funky house sceptics, let me draw your attention to this

boo was pretty fucking hard too.

the diff i think is just that theres no context in the mainstream for this to be a hit. no one knows what funky is yet. do you mind got a bit of mainstream airplay but that was an age ago now and there was nothing to follow it up that kept the momentum going.

Yeah but not as repetitive musically or performance-wise - on "Get Low" everything is deliberately kept at the exact same intensity throughout.

Otherwise I agree with your post.

DJ Antman - House or Nowhere:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/gmcond

TRACKLISTING:

01 - Mos Wanted - De Congo
02 - Dennis Ferrer - Hey Hey (DFS Attention Vocal Mix)
03 - Jose Carretas feat. Dani - Taking A Little Piece Of Me (Vocal Mix)
04 - Ralf Gum - Kissing Strangers (Todz & Beatz Remix)
05 - Joeysuki & Apster - Stick It (Original Mix)
06 - Apster & Bassjackers - Kinda Kluzu (Vato Gonzalez Dirty House Bootleg)
07 - Afrojack - Do My Dance (Sidney Samson Remix)
08 - Broomstick (Lil Silva Remix)
09 - Crazy Cousinz feat. Versatile - Searching for You
10 - Undisputed - Sunglasses (Champion Remix)
11 - Don Haffer feat. Wayne McNeish - I Apologise
12 - DJ Naughty feat. Miss Fire - It's You
13 - Funkystepz feat. Lilly McKenzie - For You
14 - LR Groove - Sickness
15 - Wiley feat. Emeli Sande - Never Be Your Woman (Solo UK Remix)
16 - D Double E Freestyle
17 - Hard House Banton - Peek N' Duck
18 - D-Malice - Unecessary
19 - Beezy - Dejavoodoo (Geeneus Remix)
20 - Lil Silva feat. Golden B & Irie Dan Bless - Put It On Ice
21 - Perempay - Kick Start
22 - Sony - Mysterious Lady
23 - Champion - Bongoshot
24 - Funkystepz - Backwards

As much as I love it, I can't see "Get Low" doing anything other than flopping as a major label single.

who cares about the charts anymore anyway? underground for underground's sake i say, Get Low, Wile Out and Bad Gyal are amazing on their own terms, the blessing of the chart channels are irrelevant.

i'm sad about these songs not crossing over - not because it makes them any less brilliant in the slightest, but because it makes the charts less brilliant. the blame is entirely on the charts, the gatekeepers involved there, the public who don't get these tunes - it makes one feel curmudgeonly to be dismissive and snobbish about the charts but there's no other option, really.

who cares about the charts anymore anyway? underground for underground's sake i say, Get Low, Wile Out and Bad Gyal are amazing on their own terms, the blessing of the chart channels are irrelevant.

I just meant that releasing it on a major label is entirely the wrong strategy for a tune like this.

"everything is deliberately kept at the exact same intensity throughout."

i like that simmering quality to funky.

i dont care about the charts either, but it would be nice to tell people every so often when they ask what youre into and be able to give them an example that they might know. plus i dunno, i still like the idea of more people being into something good. though im fine with this being a stricly underground thing. i like it in fact. though im fine with it not being in fact too. hoho@me.

It's a big thing in funky - that simmering thing I mean - and one of the qualities that really distinguishes it from all but a handful of garage tunes.

groove/restraint: they're hallmarks of rollidge, rather than the drop/large dynamic range change of lots of, ahem, bass music.

13 - Funkystepz feat. Lilly McKenzie - For You

this is amazing!

love the way the vocal twists itself around the beat

"the public who don't get these tunes"

i played Wile Out for an 11 year old girl yesterday and within the first 30 seconds she was like "WHO IS THAT?!?!" and was totally into it :)

Cooly G on XLR8R podcast duty: http://www.xlr8r.com/podcast/2010/01/cooly-g

Of all the new producers to pop out of the London underground, we must admit that there's an especially warm place in XLR8R's collective heart for Cooly G. Not only do her dark and techy beats sound like no one else's, but her sexy vocals subtly turn up the heat while maintaining a totally cool vibe. Plain and simple, we love the girl, which is why we've been hounding the UK's funky queen to put together an XLR8R podcast ever since she graced the cover of our magazine last fall. Now, after months of anticipation, Cooly G has delivered with a slow-burning mix that's so fresh, the playlist is littered with unknown artists, white-label tracks, and songs simply known as "exclusive." Even better, the mix features live percussion provided by her pal Dezy Da Bongo Man.

