Eww: It's the Ill Blu Hype Thread

is "monsta" a released thing or a two-minutes-mid-radio-set thing

Dude does this mean you haven't heard Ill Blu's Mistajam mix? It's a radio set but it's almost exclusively their own stuff and it is apocalyptically banging (also only about 25mins and in good quality).

― Matt DC, Friday, March 25, 2011 2:03 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Monsta is straight up single-of-the-year contender for me. We need a Ill Blu hype thread really.

― Matt DC, Friday, March 25, 2011 2:03 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark

i still would like to hear this "monsta"

As these dudes are shaping up to be producers of the year for a third year running, something tells me it's time.

So what's really good?

r|t|c was right to note that "Warp Speed" is the secret gem on their Mistajam mix.

Also the second half of their 29 March Rinse set is, as matt would say, apocalyptically banging - in fact the words came into my mind independently and then I saw that matt had already used them.

In particular see the tune at 90 minutes: funereal organs and then the biggest drop of all time, all hellspawn bass and sternly commanding string riffs. Is it them? It has stolen my brain by dashing it into a million pieces on the floor and then sweeping it under the door. If we need high production values funky, can it please be like this: it's like a funky take on Orbital's "Know Where To Run".

xpost Jordan just download the mistajam mix, it's really good!

Mistajam mix I think: http://www.mediafire.com/?7qmql62ot6ppqsc

thanks -- i went to the bbc page but they had already taken it down so i just gave up tbh

29 March Rinse set: http://podcast.dgen.net/rinsefm/podcast/IllBlu290311.mp3

ILL BLU MISTAJAM MIX 08/02/11

Ill Blu - Tick Tock
Ill Blu - Overdose
Ill Blu - Bhangra Knights
Ill Blu - Meltdown
Ill Blu - Alrite Mate
Ill Blu - Monsta
Toddska - Gal From England
Shay & Sinista - Glitch In The System
Ill Blu - Dirty Monkey
Ill Blu - Do That
Katy B - Lights on (feat. Ms Dynamite)
Troublesum - Boot Install
Ill Blu - Chelt
Ill Blu - Warp Speed

'Tim's Jacka"

or really, jacka is d40's ill blu, but w/e

anyway i heartily endorse this thread, these dudes rule

It's true.

the biggest compliment that i can give to ill blu (or to pretty much anyone!) is that their remix of "rock the boat" is almost as beautiful as the original

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

^ i still would like to hear this "monsta"

Nick you're a champ.

no problem, tense tune

"eww"?

feels way overdue, this thread! i endorse it and them and all they touch.

this is the single they've actually released this year, "meltdown" - it's insane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl0Qyj3W1ik

"eww" is a ref to their vocal drop right?

Ages ago Jordan said that in his head the word "eww" now sounds like the high-pitched "Ill!" at the beginning of their tunes.

xpost!

oh right, i never heard it like that. "eww" just makes me think of nicki minaj on "did it on em".

I cannot deny that a part of me momentarily wished they'd actually called "Meltdown" "Youtube Masterpiece" in tribute to my honourable service to the cause.

ILL

BLU

Honestly at some point midway through my first play of that Mistajam mix it occurred to me that Ill Blu are making pretty much the most exciting music in the world right now. Everything they touch is an absolute beast.

Also I would very much like a definitive list of everything that's out there in standalone MP3 format, remixes included.

r|t|c was right to note that "Warp Speed" is the secret gem on their Mistajam mix.

nee nee nee, nee nee naw
nee nee nee, nee nee nee naw
nee nee nee, nee nee naw
nee nee nee, nee nee nee naw
WUM-WUM-W-W-WUM-WUM-WUM-W-W-WUM-WUM-WUM-W-W-WUM-WUM-W-W-

Missed opportunity to subtitle this thread 'Bass in the city, hype in the place' in honour of the Shystie remix which is still my favourite of their remixes, although Cheryl Cole, Sabrina Washington and the Green Light remix run it close.

although ill blu's radio mixes can often be perfunctory i have missed def-1's fantastically weird glottal elocution and weak liverpool supporter chestbeating so will stick on this 290311 mix shortly

Makes me smile to see this thread...

When did they start playing on Rinse??

Good stuff, this.

Honestly at some point midway through my first play of that Mistajam mix it occurred to me that Ill Blu are making pretty much the most exciting music in the world right now. Everything they touch is an absolute beast.

Seriously Matt you need to hear the track from 88 min in the 29 March set.

Honestly at some point midway through my first play of that Mistajam mix it occurred to me that Ill Blu are making pretty much the most exciting music in the world right now. Everything they touch is an absolute beast.

Seriously Matt you need to hear the track from 88 min in the 29 March set.

― Tim F, Monday, April 4, 2011 4:02 AM (15 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

can any of you wizards tell me what the track is that starts around 42/43 mins after a few shout outs? only seems to last 2-3 mins but it's a belter.

that is 'room 101' by dj mystery, out now on this essential thing:

http://www.junodownload.com/products/the-underground-collective-presents-the-5-star-ep/1713633-02/

the 88min track was not what i was expecting from the descrip at all somehow -- yet the controlled sternness of it makes it EVEN MORE awesomely dominating than the abandontraxx!!

can i has grace jones vocal plz?

abandontraxx?

can i has grace jones vocal plz?

Yes this would be good!

also listeners be sure to revel in your best opportunity yet to hear the rarely-played 'monsta' breakdown at 74:30, a shamanic orgy of sirens explosions and everything ever all at once - YOU DON'T KNOW THE TUNE TIL YOU'VE HEARD IT

at 67mins (the bmore-swallowing "get freaky with you") is a another recentish one that is best not overlooked

It all makes for a pleasingly masochistic listening experience. I even love the A1 Bassline tune.

i don't really know who they are but this seems as good an opportunity as ever to voice my total bafflement seldom previously felt regarding whatever that "i'm the information" tune is the blogs seem to be nuts for. jesus people are lame.

Oh yeah everything else they do is weak.

major

ill blu top 3 (in no particular order) :

frontline
pull it, wheel it rmx
time to get nasty

^^ tough call tho (come to think of it and the 'parachute' rmx was prob the ill blu track i listened most last year. and 'meltdown' is just huge)

"get freaky with you" has gotta be them, right? The underlying dancehall stabs are similar to "meltdown". I totally love the incorporation of breakbeats and especially

... What they do with vocals on this one. Massive massive massive tune!

