funky house sceptics, let me draw your attention to this

Rapidshare: http://rapidshare.com/files/221046488/FAZE_-_Deep___Funky_April_Edition.mp3

Skepta - Sunglasses At Night (Dj Naughty Mix)

Wait wtf?!

it sucks (well the orig does at least)

Oh it's not THAT Sunglasses At Night. I don't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

Yeah, though "Mash Up Da Venue" (still one of the most amazing garage tunes ever and I think a big reference point for a lot of the darker funky, intentionally or otherwise) was kind of an anomoly for Lavonz - everything else he ever did was fairly polite bumping post-Tuff Jam stuff (albeit often excellent).

yeh there's some truth in this, i think he was always on a certain trajectory, but thats part of whats interesting to me i think. just funny where people end up and pop up. also just for fun...

kind of like his 4x4 Mash Up Da Venue. Vibration is still one of my absolute favourites too. that and Mash Up Da Venue are easily two of my all time favourite records. i consistently enjoy his use of outrageously odd bass sounds in the oddest of contexts (even his soulful stuff is very odd i think)

with you on some of those vocal tunes about at the moment, that really cold, emotionally catatonic vibe - feeling it.

some really really interesting things picking up again in these recent sets, felt like there was a slight lull but the new year is killing it now

are you still having trouble getting the Footloose rip Tim? i could up in parts or something if so and you want any of it

oh yeh and that other Mercurial Myrmidon tune is sick! he is shaping up to be an amazing producer, wasn't convinced by his first few but he's doing it now. total carnage on that one. still sold on Moving Shapes, the way Footloose drops in and out of it in that show above takes it somewhere else

Yeah "Vibration" is great.

Re the Footloose set, it's just that zshare tends to stop downloading and random points for me, so then I have to start all over again. It usually takes about four goes with these large sets. I'll try again tonight - thanks for the upload!

Interesting that the "Am I Your Girl" tune turns out to be DJ Q of bassline fame - I don't think this is as good as his best bassline stuff, though I like that skanking offbeat counter-rhythm sound he uses through much of it.

it wasn't me on the upload, just the link :) it was a guy from dissensus who uploaded

i can put it up on a different upload site if needs be, just let me know

started listening to that Mak 10 show at last... boy. he is such a badboy once he gets going, he knows how to hit a vibe and ride it. totally feeling you on the new breed of tune coming through, totally plugging that gap i was bemoaning upthread opening up between straighter housey stuff and bleak tribal grimey stuff... exciting times. that along with the likes of Mercurial Myrmidon and some of the weird housier stuff on the Footloose show are finding a beautiful sweetspot somewhere very fresh and compulsive

also LOVE shantie!... he's such a joker, pure vibes. totally brings things to life... "we do it for the girls, do it for the geezers"...

"...dedicated funky listeners!"

I love Shantie so much, it's almost creepy. Esp. since he hasn't bothered to come up with any new rhymes in the past year. I love it on that Mak 10 set when "Seasons" starts up, and he announces "and you know what goes PERFECT with this!!!", then waits for the tune to break into its main groove, then rapidfire:

"Rude boy nowaday what you a do/pick up your gun from god knows who/ain't got an idea ain't got a clue/what you gonna do when they come for you??"

Not to mention on Crazy Cousinz's "Always Be Mine" where he darkly portends "funky comin' in the breeze..." just before the tune flips into its spooky dancehall section, and then starts guffawing at his own inadvertent good timing.

Re Mak 10, yeah particularly on this show there's a sense of him occupying the middle ground in a good way, whereas Marcus can sometimes feel a bit bipolar in his swings between vocal tracks and sparer instrumentals. To my mind, as with 2-step, there's no reason that vocal tunes can't be dark and experimental and no reason why dark and experimental tunes can't have vocals. Though that said a lot of my favourite tracks this year have been instrumental. But I think vocals often make tunes seem harder than they were as instrumentals, rather than the other way round - e.g. for some reason Wookie's "Gallium" becomes ruffer as "Fallin".

Actually the newly vocalled "Always Be Mine" is a good example of the fact that anything can be vocalled. It reminds me of old Wideboys remixes.

The most extreme version of that though will always be the Lorraine Cato vocal mix of "Pulse X".

