從「過去篇」的脈絡看下來，不難理解，為何在 Future Funk 作品中，會看到 Vaporwave 和Cyberpunk 的影子。關於 Future Funk 的興起，有各種說法，但多數的認知，仍視為由 Vaporwave 分支演變而來。對於經歷過 80 至 90 年代的人來說，聽到某些 Future Funk 曲目時，勢必會感到莫名的親切感，因為和 Vaporwave 一樣，Future Funk 也是取材自 70 年代至 80 年代的流行歌，特別是稱為 City Pop 的歌曲，同時也帶起許多年輕人回頭去找出當年的歌曲，並進一步了解 80 文化。
Looking at the context of the "past chapter", it is not difficult to understand why in Future Funk's works, we can see the shadow of Vaporwave and Cyberpunk. There are various theories about the rise of Future Funk, but most of the cognition is still considered to have evolved from the Vaporwave branch. For people who have experienced the 80s and 90s, they will feel inexplicable intimacy when they hear certain Future Funk tracks, because like Vaporwave, Future Funk is also based on popular songs from the 70s to the 80s, especially The song for City Pop also brought many young people back to find out the songs of the year and learn more about 80 culture.
【未來篇】連結數位與類比的音樂
Sailor Team 過往活動宣傳海報 From Neoncity Records
所謂的 City Pop 指的是 70 至 80 年代間，在日本廣受歡迎的流行歌曲（ 那時叫做 New Music， 是後來才稱呼 City Pop ）。當時的社會是一片繁榮景象，經濟快速發展，國內盛行股市及土地投資、帶動地價飆漲，據說東京23 個區的地價總和幾乎等同於美國全部國土市值，經濟成長可見一斑（ 後稱這段時期為「泡沫經濟」）。加上西方文化陸續引進，受到 Rock、Disco、Jazz、Surf Music 等影響，歡快、充滿都會感的曲調，是 City Pop 的一大特色。普遍認知是由山下達郎、大貫妙子所組成的『 SUGAR・BABE 』帶起此股流行風潮。當年許多在線的知名藝人，如中山美穗、中森明菜等，紛紛都找擅長 City Pop 創作的音樂人為之寫歌，留下了不少可謂是傳唱後世的經典名曲，對於後來的日本音樂界也影響極深。日本的耶誕節國民歌曲──山下達郎的〈 Christmas Eve 〉也是在當時所創作。然而在 80 後期至 90 年代後，因爲日本社會經濟狀況的改變（ 「 泡沫經濟 」瓦解，進入所謂「 平成大蕭條 」時期，股價從歷史高點跌至史上最低 ），以及樂團風、澀谷系音樂崛起，才逐漸沒落。
What socalled CityPop, refers to the Japanese pop songs during 70s-80s (It was firstnamed NewMusic then changed to CityPop) The whole society was a flourishing, and the economic was developing in high-speed, lands investment and stock were all over the country, that has also raised the price of the local lands, where was once saying that the total price of the all 23 districts in Tokyo, has almost reach the total land price in States, but then it has fallen into an economic crisis, what we called afterwards: bubble economy. Within the western culture has brought in such as Rock, Disco, Jazz, Surf Music, the signature characteristic of CityPop: melody with a cheerful vibe which describes a metropolis lifestyle has appeared, the famous duo- SUGAR BABE, founded by Yamashita Tatsuro and Takeo Onuki, was the leader of this music trend. At that time, many pop singers such as Miho Nakayama, Nakamori Akina and so on, all reached out to CityPop songwriters to compose songs for them, thus left us a tons of classic tracks that still popular and pass on till today, and all have a great influence to Japanese music industry in the later years. The one and only Japanese Christmas hit: ChristmasEve by Tatsuro Yamashita, was written during the same period of time, yet lateron, during the 80s till the 90s, the society and the economy has improved(bubble economy has collapsed, Japan has entered to a period of time of ‘The Lost Decade’, and the stock price went up to the peak then dropped all of a sudden to the bottom), in the meantime, music bands, Shibuya-kei have developed, the CityPop then declined gradually.
