funky house sceptics, let me draw your attention to this

the table is the table, how much UK funky did you listen to before you decided to offer your definitive opinion?

Because funky isn't so much a sound as a (cough) continuum that runs from "Do You Mind" through to "Seasons". I could easily come up with five or ten funky tracks that, if you heard them in isolation, you would assume belonged to separate genres. Kyla's material is close to the conservative end of the scene.

(And none of those genres sound like progressive house, though I suspect you're using that term incorrectly as nor does Julien Jabre)

It's a bit like someone coming on to the techno/house bobbins 2009 thread and saying, "man, I listened to a Steve Bug record and I have no idea why you're so into all this stuff!"

also, the genre name is a bit of a misnomer

I said this on dissensus re the name:

"Granted that the name "funky" is inherited, I think that in an odd way it does have purchase.

With the benefit of hindsight it's clear that a big part of the appeal of more conventional funky house was, perhaps from the beginning (or certainly from 2005), a certain allegiance to syncopation, the push-'n'-pull between the 4X4 kick and the counter-rhythm patterns on top, which perseveres in current funky.

Hence the Dennis Ferrer mix of "The Cure and the Cause" being such a pivotal track in the UK scene's emergence as a distinct (though not necessarily original or innovative at that stage) scene in itself.

While soca patterns have a huge role within current funky, it's also clear that they don't exhaust the current rhythmic template of the genre (no-one in this thread is saying it does - I just want to be clear). In this sense that soca beat could be said to occupy the same role as the basic 2-step beat in garage - lots of tracks use it or a variation of it, but it's only the most obvious of many forms the rhythmic template thows up.

However, I think you could characterise the overall rhythmic template as being one in which counter-rhythms are given a more decisive and prominent role, at times resulting in the abolition of the 4X4 kick (e.g. "A Little Bit Funky" or "Always Be Mine" - though even on tunes like these the absent kick has an implied presence in a way it didn't in, say, 2-step).

Off the top of my head I can't think of many tunes at all which just use a straight house beat with no counter-rhythmic adornment. That awsome Spryo tune on Marcus Nasty's November set with all the MCs toasting on top comes to mind, but even there there was a counter-rhythmic 5-pulse-per-bar chord which provided the same push'n'pull tension. You don't get really monolithic 1-2-3-4 tracks that predominate in regular house.

It's that sense in which "funky" actually means something still I think - whether it accords with more conservative definitions of funk is a separate question, but I'd say if it did the music probably wouldn't be as interesting... "

Yeah, but funky draws it's syncopations much more from afro-carribean musical traditions than the african-american ones that would more likely be associated with the word "funk". I agree with your general points, but at the same time, it's no mystery why the genre tag might be confusing.

(Although I should add that my impression, rightly or wrongly, is that prior to this new wave that started last year, funky house DID draw more from afro-american traditions than afro-carribeanisms.)

some of it is kinda funky, at least in a loose 'rhythmically driving/very syncopated' sense of the term. but then i always thought (trad) funky house was wrongly named to begin with.

i get it, Tim. (I still would characterize Julien Jabre as progressive, though with much variation along that continuum).

i just think of funky house as...well, what is now called 'deep house.' shit like Paul Randolph and more disco-funk influenced house....whereas much of the funky-labelled stuff seems much more influenced by Defected-style big-room house or big-room New York house (ie Ibadan and Nite Grooves), with a much more soca and hip-hop flavor.

also, tim, it's not that i dislike it. in fact i'm warming to its sound quite a bit-- i'm just a bit skeptical, that's all. i'm sure that if i went out to a funky night in the UK or someplace else where it is very popular, i'd have a great time.

As I mentioned upthread, the wonderful thing about UK funky is that it can and does encapsulate virtually the entire history of house music in all its forms with the aid of one rhythmic tweak. Your post raised an eyebrow with me even before Tim interjected - funky can be and already is a much wider range of things than most other dance genres.

