That Jam City mix is great but it doesn't belong here at all, it's much too stiff and mechanistic. It seems to sit somewhere between fidget house, Greenmoney and the Ashley Beedle remix of Township Funk. And something else much techier that I can't put my finger on.
― Matt DC, Friday, 16 October 2009 09:04 (fourteen years ago) link
It's a bit DJ Zinc (recent DJ Zinc) actually.
I should say it's probably better than "alright", I'm just reacting to the massive hype-inflation. Not sure why taking this stuff and making it all serious cat automatically = hosannas.
― Tim F, Friday, 16 October 2009 09:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Haha you say that about everything Tim!
I like the idea of taking grimey hooks and making them techy and expensive sounding much more than I like the idea of taking funky and making it serious cat (which Jam City totally isn't doing).
The sheer level of purple prose in that Fact article is embarrassing though.
― Matt DC, Friday, 16 October 2009 09:43 (fourteen years ago) link
"Haha you say that about everything Tim!"
I know, but it bears repeating. I'm fighting a losing battle.
― Tim F, Friday, 16 October 2009 10:11 (fourteen years ago) link
it's not a battle! everyone can coexist i feel. also, one purple prosey article does not "massive hype-inflation" make...
never really knew where to put this before but if jam city fits in here, i think kingdom certainly does. he's an amazing NYC dj/producer and massive r&b fan who absolutely smashed night slugs a few months ago; loads of trancey stabbing synths, diva vox, tons of energy and largeness. think it'll be much more to your liking tim - his "mindreader" track ft. shyvonne is astonishingly massive. this mix in particular is excellent - http://dot-alt.blogspot.com/2009/03/kingdom-exclusive-mix-for-lower-end.html
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 October 2009 10:16 (fourteen years ago) link
http://twitter.com/kkingdomm is good value too
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 October 2009 10:17 (fourteen years ago) link
listening to that mix again now and i cannot stress how much u all need to hear it
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 October 2009 10:19 (fourteen years ago) link
I know you think I'm just full of it on this point, but indulge me: name someone, anyone apart from me, who has tried to write seriously about any actual funky artist in the past year not in the following list: Crazy Cousinz, Roska, Cooly G, Scratcha DVA, Lil' Silva.
Just one article, anywhere.
― Tim F, Friday, 16 October 2009 11:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Having said that, this Kingdom mix sounds excellent. Much better than the Jam City one IMO.
― Tim F, Friday, 16 October 2009 11:07 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah that Jam City mix is pretty fun for sure. Beat wise it seems to have that loose backbone I associate with a lot of funky I've heard. But whether it belongs on this thread or not I'm not expert enough to say. Good luck to the lad though...
― sam500, Friday, 16 October 2009 13:22 (fourteen years ago) link
" Crazy Cousinz, Roska, Cooly G, Scratcha DVA, Lil' Silva."
earlier in the year you could be forgiven for only concentrating on those guys though. seeing as they WERE the biggest names and most exciting.
now, things have moved on to yknow, jam city.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Friday, 16 October 2009 13:28 (fourteen years ago) link
who else should people be writing about though? i cant say at this point. half the tunes are like arent even made by people 'in' the scene. theyre from other places.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Friday, 16 October 2009 13:29 (fourteen years ago) link
Perempay & Dee? Donae'o? Geeneus? Ill Blu? Just picking the first four who came to mind with actual distinguishing features.
― Matt DC, Friday, 16 October 2009 13:31 (fourteen years ago) link
perempays put out maybe ONE tune this year. buss it seems an age ago. donaeo should have gotten more hype, yeah, he made a good album. but hes not seen as 'serious' enough for fact types. geeneus isnt exactly underrappreciated. though he maybe could be more rated for his productions, yeah.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Friday, 16 October 2009 13:37 (fourteen years ago) link
lol all of these people have been written about over the past year, as have a lot of the vocalists and mcs. i mean, the whole heatwave ja/funky post for one thing?
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 October 2009 13:44 (fourteen years ago) link
how often (and where) do people even "write seriously" about funky anyway?
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 October 2009 13:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Yes but that's not Serious Crit For Serious People About Serious Music though Lex!
(xpost)
― Matt DC, Friday, 16 October 2009 13:46 (fourteen years ago) link
if these 'serious' muso writers only wanna talk about the stuff that sounds like techno then cool. who gives a fuck. not the ravers. not the artists. not even the djs. seems like even if you wanna praise the cooly g types you cant not talk about the more populist strains of funky anyway. so hey, everyones happy. and funky has its own policing strategies as everyone is aware and this issue really is not one of them from the looks of things.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Friday, 16 October 2009 13:50 (fourteen years ago) link
i don't even know which funky acts tim thinks should be covered by (fact? xlr8r? i have no idea!), or which would prove his point, given that crazy cousinz through to cooly g is a pretty damn wide spectrum already. geeneus has gotten loads of attention. marcus nasty will get loads when his rinse mix drops. ill blu are perhaps underappreciated but they don't have any live rep to speak of.
