Jung Kyung-ho came to an artistic crossroads last year. The South Korean producer creating music under the name Night Tempo was trying to figure out where to take the project, recording new songs while experimenting with a live band for his shows — a drastic departure from previous gigs that found him playing a more traditional DJ role. Then he had a realization.
"I decided I don't need to be a band, I don't need to be a DJ. I should be a curator," he says.
As Night Tempo, the 33-year-old creator often takes inspiration from and directly samples Japanese music from the 1970s and '80s to create aerobic dance cuts. He doesn't draw exclusively from pop evoking Tokyo at its most bubbly, but he's most associated with speedy numbers unknown to Western audiences as a base or remixes of tunes such as those of Mariya Takeuchi's "Plastic Love." He leans into his love of Japanese culture with anime-style artwork and "Sailor Moon" sound effects sprinkled over some of the tracks.