VOGONS

Help Me Identify a Sound Byte - Unknown Phuture by Elwood (1996)

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First post, by StriderTR

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This has been driving me crazy for a couple weeks now...

In the tune, Unknown Phuture by Elwood (1996), it kicks off with a sound byte that I swore was from Akira, but it seems I'm mistaken as I re-watched it a couple weeks ago.

"Here in Neo Tokyo, millions of survivors swell in chaotic vitality, and surge forward to an unknown future."

You can here it here: https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view … eid&query=58949 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsEXPQnRAfI

Been one of my favorite tunes for as long as I can remember and it's driving me nuts I can recall where that comes from...

Any ideas?

DOS, Win9x, General "Retro" Enthusiast. Professional Tinkerer. Technology Hobbyist. Expert at Nothing! Build, Create, Repair, Repeat!
This Old Man's Builds, Projects, and Other Retro Goodness: https://theclassicgeek.blogspot.com/

Reply 1 of 3, by DracoNihil

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A friend of mine turned up this, another song using the samples you're asking about: "Technocity"

As for the ultimate source, unknown. Wouldn't be surprised if Elwood sampled from this specifically as this song was out two years prior.

“I am the dragon without a name…”
― Κυνικός Δράκων

Reply 2 of 3, by StriderTR

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DracoNihil wrote on 2025-09-28, 02:32:

A friend of mine turned up this, another song using the samples you're asking about: "Technocity"

As for the ultimate source, unknown. Wouldn't be surprised if Elwood sampled from this specifically as this song was out two years prior.

I'm starting to wonder if they came from Akira promo materials, and not the film, or perhaps the original Steamline dub from 1989. I'm still 95% sure it's Akira, just no idea from what. 🤣

Also, cool song. 😀

Same thing happened with this song: https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view … id&query=140593

I knew the first sample was X-Files, it's obvious.

The second one drove me crazy ... I knew the voice and knew I heard it before .... "God I love technology!"

After a few days I tracked it down. It's from one of my favorite series, MST3K. Specifically, from 1993 ,"Teen-Age Strangler", from the Crow and Tom's "Mikey" glasses segment of the show. I was so thrilled I found it I posted on the songs page.

The silly rabbit holes I go down. 🤣

DOS, Win9x, General "Retro" Enthusiast. Professional Tinkerer. Technology Hobbyist. Expert at Nothing! Build, Create, Repair, Repeat!
This Old Man's Builds, Projects, and Other Retro Goodness: https://theclassicgeek.blogspot.com/

Reply 3 of 3, by StriderTR

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For the sake of future searches who go down this same silly rabbit hole...

The source of "Here in Neo Tokyo, millions of survivors swell in chaotic vitality, and surge forward toward an unknown future.", from Elwood's 1996 tune "Unknown Phuture", is from a English dubbed Japanese documentary from 1988'ish called "Akira Production Report".

I discovered it going down this rabbit hole yet again. I knew I had heard it before and it had to be from something related to Akira. I spent a lot of time watching MTV, USA Network, and Sci-Fi back in the 80's and 90's. Akira was one of my favorite films, so I must had seen this documentary when it aired on one of those networks back then. Or perhaps on one of the many anime VHS tapes I owned, borrowed, or rented back then since I was such a huge fan of it at that time.

Either way, here it is. 😀

https://archive.org/details/akira-doc (1:15)

DOS, Win9x, General "Retro" Enthusiast. Professional Tinkerer. Technology Hobbyist. Expert at Nothing! Build, Create, Repair, Repeat!
This Old Man's Builds, Projects, and Other Retro Goodness: https://theclassicgeek.blogspot.com/

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