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 October 2009 13:52 (fourteen years ago) link
besides, im fine with the 'auteury' types being singled out, if it means the rest of the scene can bubble along unpertubed. cos WITHIN the scene, these guys that xlr8r and fact etc like arent really as big as donaeo etc.
also, if anyone WAS just writing about Crazy Cousinz, Roska, Cooly G, Scratcha DVA, Lil' Silva, that IS a pretty great range of diff funky styles.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Friday, 16 October 2009 13:53 (fourteen years ago) link
im all for the thoroughly reynoldsy thing of 'must champion the populist songs/artists and belittle the leftfielders' cos the mainstream/serious techno musos are so prone to the opposite, but i think tim is just looking for a fight. something to create some sort of serious critical discourse/axe to grind w/r/t funky.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Friday, 16 October 2009 13:56 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.dummymag.com/txt-reviews/
Floating Points Vacuum Boogie A smooth ride through the cosmos. This is funky at its most refined.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Friday, 16 October 2009 14:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Why is Vacuum Boogie considered 'Funky'? Sounds more like the Mark E/Theo brand of slow-house than Funky.
― brotherlovesdub, Friday, 16 October 2009 14:52 (fourteen years ago) link
Don't sound like no funky to me either.
― Chewshabadoo, Friday, 16 October 2009 14:56 (fourteen years ago) link
its not.
not sure about this kingdom mix. sounds like something someone down with diplo would do. bassline-y trancey house, lots of R&B vocals/cut ups, post bmore shit, all over the shop.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Friday, 16 October 2009 15:01 (fourteen years ago) link
oh yeah, fact x night slugs @ egg on 23 oct. reaching.
http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/object3/577/122/n138217572263_753.jpg
― lex pretend, Friday, 16 October 2009 15:41 (fourteen years ago) link
After listening to the 3 mixes linked/discussed above, I can conclusively say Jam City kills them all. The SFV10 mix is ruined by a repetitive and pointless MC, the Kingdom mix is good but not nearly as engaging as Jam City. Glad to have heard them all though. Thanks for the links.
― brotherlovesdub, Friday, 16 October 2009 16:37 (fourteen years ago) link
heartless crew on rinse fri 7-9sounding good and fun so far
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Friday, 16 October 2009 18:55 (fourteen years ago) link
In some senses yes. I guess I just can't help but let my reactions be clouded by my sense of disappointment there seems to be this roar of indifference w/r/t actually checking out funky and writing about it - okay not "seriously", but, you know perhaps slightly more in depth than just "this track is big". Because I like reading to find out about new music, and I like the sense of excitement I feel when I can share other people's enthusiasm, and I can't go to these raves so it'd be nice to at least get that sense of shared enthusiasm somehow. And it seems that grime was the recipient of a massive, even disproportionate outpouring of writing (purply and otherwise), and I'm not even asking for that, but, y'know, just that maybe some people might give a shit and, like, help me out. But instead I'm mostly reduced to painstakingly assembling my knowledge of the scene by myself, using radio sets and myspace pages and a whole bunch of guesswork, because otherwise the internet is offering me very little assistance.
But clearly this is a good thing - no way do any of these producers want to be the beneficiaries of well-written, enthusiastic and informed media.
Tinchy even says upthread "no idea how you guys find out who makes what..." and then you all say "oh but are there even any producers worth writing about anyway...?"
There's no connection there, you don't think?
Re DJ Larizzle - yeah to be honest i was still downloading it when I posted the link, I was just assuming it'd be as strong as Vol. 9 and (particularly) Vol. 8, it comes in a bit below those though.
― Tim F, Friday, 16 October 2009 20:48 (fourteen years ago) link
the amount of attention given to grime was, at least in the states, largely about ppl who wanted to like rap without actually listening to rap from their own back yards
the funny thing to me about ppl's large scale ignorance of funky in this country is that, when compared to grime or even 2step, it seems like it would fit in w/ a lot of existing dance scenes -- like, funky anthems dont really sound all that out of place in a set of house or pop music here! except for the ones w/ weird or quirkily british hooks (i.e. "too many men")
but obv the kind of ppl who seem to be taking to funky here are dubstep fans tired of dubstep who want 'beat science'-y nerd shit
― i got nothin (deej), Friday, 16 October 2009 20:51 (fourteen years ago) link
It's the same in Australia.
