funky house sceptics, let me draw your attention to this

"i dont entirely buy the dark music always = unhappy people, argument though. often very unhappy people like shimmery, throwaway pop because it helps them forget. but that doesn't mean they're happy people to begin with."

I absolutely agree with that. Having said that there's a certain vibe to dancefloors playing dark/heavy/muscular that tend to be.... dark, heavy and muscular!

D&B nights and the more one-note dubstep nights actually strike me as quite cheerful. Lots of crowing when the tracks get rewound etc. Esp. with those kind of dubstep nights (playing Caspa style stuff) it kind of annoys me because I can't connect with it much and everyone else enjoying themselves so ostentatiously makes me feel a bit resentful.

"shame to hear that about Mak 10's tune, i'm quite surprised, he seems very keen on the softer and vocal sides of house, but there you go"

I'm hoping it's a one-off misstep.

"i dont entirely buy the dark music always = unhappy people, argument though. often very unhappy people like shimmery, throwaway pop because it helps them forget. but that doesn't mean they're happy people to begin with."

yeh absolutely, of course. i suppose with regard to my earlier statement read 'moody people' as 'people who like to listen to moody music', without intended judgement on their psychological states or the complex reasons that they're drawn to those experiences or sounds

Also one that has slowly become a sentimental favourite is the bumping one that goes "you know you wanna dance, get your back up off the wall... hhhavveeaadddriinnnnk... you know you wanna boogie, got yourself a brand new hoodie, and you know you're looking good, G, looking good, G, looking good, G..." What's that called again?

that's rudimental - 'feet have souls'. love it too

http://www.myspace.com/1rudimentalrecordings

It's one of those tracks that seems a bit underwhelming the first time through but the more you listen the more charming and lovable and slightly odd it becomes. Those lyrics!

jeez, i'd left this thread for dead and now i find it's been raging.

@ rltlc:

"god i could barely hear it above the wonderful sound of some canadian junglist wanker's twatois flashcards flying out his hands halfway across the world."

speaking as the resident canadian funky fan, i don't even know what you're on about here. do you?

anyway, marcus' sets have indeed been getting increasingly monochromatic. the b2b with mak10 had (to my ears) a near perfect balance - precarious with all the different elements checking and building on each other. but you could already hear the momentum shifting. the mc one was exciting as an experiment but if that becomes the norm it'll kill off a lot of what drew people there in the first place.

interestingly, roska said on the funky forum that he didn't like that set at all. also that that he regretted making a few tunes that were too grimey and plans to head further back into house territory. understandable given the deluge of spare, grimey tracks recently. some of the new stuff is just starting to remind me of something like "straight" by mondie. remember that one? the dullest, most stripped down grime track ever. and MCs loved it so much that they put out something like three 12"s of vocal versions.

still, i'm loving lots of it, just mostly when it's all thrown together and all the different styles are playing off of each other over the course of a set.

"just got to enjoy the balance while it (if it!) lasts"

exactly. people making this "funky will be good when..." argument are already missing it.

Princess - Frontline

^^this is a really awesome tune (btw it's princess nyah)

So, that Geeneus album then. I wasn't expecting to hear such a range of influences - at times, I can hear echoes of early 90s Strictly Rhythm and Sheffield bleep-n-bass, for instance. "As I" is my clear favourite, while the Benga remix comes as a slight let-down as he doesn't really do that much with it compared to the original. As for the mix CD: 31 tracks in 60 minutes is rushing it a bit, but I like the wide range of styles, and at least he slows down for long enough to give "In The Air" a bit of breathing space.

"I can hear echoes of early 90s Strictly Rhythm and Sheffield bleep-n-bass, for instance."

Yeah some of his earliest tracks, mainly on Dumpvalve, had strong techno influences which seem to be coming back in his funky tunes.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/yg45iy

New Marcus Nasty set (courtesy of Dissensus)

Includes a new tune by upmarket dubstep's finest Ramadanman.

its worth noting that as far as im aware Ramadanman has been into deep / soulful house as long as he has dubstep though...

The man has good taste in general, I'm excited to see him taking a stab at this music.

the vocal tunes from funky are growing on me. not really heard much on the level of do you mind or as i yet but theres a few others from the last few months that seem decent.

anyone else get kind of a 80s NY house feel from some of the instrumentals? they have that hard brittle percussive vibe to them.

The man has good taste in general, I'm excited to see him taking a stab at this music.

yeh man i think he will come with goods

btw has anyone checked DJ Mystery's new tunes on myspace? http://www.myspace.com/1djmystery

feeling Turn It Around majorly, very big vibes on that, seems like that vocal could be quite anthemic. so ravey, which is interesting... don't think i've heard anything so ravey from funky yet, only one that comes close is that Scotty D tune with the 'Destruction keeps happening" vocal

most people will know Mozart i guess it seems like its been getting hammered by quite a few djs

"seems like that vocal could be quite anthemic"

what i actually meant to say was epic!

perempay rmx of teedra moses on his myspazz omg!!!!

ah very nice. but youd have to be a complete idiot to ruin that song. best remix of be your girl is the bmore club one tho...

love that bopstar remix of in the air though... so good.

apparently funky producers are holding 'scene meetings', ukg/jungle style, to crack down on the grime-style riddim tracks (according to this crazy cousins interview i read in shook magazine)...

link? post article?

okay lol @ that

"according to this crazy cousins interview i read in shook magazine)..."

which issue is that? i just downloaded the two most recent (winter, summer) from www.shook.fm but i don't see it.

Perempay N Dee ft Shola Ama - DJ Play
http://www.zshare.net/audio/53597844a2be77e6/

huge track...

wow thanks, loving that

latest one. issue 4 i think.

