funky house sceptics, let me draw your attention to this

the kode 9 12 is good but overrated (it is more wonky than funky though - cant see marcus nasty playing those tracks - or has he already done it?, tho it would be interesting). theres always something a bit deficient to me about his beats. they lack a certain physicality. hyperdub is still a great label though.

Best tune evah: http://www.theheatwave.net/blog/donaeo-partyhard.mp3

im sure this will be taken as a sign of 'person who hates all funky thats girly/housey/happy/hedonistic etc' but i absolutely loathe that KIG song. its up (or down, rather) there with 'funky anthem'. id much rather something like frontline, that new fuzzy logik tune, or katy b's (brilliant) as i got funky some recognition. not this. i dont know which side of funky cheerleading is better - the side that only likes funky when its 'dark' or grimey or the side that praises everything cheesy just cos its 'fun' (well, apparently) so you should dismiss all critical faculties and just enjoy it.

(forgot to add that track with the hook 'i dont give a fuck about sheeee' to the list of tunes id like to be massive)

"the side that praises everything cheesy just cos its 'fun'"

who does this though.

The "I Don't Give A Fuck About She" tune is good I agree!

sorry about how blunt my reply is but i think that the crazy cousinz branding noise is obviously so carefully sound-designed & it sounds so amazing when it comes in on the vinyl ... hearing it in shitty sound qual really misses out on the gigantic club sound it has

― deej da 5'9 (deej), Saturday, 21 February 2009 01:48 (6 days ago)

no not at all, its all good :) yeh i can see what you're saying, but i guess my issue is that often this kind of music in hi-def download / cd format can sound pretty sterilised and well sterile! a number of funky tunes i've been very disappointed to hear hi-quality in comparison to the way they sound overdriven through a pirate's compressor on low bitrate. the way it mashes the sound together and creates bulges and bumps can bring so much life out of it, wheras in reality a lot of the production can be quite flat and dull, which is cool on a system with a vibe on the dancefloor, but on a cd or hi-def download it can be quite underwhelming

that branding noise is one of the best things ever though, along with their 'cray-zey cousinz' insignia. undeniable and phenomenal, such addictive and wonderful ways to say to a dancefloor / listener - YEP this is US... speaking of which their remix of KIG is massive (introduced by squealing electro synth riff of said 'cray-zey cousinz' motif!), totally underrated it first listen, but heard it drop in a set and it came to life in a big way, the bassline is truly bubbly. discombobulated was actually the word that came to mind as a slightly onomatopoeic way of putting it

donaeo mix is awesome also, as said above, totally makes it his own. i love all three mixes, hope they all go on the release

or rather discombobulating

lol how did it come to this

i am firmly on deej's wrt bitrate

this kind of music in hi-def download / cd format can sound pretty sterilised and well sterile!

^^this makes absolutely no sense to me. shitty bitrate or radio rips don't make it mor eexciting, they just mean you can't hear half of what's going on.

*deej's side
*more exciting

its purely a subjective thing, i'm not trying to say that anyone else should feel the same. i'm also mixing two issues into one which is a mistake - one being the sound getting pushed through a compressor or battered in some other way pre-broadcast, and second mp3 compression. so probably thinking about it properly higher bitrate wouldn't make much difference to what i'm saying. but it remains that i've enjoyed many tunes far more in radio rips than when i've heard them on studio-recorded mix CDs. i'd also very much disagree with the idea that its purely a subtraction of sound or detail, as well as that its a change in sound

this is something that makes a lot of sense living in london and listeing on FM, the tunes are all pumped till they distort, that adds the extra 'oomp' that makes this music sound like its spinning out of control sometimes. The majority of this stuff will never see a proper mastering job or vinyl so the compression/distortion. This is something i found out myself when i tried to make the jump from livesets at smaller venues to big rigs. Without the disortion adding to the dynamics of my tunes they sounded wimpy as hell, pretty much had to back to the drawing board and figure how to make everything work frq wise. Ive heard that kode9 is playing a lot of cdrs out and distorting the systems deliberately and given his theory background id say this was the adding of a pretty deliberate signifier.

agree with benjamin and straightola. interesting if thats true about kode 9. along the same lines, im still convinced 679 compressed the songs on run the road 1 and made it sound a bit dirtier than the original tracks.

i dont think u guys 'get' compression -- the problem is it flattens the sound, it doesnt add dynamics ... thats just eqing which is a totally diff thing

when im talking about radio compression i mean that the lower frequencies are getting cut off and distorted, then added to a fuzzy pirate signal gives the same boost youd get out of overdriven guitar

"Ive heard that kode9 is playing a lot of cdrs out and distorting the systems deliberately and given his theory background id say this was the adding of a pretty deliberate signifier."