Shantie has just got a good vibe, what many mc's don't... he sounds like he has so much fun, and loves the tunes, and has simple rhymes that make you smile

agreed on vocals, both in the sense that fluid vocals can really draw out the percussive tuffness of the rhythm (if its there), but also in vibe they can (paradoxically) take things to a stranger and unique place... like that Domino Effect would be a nice enough deep techy number anyway but i think the vocals put it in an entirely different space for me

slightly unrelated and it may not be rated but i've been absolutely lapping up this Timmy Regisford / Shelter tribute mix these last weeks

http://frazer-houseproud.blogspot.com/2008/12/blog-post.html

if you ain't got a PIN it's a facebook ting

Gratuitously reviving this thread to note that the two Mak 10/Shantie sets (the deja one from March and now the new rinse one) have monopolised my life even more than the classic marcus nasty sets from last year. This really is the most astonishing stuff!

marcus is still better than mak.

tho shantie with marcus would be better still ;)

no chance!

I think Marcus is more consistent than Mak - who has some very boring sets at times - but the two Mak10/Shantie hook-ups are unbeatable. On those sets Mak has a better track selection than anything Marcus has managed this year at the very least.

We're all in agreement re Shantie obv.

maks ok but he doesnt know how to sequence or build up the momentum of a set as well as marcus when hes playing instrumentals. not nearly. i love shantie. i dont really know his history but he reminds me of early grime mcs around 2001/2002, kinda like gods gift but not as gruff. marcus' sets are still great, but its a bit weird to still hear dubs he was playing last year still being played when we're almost 6 months into 2009! (good as they are)

thats interesting... i was about to post almost exactly the opposite!

i generally find Mak a hands-down better selector in the flow - when he hits a seam he absolutely kills it, wheras i often find Marcus doesn't really get me hitting a vibe for extended periods so much.

Mak is also an extraordinary dj in terms of beat-matching, chopping and eq

in terms of consistency i've found Marcus Nasty to be very inconsistent... sometimes months of boring shows. it seems like maybe he goes through longer phases of being not that great, wheras with Mak 10 the shows he's done have varied massively even within the space of a week or so.

but they're both great to be fair

however Mak also wins at not making threats against other house djs on the internet

I'd actually side with marcus when it comes to beat matching, and give the edge slightly to mak10 (on his best sets) when it comes to sequencing - some awesome swift cuts from one to the other.

In other news, that awesome bleepy tune that I've been trying to ID forever - it's early on in the Marcus + MCs set from November last year, after Geeneus's "Make Me" I think - turns out to be Mos Wanted's "Different Lekstrix". Not that surprising since Mos Wanted's more recent "Frozen" is rather like it.

The none-more-insane tribal track that dates back to a similar time (and is on that set as well) is (surprise surprise) Lil' Silva's "Tribal Land".

Also, Royal P seems to be developing a fine line in that sickly-lush new vocal style emerging (a la the OB remix of "Domino Effect") - "Between Us" is simultaneously woozy and svelte, all disorienting synth swirls and delicate percussion. If this is where the vocal end of the scene goes I'm totally all for it.

Help me fill in the tracklist blanks on the Marcus Nasty/Mak10 26 March set:

