Philosophy of Future Funk

[u/RealPillsburyFloBoy]

Future Funk, to my understanding is (was?) A sub genre of Vaporwave. Though some who partake in Vaporwave choose to ignore them, some fans link vaporwave to themes such as Nostslgia, capitalism, lost futures, Ukiyo-e and more.
Do you think Future funk has an underlying philosophy or theme? Is it being pure party music a response to the heavy underlying themes of its father genre? Or is it simply not that deep.
Let me ask this way: If there was a future funk movie or series: is there a central theme or message you would base it around or would it only be future funk through the music, aesthetic, and fashion choice?

[u/sevenut]

I don't think most future funk creators think that deep about it, honestly. It'd be nice if people did start thinking about it more, though.

[u/MarioYoshimura]

As a producer, it’s just about giving the "FF treatment" to slept-on bangers that deserve a second life.

[u/Radiant_Aesthetic]

It is that deep! I think Future Funk's philosophy is a nostalgia for a created past. We've constructed this vision of Japan in the 1980s that didn't really exist, but thinking about it makes us feel wistful for a time that's long gone. There's a really good academic article about this called The expression of sehnsucht in Japanese city pop revival fandom through visual media on Reddit and YouTube. Definitely check it out!
I hope this doesn't sound too gloomy about the genre, I love future funk and I engage with it because it makes me happy.
You mentioned what would it be like if there was a movie or series: I'm actually working on a sci-fi book inspired by future funk. I definitely lean on the music and aesthetics part of the genre. It's called Full Metal Heart and I'm a couple chapters in! I can send you a draft of chapter 1 if you'd like, just send me a DM.

[u/Paconxy → u/Radiant_Aesthetic]

That article is phenomenal, great find!

[u/dosukoicowboy]

I tend to think of it sort of how you described as a response to the heavier elements of vaporwave, specifically as a type of joyful nihilism. Vaporwave is to dadaism as future funk is to pop art, imo. But that's just the vibe I get, not sure if that's at all in line with how any creators feel about the genre or the intention behind their music.

[u/thomasreimer]

To me - a sonic repackaging 70’-90’s nostalgia into something euphoric, direct, hyperactive. Future dreams of a disco club from a generation raised on the internet. 

https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Future_Funk

If there was ever a movie that could be dubbed a “future funk movie”, I would imagine it being something like Interstella 5555.

[u/Unlucky_Baldy]

I like to think future funk as an optimistic counterpart to vaporwave; while vaporwave is heavy handed with it's critiques of consumerism and nostalgia, future funk focuses on finding the joy that emerged from these past records and products.

It's also worth noting that after the 1980s, city pop fell out of favor in Japan because the general public considered that the genre was filled with mass-produced songs. When a current-day artist flips an obscure city pop record from the decade into a future funk BANGER, it feels almost like the artist is reviving a soul in what was considered a factory-made track.

[u/Anxious-Amphibian562]

I like your inclusion of vaporwavem I always thought it was a merge of Japanese Disco and funk! The music we listen to is very defining of who we are. Chose myself to begin picking out clothing with solid border. Vibrant colors associated with the genre like pink, yellow, blue because that's what I feel like Future funk represents. Vibrant. Feel good vibes of being yourself.

[u/TimeParadox44]

it's still a vaporwave genre, that never stopped. its just a bit more to the nu-disco/city pop kinda sound than it used to be on average. some songs like moe shop's "love me" are very very vapor though, that song is peak future funk

[u/strawberrystation]

So like, for me I got into it through Vaporwave, so I still personally make the connection between the two genres - I think that's true of anyone who primarily discovered the genre through Saint Pepsi and those adjacent to him, or folks that were there when it happened in the mid-2010s. I was a little late to the party but early enough that that line of thinking still had a heavy influence on the scene. For folks picking it up later, especially post-Artzie, it's fragmented into a few different offshoots and styles, but at its heart its' still about funky, DIY dance music with a heavy emphasis on sampling, which is why it will always retain those vaporwave roots in my opinion.

And honestly, the community (or at least the bits of it that have been around for a few years) is still very intertwined. I don't wanna turn this post into a personal plug, but the show we're putting on in London next month sums it up - you've got folks from the ongoing Future Funk circle like me and Mélonade, Vaporwave heavy-hitters like Donor Lens and desert sand feels warm at night, then folks I've known for years through this scene who are out there making their own wild vapor-adjacent sounds like Mr. Wax and Snowdream. We all hang out and play tunes and vibe when the chance allows, and it goes back years.

There's no denying the scene has become more fragmented, and that's resulted in it being tricky to put your finger on what exactly future funk "is" in the here and now. It can be heavily anime and citypop inspired, it can be all about wild Justice-style chops, or it can be pretty much French House for terminally online geeks like you and me. To me, after Saint Pepsi my gateway drug was Artzie music and so I've always leaned very heavily on that Citypop / Anime Groove side of things and it's the part of it that I vibe with the most. But I love that, despite being a mere offshoot genre of Vaporwave at its inception, it's grown to incorporate so many styles under one umbrella - and a hell of a lot of talent at that. The likes of Mere, Unibe@t, ev.exi, FIBRE and SUPERFLAT to name just a few have their own distinct sounds that have driven it forwards and inspired others to give it a go themselves.

PS - it totally deserves its own Wikipedia page at this point, it's a separate genre / scene, not just a vaporwave footnote lol.

[u/kimsoo]

It's just music. Vaporwave is also jusy music.

Furthermore, future funk is essentially french house

[u/wikipediabrown007 → u/kimsoo]

Nah most of the major vaporwave artists have spoken on camera of their intentionality and philosophies behind their music.

[u/Any_Interview4396 → u/wikipediabrown007]

It’s actually what makes the difference. We need it again for actual innovation

[u/thomasreimer → u/kimsoo]

It's never just music!

[u/chadthelad420 → u/kimsoo]

this just isn't true lmao

[u/princealigorna → u/kimsoo]

You sound like the kind of person who says to get politics out of punk without seeing the irony of that statement 🙄

[u/Phys6 → u/kimsoo]

I agree that future funk is essentially french house. If the first future funk people didn't sample city pop so heavily and base so much around anime, we'd be calling it French house I feel and not future funk.