1982年 山下達郎《 FOR YOU 》。由於曲風的關係，當時的封面設計，多以插畫方式帶出濃厚的灣岸風情，也成為其獨特的視覺風格。此張亦成為山下達郎御用設計師鈴木英人的代表作品。
Future Funk 明確承襲 City Pop 的元素，有別於 Vaporwave ，鼓點更強，融入French House 節奏，節拍更輕快、有活力，也可以說更適合舞動，並且將部分曲調、和聲不斷重複，都是讓 Future Funk 歌曲更加洗腦的原因。相較於 Vaporwave 帶有對社會的批判性質，Future Funk 曲風更時髦，是一種奠基於復古的現代舞曲。這樣的特色，讓它走出了屬於自己的一條路。雖然從 Future Funk 中可以聽到許多日文歌，但是 Future Funk 的流行發源地卻是在美國的洛杉磯，因為輕快的海灘風格，適合在海邊駕車時聆聽，因此在部分西方樂迷間，原本就流行著 City Pop，所以改編自 City Pop 的 Future Funk 自然很容易被接受，舊曲加上電子音樂元素、新舊融合，迅速受到年輕人的喜愛與追捧。至於「 Future Funk 」一詞，有一說是來自音樂廠牌「 KEATS//COLLECTIVE 」，Future Funk 重要人物 Macross 82-99 的首張專輯也是由此唱片公司所發行。
FutureFunkhas inherited the elements of CityPop, not alike Vaporwave, with stronger drumbeats, intergated FrenchHouse into a lively beats, and more energetic, disco-like, and repetitive chords and partial melody, so as to create a brain-washed like atmosphere. Future Funk has a judging character to the society compares to Vaporware; it’s morestylish, which we considered it as a modern disco music genre based on vintage elements, and this distinguishing feature has brought it in to a unique path towards the music field. Althoughwe hear often in FutureFunk the Japanese songs, it’s originally firstdiscovered in Los Angeles, due to its cheerful beach-vibe beats; perfectly matched the driving ways along the seaside. The western music fans are familiarwith CityPop, which made FutureFunk sounds relatively acceptable – classic melody with electronic music elements, it has easily attached with young generation. The term FutureFunk, according to some people, it’s from the essential music labelKEATS//COLLECTIVE, the core character Macross 82-99 has also published their first album with the label.
山下達郎、大貫妙子所領軍的『 SUGAR・BABE 』 From Last.fm
Future Funk 的歌曲都是由創作人完成後，自行在 youtube 上面發表，因為發表門檻低，吸引許多人陸續投入創作。有人認為 Future Funk 的編曲套路固定（ 或是帶公式這類的負面聲浪 ），但重要的應該是，去了解這樣的音樂對於年輕人創意的激發，以及為音樂界帶來的創新和實驗（ 對樂迷而言，當然就是享受音樂就好 ），而這群網上的音樂創作者約莫在 2015 年開始受到矚目。2016 年，一曲竹內瑪莉亞的〈 Plastic Love 〉，在韓國 DJ Night Tempo 的改編下，至今在 Youtube 創下近千萬點閱，成為 Future Funk 深具代表性的歌曲之一。這首高人氣的改編曲，不僅為 Night Tempo 打開了知名度，也讓他獲得和 Macross 82-99 合作的機會。
Future Funk songs are mostly first composed by the songwriters, then got auto-published on YouTube, due to the low threshold, many amateurs are willing to share their works online. Somepeople find Future Funk has a stable pattern of composing, but the matter is tounderstand how it has inspired the young generation, and how it has brought in the music industry its originality and experimental ideas. These online composers have drawn people’s attention around 2015, the next year, Mariya Takeuchi has released a legendary single: Plastic Love, which has adapted by Korean DJ-NightTempo, then set a record of millions viewers on Youtube, then became one of the most representative songs of Future Funk, it has not only widen up the popularity of NightTempo, and also led him to a cooperation with Macross82-99.
2016 年 Night Tempo 改編竹內瑪莉亞的〈 Plastic Love 〉
此外，在 Future Funk 作品視覺呈現上，常會見到與日本動漫作品的結合。主因是一開始，有部分熱愛日本動漫的創作者運用 80 年代的動漫人物製作專輯封面或 Youtube 歌曲畫面（ 而且就如同音樂一樣，會不停的重複，所以畫面和音樂相呼應，非常洗腦 ），走紅後帶起了此種創作模式。這些動漫圖像雖然與歌曲內容往往沒有關係，卻也因此發展出一套獨有的視覺美學。基於版權的關係，所以這些圖像會以改繪方式呈現。由於 Future Funk 與 80 年代文化密不可分，連帶當時普遍使用的音樂載體──卡式錄音帶，亦在近年受到關注。香港發行公司 Neoncity Records 在為旗下創作者規劃發行實體專輯時，毫不考慮地選擇卡帶作為載體，所以目前市面上也可以購得新發行的 Future Funk 卡帶。
Moreover,on the visual effect, Future Funk often combined with elements of Japanesemanga, for the main reason which is at the beginning, some of the composers who are also manga-fans and they used manga images as their album covers, or in their YouTube videos, just same as the music:, the images are all repetitive, therefore matched to one another perfectly and came out with an extremely brain-washed effect to the audience. When it went viral online, it has turnedout to be a model of composing ever since. These manga images have nothing to do with the songs, but still it has developed a visual aesthetic. Due to the copyrights, all these images have to represent in a adapted version, and since FutureFunk has deeply connected with 80s culture, even for cassettes – the music device that we used back then, have revived in these years. Neon City Records from HongKong, has chosen cassettes to release albums for its artists, therefore we could still buy new released FutureFunk cassettes today.