0:00:00 - ??? "Quit trying to fight you"
0:02:50 - J-Will - Deja Vu (??? Remix)
0:05:02 - ??? "You give me butterflies"
0:07:14 - ??? "Dangerous... I'm about to explode"
0:09:25 - DJ Q - Your Girl
0:11:36 - Hard House Banton - Sirens
0:12:35 - Unknown - A Little Bit Funky/Christina Aguilera - Genie In A Bottle
0:14:16 - ??? "It's the New Sound!"
0:16:28 - ??? Stuttery drums and sad bleeps
0:17:27 - Addictive - Domino Effect (O.B. Remix)
0:19:53 - ??? Sounds like DJ Naughty maybe
0:21:48 - Sticky and Paleface - Open Your Eyes
0:24:30 - Crazy Cousinz - Always Be Mine
0:26:40 - Donaeo - Love To Happen
0:29:37 - Lil' Silva - Different
0:32:15 - Fuzzy Logic - In The Morning
0:33:29 - ??? Piano tune
0:35:40 - ??? "He's young and he's black and they think that he's handsome"
0:37:38 - ??? synthy
0:38:52 - Lil' Silva - Seasons
0:41:30 - ??? "Jump and skank to the beat"
0:43:13 - Aaron Carl - Oasis (Nick Holder Dub)
0:44:56 - ??? dancehall-ish with piano, maybe Tadow?
0:46:07 - Hard House Banton - Reign/D Double E Freestyle
0:51:45 - ??? Maybe Fuzzy Logic, piano stomper
0:52:34 - snippet of Princess - Frontline
0:53:18 - Sticky - Juremiah Riddim
0:55:29 - ??? echoing percussion, "work me!"
0:58:25 - Scottie D - ???
0:59:38 - ??? Tribal bleep
1:01:36 - ??? Spooky arpeggios and trance chords
1:03:03 - ??? Histrionic synth blasts
1:04:17 - ??? Feel like I should know this one. "Now move!"
1:07:34 - ??? repeat dubby chord and smashing percussion
1:09:46 - Funkystepz - Funky Sound
1:11:42 - ??? Probably Scottie D or Lil' Silva
1:12:49 - Scottie D - Dream (fabulous!)
1:14:10 - Rapid - Report to the Dancefloor
1:15:23 - Lil' Silva - Funky Flex vs Pulse
1:17:19 - D-Malice - ???
1:19:02 - Madd.One - Tribal Conga
1:20:30 - ??? Eerie horns
1:22:15 - ??? "And I'm here to tell you!" LOVE THIS
1:24:23 - Lil' Silva - ???
1:27:33 - ??? Organ riffs
1:28:35 - ??? Rip Groove samples?
1:30:01 - ??? very Jammer
1:31:00 - Unknown - A Little Bit Funky
1:32:27 - Danny Native - Rass
1:33:42 - ??? Latin percussion
1:35:24 - ??? LOVE THE ARDKORE VIBE ON THIS ONE
1:37:33 - ??? Drum rolls
1:38:43 - ??? That "Whoidit?" sample is a producer signature though. This is great
1:40:57 - ??? Very grimey
1:41:54 - ??? Love the assymetrical groove on this one
1:43:09 - ??? Feel like I should know this one, heard it heaps
1:44:37 - ??? Zipping string riffs
1:46:06 - Roska - In Your Handbag
1:48:01 - ??? Deep house vibe
1:49:32 - ??? More of a tribal deep house thing

thats the type of tracklisting i wanna see on the back of those rinse mix cds :)

fuck liners!

PUT YOUR SUNGLASSES ON
DANCING TO MY SUNGLASSES SONG

is anyone liking DJ MA1's "Waterfalls" as much as I am? Something about it's simplicity makes it feel much huger than it should be

of interest, especially Aidonia's "Inflation" vocal:

http://www.theheatwave.co.uk/blog/item/ja-bashment-meets-uk-funky/

Ha, I was about to post that!

Sticky & Lady Chann's "Your Eye Too Fast" from the same blog is great.

I'd have to take the Aidonia off repeat to listen to that and I'm not quite prepared to do such yet.

Oh right, the Sticky/Lady Chann is brilliant stuff, too.

x-post Ha ha. I've yet to decide if the autotuning on the Aidonia is too much, or if too much is never enough.

Between "Always Be Mine" and "Inflation"/"Bounce", Crazy Cousinz are having a good couple of months.

Also their new remix of "Bongo Jam" (I think it's by them) with the massive dirty bassline section. Reminds me of those old Wideboys remixes of Artful Dodger.

Right now I can't ever see myself tiring of shit like this.

Man alive, those funky/dancehall tracks are JAWDROPPING. Any reservations about the autotune are utterly blown away by TICK TICK TICK TOCK and WINE UP AND WINE UP AND WINE UP AND WINE UP.

I had the reverse reaction to the Reverend, it took me ages to get to Aidonia because I couldn't stop playing Your Eye Too Fast.

Also does the Lady Chann really contain the line "me a the Chris Brown you a the Rihanna" or did I just imagine that?

"stupid skank" redeems the uk for at least 3 shitty britpop bands

xp: no you didn't

ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA
ME A GO CHRIS BROWN YOU A THE RIHANNA

Apparently the Heatwave blog dude DJed at Fwd last night and the first two tracks he played were Eye Too Fast and Bounce.

oh yeah i was gonna post that. gabriel's actual heatwave club night is always reliably excellent too but i think this was the first time he'd played at fwd. much wining of waists ensued.