― Tim F, Friday, 16 October 2009 21:14 (fourteen years ago) link
And they all seem to read Fact.
"but obv the kind of ppl who seem to be taking to funky here are dubstep fans tired of dubstep who want 'beat science'-y nerd shit"
I think that kinda describes me, actually. What is wrong with that path to liking Funky? I'm genuinely interested in the reasoning.
― brotherlovesdub, Friday, 16 October 2009 21:41 (fourteen years ago) link
<--- also reads Fact, fwiw.
Nothing wrong with it. A lot of these people are my friends, with whom I enjoy talking about music. They seem mostly interested in funky when and to the extent that it starts to resemble the other beat sciencey nerd shit they like, though, as opposed to, say, "Inflation" or "Gabryelle Refix" or "In The Morning" or "Pull It Wheel It" or etc.
Okay, positive vibes. "Jungle" on this Swift Jay website is surprisingly epic:
http://www.isound.com/swift_jay
Love Swift Jay so so much, though this doesn't top "Revenge" or "Toppa 5" or "Tribe" for me (though that's not saying a huge amount).
― Tim F, Friday, 16 October 2009 21:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Wish I'd known that my second favourite diva anthem of the year had been up on youtube all this time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiM5sPSMWSM&feature=related
The use of Roger Rabbit for the visuals is surprisingly successful.
― Tim F, Friday, 16 October 2009 23:38 (fourteen years ago) link
because otherwise the internet is offering me very little assistance
well yeah, "the internet"!
idk. i have stopped really writing on or for the internet. i'm tired of enthusing to little response, and when 90% of internet people default to indie in crunch time why even bother, you know? the thing with uk funky is that it's so in flux and malleable and all-encompassing that it's kinda impossible to put into an internet-friendly summation. which is how i like it.
― lex pretend, Saturday, 17 October 2009 00:00 (fourteen years ago) link
'funked out' on the jam city mix is very nice.
― Iko, Saturday, 17 October 2009 00:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Ha ha Lex that "it's the internet!" argument is the same thing that infuriates you w/r/t pitchfork though.
Really FACT is just the dance music Pitchfork. I'm more attuned to things about it that annoy me owing to the narcissism of small differences I guess.
(to the extent that, despite writing for Pitchfork, I feel "closer" to FACT in terms of my tastes)
― Tim F, Saturday, 17 October 2009 00:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Is there a tracklisting for that DJ Larizzle mix? There's a few tracks on there I really like and can't identify.
― Matt DC, Saturday, 17 October 2009 16:58 (fourteen years ago) link
And it seems that grime was the recipient of a massive, even disproportionate outpouring of writing (purply and otherwise)
actually i really feel you on this, the whole "why isn't uk funky being picked up on by so many more people" - but my frustration is more to do with its failure to cross over commercially than the amount of internet writing about it. i don't really feel the need to "piece it together", maybe b/c in practice there's no privileging of beat-sciencey shit over any other type - i mean you haven't actually specified what you'd rather fact cover! the ja stuff? poppy vocal stuff? jam city is a total red herring given that his stuff barely belongs in this thread and makes more sense filed alongside or near omar-s or someone.
greenmoney are reasonably underrated remixers i think - their busy signal, twizzle, kid sister, kanye and kid cudi remixers are all A+ or better, and mdc just pointed out this AMAZING yo majesty remix too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZaZwlB4i9M
their brooklynradio.net sets are always on point too.
princess nyah is dropping an ill blu-produced mini-album on 26 oct btw! this is her new single "big boys". not quite as much of a monster as "frontline" but pretty good nonetheless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKpsBIOXqL4
it irks me far more that "frontline", "in the morning", "do you mind", "falling again" etc weren't huge hits than the lack of reynoldsian discourse over them.
― lex pretend, Saturday, 17 October 2009 17:11 (fourteen years ago) link
The thing that makes me so happy about that Greenmoney remix of Yo Majesty is that it goes part of the way towards fulfilling my long-held wish for a funky remix of Body Language.
― Matt DC, Saturday, 17 October 2009 18:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Jam City's aesthetic and raw beats style may be closer to Omar-S in terms of beat production, but the rhythms are clearly in the funky camp. You can't just disown it because it doesn't have a pop sheen and some shitty lyrics.
― brotherlovesdub, Saturday, 17 October 2009 19:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah Greenmoney is great. Princess has spiked her own momentum on account of "Big Boy" being one of the weakest Ill Blu tunes this year. She should do a vocal over "Blu Magic".
