3]
Timing helped. According to an AFP report, city pop's online revival started in niche internet circles and spread as YouTube's recommendations pushed old songs to new listeners.[2] His official Showa Groove re-edits began in 2019.[1]
The archive lists 18 Night Tempo releases from 2016 to 2021: four on Neoncity Records, and single releases on Sailor Team, Moonlights Company and Pony Canyon. Nearly all are tagged future funk; the exceptions are the single Tokyo Night Drive and the Pony Canyon release, filed as synth-pop. Eighteen records in six years is fast even for this scene. The wider genre is large, with 1,538 listed releases, and here is how its biggest labels compare:
SHOW THE NUMBERS
| Label | Releases |
|---|---|
| DMT Tapes FL | 376 |
| business casual | 65 |
| First Class Collective | 61 |
| DMT Records | 47 |
| Verbatim Consciousness Recordings | 35 |
| My Pet Flamingo | 30 |
| Section 9 | 29 |
| Gulf Audio Company | 24 |
Same labels, same shelf
The archive counts shared labels double, so the top of the list is label links. Each shares Neoncity Records, Sailor Team or both.
- Desired (Russia, 40 releases, 2015–2020) shares both labels and ranks first in our data. The album Momo Club is on Sailor Team.
- MACROSS 82–99 (Mexico, 10 releases, 2013–2025) shares both labels and carries J-pop and city pop tags. Try SAILORWAVE COMPLETE, a 2025 Neoncity release.
- Yung Bae (US, 11 releases, 2014–2022) shares Neoncity. Bandcamp Daily writes that he and his peers are moving towards original production,[3] which makes him a neat next step; start with Groove Continental: Side A.
- ミカヅキBIGWAVE (Japan, 16 releases, 2016–2023) shares Neoncity, and ESCAPE adds house, funk and lo-fi tags to future funk.
Toward nu-disco and house
Some Neoncity names lean away from samples. Zai Kowen (Argentina, 6 releases) is filed under nu-disco: Funk Dunk is on business casual. S U P E R F L A T スーパーフラット (Mexico, 4 releases, 2019–2024) has Meant To Be Forgotten on Neoncity. Jelly BonBon and Luanmer are small Neoncity catalogues with nu-disco tags: Jelly BonBon and Midnight. Strawberry Station (UK, 24 releases) mixes future funk with house and ambient tags: Outta Your Mind. Our What is nu-disco? Where synthwave meets the dance floor explains that neighbouring tag.
City pop and J-pop tags
Two producers carry the city-pop tag themselves: TUPPERWAVE (Australia, 21 releases) with Under the Map, and SUI UZI (Belize, 22 releases), whose single ネオンサインが呼んでる (SUI UZI Remix) reworks a Japanese song. サクラSAKURA-LEE (Peru, 24 releases) carries the J-pop tag: Slow Change Up. Farragol (Taiwan, 6 releases) is the lo-fi fork; its album Stayed Up All Night is filed under barber beats, which What is barber beats? The vaporwave micro-genre named after one prolific artist explains. For the Japan context, see Japan, city pop and vaporwave: the scene in data. If you arrived from vaporwave, If you like Macintosh Plus: artists to try next goes the other way.
This page's neighbours come from shared labels first, then tags. Country is known for only part of the archive, so treat the flags as indicative. Future funk: vaporwave's dance floor, explained gives the full genre background, and the Future station (95.9 FM) plays the bright side of it. You can also browse all future funk releases by year and label.
Questions people ask
Can I use these tracks in my own video or stream?
Not automatically. Many future funk records are built on samples of copyrighted songs, and the archive lists them as releases without clearing any reuse. Check the rights holder before using one.
Where did future funk start?
Bandcamp Daily describes it as an offshoot of vaporwave. We could not confirm an exact origin date from our sources, so we do not give one.
Is Night Tempo Japanese?
No. He was born in South Korea and the archive lists him under South Korea, although his main material is Japanese.[1]
Records to start with
- Night Tempo · 2020 · LPA 2020 album that Tokion calls his French-influenced electro record.[1]
- Night Tempo · 2019 · Moonlights Company · LPThe first record in the Showa Groove series in the archive.
- MACROSS 82–99 · 2025 · Neoncity Records · LPA big collection on the same label as Night Tempo's early records.
- A major-label step for a name Bandcamp Daily has profiled.
Sources
- 「時音」Vol.8 Night Tempo unravels the appeal towards retro culture in this fast-paced society · Tokion, 28 Dec 2020
- City Pop: the soundtrack to Japan's boom years goes viral · AFP via The Korea Times, 22 Feb 2022
- Yung Bae: Meet the Introvert Producer Taking Future Funk Mainstream · Bandcamp Daily, 24 Apr 2019