F  L  A  U  N  T

Future funk is a relatively new and popular genre stemming from the early 2010’s. Producers under this eccentric umbrella of music tend to sample 70’s, 80’s and 90’s Japanese city pop, 70s disco, and even French house music. Future funk can also be considered as a sub-genre of Vaporwave—which is a genre that samples the same type of music, but alters it in a chopped and screwed style. Vaporwave tends to be more chilled out, ambient and ethereal, whereas future funk has more of a bounce to it—listening to future funk instantly transports you to an 80’s anime-themed dance club in the middle of Tokyo. Regardless of the thin line differentiating the two genres, the popularity surrounding it is rising in the states—and it’s all thanks to a few artists who began their initial music careers on Soundcloud. With an impressive 500,000+ monthly listeners, it’s hard to believe that the Portland-native Dallas Cotton, aka [Yung Bae](https://www.instagram.com/yungbae/?hl=en), began his rising career on Soundcloud—which is a platform that every future funk hopeful flocks to for exposure.  Photography by [Devin Kasparian](https://www.instagram.com/devin.pdf/?hl=en) His newest album titled, ‘Bae 5’ was released on June 28th and he kicked off the summer with a 21-date North American tour; making a stop at The Fonda Theatre on July 6th with special guests Night Tempo, Flamingosis and the eccentric duo, Party Pupils— together, they are the ‘Sailor Team.’ [Night Tempo](https://www.instagram.com/nighttempo/?hl=en), a Seoul-native, opened up the show with a Sailor Moon-themed set and hyped up the crowd with tracks from his newest album titled, “_Showa Idol’s Groove 2._” He also played popular tracks like, “_Windy Summer_,” “_Plastic Love 100% Purely Remixed_,” and “_Touch_". When I asked him how was the process like mixing Showa Idol’s Groove 2, and if he experimented with any new sounds or equipment, he simply replied, “I dug through some old record shops in Japan and took some samples from vinyl’s and cassettes.”  Photography by [Devin Kasparian](https://www.instagram.com/devin.pdf/?hl=en) The second performers were the quirky duo [Party Pupils](https://www.instagram.com/partypupils/?hl=en). Their exuberant stage presence matched their upbeat music to a T. Their remixes of OutKast's “_Ms. Jackson_,” Estelle’s “_American Boy_” and T-Pain’s “_I Can’t Believe It_” caught me by surprise and it’s safe to say that I’m a big fan now. The third performer was Aaron Velasquez aka [Flamingosis](https://www.instagram.com/flamingosis/?hl=en), whose name comes from a free-style frisbee move that his father invented. He played tracks like “_Flight of The Flamingo_,” “_Brunch at the bodega_,” and “_You Were Meant For Me_.” Flamingosis played his groovy set alongside some aesthetic visuals from the early 90’s. Yung Bae’s long-awaited performance started at almost midnight, but being immersed in such a funky crowd like that made it feel like the night had just begun. Bae played his popular tracks alongside some visuals from various anime clips and exercise demos from the early 90’s. There’s a large community of video editors on YouTube, including myself, who use future funk/lo-fi/vaporwave tracks alongside anime clips and aesthetic visuals from old VHS tapes. Alongside Soundcloud and Bandcamp, these AMV’s or "‘animated music videos” definitely had some part to play in giving this funky genre some exposure to the world. Having been a fan of these artists since the beginning, it was incredibly surreal seeing them perform live at a sold out show on Hollywood boulevard.  Photography by [Devin Kasparian](https://www.instagram.com/devin.pdf/?hl=en) The Bae Tour will be running until November 17, 2019; the dates are listed below. JUL 14, 2019 High Seas Festival West 2019 San Francisco, CA JUL 20, 2019 Camp Bisco Scranton, PA AUG 2, 2019 Summer Meltdown Festival Darrington, WA AUG 10, 2019 Splash House Palm Springs, CA AUG 30, 2019 North Coast Music Festival Chicago, IL SEP 21, 2019 Life is Beautiful Music & Art Festival Las Vegas, NV SEP 29, 2019 CRSSD Festival Fall 2019 San Diego, CA OCT 11, 2019 The Parish Austin, TX  OCT 12, 2019 Trees Dallas, TX OCT 13, 2019 White Oak Music Hall Houston, TX OCT 15, 2019 Aisle 5 Atlanta, GA OCT 17, 2019 Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn, NY OCT 18, 2019 The Foundry Philadelphia, PA OCT 19, 2019 U Street Music Hall Washington, DC OCT 20, 2019 Middle East Downstairs Cambridge, MA  OCT 22, 2019 Stage AE Pittsburgh, PA OCT 23, 2019 The Basement Columbus, OH OCT 24, 2019 Grog Shop Cleveland Heights, OH  OCT 25, 2019 Velvet Underground Toronto, ON  OCT 26, 2019 El Club Detroit, MI  OCT 29, 2019 Record Bar Kansas City, MO NOV 1, 2019 Marquis Theater Denver, CO  NOV 2, 2019 Meow Wolf Santa Fe, NM NOV 4, 2019 Kilby Court Salt Lake City, UT NOV 7, 2019 The Crocodile Seattle, WA NOV 8, 2019 Celebrities Underground Vancouver, BC  NOV 9, 2019 Holocene Portland, OR  NOV 10, 2019 Holocene Portland, OR NOV 17, 2019 Corona Capital 2019 Mexico City, Mexico