The coastal city of Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, boasts no shortage of natural beauty and picturesque shrines, but Masayuki Funo, 28, says the region lacks the vibrant youth culture found in larger metropolitan areas. So, like others in his situation, he went online.
“I enjoyed experimental, electronic and dance music from all around the world thanks to the internet," Funo says, adding that it was the genre of vaporwave that helped him escape country life, a style of electronic music built around slowed-down samples of older songs. “It pulls from music that was once seen as worthless, like 1980s pop tunes and New Age. It tickled my curiosity.”
This led Funo, better known by his online alias, “Sute_aca” (“Throwaway account”), to found Local Visions in 2018, a web label that has grown from aspiring vaporwave cassette imprint to digital launching pad for some of the most exciting new music coming out of Japan. The label has managed this by highlighting young creators with a unique perspective on styles like synthwave, funk and smooth jazz.