Japanese Disco Edits 3 | YUNG BAE
Prolific artists are often underrated — particularly those working within the already hyperpaced world of Vaporwave. YUNG BAE, like many of his contemporaries, has produced no less than 10 releases in the last 3 years. An impressive feat for a guy like Madlib, just another day in the life of a producer known for his pillaging and rebranding of Japanese disco and funk.
The Portland-based producer doesn’t offer anything particularly novel on his 3rd installment of the Japanese Disco Edits series, but that’s not news to anyone familiar with his output. Like any other house producer, he’s found his thing and does it to death, which you can’t fault him for — particular when that “thing” is taking the road-tested formula for French House and sending it on a vacation to mid-80’s Tokyo. So while it’d be easy to lambast the “cookie cutter” nature of this music, to do so kind of misses the point (especially as a person aware of the broader phenomenon of vaporwave).
The album undeniably fun and manages to avoid a lot of the tedium that comes with listening to people make 7 minute, 4-on-the-floor tracks out of similar constituent parts. “Day By Day” in particular excels at this task, with a solid main loop, solid risers and woosh effects, and a nice foray into a breakbeat section that makes for a genuinely enjoyable, 3 minute ride through familiar territory. Future Funk, like anything that uses futurism as part of its branding, is not the breath of fresh air that it was in 2014, but that doesn’t make this or any of BAE’s output less fun.
