funky house sceptics, let me draw your attention to this

yeah tim f that piece on idolator was great. i would've left a comment if i could.

http://www.myspace.com/youngoffendazuk

I'm not even sure if this funky house, there is a lot of 2-step, dubstep and grime in this.

Check out Young Offedaz ft MC Shocks - Excuse Me.

Its like one of those tidy 2-step MCs got all aggro, without losing the funk to some extent.

Theirs a chunk of breaks in this too, I've not heard so much crossover in awhile.

This Marcus Nasty mix is good. Really diverse sounds and beats, too. And this -- "this stuff sounds more exciting with MCs chatting over the top" -- is OTM (and Jamaican toasters have never been of much interest to me, but this MC chatting works, somehow). Thanks, Tim.

On one of the Marcus Nasty shows with Rankin and Shantie there's an amazing section where they're trading lines back and forth (I'll upload the individual section when I get a chance) and it sounds like the most exciting thing in the world.

Nice to hear Rankin again soon. I always loved his rap on the Dreem Teem remix of Amar's "Sometimes It Snows In April" - "There's no question of a doubt / I've checked all the ladies out / You're the finest thing that i've seen / sexy lady come be my dream" (not sure if that last line is correct). In the show he reuses it but makes it "There's no question of a doubt / I've checked all the DJs out / Marcus Nasty the finest I've heard / spread the gospel, gotta spread the word..." This kind of thing pleases me disproportionately.

Unfortunately (and frustratingly) all the Rinse FM show downloads (by Geeneus, Perempay, Supa D) seem to still be dominated by US and even Euro house (one of Geeneus's show included Villalobos and Ame) - which is nice enough but not really what I need more of.

I wonder if this is what it would have been like trying to find good 2-step shows after hearing "Destiny" or "My Desire (Dreem Teem Mix)" way back in 1997, and instead getting conservative Tuff Jam sets. Except at least Tuff Jam were playing lots of UK tracks!

Tim, it's exactly the same as far as I recall!

...but maybe even worse. I can't help but feel that because of the bottom falling out of the market for dance singles there aren't any labels jumping on the sound and trying to put out product. Suspect it's going the same way as Jamaica what with everyone doing all those special versions of their songs for radio DJs ("sometimes I wake up so early, so Marcus Nasty can play for me") in order to pay the rent.

Also, it'd probably be like hearing Bobbi and Steve or Grant Nelson on Kiss... Lots of US-aping brit garage on Azuli and 4liberty mixed up with Kerri Chandler etc (so not much change there).

i personally really dig the "us-aping brit garage". for example, "twilight flight" by baby face jay does the prescription sound far better than mountain people could ever dream of!

DJ Seany B feat Monique - Make your move

So, standard "funky" beat here, but what's so great about this track to me is the tension between the somewhat aggressive, definitely urban sounding bassline, and the sonically fluffy sounding vocals. Of course when you listen to the lyrics they're not actually that fluffy. The thing I like about a lot of these funky house songs is that for the first time in ages (outside of the really pop stuff) dance music lyrics are dealing with 'younger' topics - there's lots of stuff about instant sexual attraction etc. and it's a big contrast with the US scene which tends to produce more 'mature' sounding vocals...

Yeah that's a great track. Seany B used to be an MC in More Fire Crew I think! This, "Stomper" and another track whose name I forget are all fire.

Stomper is a weird one for me - it has that awkward, fruity-loops feel that makes it sound a lot more like grime than most funky... I like that as an ingredient, but when it dominates the recipe I'm not so sure. Tracks that balance this sound with sexier stuff appeal more to me...

Do you like "Leader" Jacob?

Are you talking about "Leader" by Fuzzy Logik?? I've been hearing this track about, first heard DJ Pioneer playing it, then Supa D, Marcus Nasty and now im hearing it everywhere i go, absolutely brilliant! Fuzzy Logik has some real quality tracks about at the min. Definetly one to watch out for reppin the uk funky. http://www.myspace.com/flogik

"Leader" is great. Very pure distillation of the sound I think. Bass sounds in funky are interesting, I think. They go for loud bass, but with a very smooth undistorted sound that kind of backgrounds it a lot more than we're used to in UK dance music...

Yeah I was thinking the same thing Jacob! Like, the MC might mention something about "watch for the bass" but it's this really subtle low-end that is hard to pick up on radio/mp3. So different from bassline (where the bassline is the melody).

It reminds me a bit of early 2-step actually: only a couple of producers like Steve Gurley and Groove Chronicles/El-B were into really prominent basslines, which is why they get namechecked by dubstep fans so much. Everyone had bass in their tracks but it wasn't necessarily leaping out at you - on a track like "Re-Rewind" the bass is quite subtle.

Then Wookie and Zed Bias really popularised big basslines, and by late 2000 it was pretty rare to come across tracks that didn't have a big bassline interlude.