And for those who simply can't get enough Cooly G—count us as solidly in that camp—you'll be happy to know that the XLR8R podcast only represents the first half of this massive mix. If you want to get part two, you'll need to follow Cooly G on Twitter, where she'll be releasing the remainder of this DJ session in the very near future.

01 Cooly G "Intro"
02 Cooly G/DVA "Ol' Dirty"
03 DJ Gregory "Traffic"
04 T Williams "Hardcash"
05 Zander Hardy (exclusive)
06 Ben Westbeech & T. Williams (exclusive)
07 Martyn "Megadrive"
08 Artist Unknown "Glow"
09 O.B "ER"
10 Artist Unknown "Get Slapped Up"
11 Artist Unknown "Gain"
12 Artist Unknown "Dougsanna"
13 DJ Gregory "Work Me"
14 Sami Sanchez "Air Raid"
15 MA1 "Samurai Remix"
16 Wbeeza "Deep Underground"
17 Bowly (exclusive)
18 Major Notes "Friend of Mine Dub"

not sure about all these live bongos. is that standard in a cool g set?

i played Wile Out for an 11 year old girl yesterday and within the first 30 seconds she was like "WHO IS THAT?!?!" and was totally into it :)

― zoom, Thursday, January 28, 2010 11:17 AM Bookmark

yeah, when I was teaching tap dance, the funky tracks I used in class were well-recieved

really looking fwd to that cooly g mix

great piece on the rise of night slugs - http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2010/01/slug-life-london-bassheads-l-vis

that antman mix is also a+++ tim - soooo housey, apart from the MCs exactly the kind of thing i'd hear at circle/adults only

omfg that major notes kelly price remix that concludes the cooly g mix i just lost my shit for real

that is a good night slugs piece indeed. eclecticism makes good copy innit.

will check that cooly mix when i get home...

out of interest, to you guys what makes that article good / great?

can someone point me to a split-up mp3 version of that cooly g mix?

that article is gr8 cos it explored the current wot do u call it crossroads that uk bass music is currently facing in showing how night slugs is at the forefront of this new movement where the traditional boundaries have come crashing down and the only common denominator between all these new sounds is bass

i dont know actually, i just liked how it was written

Genuine LOL titchy.

"Thanks. I'm assuming speechless means Roska didn't put his "Roska, roska, roska, roska" (idiotic) vocal in this. "

as seen on a download site listing the Digital Bonus remix for the new Martyn Remixes 2/2 package. The Roska remix is being billed as 'Roska's Speechless Mix'

nope, still has the Roska drops. oh well.

that nightslugs piece isn't an article, it's an advertisement...

...and no way am i DLing a mix with live bongo over it. Dont give a shit how good the playing is, if the producers had wanted live bongo on it they would have recorded it first time round.

still don't get teh cooly G thing ? is it cos shes an ethnic chick who plays soccer and makes beats ?...like if she were a male would the music still be as hyped ?

Have you heard Love Dub? I think that whole single is great. Loving the new Sade but would really be happy if there was a Cooly G white label that turned up at some point. Anyway, Love Dub reminds me of Sade and I love it for that.

i used to feel the same as its all about face on the bongos thing. not anymore.

how anyone can "not get the cooly thing" after listening to ANY SINGLE TRACK of hers is beyond comprehension. girl got an unmissable ill sound.

of course its an ad. but a lot of music journalism is like an ad, no? just so happens in this case that mates like to cover mates and its strengthens the friendship and so on and so on. hence why bok bok and co have been in xlr8r and the guardian recently. and why marcus nasty and mak 10 have not.

love dub is alright. narst is the one though. love dub is attempted soulfulness. im not sure it gets there.

people confuse ambience with soulfulness often imo.

btw this pack of riddims that geeneus has just randomly given away is v much recommended - http://dot-alt.blogspot.com/2010/01/4-classic-geeneus-riddims.html

not sure why i posted that in here when they're grimier but fuck it

those are just old grime tracks.

all classics tho. geeneus is one of the best producers ever.

first things first, big appreciation to you Tim, i'm really enjoying your pieces on funky, and am ever-grateful for all the mixes and track id's you post on this thread.

sorry for the slightly intrusive question yesterday titchy / lex, it was in lieu of launching into what would've been some pretty negative comment but i don't think the discussion around this music needs any more negativity really

to explain all i'll say is that i'm tired of seeing producers getting slated essentially because of the way media outlets are representing or hyping them. clearly that has implications for how i feel writers should be approaching writing about them. i guess at least with that night slugs piece a lot of the talking was done by the producers themselves, so misrepresentation isn't such an issue. also that one of the reasons i enjoy Tim's writing such a great deal is that almost always he seems to reflect on the value of the music or artists in and of itself/themselves, rather than in negative definition against something (which often in the articles i read, is a straw man or at best exaggeration / oversimplification).

yeah the cooly G trax are inoffensive enough but they still feel a bit underdone, like much of skreams stuff which i was never a big fan of either and which by most accounts seem to be getting progressively worse.