Before you start spinning this into a theory, I just have to say that this is a bizarre rumour. I've never done that deliberately, and certainly haven't told anyone I do that. Who are you wastola?

i dont think u guys 'get' compression -- the problem is it flattens the sound, it doesnt add dynamics ... thats just eqing which is a totally diff thing

i'm not saying that dynamics are being added, rather being altered. if you put a tune through a compressor at high input with a low threshold and high ratio, it creates bulges where the tunes quiet and dips where its loud right? which totally changes the groove and sense of space in a track. add to that the effect of a dj in the mix. that unpredictability of space i think is what makes it exciting to me, wheras the relatively straight and flat production on a lot of funky tunes i can find quite boring when presented cleanly (outside of the vibe of a club or social space). i'm open to correction on technicals though i can't say my understanding is particularly expert

what do you mean about eq? cos i have also noticed on some pirate stations a pretty unique sense of eq, but have always put that down to the compression

yah im actually a fan of distortion when it has some function -- i think it can add atmosphere etc, its kinda like a twist on bass drops & basic house DJ eqing in the theo parrish etc sense -- i think my objection is more the notion that its got a more 'real' sound or more interesting sound w/out it i mean i get the idea that it being in a mix, & sounding sloppy & 'live' is a huge part of the appeal but im really very glad that the bass still hits like its supposed when this shit is properly release (all the crazy cousinz shit ive heard sounds actually pretty amazing in its 'studio version') -- imo basically its the DJ's job to fuck with the compression of the tracks, not the producers.

Before you start spinning this into a theory, I just have to say that this is a bizarre rumour. I've never done that deliberately, and certainly haven't told anyone I do that. Who are you wastola?

― kode9, Friday, 27 February 2009 14:13 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

no hating meant mate. I think is was mentioned on dissensus a while back after beyond or FWD, apologies if its rubbish or ive got my wires crossed i dont mean to be shit stirring. Love your new stuff.

Speaking of DJs, I'd love to see more chat about them on this thread, which always seems very producer-focused. I have to say that sequencing-wise the only two guys that bring anything particularly special to this seem to be Marcus Nasty (obviously), Spyro and Perempay... I still love that mix Perempay did for Rinse halfway through last year when he keeps bringing 'In the air' back again and again and builds this really smooth hypnotic feel with the tracks, which is so radically different to the 'slam in the hits' approach that it really struck me. I think that because funky is at that (wonderful) stage in its evolution when all sorts of different iterations on the basic template can co-exist in one set, that's when you'd expect some amazing new styles of set construction to appear. Maybe I've just not been to enough clubs. Dunno, anyone want to shout out any particular DJs styles?

Okay track ID time. On Lil Silva and Marcus's set from 20.02.09, what are:

- the amazing dancehallish tune at the 45:21 mark, with the huge synth riffs and the sampled "buss it!". The way the beat switches up at 45:50 is just insane.
- the cataclysmic synth stab tune from about 82 minutes - it's like Quentin Harris gone grime. Marcus's announcements imply that it's "Sunshine" by Target???

Ah god I I can't believe I didn't know the first track was Perempay & Dee's (heh) "Buss It"... So good!

I don't really keep up to date as much as everyone else on this thread but that remix of Head Shoulder Knees And Toes with Doneao on it is INCREDIBLE. Ditto Party Hard, even if his signature is getting a bit Harry Belafonte.

I really like In The Morning as well - it seems to be the closest funky might get to its own Fill Me In (ie big breakthrough hit), which I never really thought about Do You Mind.

(Btw it is awesome to see Cybele back here as well)

Turns out "Sunshine" is by Lil Silva himself, go figure.

Cosign Matt's last two posts, including a big welcome to Cybele.

Sorry for getting all ysi? up in here, but can someone please post "In Your Handbag"?

ok, so, beyond last night was SO SO SO SO SO GOOD. loads better than the last one, though earlier on i was still irritated by the preponderance of hooded boys facing the dj and skulking without dancing - it must be so depressing to be faced with that as the dj. miriam and i held it down as best we could, though, and a group of girls in party mode arrived at some point too, so it did get going later.

but anyway, the music! it was a lot housier than i expected - MA1's set was unbelievably detroity. in places, it could almost have been a carl craig-esque techno set, except w/that galloping broken beat instead of steady 4/4. recognised a lot of deeper cuts like jalla's 'turbulence', roska's 'our father'. it was stellar. surprisingly few vox, even in the marcus nasty and geeneus sets, but the occasional superb anthem obv - 'seasons' and 'frontline' were the night's biggest winners, though i can report that 'in the morning' sounds EVEN BETTER in a club.

