So I’ve been listening to full albums lately, randomly grabbing them on Bandcamp and listening to the whole thing throughout the day and 街の思い出City Memories by Senti Tokyoセンティ東京 kind of hit me differently than most future funk / vapor funk albums…

I want to make a quick note about the label this is released on, L33K5P1N 84574RD5. First this album is their #49th release and if you take a look at the bandcamp as of posting this, there are 7 cassettes left. and if you notice two particularely interesting (at least to me) details about this label is they are from France but they sell their cassettes in Japense Yen (FYI this cassette is roughly 9 USD). I wonder what’s up with that.

Album Review

I kind of rip on this album a little harder than most but stay with me. I think you’ll appreciate the album as

So the first track, Rain Cityレインシティ, is a confusion of mixed feelings for me. First it reminds me of that song Pee Wee Herman danced to – mixed with (is it?) German. It’s just pitched to a tone that kind of gets on my nerve quickly. Almost like children would love it but adults instantly find it annoying. Is that too harsh? Unfortunately track 2 has that same pitching. Is it the language that is annoying me?

Then it hit me with the 3rd track, Run Away, Don’t逃げるな, I was approaching this album completely wrong. This song is good, but only after you can shift the thought of what typical future funk is and think what would 80s music non-typical Japanese music sound like in other languages. Would it still be future funk? I think in this case, it should be. This album is starting to stand on its own with its French / German roots as the backbone of an original sound. Run Away, Don’t逃げるな really sounds like a work out track for one of those late 80s – 90s workout program like Tae bo. Now I’m starting to enjoy myself.

Then Senti Tokyoセンティ東京 surprises me with what I think is the best track on the whole album, Come To The Place Where The Action Isアクションのある場所に来て. A high energy, 80s German (?) pop track sped up to a groovy almost disco track that I would love to dance too on roller blades. I have no clue what the powerful voice of this woman is saying but I started singing along myself to the hook.

The rest of the album continues on with surprises and pushing the boundaries of what this type of music should be called. The bandcamp tags does include schlager funk which translate to German funk (lol) and from a simple google search, this is actually a genre with a couple of compilations.

Grab a cassette

Like I said as of this post there are 7 cassettes left. The album art work is actually pretty interesting and maybe drew most people in to think this would be a future funk album. Sticking with future funk themes, it has a japanese anime girl, a Neo Tokyo feel and Japanese characters plastered all over it. Not the vibe I get from this album at all but I bet it would look cool next to the other future funk albums that are out there.

Overall, I’m super happy I accidentally found this month old album today as it increased my knowledge of genres and musical styles that are out there. I’ve leveled up. What a great day in my music listening career.

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