"in this case that mates like to cover mates and its strengthens the friendship and so on and so on. hence why bok bok and co have been in xlr8r and the guardian recently. and why marcus nasty and mak 10 have not."

is that the "ends/class" thing blackdown was trying to distance him and his mates from ?

dont care about the ends/class thing blackdown was talking about. just saying that as is obv from reading here or blogs or fact or wherever, people tend to give the spotlight to their mates. hence the coverage you see and who its by. plus people cover the circles theyre into. so if its nightslugs or wherever place for people that dress like twats in hoxton, thats what youll see. but enough about all that. lets get back to moaning about get low still not being released.

Why had I never heard this amazing awesome Major Notes production before now??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcPH5pXGDCw&feature=related

Hard to beat this guy in terms of the sheer quality of his sound, I reckon. Wondering whether he should be my next producer to profile.

just saying that as is obv from reading here or blogs or fact or wherever, people tend to give the spotlight to their mates. hence the coverage you see and who its by. plus people cover the circles theyre into.

xlr8r asked me to do the piece on night slugs, i didnt pitch it. and i agreed that the night deserved to be covered (it is the best clubnight in london, i'm not just saying that cos i know them) so it happened.

ive been trying to do a big interview with marcus for fact for ages, but he changes his number and doesnt answer his twitter and it's not really happened so far.

Luka rightly recommended this dude:

http://soundcloud.com/ossieproducer/

But while his funky stuff is great, his R&B remixes are even better I reckon - lovely and unsettling.

the production on "she got that" is amazing - love that techy/tribal beats + airy euphoric synths - makes me wish more people picked up on the booka shadeisms of "our father". wish the dudes made better use of it though.

have you heard major not£$' cover of "friend of mine"?? it's brilliant (and such a great song to revive). (also, note spelling of major not£$ - not sure if this is how he spells it all the time but i've seen it like this and it's amazing)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBZAnvcUJIg

Lex read upthread we've been talking about "Friend of Mine" for ages ha ha. Yes it's amazing, though it took me one or two listens to work out just how much - the beat, the vocal, the lyrics.

The only reason I don't do dude's name properly is I forget how to do the pound symbol on my keyboard and then just putting the dollar symbol seems wrong by itself.

Obv the lyrics are from Kelly Price - I just mean that the package comes together so well here, cheater/heartbreak songs are so great in vocal house.

oh yeah Ossie is great. Set the Tone has been my m.f. jams... soulful in the classic sense.

Broad question, I’d be interested to hear any thoughts...

From interactions, observations or second hand tales, does anyone have a strong idea of why so little of the best funky is making it through to releases?

Not just vinyl but mp3... I know there are more mp3 releases about than it can first appear, but even then there are many anthems and incredible tracks from the last 2 years (or more) that I haven't seen the slightest indication of release for.

Do you think it’s just that there isn't enough money in it unless it’s done in a big way (i.e. itunes + video + publicity), and for the kind of tracks that non-djs would buy? Certainly in the case of vinyl I can well imagine that it’s purely to do with profit margins, given that 12s like Liberty and Pain are still taking up space in record stores all over the place

I guess an obvious place to look is puregrime and leaking, it’s actually a farce how much unreleased material is available on there. So I guess maybe a lot of djs actually play out with these leaked mp3s too

Looking back at that I perhaps overstate the case, when i think about it a fair few of the best tracks have made it out eventually, but nonetheless i think there is something in it

No idea why funky isn't making it out... certainly melodic enough.

A few decent producers but it's not floating my boat in all honesty.... that said if it lightens the dubstep scene I'll be grateful.

to be honest i think itd be better if all the scenes just went their own way. if anything funky is taking the best bits from grime and dubstep more succesfully/interestingly, just cos its still at that developmental stage.

why is it i sometimes read people talking about funky/'the ends' audience like theyre doing some sort of anthropological exercise?

Ha ha go on titchy, what did you just read?