I have listened to "get freaky with you" about seven times today.

love these guys! has anybody seen the 'i wonder' instrumental around? i know i've heard it on their show, ill blu at their symphonic best

Also I would very much like a definitive list of everything that's out there in standalone MP3 format, remixes included.

maybe a few missing?:

remixes:
3-2-1 - bring it back
aaliyah - rock the boat
cheryl cole - parachute
craig david - one more lie
donae'o - watching her move (& instrumental)
dj sava - i like the trumpet
funky dee - are you gonna bang doe?
h two o ft. zoe - pink love
hot chip - i feel better & instrumental
kc - r.a.v.e.
kris bayer - heartbreaker (& instrumental)
lloyd - all around the world
mj cole - gotta have it
mpho - boxes n locks
platnum - trippin
roll deep - good times
roll deep - green light
sabrina washington - OMG
shontelle - battle cry
shystie - pull it (& instrumental)
steve hoang - no coming back
suncycle ft. movado - no more
young nate - i wonder

solo productions:
meltdown ep
bellion / dragon pop
time to get nasty
blu magic
dotstar - stick up (& instrumental)
hoodzee - rider
princess nyah - big boys (& instrumental)
princess nyah - frontline (& remix ft coldsteps & instrumental)
princess nyah - hooligans (& remix ft griminal & ghetts)
princess nyah - i will be there remix ft coldsteps
shanique - take it low

+

Ill Blu - Say Yes
Ill Blu - Roll With Me ft. SpeShill
Dotstar - Stick Up (Remix)

love ill blu but some of those new tracks are a bit too heavy on the attitude. sounds like theyre trying to get the dubstep crowd on board. i dont mean this in a cruel way, but its like funky that caspa might play (and caspa used to be good, before anyone says anything).

when you and jimitheexploder go on your honeymoon can it please be somewhere far away and for a very long time? thanks in advance.

maybe jimi and i and you and tim can make it a couples weekend? only if you promise not to be a cunt though. thanks in advance.

lol

Ill Blu are ace always thought it.

http://www.sonicrouter.com/2011/03/recommended-ill-blu-meltdown-ep-numbers/

p.s. I'll happily go on a hunny moon, if anyone is paying I'm skint and need a holiday. Thanx.

thanx for the shout out rtc I fee lat home now ilm goons are calling me out yay!

ooh, as if i could afford that little minx.

seriously titch i really don't understand how you can be so wrong and bad about the new stuff, it is plainly some of the most exciting music in donkeys. i'm struggling thinking what else to say here!

The only thing I'd say about the new bits is that sometimes its a bit ott and dramatic. Not really in a bad way, I'm splitting hairs really. I've just got to be in the mood for it, they've always had that dramatic edge to them but they're really pushing it to the extream at times now and its a bit much and doesn't get the killer raw rolling groove I dig from funky going as much as older bits. They push more and more epic moments into tracks and its cool but I miss that groove a bit unless I'm in turbo drama mode. They still kill it and are some of the best producers around in the scene right now.

erm where did i say it wasnt good? of course its exciting. just think a few of them were surprisingly 'tudey. and i stand by what i said that if caspa (or d1 even) was playing funky, i can imagine this would be *totally* up their street. its got a lot of shared qualities. i know you guys think that ill blu must live in a bubble and wouldnt pay dubstep guys any mind but hello, theyve been on numbers, hyperdub... its not out of the question to think that they might be thinking it might be cool/nice to do something a bit outside their usual box. or that gasp, it might have just rubbed off on them a bit. yes i know it could of course be inadvertent influence from old house tracks but i dunno, dubstep is so unignorable these days, eg - when they did that mix on 1xtra, it was on (unless im mistaken) of all things mistajams 'daily dose of dubstep'!

jimi, life is all downhill once you fail to get rtcs stamp of approval.

ps - that deep teknologi track around 80 mins on that recent rinse show is stupidly good.

jimi, OTM

if they ramp up this angle too far, itll be close to funky in the wobble zone

or at the very least, they will be doing a roska

i still don't know what there is to bitch about - you're prattling on about dubstep as if invoking it however vaguely has any bearing to anyone on the material's excellence. i've already said a few times actually that ill blu are outgrowing the scene to an extent, but that isn't to say that their tracks have become indigestible in funky terms either; there's never not been a space for this kind of tuffness in the "genre" and if anything the issue as far as there is one currently is whether dj's are articulating it as fully as they could be doing. otherwise you could chide a million funky classics for not singularly encapsulating funky's groove as it were - that's not how it's ever worked.

i suspect the fact that these new tunes have only cropped up in their own barnstormer sets so far has put a distorting emphasis on you lads' view of the bigger picture.

The categorical error here is thinking that ott drama and a rolling groove are somehow mutually exclusive. I can't see how the new material can be faulted from the second perspective. The caspa comparison might make sense if the kineticism of the tunes was falling away and the whole point of the tunes was the drop. In the absence of that happening the comparison is simply trying to tie negative associations around muscularity and drama. You could as easily reference hyper-on experience, total science, black strobe or Danny weed. Each of these would have misleading implications. Analogy isn't destiny.

Quite aside from the fact that their new tunes are no more ott than "time to get nasty" from late 2008 or the "bring it back remix" from 2009. If this was going to cause them to jump the shark it would have happened by now.

Everybody knows and complains about the fact that I'm sensitively attuned to funky producers straying from the one true path. Obv I'd be the first to call out Ill Blu if that actually looked likely.

But it's not as simple as "does this tune sound like dubstep yes/no", when producers fall off it's much more about a dramatic reduction in vibe and (in particular) a self-conscious distancing from their own most pleasurable and cheesy tricks and tactics. Whereas this is the precise thing that Ill Blu are so good at finding new ways to develop.

Yeah your last point is a good one rtc - "meltdown" and "chelt" make more sense as funky tunes in the context of a typical funky dj set. And everyone plays them, so I don't get a sense that people within the scene feel alienated by the duo's direction.

this is why i love ilx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsmwPFkv7ko

RIP FUNKY!!!!!!!!!!

oh wait no it's just a banger, my bad

I wouldn't say that drama and groove are exclusive no. I just don't get as much groove from the newer bits as I did before. They're still shit hot at drum programing but the tracks go off on one in other departments and distract from it a bit at times. Time To Get Nasty is pretty ott but its not reaching the hights of bits in the Master Jam set in that department, it swings back into tight hard hitting grooves pretty quick after the big builds. Its not synth rush after build after synth rush... I'm still on board with them I just woudln't be that fussed about hearing their music in one big chunk, it works better broken up and used as a massive dramatic peak. Nowt wrong with that. They pretty much only make anthems, which are always better used sparingly for me, they have more impact then.

nice! loved the mistajam mix when i downloaded it a couple months ago, ill start digging my way through their other new stuff

Building on this discussion, I'd say that arguably Ill Blu takes Caspa-esque dubstep's banger mentality and does it properly, that is: bangers that are for dancing rather than just (head)banging.