Diamond ft Gappy Ranx – Champagne Dance (Dub)

^ not only ace, but a good demonstration of how fast this scene is moving groove-wise. How is this remotely house?

Tawiah - Every Step (Arms Remix)

^ Fabulous, melodramatic, hyper-syncopated R&B-ish funky house tune (Arms is a pretty amazing producer) with "Mandarine Girl"/"In White Rooms"-style staggering trancey synth chords as an added bonus.

Arms' myspace has a streaming version.

Nice one, I knew broken beat might still have some part to play in the future of London's music. Nice to see that influence in with a bunch of other interesting stuff.

Now if only could buy this.

Tawiah - Every Step (Arms Remix)

^ Fabulous, melodramatic, hyper-syncopated R&B-ish funky house tune (Arms is a pretty amazing producer) with "Mandarine Girl"/"In White Rooms"-style staggering trancey synth chords as an added bonus.

-- Tim F, Saturday, June 7, 2008 12:19 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

argh this stuff needs to start coming out on vinyl
the groove on this is so great - i really wish i had been trained as a drummer with a lot of this stuff so i could identify whats going on with the rhythms here. that skittering snare is the best

I think the Tawiah one might be released actually - the original track is R&B/rock fusion somewhat like Jamelia's "Something About You".

Deej did you ever hear any of the "R&G" stuff ("rhythm & grime") from about three/four years ago?

Not all of it was hot but some of the rhythmic programming on the best stuff was mindblowing, like KT Pearl's "Mr DJ" - top track!

But otherwise (as I said at the top of the thread) the really interesting rhythms in funky house remind me a bit of that period of UK Garage circa 2001 where it had started to abandon proper 2-step, had yet to get to the Pulse X stage, and was taking most of its rhythmic ideas in the meantime from the Caribbean - James Lavonz's "Mash Up Da Venue", TJ Cases' "One By One" the Bump & Flex Dancehall Dub of Cleptomaniacs' "All I Do", the London Dodgers' "Down Down Biznizz"... As this is some of my favourite music ever I'm very pleased. In fact if funky house goes in the direction I want it to (which remains to be seen - astonishing how many of the scene's big DJs are stuck in a soulful house rut - a pleasant rut to be sure, but a rut nonetheless when compared to the sound Marcus Nasty is pushing) it'll basically be going where I had hoped UK Garage would go had "Pulse X" and "Oi!" not emerged and changed the direction of the scene entirely.

(basically my version of rockism is to cast all music in a "destruction of Eden" narrative with 2-step as Eden)

Can I self-indulgently note that few big-ups have pleased me more than Marcus Nasty and Crazi Cousinz both linking my article on their myspace pages.

are there any pirate mixes floating around?

Go to Marcus Nasty's homepage Tricky - www.myspace.com/marcusnasty

The best one to start with is the Deja Vu FM show from late March with Quincy and Shanti on the mic.

The show with Rankin and Shanti is very good also.

'sous le soleil' needs a funky house remix

or like ... 'libre' by mambana

Was pleased to note (in line with predictions I had made) that a decent UK funky house DJ set from DJ Smoothie T included both "Calabria 2007" and "Work"

That mix is downloadable from his myspace - a good overview of the scene with "Bongo Jam", "Devil In A Blue Dress", "Make Your Move", "Tell Me", Geeneus's "I Tried", Roska's "Feeline", "Do You Mind", Diamond's "Champagne Dance", TNT's "Take It Low" (love this one - "Up/down/roundanownanow..."), Marcus Nasty's big instrumental dubplates, and a couple of ace tracks I'm not familiar with, including a marvellous smoov-but-secretly-ruff remix of Floetry by TNT which is like the funky house equivalent of "Sincere" or TJ Cases's "Dedicated To Love".

I wonder if this is the same TNT as the UK garage producer who did "Easy Lovin' You"...

Hey Tim, any idea what the track after Champagne Dance on the Smoothie T mix is? The Footloose remix of who exactly?

The one with the big horns and the electrofunk synths that sounds a bit like old Ruff Sqwad?

Hell, it even reminds me a little of Jammer's old beats, only at what 128 bpm?

This stuff really is like the best parts of early grime and weird late 2-step except not in the 138 bpm region. Which is a good thing by me.

I want to try mixing this stuff with some older slower speed garage and see how it sounds.

For those who're interested, UKrecordshop and Rhythm Division have some vinyl you can order online, including "Tell me", "Do you mind", "Segalizer" and "Mr Bean". That seems to be pretty much all there is around on vinyl...

Thank you, its been awhile since I've ordered anything from the UK.

Couldn't afford to keep up with dubstep at the pound to dollar exchange rate.

Looks like its time to eat some Ramen again!

xxpost - I don't know that track! It's great though - yeah very Ruff Sqwad. Infuriating how Smoothie T says "You all know this one!"