I'm not really asking for reynoldsian discourse (I can cover that). My annoyance with FACT is that they purport constantly to be massive fans of UK funky and then only write about it in connection to a very small collection of indie-endorsement-ready artists (incl. Jam City). If even people who hold themselves out as being totally into UK funky can't bring themselves to talk about it, how can you blame the general public for being disinterested?
Here are just some of the other artists people should be talking about Lex (my litmus test is the artist having been responsible for at least four amazing tracks). You'd note that I mention these names all the time so it's not like it's not obvious who I think is a big deal.
Swift JayScotty D/Funk FactoryIll BluD-MaliceGreenmoneyFuzzy Logick OBVDubplate WonderStickySami SanchezFunykstepzDevine Recordings/Madd.OneFootlooseInvasion Records (Footloose/O.B./Tadow)Miss FireDJ NaughtyMajor NotesEar DisM SadlerSeany BHard House Banton (although "Sirens" - a total anomaly for him - does get talked about)DJ MysteryDeleriousEmveeFunky Boy
Then there's producers who haven't done much yet but deserve track write-ups at least:
Mos' WantedMoonyEnrique BenitezUndisputedDarkus Beat CompanyDiamond etcetc
The above artists range all over the shop, but in particular they often fall into that middle stratum of making big bangers for raves and radio sets that lend themselves neither to (failed) chart crossover nor indiefication.
The thing about indiefication is that it even distorts the work of the artist who does benefit. You'd think from FACT etc that Roska's biggest and best track this year is his remix of Untold, which is actually one of his weakest efforts. In fact his biggest is "Wonderful Day", while his best are his remixes of Darkus Beat Company's "Promises" and Hard House Banton's "Reign" and his track on the Fantastic 4 EP. But, y'know, none of those are a remix of a feted dubstep artist.
― Tim F, Saturday, 17 October 2009 21:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Matt I've tried to do a tracklist for the DJ Larizzle mix. Listened to it in full this time and liked it a lot more, unfortunately many of my favourite bits I can't identify:
Major Note$ - Friend Of MineGeeneus - CrackishSticky & Ms Dynamite - Bad Gyal??? - ???Natalie Walker - All Up On MeBassjackers & Apster - KlambuIll Blu - Blu MagicRoska - Wonderful DayCrazy Cousinz - ?????? - ??? (love this one but forgotten what it is)??? - ??? (sounds like Fuzzy Logik's "The Way You Move" though)Apple - Chantes? Can never keep these separateDonaeo - Flap Your Wings (great!!)??? - ??? (Lil' Silva probably)Beyonce - Sweet Dreams (Major Note$ Remix) - excellent!Perempay & Dee - Buss It??? - ??? (like this a lot)Kyla - Daydreaming (Crazy Cousinz - sounds like a dub though?)D-Malice - AMAZING *NEW* GABRYELLE REFIX? Third version! Maybe a remix?Kimona & Crazy Cousinz - Do You Right??? - ?????? - ?????? - ???Geeneus - Make MeHot Steppa ft. Dogtanium & Riskgo, Gracious K, Cheekie et. al. - ???, maybe "Let's Take This High" (Fantastic!)Black Russian - Soul Gypsy??? - ??? (LIFECHANGINGLY EXCELLENT! check those xylophones! "I didn't come to the rave to look for love/I CAME TO DANCE!")??? - ?????? - ???Sticky - Juremiah RiddimUndisputed - SunglassesJeremiah - Birthday (Donaeo Remix)??? - ??? (great!)Crazy Cousinz - Always Be MineApple - Siegalizer or whatever it isLil Silva - Funky vs Pulse??? - ??? (big)Lil' Silva - DifferentD-Malice - Gabryelle Refix (the original)Aaron Carl - Oasis (Nick Holder Dub)Ultra Nate - Love's The Only DrugApple - Siegalizer or whatever
― Tim F, Sunday, 18 October 2009 04:04 (fourteen years ago) link
Truly Brilliant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbI3XTcGXE8
― Tim F, Sunday, 18 October 2009 04:08 (fourteen years ago) link
Likewise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrt0fndc9AI&feature=related
― Tim F, Sunday, 18 October 2009 04:13 (fourteen years ago) link
ANOTHER MASSIVE ILL BLU RIDDIM:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaoDP4_6hn8&feature=player_profilepage
― Tim F, Sunday, 18 October 2009 04:27 (fourteen years ago) link
OMG that Ill Blu track is astonishing - just the sheer shameless audacity of taking every massive bombastic banger trick in the book and laying them all on top of one another with a trowel.
― Matt DC, Sunday, 18 October 2009 15:30 (fourteen years ago) link
BRING BACK THE ROBOT DANCEBRING BACK THE RUNNING MAN
― Matt DC, Sunday, 18 October 2009 15:34 (fourteen years ago) link