And in truth "Bhangra Knights" actually is a dubstep tune, or at any rate close to it, but again: if Caspa actually sounded like (or rather, as good as) this I could totally get on board with yobstep.

I should clarify that my statement on the funky house sceptics thread to the effect that Ill Blu's occasional similarities to dubstep felt inadvertent wasn't meant to suggest that they don't know or like or are influenced by dubstep, but rather that if I had to guess at what they were really reacting to it would be "Pon De Floor" et. al but with the raviness intensified - that is the thread that seems to unite "Bhangra Knights", "Dirty Monkey", "Warp Speed" and "Get Freaky With You". That brings them close to dubstep at times and I'm sure they're well aware of that, but it doesn't feel like an aesthetic they're making a concerted effort to embrace.

Certainly Ill Blu's weakest tracks are their sparer non-dramatic efforts (e.g. "Dragon Pop") so if it's a choice between them veering towards Caspa or them veering towards Scratcha DVA or Mala, I think I'll actually take the former.

I <3 Dragon Pop the bassline is awsome. I've had it in my head since I fist heard it. Such a quality bump to it. Plus it sounds massive on a nice club soundsystem.

ive yet to hear them going more towards mala/dva territory (mala and scratcha dont occupy the same sort of space anyway) so that seems like a false binary to me. the idea of their dramatic stuff vs dragon pop stuff is pointless, as they do both really well, without it sounding like a concession to anyone. ie dragon pop is too funky/percussive for dubstep. dubstep does bongos/percussive stuff but its never very groove-ful. its stiff. the main difference id say is just that their tracks have gotten 'bigger', 'better' produced, whereas the old tracks mostly in general were minimal rollers, and spare, more like grime. they seem to be making more complex (lots of big synth lines, more changes it seems, esp compared to something like that redlight tune posted above, which is a total banger, but a lot more stripped down compared to meltdown etc) stuff now, at the same time as theyre getting more intense and harder, almost abrasive. but then as for timelines, who knows, meltdown is about two years old.

that seems like a false binary to me. the idea of their dramatic stuff vs dragon pop stuff is pointless, as they do both really well, without it sounding like a concession to anyone.

You and jimi started this false binary in the first place by contrasting drama with rhythm. Of course it's a false binary, that was my entire fucking point.

they do both really well, without it sounding like a concession to anyone. ie dragon pop is too funky/percussive for dubstep. dubstep does bongos/percussive stuff but its never very groove-ful. its stiff.

You were the one criticising me upthread for denying that they've gone dubstep.

the binary i was talking about was the choice of them going into dmz or caspa mode. i was never talking about dragon pop being concessionary, or at least, displaying an awareness of dubstep, it was the newer tracks, and a particular sort of dubstep aesthetic which i seem to hear there, ie dominating/maximal inyerface synth blasts. i never really considered DP being a response to dubstep dominance, even though it does nail the hyperdub aesthetic pretty well.

so when it's a direction you do like it's a false binary but a direction you don't like it's a real one?

Tinchy only you could turn a thread about the most banging shit in the entire world into this kind of tedious handwringing.

had a listen to the rinse fm mix while running today (lol the only time i listen to dj mixes now, slightly older man's compartmentalised life etc) and really liked it. tho i was more into the first hour with the vocal stuff than the second hour or so. lots of it is so refreshing tho, just raw energetic dance music with no piousness going on.

Haha, in that case you should just hang out on the funky house skeptics thread ronan.

The first track, carnao's "get out", is a longtime favorite of mine - reminds me of mark bell's "woman cry" and the like.

Finally released on that EP rtc linked to upthread.

for the bird, for the geezer, introductory funky listener, wicked selecta:

ILL BLU 29th MARCH

Carnao Beats ft Teeboy & Kadey - Get Out
Dakar - I've Got That Feeling
??
Barber Bizzle ft Miss Fire - Do You Feel The Same (Remix)
Funky Twinz ft Angel J - Smile
Roska ft Nikki - Energy
Chang-Sam - Don't Hold Back
Ill Blu - Blu Magic

----- 30 mins
Ill Blu ft Shanique - Say Yes
Bassjackers & Apster - Klambu (Seany B Refix)
Miss Fire - 004FH
DJ Mystery - Room 101
Fingaprint - Night Time (DVA's Hi Emotions Remix)
LR Groove - ?
Ill Blu - Chelt
DJ Eastwood - Oh Yeah
Shay & Sinista - Big Up Yaself
DVA - Flute Tune

----- 60 mins
Ill Blu - Time To Get Nasty
A1 Bassline - Shock Headed
Ill Blu - Get Freaky With You
??
Ill Blu - Monsta
Champion -
Undisputed - Sunglasses
J Bevin - Zulu
??

----- 90 mins
Ill Blu - Funerealness
Toddska - Gal From England
Ill Blu - Good Time (Version)
Ill Blu - Alrite Mate
Bassboy & Marcus Nasty - Next Funky
Ill Blu - ?
DJ Naughty ft Miss Fire - It's You
Black Coffee ft Bucie - Superman
Teedra Moses - Be Your Girl (Perempay n Dee Remix)

Excellent work.

Ill Blu - Funerealness

Do we agree this is them? It doesn't seem as obviously Ill Blu as with, say, "Get Freaky With You". OTOH I couldn't guess at who else it might be.

Damn r|t|c! Thanks for the tracklist. This might be the best set I've heard this year so far.

haha really..? i was just thinking this is the same 7/10 set they always play on a tuesday! it's not like they're really putting their backs into it.

(seem to recall there was one particular ill blu show a few months ago i thought was notably good, and i believe i said so on the funky thread at the time. unfortunately though if i havent already lost it then i won't have access to to for a while, so if anyone would care to oblige...?)

a funky 7/10 is obv better than most of all yalls infinities though so i'm glad people are enjoying it whatever!

Do we agree this is them? It doesn't seem as obviously Ill Blu as with, say, "Get Freaky With You". OTOH I couldn't guess at who else it might be.

it certainly takes shape a little differently than usual but the orchestration at very least is surely unmistakeable. i just can't imagine otherwise. the other thing in favour of it is i think if we'd first heard 'alrite mate' uncredited we'd have had a harder time guessing that was them than this.

Perhaps an overstatement, but I've found it far more exciting than a lot of my other go-to shows lately (Marcus, Smoove Kriminal, etc.), It feels nice, rough, and dirty. A lot of other sets have tended to go a more sophisticated route lately, it seems. I don't like the edges worn off of my funky.

http://soundcloud.com/goochionline/illmana-vs-goochi-bossman

not saying it's remotely on the same level but did you ever hear this other bit of inflationesque drama btw? think handy andy on the other place has also mentioned it. i was thinking mixed over something that rolls it could be a thing. (xp)

can't remember if i mightnt have just been feeling charitable but i quite enjoyed the last marcus show (with depeo); hard to pick out an outstanding radio set this year though i agree.