(oneman played an amazing old-school set which culminated in this brilliant garage rmx of mariah's 'my all', and ramadanman played this completely insanely rhythmic set...)

Speaking of ramadanman, his recent podcast for Appleblim's Apple Pips label includes that awesome funky track which marcus plays, a fractured rolling tribal number with these awesome 2-step-style cut-up female vocals. It's like an ever-so-slightly feminized version of Lil' Silva's "Tribal Land". I wonder if it's his own?

The first tune on the April 29 Marcus Nasty Set is another amazing track in this dancehall/funky fusion style. A shame there's something up with the rinsefm set at the moment and i can't download this properly at the moment.

Seriously people.

For a certain to be amazing dj set at my impending birthday party I am thinking of bridging from dancehall to funky via dreamweaver riddim (prob. Elephant Man's "Blessed") ---> "Bounce".

I'm totally late on "Party Hard", but HOTDAMN THE BASS IS HUMONGOUS

Rev, have you heard "Love To Happen", based around DJ Gregory's "Don't Panic"? It's also massive.

Is that another Donaeo track?

Yes!

You really should download the March Mak 10/Shantie set already.
Not sure if this link still works:

http://uploadground.com/files/1W86IJS3/DJ_Mak_10___Shantie_MC_-_26_Mar_2009_-_www.vulive.co.uk_-_DejaVuFM.mp3

Artist: VA
Title: This Is UK Funky House Vol. 1 - Presented By Crazy Cousinz (2009)
Release Date: 11.05.2009
Label: Rinse FM
Genre: House
Quality: VBR kbps / 44.1kHz / Joint-Stereo

Tracklist:

CD 1:
01. Crazy Cousinz & Kyla - Do You Mind
02. Estelle - Come Over (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
03. Alesha Dixon - Boy Does Nothing (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
04. Meleka - Go (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
05. Garrison Hawk - Sweet Music (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
06. Lemar - If She Only Knew (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
07. K.I.G - Head, Shoulders, Kneez & Toez (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
08. Hannah Liston - Embrace Me (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
09. Natty - July (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
10. Sadie Ama - Those Where The Days (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
11. Leo - Hey Girl (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
12. Charlene Dance & Major Ace - Money (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
13. Young Don - Always Be My Baby (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
14. Leo - Indecent Proposal (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
15. Sniper - Dat Body (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
16. Ava Leigh - La La La? (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
17. Jay SeanTonight (Crazy Cousinz Remix)
18. Crazy Cousinz Ft Kimona - I See You
19. Crazy Cousinz Ft Calista - Bongo Jam

CD 2:
01. Geeneus Ft Katy B - As I
02. Crazy Cousinz - Inflation Instrumental
03. Perempay And Dee Ft Katie Pearl - Something In The Air
04. Donaeo - Devil In A Blue Dress
05. Hard House Banton - Sirens
06. Dubplate Malice - Gabryelle Refix
07. Def1 Feat Nyah - Frontline
08. Donaeo - African Warrior
09. Crazy Cousinz Ft Mc Versatile - Funky Anthem
10. Geeneus & Zinc Ft Nikki - Emotions
11. MA1 Ft Sim Simmy - Give It Up
12. DJ Naughty - Quicktime
13. Apple - Chants
14. DJ Footloose Ft Courtney Dennie - So Dangerous
15. Crazy Cousinz - Attract Instrumental
16. Attacca Pesante Ft Shea Soul - Make It Funky For Me
17. Tadow - Hornz
18. Fr3e - Tribal Skank (Skank Calm Down)
19. Roska - Climate Change
20. Apple - De Sieliger
21. Fingaprint - Takeover
22. Sticky Ft Sim Simmy - How Very Dare You
23. DJ Seany B - Stompa
24. Wookie Ft Ny - Fallin Again

LOL at calling your comp "This Is Funky House" and then making it two/thirds your own productions, but then that first disc is probably the one I'm looking forward to more.

A lot of the second disc selections look old now (albeit reliable, and superior to the mix-disc on Volumes), but then I guess that was inevitable. I wonder if, had I been following UK garage as very closely right through 1999, I would have been similarly underwhelmed by the tracklists of all those early-2000 compilations.