Night Tempo
Jung Kyung-ho, better known as Night Tempo, is a South Korean future funk producer known for his Showa Groove series of remixes of 1980's Japanese city pop. Jung started producing music in 2015, but achieved fame in 2016 with his remix of Mariya Takeuchi's single "Plastic Love," which was uploaded on the YouTube music channel Artzie Music on March 11, 2016, and received over 7 million views on YouTube.
Early life and career
Jung was born on February 14, 1986, in Seoul. As he grew up, he started listening to artists such as Daft Punk, Toshiki Kadomatsu, and Miho Nakayama. His father purchased items from overseas, giving Jung Nakayama's single "Catch Me" as a souvenir. He became a computer programmer and worked night shifts, collecting items such as cassette tapes as the Vaporwave genre rose in the early 2010s.Music career
Jung started DJing and producing as a hobby during his time as a programmer in 2009, and in 2014 he posted his works on SoundCloud. He came up with the name "Night Tempo" as he produced at mostly at night. On March 11, 2016, the YouTube music channel Artzie Music featured Jung's remix of "Plastic Love" by Mariya Takeuchi. With the remix, he started gaining popularity among future funk fans in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the United States. The remix also boosted the popularity of the original. He started the label Neoncity Records with a friend from Hong Kong as future funk started to become more popular. He gained attention for its revival of 1980s Japanese genre known as city pop, helping give birth to the future funk subgenre of the vaporwave.Under the title of the "Showa Idol Groove" series, he has released official re-edits of songs by artists from the 1980s, such as Wink and Anri. He remixed singles from the duo BaBe on February 14, 2020, releasing it on his birthday while also gaining a release from the original label. He also created a music video for the remixes as well as holding a release party. On April 29, 2020, he released the fifth Showa Groove remixes for Yuki Saito. On August 7, 2020, he released a Showa Groove remix of Shizuka Kudo's songs, including "Arashi no Sugao."
In 2018, he released his first original album, Moonrise. Their first major original album, Ladies In The City, was released on December 1, 2021. On January 26, 2021, he released the Showa Groove remixes of Miki Matsubara's song "Mayonaka no Door" due to its rise in popularity with TikTok. He appeared at the live show Show What na Night, broadcast on TikTok for the release. In March 2021, he and Charles Chanton teamed up again for a second line of merch that would release in April. On May 19, 2021, he released a compilation titled Night Tempo presents The Showa Idol Groove which signaled his return to the Showa Groove series. The compilation features remixes of Eri Nitta, Hikaru Nishida, Yumi Morio, and Yuyu, which Jung described as "good songs that should be paid more attention." In commemoration of the release, he released a visualizer for one of the remix of Hikaru Nishida's song, "Nice-Catch!" The album peaked at No. 170 on the Oricon charts. On June 18, 2021, he remixed the singles "Catch Me" and "WAKU WAKU sa Sete" by Miho Nakayama alongside releasing a visualizer. In July 2021, he remixed the single "Terefonizumu" by Philosophy no Dance, which was included on their third single on August 18.
On February 1, 2022, the edited compilation "Japanese City Pop 100" was published. On September 25, 2022, it was announced that Night Tempo would provide a song for SKE48 TeamKII's "No Time" performance, which would begin on December 11 of the same year. In 2023, together with Aoi Yagawa and Miori Ichikawa, they debuted as the retro-pop unit FANCYLABO.
Artistry
Influences
Jung influences include Daft Punk, Toshiki Kadomatsu, and Miho Nakayama, stating in an interview that he was fascinated by the music of Nakayama and Kadomatsu. He also discovered Tatsuro Yamashita and Mariya Takeuchi during his time as a programmer. He has also stated that he listens to other future funk artists, namely from the Sailor Team. He is also influenced by singer Eiichi Ohtaki. Night Tempo is active in the U.S. and Japan and is a fan of Sailor Moon.Musical style
Jung focuses on future funk and vaporwave, taking inspiration from city pop, Japanese music and pop culture, which reminds him of his childhood in Seoul. He has also cited his time as a programmer working at night "dictated the type of music he listened to and led to his moniker." In his earlier works, he used samples from the anime seriesSailor Moon in his tracks.He has also produced chillhop as a way to get into other varieties of music.