11th january ill blu set was the one i highlighted if anyone's got that

That Illmana track is lovely. It's not quite "Kiss You", but those strings and flourishes are amazing. I've got to say I love the bassline folks producing this stuff.

it certainly takes shape a little differently than usual but the orchestration at very least is surely unmistakeable. i just can't imagine otherwise. the other thing in favour of it is i think if we'd first heard 'alrite mate' uncredited we'd have had a harder time guessing that was them than this.

This is true. "Bhangra Knights" and "Do That" too probably. They seem to be branching in more different directions than before.

Notwithstanding its recognisable Ill Blu-ness, "Get Freaky With You" is notable for switching up its rhythmic attack several times, like "we have so many beats." There's the stuttery first breakdown, the breakbeaty second breakdown and the snare-overload third breakdown. I can't think of another recent track that is so generous rhythmically.

'chelt' too i think was quite an unexamined departure for them, despite it having been accepted without question.

as you say though, there's a implacable ease in their turning the screw every which way that belies titchy's fingerpointing, not to mention a variety that makes a mockery of any simple reduction to "dubstep".

in fairness to the little fella however, as absorptive as funky is in itself there is perhaps value yet in loosely trying to corrall whatever vibe it is it's picking up: a kind of mistajamified urban brit frankendance beyond (and largely uninterested in) the crippled ring-the-alarm horizons of dubstep, hyperdub, future garage, factmusic et al. a world of mike delinquent remixes, d double e on dnb, and the crown prince maverick sabre. (was dizzie really as reactive as first seemed with tongue n cheek?)

btw tim i was flabbergasted to find that you'd already just had the exact same dubstep argument from this thread back in january re britney? you bloody love it you slag.

told you it was just a regular set didnt i!

ILL BLU 12th MARCH

Carnao Beats ft Teeboy & Kadey - Get Out
?? [¡levantate! (what is this thing anyway, it's great?)]
Murdz 86 - No Glitches
DJ Eastwood - Oh Yeah
Bassboy & Marcus Nasty - Next Funky
DVA - Flute Tune
Chang-Sam - Don't Hold Back
Cooly G - ?

----- 30 mins
Lil Silva - Cheese & Bun
DJ Mystery - Room 101
Fuzzy Logik ft Myshy - Playground
Bassboy & Marcus Nasty - Stamp
?? [46']
Ill Blu - Get Freaky With You
Mr Tickle - Citrus Oxide
Toddska - Gal From England

----- 60 mins
SP ft Rosita - Right Side
Ill Blu - [mind's gone blank]
DJ Q ft Louise Williams - Over
Roska - ?
Ill Blu - Chelt
Funkystepz - ? [new!]
Ill Blu - Monsta
Selah ft Donaeo - Out My House
Funky Twinz ft Angel J - Smile

----- 90 mins
Ill Blu ft Shanique - Take It Low
Lil Silva - ? [slyly incorporating the 'good life' sound...]
Ill Blu - Meltdown
A1 Bassline - Shock Headed
GuGu - RockAByeBaby
Ill Blu - Alrite Mate
Roska ft Nikki - Energy
Miss Fire - Crazy
Encore - Wind Up (Ill Blu Remix)

MARCH APRIL

I was gonna namecheck frankendance!

who knows about maverick sabre? is anyone in the world really ready to discuss maverick sabre? i think i'm ready to discuss maverick sabre.

in particular i would like to hear the views of a local garda regarding this preposterous pikey.

Tell me about him/her/them.

i saw an awful maverick sabre vid on youtube, awful song too. that's about all i can say.

11th january ill blu set was the one i highlighted if anyone's got that

― r|t|c

here : http://www.mediafire.com/?2mosm2htqj95hhe

OMG! 'get freaky with you' is such a banger. best funky track of the year, so far? most likely.

I'm starting to think so!

a kind of mistajamified urban brit frankendance

This sound is going to be huge but it already overlaps with Rusko and Chase & Status and people as well though doesn't it? Might have been what Tinchy was blindly fumbling towards at to an extent.

best funky track of the year, so far? most likely.

funkystepz' forthcoming face off ep is astonishingly great

there's a track called "piano storm" in particular which is just >>>>>>>

piano storm

This is right in the Ill Blu tradition of "look, we want you to know well in advance that this is going to be amazing" titles.

Yeah "Piano Storm" is great. Was originally the backing music for some remix of a pop tune I think? But was a bit too massive and "look at me!" to work well in that context? Trying to remember back to funkystepz mixes circa Feb 2010.

Funkystepz' "Warrior" also an amazing tune that hopefully will get a release soon (and "Lovers"!!! Please!!!!)

the tracks on the EP are champion/loca moca/piano storm/shocker - all amazing, so much house piano

yeah, 'warrior' is probably the one tune around right now that can son any ill blu number in a epic monster beef

the swing of it once it gets going is just !!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf6o2pg4WJ0&feature=related

never heard this before, is at the end of the march rinse fm set. amazing tune...

Ronan I assume you know "Turn Me On" as well??

no...just listening now.

the above reminds me a lot of elle by dj gregory or the francois k remix of moloko, could imagine the former being played in an in ill blu set. i like the whole set a lot actually, getting more into the more banger type stuff.

i love the track just before the sound cuts off for whatev reason at about 1hr 37 mins...

Driving listening to the weeknd and frank ocean whos with me? 2:07 AM Apr 12th via Twitter for iPhone

Ronan from memory that's an instrumental of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFW9lb1Mr0o

In my private version of reality the "Good Times" and "Green Light" remixes were as big as Guru Josh's "Infinity".

Driving listening to the weeknd and frank ocean whos with me? 2:07 AM Apr 12th via Twitter for iPhone

― Will.Have.Known (Local Garda), Sunday, April 17, 2011 10:17 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

:-/

that was ill blu btw...i don't have an active twitter or a car...and have never heard frank ocean. i thought the weekend was okay and i do have an iphone.

ha nah i knew what you meant.

If anyone can see fit to use their expertise to upload "Get Freaky With You" to youtube, I will credit you in a (non-remunerative) piece of internet-writing thereby ensuring you achieve instant and eternal fame.

Also, this is great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-TzeyoIRzw

The 12th April set version of "Get Freaky With You" has an entirely different section at the end! Too many ideas in one track.

maybe it is the next song?

No, it's the same track but the beat pattern changes - the third such switch-up in the track so not surprising except to the extent that i'd already thought the tune was gargantuan in its generosity.