And it isn't "very popular" in the UK - in fact most people don't even know what it is right now. It isn't even getting much media coverage over here, although that might change if the sound blows up at the Notting Hill Carnival this year.

Tabes, I think the point is that is should be accepted for what it is, rather than what you think it should be.

Off the top of my head I can't think of many tunes at all which just use a straight house beat with no counter-rhythmic adornment.

'What's In Your Handbag', also the Perempay & Dee remix of 'I'm Right Here' by MA1. But yes, very few. I sort of think of the straight 4/4 as the equivalent of kick-less sections in techno, maybe it re-energises the dancers for when the syncopation comes back in.

sorry, Crazy Cousinz are having some sort of TV special soon, and that means it is popular, in my mind. and yes, i do understand the way television works in the UK and other countries.

and of course, Rev, you're totally right-- i will accept it for what it is, tho i still think it is a misnomer to the max.

"whereas much of the funky-labelled stuff seems much more influenced by Defected-style big-room house or big-room New York house (ie Ibadan and Nite Grooves), with a much more soca and hip-hop flavor."

Well yeah... but I think for most people a tune like the Ferrer remix of "The Cure & The Cause" is pretty much exactly what comes to mind when they hear the term "funky house".

But search the tracklist for any comp bearing these words (e.g. "this is funky house") from the past decade and it's clear that the term is so elastic as to be near meaningless.

To my mind it basically means populist big-room house that is neither too electroid nor too subtle - the more commercial MAW, Joey Negro etc.

Disco Kandi comps, basically! Which strike me for the most part as being less funky than "The Cure & The Cause" in that they're often quite monolithic, warm basslines notwithstanding.

cooly g's fact mix is magnificent

joining all the dots between her dreamy, abstract productions and full-on diva house - i never fully bought into the binary of GRIMY FUNKY at one end and HOUSEY FUNKY at the other, but this mix would make a nonsense of it, anyway

i like 'Dis Boy Pt 4' - probably just for the ravey overtones

assuming that is the one with the "he says he wants to run away" hook

Fact Mix: This file is temporarily unavailable because there are no resources available under the owner's account. : /

she is playing here soon

link is working again now btw

not for me :(

Invalid File. This error has been forwarded to MediaFire's development team.

Wish they'd use rapidshare!

yousendit is actually good again these days

co-sign on YSI. i also pay for my account, but damn, it works well.

i am DLing the Cooly G right now, as the link works for me. i am kind of excited-- the description and tracklist look aight, and she seems cool as shit. so.

"joining all the dots between her dreamy, abstract productions and full-on diva house - i never fully bought into the binary of GRIMY FUNKY at one end and HOUSEY FUNKY at the other, but this mix would make a nonsense of it, anyway"

Yes but Cooly G sets sound rather different to other funky sets* so I'm not sure if that says something about funky or just about her.

*to the extent that we can talk about "other funky sets" - obv there's no set pattern and a lot of nominally "UK funky" DJs still play 90% US or Euro material. Really what's most different about Cooly G sets are her own productions, which provide the bulk of the "dreamy, abstract" quotient here.

But yes describing any scene in terms of a "binary" is always gonna be wrongheaded, esp. because funky is drawing from soca, dancehall and broken beat as well as from house and grime.

Cooly G is coming from a different place yet again insofar as she adds minimal and dubstep overtones. Of all the big UK producers only she and occasionally Roska are going for a dreamy/abstract sound. In a lot of ways this runs counter to what I usually like about funky. I think a big part of my enjoyment of funky has been grounded in how it redeploys certain things that i really liked in minimal, being disruptive and intricate rhythms, but does so with a populist/ravey sensibility quite foreign to minimal as it currently stands.

I've noticed that I now have less patience for a lot of the more reduced minimal I used to enjoy because funky has distorted my listening habits somewhat.