I have heard that female vocal before: "You're in the club/getting down/shake that bottle/spray it round round round."

Oh no that's from "Champagne Dance" (previous duck) duh. The track we're talking about has the Lady Saw style vocals.

For those who're interested, UKrecordshop and Rhythm Division have some vinyl you can order online, including "Tell me", "Do you mind", "Segalizer" and "Mr Bean". That seems to be pretty much all there is around on vinyl...

-- J@cob, Tuesday, June 10, 2008 2:59 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark Link

!!! thnx man

would love to know if that arms rmx ever gets vinyl release ;D

Deej did you ever hear any of the "R&G" stuff ("rhythm & grime") from about three/four years ago?

Not all of it was hot but some of the rhythmic programming on the best stuff was mindblowing, like KT Pearl's "Mr DJ" - top track!

yeah i was into a lot of this stuff, i think its more alienating than two step or funky house for american audiences tho

maybe not tho, im listening to 'mr dj' again and i could see it working ... it doesnt really fit in w/ the vibe i go for tho, a little too much dramatic seriousness where my thing has been drifting towards laid back/summery like cali rap and mid 90s r&b, that lonyo track, a little balaeric, etc

Yeah very different vibe to that!

Do you know the Wookie remix of Gabrielle's "Sunshine" deej? Definition of laidback 2-step.

I think if I heard "Champagne Dance" out of context I would think it was an R&G track (what confused me re siah alan's question above is that I think this sounds a bit like Ruff Sqwad too...).

Do you all like that "Old school love" track? Fits with your eden narrative Tim...

The dub version of Sunshine is still my favorite 2-step track.

Weird, I never picked up a copy, really need to get on that.

I almost thought that there was another track between Champagne Dance and the next one with the female vocals, maybe its just the intro, I was pretty tired when I wrote my last post.

The one with "Don't... you... want... to... be... my.. baby"

Anyways, Footloose = badman in my estimation.

http://www.myspace.com/djfootlooseuk

His myspace give my computer a migraine though.

I worked it out: it's a remix of Ear Dis' "I Feel".

Ear Dis is Arms and one other guy. The original is pretty ace too - classy but rhythmically screwy broken beat pop, like a ruffer Vikter Dupleix.

I wonder if broken beat producers will invade this scene. Certainly Zed Bias should.

Agree re Footloose, I also love his remix of Che'Nelle's "Hurry Up".

What's the "old skool love" track jacob?

This far and yet no mention of "Daddy-O"?

It's a song all about the 'old days' of 2-step, namechecks lots of songs and then goes on about how the singer wants some 'old school love'. Sounds almost like Craig David...

Crazi Cousinz, Paleface and Scratcha all playing it I think.

Need to check that.

Tadow's "Rising Sun" (took me ages to ID this one) is probably the best track (or one of the best) for MCs to ride owing to those 8-bar style switches between the latin piano chords and the throbbing bass sections - works best if pitched up slightly. Anyway I'm mentioning it because there's an insane remix of it that's totally on a fucked up technicolour grime tip. Invasion Records running things right now...

Siegbran, I've only heard a bassline version of "Daddy O" - it's great though. Is there a funky version?

Soul Seekerz mix is the funky one, there's also your Fedde Le Grand-style fart-bass version (Micky Slim) and an oldskool UKG version by 187 Lockdown.

"Soul Seekerz mix is the funky one" - this means "funky" in the typical, non Marcus Nasty sense, right? We're not talking grimy synths and soca beats I assume.

But I'm excited by the notion of the return of 187 Lockdown.

Also, Wideboys back into the R&G as well.

Ha ha, Wideboys are always so accomodating with their different remixes:

1 Snowflake (Wideboys Original Club Mix) (3:50)
Remix - Wideboys*
2 Snowflake (Wideboys House Mix) (5:55)
Remix - Wideboys*
3 Snowflake (Future Freakz Remix) (6:34)
Remix - Future Freakz
4 Snowflake (Wideboys Bumpy Mix) (6:12)
Remix - Wideboys*
5 Snowflake (Wideboys Dutty Bass Mix) (4:54)
Remix - Wideboys*
6 Snowflake (4/4 Organ Mix) (4:26)
7 Snowflake (Wideboys Up Norf Big Booty Bassline Mix) (5:24)
Remix - Wideboys*
8 Snowflake (Wideboys R&G Mix) (2:47)

still trying to ID some tracks:

1) On that classic Marcus Nasty set with Rankin and Quincy, the R&G-ish track with the vocals "Ohhh, I want you oh so close, I wanted you to know, that you are takin' over, over me."

2) A track that samples Jagged Edge singing "rolling down the lonely highway asking God to please forgive me..." with piano and fabulous mechanical percussion,

now jamming: bongo jam

-- The Reverend, Sunday, May 11, 2008 9:35 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Link