New section starts out with just this ominous bass pulse and kicks on the 3 and 4, and then these sorta underwater high-pitched papery drums. The restless inventiveness of it (not to mention the super sharp drums) reminds me of Dom & Roland's "Elektra".

oh okay. i've never been able to tell where one track ends and the next begins in mixes

With this one it's pretty easy because the whole thing has these cycling vocals "uhuh uhuh uhuh uhuh ohohohohohohoyoy get. frea. ky. wit. you." And a ridic bassline of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aImVAxAtRY4

oh go on then. (chuck my eternal fame over on the pile there).

wouldnt rule out my having gone overly ham with the eq there btw, i might've had a few.

Generations past, present and future will sing your name.

They've done a mix for Crazy Legs.

http://www.mixcloud.com/wearecrazylegs/crazylegs-005-ill-blu/

DL link in there too.

Do Ill Blu ever actually DJ anywhere or do they just put out endless mixes?

I don't think I've ever seen them on a club lineup now you mention it.

They must have played a club somewhere right? I just assumed they had. They've got the DJ skills it would be strange if they hadn't.

Wait!

They put up info of the odd gig here: http://www.facebook.com/ILLBLU?sk=wall

I've been wondering what that Time Takers track was for weeks, its Vonstroke-jacking is shameless but it's going to be an anthem nonetheless.

i saw ill blu dj at fact's halloween party last year (alongside bok bok, hyetal, dj spinn) - they were really good. played "omg"!

i was so sure we'd come a lol id cropper with the funerealness tune but 'get freaky'?! wtf.

glad to have given laggardly dissensus vermin a titter anyway.

Lol no way. Lucky I hadn't finished my piece. From now on I'll trust nothing but the "eww" drop.

An amazing tune regardless of course - who are the living Graham bond anyway?

Benny b is a good bloke I think btw.

From Facebook:

ILL BLU
hope every1 remembers y they r celebrating easter, this is actually more valuable thn xmas as Jesus was born in september...Easter is when Jesus christ sacrificed his life so we could be forgiven for our sins...Today - Gd Friday, is the day to celebrate when Jesus shared the fish and bread between the 5 thousand so its time to get fryin...Have a nice day ppz...Amen

I'm not even religious and i approach all such seasonal messages with a fact-checker's censorious pedantry.

Update on The Living Graham Bond:

You can buy the "Get Freaky" tune on junodownload, it's called Purpl Pop's "The Way (The Living Graham Bond Remix)", the only difference being there's some additional, mostly irritating vocals. Ill Blu must have a dub or something. But the sound quality is blessedly sharp. From last year, irritatingly, so my opportunities to fete this for year end listicle purposes are restricted.

Nothing else by this dude sounds quite as magnificent (though forthcoming single "Werk" sounds promising) or Ill Blu-ish, however I ultimately purchased "The Bail Out" and "Guttergo", both on a Ramadanman tip (which, in retrospect, makes a great deal of sense). You can also download his free, enjoyable remix of Origin Unknown's "Valley of the Shadows" from his soundcloud.

a couple new remixes (from last year) are for sale on amazon's mp3 store - two fresh's 'whatcha', which from the sample sounds like it may be cut from the same cloth as the roll deep mixes, and then selah's 'woman's world', which is great & should please drama seekers, nice busy juggling rhythm with a hook that sounds like 'riverside'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rxJ0fEUoNI

sigh

shout out to andy on this

Haha! Glad to ID this.

shout out to andy on this
Cheers mate, you're welcome.
It does sound very Ill Blu-ish once you get to the section with the strings.

alrite fella, you defecting? :)

i shouldve thought of shox earlier tbf, they'd played his even more bluish 'raise the stakes' a few months ago:

http://soundcloud.com/shoxrinse/shox-raise-the-stakes2

anyone listened to any sets of theirs recently? i moved onto greener pastures once it began to seem like the same 20 tracks in rotation but i imagine they mightve freshened it up by now

Hehe, not exactly defecting, but thought I might stick my head round the door here every so often, seeing as I already check the funky threads on here and it feels a bit daft us dissensus folks posting 'via ILX', 'big up the ILX crew' etc all the time and vice versa without interacting directly. Plus tbh there's so few places for decent UKF discussion online that I don't want to rule any of the existing ones out.
^ I'd forgotten about Raise The Stakes, it's decent but maybe not quite in the same league as Strung Out imo. Not heard any IB sets in about a month either, can't often listen to Rinse during the day but might have a look at the site and see if there's any recent podcasts of them about.

its weird but i find some of ill blus recent tracks quite tiring to listen to. not only are the synths crazily caffeinated and almost piercing but the energy levels are unflagging and there is no respite between each section - its like constant building of manic energy. not saying its a bad thing but its like they have made sure there is no possiblity of boredom or something. its unignorable.

ALERT:

You can now download the instrumental dub of The Living Graham Bond's remix of "The Way" (aka "Get Freaky With You") for free on dude's soundcloud:

http://soundcloud.com/thelivinggrahambond/free-download-purpl-pop-the

Given this version has only just emerged I feel I can technically name this one of my songs of the year.

Dude's "Warehouse Bird" is pretty great also.

Okay his May 2011 promo mix is really ace:

http://soundcloud.com/thelivinggrahambond/highpressurelowfrequencies

anyone ever listen to redlight's show? i gave the most recent one a whirl and while i guess it's kinda what you'd expect* it actually manages to live up to its imagined fun too.

* superficially familiar but not easily categorized when you start to think about it; if i had to place it the presiding animus is that of big beat i reckon! definitely reminded me of jon carter doing an oldskool breezeblock session or something. would be interested in vahid's thoughts if he's reading obv.

also check this out, it's nuts! the berk mumbles all over the top of it unfortunately but i think he says it's by breach

http://hulkshare.com/o6h8dq26uyag

full show here

That tune is amazing!!!

Whoa! Thx for that r/t/c!

Okay his May 2011 promo mix is really ace:

http://soundcloud.com/thelivinggrahambond/highpressurelowfrequencies

YES. Thanks for this Tim, really liking this mix. To me this is kind of like the ultimate party music i.e. it's actually fun & bouncy & kind of inventive (but in a cheerful, not very self-conscious way) rather than just boshy. Plus anything with a version of Monkey See Monkey Do can't really go wrong. Warehouse Bird is a cracker too, yeah.
About to give that Redlight show a shot (Planet X is still one of my current fave tunes). I guess at this stage this is now more the 'Ill Blu/Graham Bond/Redlight/general chunky bangers hype thread'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH8XsdMkzok

just to save incorrect googling casting a pall over my swag

do wish they hadnt tried to be a bit clever with it but thumbs up still

I guess at this stage this is now more the 'Ill Blu/Graham Bond/Redlight/general chunky bangers hype thread'.