Whereas Cooly G's music is very accomodating to a minimal sensibility (and a dubstep sensibility too, but the Hessle Audio end rather than the Caspa/Rusko end obv). I enjoy stuff like "Love Dub" and "Dis Boy" more in the way that I enjoy, say, Pangaea, than in the way I enjoy other funky.

what does the track at 22 minutes sample? def recognize it, but can;t place it

also what is the track at 49 mins with the big "You got to believe in something! Why not believe in me?" diva vocals?

n/m, must be 16 Hard Soul - Self Religion (Believe In Me)

Yeah "Self Religion" is my favourite thing on there I reckon! On one of his sets Roska blends it with "Feeline" with a surprising level of success.

The 22 min track is Mista P's "Funky Interlude".

Prob not funky but I'm excited to hear Fact's new Terra Danjah podcast!

^^yes - need to find a spare hour to slam it on. he's playing night slugs on thu too, v excited about that

Okay, I dig this Cooly G mix but only after about the first ten minutes. The first ten minutes made me want to harm her.

The middle 30 minutes rate really high for me-- it is nice to hear a mix where I don't know much of what is going on with the artists etc.

one thing: stop the shout-outs, people. it's fucking annoying.

!!! You're beyond saving: the first ten minutes includes those great Martin Kemp, Sami Sanchez and Fingaprint tracks! Those three tracks are like the best single stretch of the mix.

there are too many shoutouts on that bit tho, reminds me of trying to listen to some hip-hop mixtapes and being killed by the compiler's constant shoutouts.

probably justifiable paranoia about people cutting out the individual tracks and spreading them on the net, but still.

No actually I agree that this section is best:

12 T. Williams & Smokey - Dub
13 NB Funky - Riddim Box (Sami Sanchez Remix)
14 Unknown - Unknown
15 Halo & Kemal - African Dream
16 Hard Soul - Self Religion (Believe In Me)

Still, I'd say this is nice rather than magnificent. It's nowhere near the obsessive take-over-my-life levels of goodness of Mak 10/shantie. Speaking of which the Mak 10/Marcus Nasty set from 6 April gets really great from about 45 minutes in, the limited skills of the ring-in bassline MCs notwithstanding. Loving that genuinely funky track in between Sami Sanchez's "Dirty Trumpet" and "A Little Bit Funky" at about an hour in. And that epic grime-funky track at 1:05:00. Also that final massive track from Bloodfire - didn't he used to be in Bugz in the Attic?

one thing: stop the shout-outs, people. it's fucking annoying.

― the table is the table, Tuesday, May 12, 2009 8:16 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

u are

whenever i post anything, deej, you say that i'm retarded or annoying.

in other news, fuck you.

would like to hear someone reading john updike over funky house tracks

so is 'mirror dance' a big track in funky ?? its a huge 'just-house' song over here

still!

sounds like an obvious inspiration for 'inflation' to me

yr fave & mine sharky p killing it RIGHT NOW LIVE dudes

http://www.icecoldfm.co.uk/

ctrl + f "mirror dance" btw deej

Delirious ft Sweetness – Truthful
Puppert Master – Inflation Remix
Oveous Maximus – Mirror Dance (Yoruba)
Dewa Entertainment – Too Sweet

^ also check this outstanding extended riff about an hour and half into footloose this week.

haha, sharky currently turning portentous old 'samurai' (ma1 mix of jazztronik via marco del horno) into a bubbling s/t to the usual randy night out

HAHAHAHA and after all that filth he's now doing b2b with his infant kid he's had in the studio the whole time!!!!!!! love this guy

aww now the station's cut out :(

the shoutouts ARE - like deej in fact - quite annoying. tho tbh that whole mix (like cooly herself, good as she is) is a bit overrated (most fact mixes seem a bit lazily put together imho - like that roska one a while back).

heard a new donaeo track on kiss tonight. his most commersh song so far, nowhere near as good as the last few. goes a bit nuts with the orchestral stabs too.

I like Sharkey P too. It's difficult for me to hate on MCs who focus their chat on important topics like picking up girls on the dancefloor.

The 22 min track is Mista P's "Funky Interlude".

― Tim F, Tuesday, May 12, 2009 4:15 AM Bookmark

right, asked what the sample was iirc