- only just realised that it's jalla as in jalapeno, duhhh
- the lyrics of 'frontline' are kind of fucked up, it's all about a girl looking after her dealer bf's coke stash...and the line "i'm in love with this boy and he calls me snow white" is obv a coke ref, but for ages i assumed princess nyah was white because of it. (she's not.)

(by "the last one" i mean the first one, the last beyond i went to - have missed all the intervening ones)

yeh man the frontline lyric is pretty interesting... her role is also metaphor for her emotional exposure in the relationship i think ('my heart's open so wide...'). definitely some compulsive but quite upsetting tensions of willing / resistant, exploited and knowing it / proud and wearing it

glad Beyond was good. i was not at all sold on plastic people as the place, as a venue it really draws out that eyes on the dj vibe. it would really benefit from some more lighting at the back for certain nights i think. system is so good though

i didnt go beyond :(

you should hear princess's other song about needing 'big boys'.

yeah, her defiant/no-nonsense tone makes her sound so determined to make herself vulnerable in all sorts of ways.

<3 the plastic people system - after listening to so many mp3s and sets on shoddy bitrate, it was so brilliant to feel the bass. agree about PP the venue, but it was better than the weird west end place beyond started life at...

xp show me titchy!

i dont have a link.

im pissed off i didnt go beyond now. you should stop talking ;)

come to night slugs next thu then. crazy cousinz!

Biggest songs on (my) road:

Funkystepz - Funky Sound
Crazy Cousinz - Always Be Mine
Footsteps - Some tune whose name I can't remember
Tribal Audio + NST - Hard Steppin'
KIG - Head Shoulders Knees & Toes (Donaeo Remix)
Fuzzy Logic - In The Morning
Perempay & Dee - Buss It

Am I the only one who prefers the original KIG to the Donaeo mix? :-/

I like Donaeo, but he kinda sucks out a lot of the effortless, goofy fun.

well the original is so ubiquitous now that the remix pretty much functions as its own track, it's not really so much a case of one commenting on the other.

moreover rev you gravely underestimate the veyr-much-effort-filled fun of hollering along to doneao's operatic mavadoisms. (crossed with i dunno, john legend or whatever.)

also yall heard his migraine skank jump-off as well rite. v good.

"fire & brimstone/make the bed rock gyal like flintstone" is like the defn of goofy fun

well the original is so ubiquitous now that the remix pretty much functions as its own track, it's not really so much a case of one commenting on the other.

moreover rev you gravely underestimate the veyr-much-effort-filled fun of hollering along to doneao's operatic mavadoisms. (crossed with i dunno, john legend or whatever.)

― ed, gar, allan, & poe (r|t|c), Friday, March 6, 2009 10:16 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

a) I live in the US, and I would guess that there are no more than a few hundred people in the entire country who follow funky at all. Ubiquitous isn't even an issue.

b) I like that aspect of Donaeo, and think that's what sets him apart as a vocalist. I just don't think it works for that particular track.

Yeah the original KIG track was a big track for me several months ago Rev. I really like the Kardinal Offishall rap version deej posted - though the Wale rap not so much.

wale sounds like fake kanye & really awkward over something that fast

wale sounds awkward over anything of any speed

Am I the only one who prefers the original KIG to the Donaeo mix?

The Crazy Cousins one is good as well. Slinky!

Lex, do you have any idea what the tune Marcus played immediately before frontline was? The jumpy electro basaline thing?

The Crazy Cousins one is good as well. Slinky!

Suggest Ban Permalink
― Hreidarsson The Storm (Matt DC), Saturday, March 7, 2009 6:56 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ooh, haven't heard this

RUNNING TINGS:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=95482502

Anyone got any recommendations for the ravier side of funky? I'm thinking in particular of stuff like Jalla's Turbulence, which is like 50% Township Funk and 50% the Trentemoller remix of What Else Is There. Although not as bombastic as that sounds.

Matt, follow my link!

Though I've not heard "Turbulence" as far as I'm aware.

funky house + township funk = kwaito???

yooooo "head, shoulders, knees n toes" is O_O

other thoughts after one quick run thru of lex's 09 funky zip:

- i continue to enjoy crazy cousinz remixes far more than their own trax
- dunno if the farty horn noise is a new thing recently or not, but i support reggaeton in my funky house
- "party hard" is also great, reminds my n00b ass of those sweet sean paul duets that i love so dearly
- i still think that the faeda rmx of teedra moses is still my fav funky joint of the year tho