― Mr Andy M, Friday, 29 July 2011 20:52 (3 days ago) Bookmark

yah this is how i was working it

would like to help with "graham bond" but much like with "jhene aiko" something dark in me folds its arms and straight refuses to check

hopefully my therapist will bring the remedy one day

His name is awful and annoying admittedly.

haha yeah i mean you try not to be shallow and follow through on your basic stated tenets but graham bond (remixing some awful awful AWFUL swedish discobelle goons to boot) really does bring the bloghouse wince so unforgivingly hard - likewise aiko screaming cutesy ill-starred mp3 pet cause etc

http://i.imgur.com/HASa2.gif

That's totally hypnotic.

Yeah it's kind of astonishing how painful the vocals on "The Way" are, and yet dude still brought this awesome beat, it makes you question his sense and judgment that he would waste it on something like that. I guess he wised up tho.

When I delved a bit deeper into Redlight last year I was kinda amazed how much ropey frankendance there was in there, like the sort of thing you'd have heard on any Kitsune-hyping blog c. 2007, and had trouble squaring that with 'Stupid'. I suppose Ill Blu work so well because they're grounded in funky even as their sound gets so big it bursts out of it, and yeah I know huge maximalist bangers are very 2011 but the line between that and Chase & Status or Nero or something is kinda thin.

My longer-term worry about Ill Blu is that the prospect of an actual album might make them switch up their sound a bit more. This maybe groundless but still, Bhangra Knights is thrilling in the middle of a mix of all their other stuff but it's not a rhythmic change I'd ever want them to repeat.

Yeah "Bhangra Knights" is totally stunning as a one off. Though what's kinda clever about it is that it's only the big snare on the 3 that makes it seem very dubstep - if you removed that (or, rather, replaced it with a kick) it'd sound a lot like their other material. It's like they're doing it just to show that they can fuck with you.

Given none of their 2011 tunes have been released though I wouldn't be surprised if what we've heard to date makes up a large chunk of the album.

Slightly boring question - what do you guys mean when you talk about frankendance? It's not a concept I'm familiar with. Just from the name I'm getting the impression of something like Frankenstein's monster that's cobbled together from bits and pieces of different things and therefore doesn't really have a life of its own. Am I on the right track here?
(Apologies for only posting in the same 3 funky-related threads over and over btw, I will warm up to joining in on some of the others eventually).

the monster does have a life of its own, it's just that since its agreeable and educated nature can only be discerned by kindly old blind men like vahid it has sworn vengeance on its father and accidentally strangled his beloved young son named funky

or something

it's just that since its agreeable and educated nature can only be discerned by kindly old blind men like vahid

A+

the juke/bmore/bloghouse frankenstein dance music they play at clubs

I had forgotten "blogmore"!

You guyz are just the best.

^ Cheers for the link, I think I've pretty much got the gist of it now.
rtc that Redlight show you posted a while back was quite good btw. Not every one on there was a winner obv, but a higher ratio of hits to misses than I expected (maybe I had low expectations 'cause I was worried it was all going to be ultra-overdriven tunes with straight drum loops a la Progress). #slowresponses

Ill Blu are threatening to give this away for free:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq4nseLFTCk

this is sooo good

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

Download link (facebook only) for "Aztec":

http://www.facebook.com/ILLBLU?sk=app_102402439866289

Yah, The Living Graham Bond really gets this faux-funky malarky:

http://soundcloud.com/thelivinggrahambond/noisses-the-don-ft-serocee-the

^^^ fab.

Yeah that one's real nice. Wouldn't even call it faux-funky anymore, beat-wise at least it's all the way there.
On the IB tip, yesterday I checked out the podcast of their Rinse show for the first time in a while and I'd have to say I wasn't enjoying it too much. There were some cool tunes (like Redclock by Eastwood - hope that one comes out) but also quite a few stiff, clunky ones that just felt a bit meh. Not sure how many were made by them or by other people. Aztec is still decent though.

Yeah at this stage it's only "faux" because of his ridiculous name!

LOL I hadn't considered that.
The 'Dead Graham Bond' was a jazz-funk/fusion dude from the 60s iirc? Still a bloody stupid name obv.

Just listening to Mistajam now and liking it so far. Tick Tock reminds me of tribal guarachero, but maybe that's just due to my limited frame of reference.

Very possible it sounds like tribal guarachero to me at times because tribal is borrowing from lots of other stuff going on in dance music, but the rhythms in the very beginning do seem like tribal.

Remember when I was getting on people's nerves asking for UK funky with no or minimal/chopped up vocals? Well, I feel like I'm hearing more of that now and liking it. Very much FWIW, as always, but I prefer what I hear of "dance music" from the last ten yeas (give or take) to what I've heard from the previous decade.

High Pressure Low Frequencies Promo Mix - May 2011 is nice so far.

I would dance to this am dancing to this.

oops ruined the syntax.

Funky dura.

the ill blu namedrop is so addicting that I find myself just listening to the first 5 seconds of a song before switching

I hear you guys do youth work. What exactly do you do and what motivates you to do it?

We run a course that teaches youngsters about studio skills, song arrangement, and online collection societies. We run the course in 3-month blocks. It’s a great way to give back to the communities and help give un privileged people get a chance to gain an understanding of how music works. The motivation is the youth as we believe they are the future and there is nothing better than helping them to carve their own path for the future.

DUDES I NEED YOU MORE THAN KIDS IN NEED DO.

i knoww, can't we at least get a documentary?? obv these kids are the nuum's brightest hope

DUDES I NEED YOU MORE THAN KIDS IN NEED DO.

:/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH49UCSu420

out of habit i used to instinctively frown at sneakbo's "saarry / shordie" yank solecisms on the drop there but now i kind of think it's important to the tune in some weird way.

v disappointed the video goes no way to illustrating what he means by "clap clap for them pagan yats".

that youtube sounds great

I can sort of smell the stale soak of alcohol, the friction and smoke just from listening to it

"the wave" is so good

^^^

What was the The Wave in it's pre-Sneakbo guise? It's naggingly familiar from at least one of the mixes.

Tune reaffirms my belief that if Ill Blu don't have the common decency to release these as an album they should farm them all out to people like Wretch 32 and Roll Deep and a load of other jobbing pop-grime types and compile them.

"Alright Mate".

I really like the production on the sneakbo track - every element is perfectly balanced, impactful. wonder what scik mouthy would think.

the vocal is perfect too - just enough to give it a focus, but minimal enough not to detract from it

http://www.xlr8r.com/news/2012/03/ill-blu-preps-new-single-hyperdu

I've been wondering what Ill Blu have been up to lately, they've been relatively quiet of late (at least in comparison to say, Funkystepz or Champion). You can hear a preview of their new EP here: http://188.165.130.97/music/music-news/launch-music/ill-blu-return-to-hyperdub. Sounds good! Also good to know that they haven't gone aggro-bassy or deep-house, or simply disappeared, like too many UK Funky producers have done.

