“Everybody on [Groove Continental: Side ▼ Music Forever Yung Yung Bae brings future funk to Wynwood. BY CATHERINE TORUÑO W ith electronic music pumping through its veins, the Magic City is a welcoming place for fu- ture-funk producer Yung Bae (AKA Dallas Cotton). “We were there for Music Week and Art Basel,” shares Cotton, who opened for Zedd during Miami Art Week and hosted a Yung Bae & Friends set during Miami Music Week. “Miami takes my soul every time.” Cotton returns to Miami with a full-pro- duction show in tow as part of his Groove Continental Tour, which stops at Oasis Wyn- wood on Friday, October 7. Other alternative electronic heavy-hitters on the bill include Saint Pepsi and Vantage, plus Washed Out and Roosevelt delivering DJ sets. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, and now living in Los Angeles, the 28-year-old pro- ducer has pioneered the name Yung Bae in the future funk genre with his internet-fa- mous albums, including the Bae five-part se- ries, the first of which debuted in 2014, and the Japanese Disco Edits series. The 1970s and ‘80s Japanese city-pop genre — which includes a fusion of styles such as funk, boogie, jazz, disco, soul, and Polynesian — found its way back into the in- ternet mainstream in the early 2010s. Discov- ering the genre through YouTube recommendations (you might have seen the track “Plastic Love” being suggested on your sidebar with the captivating thumbnail fea- turing a fun, monochromatic portrait of Mariya Takeuchi), Cotton began using sam- ples from city-pop songs which set in motion future funk as an upbeat subgenre of vapor- wave, alongside other producers such as Saint Pepsi, Macross 82-99, and Flamingosis. Cotton is diving back into working inde- pendently after signing with Arista Records (a sublabel of Sony Music) in 2019 but admits the record deal was a positive experience. “I know a lot of people look at the label ex- perience as a horrible red flag off the get-go, which obviously there’s a track record there Future funk producer Yung Bae Photo by Bailey Sondag somewhere, but they were great to me,” Cot- ton shares. “I had these extra tools, resources, opportunities, and access to features I’ve never had in my life.” Released in March, Cotton’s latest album, Groove Continental: Side A, is a funkier, fresh twist on his usual city pop/disco edits with the addition of prominent artist features, in- cluding Channel Tres, Earth Gang, John Ba- tiste, and Awolnation. A] is someone I’m a fan of, first and fore- most,” he says. “So I’ve been trying to push that agenda more than just, ‘Oh, let’s get that pop-bag.’ I love their project, and that’s what I had in mind.” The album also marked a new sampling “I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE LOOK AT THE LABEL EXPERIENCE AS A HORRIBLE RED FLAG.” process for Cotton, often called interpolation. He works with studio musicians to recreate samples of his choice instead of obtaining permission to use a sample from record la- bels, music publish- ers, and artists. “It sounds really identical, and it gives you the fun added part of hav- ing the original stems of this proj- ect. It creates all these new avenues,” Cotton shares. “It allows me room to explore and express my- self more, especially when it comes to sam- pling. The amount of days where I’ll be digging for samples, and I’ll be like, ‘Yes, wow, one, two, three, perfect,’ and the fourth bar will just be terrible. And now I can just fill that void and do what I want.” Cotton’s upcoming releases include Groove Continental’s side B, plus a record titled Back to the Classics that promises to sound more like his “old-but-new Yung Bae mixtapes.” Working with his team, Cotton is setting up a fresh new look to the Yung Bae universe and hopes it might get him and his music into new ventures such as video games or fashion. With a recent wardrobe purge and meetings with a stylist, Cotton’s latest looks are inspired by ‘60s fashion, such as knit polos and loafers. “I want to do fun capsule collections ver- sus just merch. I see Billie Eilish and Gucci, and that shit’s so cool,” he notes. “I need the Gap Kids collab: Yung by Bae.” Yung Bae. With Washed Out, Roosevelt, Saint Pepsi, and Vantage. 7 p.m. Friday, Octo- ber 7, at Oasis Wynwood, 2335 N. Miami Ave., Miami; oasiswynwood.com. Tickets cost $25 to $85 via tixr.com. [email protected] 10/6/22* 45 45 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | miaminewtimes.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | MIAMI NEW TIMES NEW TIMES MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 OCTOBER 6-12, 2022