(xpost)

lil silva - seasons/funky flex is banging http://www.chemical-records.co.uk/sc/servlet/Info?Track=LILSILVA

Seasons is probably the stand-out, both very grimey with great bass.

decent mix here by jackmaster of glasgow's numbers: http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=73011

Tracklisting:

Lil Silva - Funky Flex
Apple - Siegalizer
Roska - Our Father
Donaeo - African Warrior
Roska - Elevated Levels
Palceface & Kyla - Do You Mind (Crazy Cousins Remix)
Roska - Tack Tiles
Lil Silva - Seasons
D Malice - Gabrielle Refix
Kode 9 & LD - Bad
Martyn - Vancouver
Skream - If You Know
Zomby - Rumours & Revolutions
Perempay & Dee - Buss It

Liking this nice ‘funky’ mix I'm listening to, which I got on Little Detroit:

http://www.factmagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1723&Itemid=28

It’s more techy than I would have thought (plus there is deep house on it as well), but they are primarily a techno forum so that’s no surprise. How do you guys on here think it sits with the rest of the sound?

01 Ill Blu - Frontline (Roska Special)

02 Darkus Beat Company - Promise (Roska Remix)

03 Perempay & Dee - Hypnotic

04 Roska - Feeline (Roska 10K Dub Plate)

05 Karizma - I C U

06 Hard House Banton - Reign

07 Geeneus - As I (feat. Katy B)

08 Audiowhores - Make a Choice

09 Donaeo - Party Hard (Suges - We Belong to the Night)

10 Kenny Dope - Sound Bwoy

11 Roska - Gone to a Better Place

12 Hard House Banton - Sirens

13 Gary Bardouille - Starting Over

14 Karizma - It's What I Am (Simbad Remix)

15 Wookie - Gallium

16 Fingaprint - Take Over

17 Magic Touch - Hips

18 Geeneus - Yellowtail

19 Roska - Feeline (Original Mix)

20 Kentphonik - Sunday Showers

21 Crazy Cousinz - Inflation

22 Roska - Holograph

23 Roska - Climate Change (Original Mix)

24 D Malice - Gabrieylle Refix (Roska Special)

25 Roska - In Your Handbag

26 Nick Holder - Erotic Illusions (Triple T O V Mix)

27 DJ Gregory - Vasefa (Argy Remix)

28 Geeneus - Into the Future

29 Afefe Iku - Mirror Dance

30 Roska - Over the Horizons

That doesn't seem that far away from a usual funky set once you get over the relative lack of vocal tunes. Also I'm assuming this is an ID for the ace funky version of "Erotic Illusions" I've been hearing of late.

‘Roska - Gone to a Better Place’ sounds remarkably close to (what I consider) tech house. I like it.

i think Hard House Banton might be my favourite producer name ever.

I was just having a chuckle at that one too.

this seems quite a slow moving scene.

I like the FACT Roska mix (especially as it's 256kbps). Smoothly flowing and agreeably varied.

ah, that looks good, downloading now.

this CC inflation track is so crappy! its like a playschool xylophone line played with basic grime changes (but obv cos its a nice sound its 'classy').

re: slow moving...

I saw Marcus Nasty at aka for the rinse night recently and he was playing pretty much all stuff from last spring... On the other hand that's probably because it wasn't a proper funky night. Dunno, doesn't seem to have been much more of the good stuff since last summer though - just novelty dance tunes.

"this CC inflation track is so crappy! "

titchy off the money as usual.

no, no. its just crap. its almost like funky gone easy listening.

"its almost like (x) gone easy listening" is a black hole into which all interesting thought goes to die.

People have said the same of all manner of awesome tunes over the years. But anyway it's not even true, the groove is really muscular and the xylophone hook is totally ravey.

'Inflation' is almost like a tighter relative of 2-Step/UKG's 'Endorphins'. The beat is hugely propulsive, largely down to the snare pattern (first hit is on the first beat of the bar), and the track has a huge amounts of vibez and tension.

Spot on, "propulsive" is precisely the word. There's a sense in which it really perfects (in the sense of intensifying it to a point it's difficult to imagine bettering) the vibey energy of the funky's snare heavy sound without actually having to go down the grime route (the easiest way to know that someone is full of shit w/r/t funky is that they only like post-"Seasons" tunes that emphatically adopt grime/dubsteppy rhythmic ideas - now obv. "Seasons" is classic, but I like the way "Inflation" feels incredibly energetic but not at all aggressive).

i caught up with Arms remixes showreel i downloaded a while back and they're all terrific - best of this subgenre i've heard so far

That's the broken beat end of the genre I guess. Agree that his stuff has a subtlety and er "depth" that's missing from a lot of the others. He seems like the MJ Cole of this stuff to me...

princess's remix of 'party hard' is A+

the track has a huge amounts of vibe

funnily enough, i heard what sounded like a budget roy ayers remix of inflation a little while ago on rinse i think. had some strange attempts at soloing which made me lol a bit.

titchy might be thinking (...) of kentphonik's sultry 'sunday showers', or (as noted by prancehall) akefe iku's 'mirror dance', both of which could be seen as jazzier 'inflation' xylobites. wrongly.

not to k-punkture the polemic and all but shamefully i must admit that the nomenclature does also hold a certain allure - what mightve merely been a rote afro bubbler now looms with vague zeitgeist doom, absurdly escalating and fluttering up like an exploded suitcase of worthless trillion-dollar zimbabwean bills. feels crafty! the credit crunch ep from which it is supposedly taken will mercifully over-egg that notion though.