I haven't listened to this yet but look at all the new cuts in the tracklist!!

http://www.xlr8r.com/podcast/2012/04/ill-blu

01 Ill Blu "Clapper" (Hyperdub)
02 Ill Blu "Dragon Pop" (Hyperdub)
03 Ill Blu "Heisenberg"
04 Ill Blu "Legs"
05 Ill Blu "Turnpike"
06 Ill Blu "Bassage"
07 Princess Nyah "Soldier feat. Wiley (Filthy Fiction Remix)" (Royletease)
08 Funkystepz "Class A"
09 Ill Blu "Alrite Wave"
10 Jook10 "Bass" (Soulserious)
11 Ill Blu "PumpA"
12 Lighter "Burn"
13 Ill Blu "We Don't Stop"
14 86 Baby "Word Of Mouth"
15 Ill Blu "Me x U" (Plastik Cups)

LOL at "Heisenberg" - have they been watching Breaking Bad or is this literally a Heisenberg reference.

#clapper

new material is thoroughly impressive. i had given up hope somewhat!

Also good to know that they haven't gone aggro-bassy or deep-house, or simply disappeared, like too many UK Funky producers have done.

― Astrochimp32, Sunday, 1 April 2012 03:21 (1 week ago) Bookmark

true, but the other side of this is struggling a little with seeing quite where they fit in exactly. slightly paradoxically funkystepz are even more sui generis but still manage to work nicely as uk treble wildcards to some extent (although actually you can kinda hear this issue being thought through by 'alrite wave' (following on from 'class a'))

Double LOL at "We Don't Stop" basically being a remix of The Living Graham Bond Dub of "The Way" - it's like Ill Blu are atoning for not having thought of the original tune in the first place.

Otherwise this is... surprisingly electro-housey! I know they were already trending in that direction but it's like the key vibe here.

xp i guess it's more like right now they are this sort of amorphous creature of power looking to mould itself into and around something - hyperdub's carte blanche is exactly the least prosperous situation, creatively speaking

"electro-housey" per se also currently seems to me a little bit of an empty holding pattern given they havent got the organ house sensibility of say billy kenny and his lot

Yeah I hope this is - as I think you're saying - more indicative of them being in a transitional space than where they want to end up. Not because it's bad but because it's always more exciting to speculate on what happens next.

Is there other Billy Kenny I should check? His "Spaceship" remix was one of my very favourite things from last year.

not that i've found in terms of the same glorious one hit of everything all at once, i need to check harder though tbh

kind of don't want to disturb the air of nu-ukg unassumingness with that lot really, the 'spaceship' vibe is all there diffused longform in kenny's sets but it takes the ineffable genius of a dj q to pluck something out and let it sing solo

http://soundcloud.com/billykenny_music

http://soundcloud.com/princessnyah/princess-nyah-around-the-world

oh btw let's not front, you all know this is awesome right

!!!!! at that

I don't like being the guy doing this but I'm not hugely impressed with that IB mix. Their new productions at best sound good but not great to me. Maybe need to give it a couple more listens I dunno.

rtc feel free to direct your best zinging gif at me, I feel I have let you all down. ;(

It's not as good as the mistajam set from last year certainly.

I have some more thoughts on it that I'll try to set down later.

But for now can I just note that "Heisenberg" is majestic even in its unsurprisingly overdriven thuggishness.

yeah i'm a bit meh about 'heisenberg' really, textbook blu that was already bettered on the mistajam set cuts imo. even in that textbook style i prefer 'turnpike'

they are so obv breaking bad fans btw, that just makes perfect sense to me

'bassage' is absolutely my shit on this despite the lamentable name

I think "Heisenberg" distinguishes itself from the textbook with the trumpet bit at the end.

"Bassage" is immense, yes.

love their almost kinda campy vincent price-ish halloween horror melodies sometimes

(haha i'd written that musing on 'bassage' before i'd come to the great big and somewhat bizarre interlude there on 'alrite wave' just fwiw)

haven't got round to the mix yet but "clapper" underwhelmed me.

i'd rather hear ill blu remix pop and r&b songs than disappear down whatever rabbithole they're exploring atm.

Pretty sure Ill Blu consciously boring up their sound for their Hyperdub releases actually.

That said the stretch from 'Heisenberg' to 'Alrite Wave' is a belter. The last leg of the mix is somewhat... sterner than we're used to from them? It's not really a direction I want them to go in ('PumpA' is the worst of all possible Ill Blus), I like them when they're gleefully dropping bombs all over the place like most of the Mistajam mix from last year.

i'd rather hear ill blu remix pop and r&b songs than disappear down whatever rabbithole they're exploring atm

These seem to have dried up a bit of late? They need to remix more pop-grime tracks as well.

i guess it's more like right now they are this sort of amorphous creature of power looking to mould itself into and around something

My guess remains that in a couple of years everyone will be sounding like Ill Blu of varying quality and they'll be getting no credit for it whatsoever.

I really love Clapper in that 'Pon the Floor' kind of way.

'pumpA' is probably the best rick ross track ever, certainly his finest lyrical achievement

'me x u (plastik cups)' is the one i least appreciate i think, not badly executed or anything but chasing fool's gold all the same

less so than just remixing but i agree it's disappointing there've been no follow-ups to sneakbo's 'the wave', they really cracked it there in a way not many funky producers ever have

bless her little cotton socks for trying (and not that sneakbo is a high quality artist either) but princess nyah doesn't count

http://soundcloud.com/urban-history-x/shystie-bad-gyal-original-dj

gonna put this here cos i'll forget otherwise but the new shystie is very good and very bluish imo (it is produced by p-jam). attn lex

fuck i love 'bassage' so much, can't stop putting it on

i hereby rename it.... 'ZOMBIE GUS'

Is it pronounced 'bass-idge' or like to rhyme with 'massage'. If it's the latter I'm not sure I approve.

I can't help but read it as bassaaaage, and I'm sure I don't approve.

Pretty sure Ill Blu consciously boring up their sound for their Hyperdub releases actually.

Yeah. I like "Clapper" but it's pretty self-conscious, like they thought "Okie Dokie It's Ill Blu on Hyperdub".