2020 東京出演活動海報 From Neoncity Recrods
提到 Future Funk，不能不提重要人物 Macross 82-99。來自墨西哥的 Macross 82-99，自 2013 年起開始 Future Funk 的創作，早期的作品，啟發了許多後輩加入創作行列，可謂是此音樂流派的先驅，代表作品為 2014 年發行的《 A Million Miles Away 》。由於他非常喜愛日本動漫《 美少女戰士Sailor Moon 》，於是在網路上集結同好（ Night Tempo、Nanidato、Desired 等 ），組成「 Sailor Team 」（ 帶有「 從網路之海啟航、一起旅行世界吧！」之意 ），在全球各地進行演出活動，對 Future Funk 造成深遠影響。Macross 82-99 是西方的大師，而 Future Funk 在亞洲的重要推手，則是來自香港的廠牌 Neoncity Records，主理人 Davy 從一台一對十的拷貝錄音機開啟了卡帶事業。原本純粹喜愛、收集卡式錄音帶的他，因緣際會下成立唱片公司，成為卡帶的發行商，與 Night tempo、Macross 82-99 攜手推出的專輯，一發行總是立刻售罄。目前持續於亞洲各大城市演出、發行卡帶及黑膠，對於 Future Funk 推廣不遺餘力。
Tomention Future Funk, it has to mention also the most important figure:Macross82-89. Came from Mexico, started it’s career in FutureFunk since 2013, some early works have inspired many song writers and younger generation, therefore he has been seen as a pioneer of FutureFunk, and his most representative work is A Million Miles Away (2014). Macross82-99is a truly manga-fan of SailorMoon, hence, he has assembled all the fansonline, built up a team called ‘Sailor Team’ (implying “Set our sail to the sea of internet, let’s discover the world all together!”) and they have organized events and concerts all over the world, that gave a huge impact to FutureFunk.Macross82-99 is a great master in the western culture, in the other hand, the essential promoter in Asia, would be the Neon city Records from Hong-Kong. The director Davy, has started his career with one cassette copies over ten, from his pure passion of collectors, he then established a record label, became publisher of cassettes, and then worked with NightTempo, Macross82-99, releasedgreat albums that sold out once he put it on the market, and even nowadays, Neoncity Records has carry on giving concert in Asia, releasing cassettes and vinyl records, doing his utmost to promote Future Funk.
2014 年 Macross 82-99《 A Million Miles Away 》from the internet
既新又舊、數位與類比的結合，都是 Future Funk 的迷人之處。創作者透過 Future Funk 打開了生活的視野；樂迷則是藉此探訪了從未經歷的過去。許多人對於創新一詞，往往想的都是要找出全新、別人沒有做過的事。然而，在舊文化的基礎上、加以革新，融入新的想法與觀念，也是創新的一種，這樣的做法所呈現出來的結果，有時可能更令人驚喜。想像未來和懷念過去，都是讓我們能夠繼續前進的動力。
Asnew yet old, combined both digital and analog, FutureFunk has its charm indifferent aspects, through the FuturFunk music, the composers have opened up our vision of life, as fans we have the oppotunities to experience the past that we have never lived. Many of us have a stereotype of the word ‘innovation’, thinking it’s all about to find out the newest, or things that have never been done, however, it’s more like based on the old culture, and pour in new thoughts, ideas and concepts, which is actually the way of innovating. From this point of view, we could be surprised by the results that we have never imagined. Either picturing the future or thinking of the past, they are both great motivations for us to carry on.
Cassette Hunter カセット ハンター 首發專題同名卡帶EP《 Cassette Hunter: Future Funk 》
Taiwan｜
https://kindofbluerecords.cashier.ecpay.com.tw/
Overseas｜
https://kindofbluerecords.bandcamp.com/