"I like "Clapper" but it's pretty self-conscious"

Why, because its on Hyperdub. We've been here before with DVA Tim lol. Take it you're not a fan of the label then? I'm just happy someone is releasing Ill Blu and Funkystepz right now.

found the xlr8r mix rather dull i'm afraid

but that shystie tune is FUCKING INCREDIBLE OMG THIS IS WHAT I WANT FOREVER

and yeah "the wave" def strikes me as a fruitful path not taken, sadly

Why, because its on Hyperdub.

No, because it's a lot drier than most of their other tunes, and feels deliberately so. Mixing straight into "Dragon Pop" really underscores the point. Ill Blu going dry for a label release once may have been coincidence, but twice?

If they'd released the Meltdown EP on Hyperdub I wouldn't have been able to make the same comment. And Funkystepz's Hyperdub releases have been great (esp. the first). Believe it or not this is not actually about me and my prejudices.

FWIW I feel like Clapper is less of a distance from what I would expect from IB than Dragon Pop was (although listening back to it here Dragon Pop actually sounds better than I remember it being). Anyway listening to the mix another time Legs and Turnpike actually sound the closest to standing out as choons to me, Legs has a nice bounce to it. Still feel overall it's a wee bit average though.

Yeah, I like "Clapper" more than "Dragon Pop" (though the latter became better when they re-used it on that Suncycle/Mavado tune).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxCw31W_fj4

This is like an amazing "Flaunt It".

bloody addictive

Is no one else jumping on this? So good!

Mixmag are giving away a track called 'Turnpike':
http://www.mixmag.net/music/mp3-blog/free-mp3-ill-blu

I'm loving that Sneakbo track, that's the kind of Ill Blu production I like, fun, ott, ravey, and full of those electro/dutch house-influenced synths. Ill Blu really should be doing more vocal collaborations. I do like "Turnpike" as well, much more than when I heard it on the XLR8R mix.

I see the appeal of the tracks in the XLR8R mix now, I guess I just don't like so many of those aggro-bassy tracks in one mix without something by Sneakbo, for example, lightening it up with his talk of pagan yats, riding jet skis, and daggering women with african backs.

if by that you're suggesting sneakbo provides a counterpoint or contrast to the production then i disagree i think; he is the finer, literal point of what ill blu are already about and they have an really very unusually natural synergy

the appeal of 'zim zimma' is more in the thuggish ill blu/sneakbo mindmeld's unwitting creation of something like a muscle mary anthem

I suspect that where people struggle with recent Ill Blu is that they associate it with other boshy mersh electro-house and etc. (this is not so much of a negative for me but) - if nothing else Sneakbo offers a more attractive frame.

"Zim Zimma" really is so so so good though, that strangely lethargic synth riff like a wrecking ball accidentally knocking over a building is just brilliant.

i feel more that people are just looking at it from the wrong and boring way round cos they have the "answer" already

like the story isn't oh the guys who did 'meltdown' make mersh electro-house, it's what is up with this weirdly tuff mersh electro-house that doesnt quite fit anywhere easily

do you fancy the promo of this btw

hypothetically speaking of course

Yes I agree - but I think you need to be at least neutral on the idea of "weirdly tuff mersh electro-house" in the abstract to approach it that way.

Um... hypothetically already found it.

cos they have the "answer" already

can I say this is particularly OTM

bloody addictive
YES

http://soundcloud.com/cahill/cahill-dj-q-play-1-xtra

YASSSS

Woah.

http://images.techtree.com/ttimages/story/81817_overlord_tower_minions_final.JPG

I'm really digging these new IB tracks, and I don't think Sneakbo makes 'Zim Zimma' at all- the production on that one is massive on it's own, as an instrumental it would have fit in with the rest of the Mista Jam set of theirs just fine.

Been a bit ambivalent about the lurch towards techno seriousness that Ill Blu seem to have taken on their own stuff most recently (e.g. their new single), so it's nice to discover that "419" on this radio set is a marvelous piece of bubbly vocal house:

http://soundcloud.com/madtechrecords/ill-blu-guest-mix-bbc-radio-1

so ill blu have signed to island and have reworked a five year old uk funky track for the first single
http://soundcloud.com/illblu/blu-magic-ft-max-marshall

apparently the new stuff is influenced by “the musicality of Artful Dodger and Wookie, the bass weight of Shy FX, the sampler’s ear of people like DJ Premier, the soul of Teedra Moses and the future shock production of legendary US R&B producers like Rodney Jerkins and The Neptunes”

sounds promising...my fave recentish ill blu thing is still this though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQN_2TuK44Y

Loving these MixFresh Series DJ mixes - ploughing a really hyper furrow between DJ Q and deep tech, centred around their own current sound, oddly redolent of Tiefschwarz circa 2004:

https://soundcloud.com/illblu/illblumixfreshseries2

ha this is weirdly engrossing

i mean i kinda feel somewhat as if i'm listening more intently here than this really deserves, through the prism of past glories... but then all these relatively familiar tracks of the moment in this context make a convincing case that the world really has swung their particular, sparsely muscular way

like everyone plays shiba san 'okay' now but only ill blu were the ones deading the funky vibe with it in 2011 before it ever existed

and the tiefschwarz type thing finally works now too next to spinnin's tiptoe from edm to house n bass with tchami (whose remix of garrix 'wizard' eye-catchingly features here - everyone else will play every other tchami cut) and oliver heldens (one of the new ill blu productions here is p much a 'gecko' refix)

https://soundcloud.com/maxmarshallmusic/your-love-is-like-ill-blu-1

well ok maybe a dash overstated but still, theory goes

tchami (whose remix of garrix 'wizard' eye-catchingly features here

This one is great, yes.

Basically this mix is best when it goes all rifftacular.

new single sounds excellent

http://thump.vice.com/en_uk/words/uk-funky-duo-ill-blu-are-back-and-its-not-uk-funky

;_; at the disavowal of the uk funky scene tho

Yeah the interviewer was on some bullshit there too.

She seems a bit hung up on UK Funky being "over." It's quite an uninspiring premise for an interview. I'd rather just hear about their new material tbh.

"In the summers of 2008 and 2009, UK funky was the sound. At Numbers parties in Glasgow, I could barely finish a drink without hearing Jackmaster drop the in-your-face silliness of Piddy Py - 'Giggle Riddim..."

interviewer is clueless, that was a bassline tune, nothing like uk funky

Well if you're basing your understanding of what was going on in UK funky on what Jackmaster was dropping at parties in Glasgow...

But you know, seriously, this is the kind of take that would make sense to a lot of people.

It's almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy:

"I almost view UK funky as a club tool or a series of motifs, rather than a genre or style in itself. Sort of like what Night Slugs now do with Club Constructions - that's why Lil Silva managed to grow with their camp."

People who never really viewed uk funky as a style in its own right are always gonna see it that way.

But I should stop distracting from the greatness of Ill Blu!