rolling back to the future garage/post-dubstep/alt-funkstep/intelli-2step etc thread

I don't think it's a case of it not cutting it, it's just not as widely exposed.

Always enjoy Mr B's pitchfork column. Much better than anything else that's written on websites that cover this sound.

It's still pretty much a niche within a niche, though, isn't it? I mean it's not like it's Magnetic Man or Andy C levels of stadium filling, let alone Deadmau5 or Tiesto...

Also, I might be out of the loop, but I thought that pretty much all of the interesting DJs were mixing up 'core' grime and funky and other 'hardcore' stuff with the more consciously hybridised and less scene-rooted tunes. Or has that changed?

I do think that maybe a lot more of the giveaway’s could be commented on by music journalist’s. I don’t seem to see many funky releases reviewed anywhere I sort of look on. (granted I only read Residential advisor from time to time)

The House & Funky daily is pretty good, but these things aside, maybe the radio set’s could stand to be commented on a bit more in general? Don’t know? To be honest I think the Funky / UK House thread here cover’s the soundcloud thing pretty well, and it’s easy to shield yourself from the scene’s ‘dominance’ if you really want to. Just listen to Live FM instead of Rinse, unfollow all the post hyph mngo people on your twitter (assuming you have one) and instead of browsing chemical, browse UKFunky, instead of going FWD, go IF Bar.

well

TEEDinosaurs Twitter said:

I'm done with saturday nights in 2011 already. take me to 1992 please
2 Apr

Click to expand...

It seems some of the ideas discussed here have relevance outside this not-a-scene. Personally I am experiencing 2011 London as a feeling of malaise. It's awkward.

pars with annie mac=i do not give a shit what you think

wise said:

@ Blackdown

Don't take this the wrong way but I do wonder how much your view of this stuff is coloured by the fact that you now have a Rinse show and i'm guessing pretty regular DJ bookings to fill.
You need this scene to be as good as you think it is becaues you're in the middle of it rather than an a passionate observer as you were when I started reading your blog.
Not to say that you weren't involved in the scene then, but you weren't getting paid out of it, or contributing musically at that point.
I'm not hating here, honest.

Shame pitchfork took out the Oneman link cos yeah the Kode 9 link fairly contradicts your article.
The reason Kode 9's sets are so good is that he plays enough proper grime & funky that he can do the eclectic thing and still sound properly ruff.
Oneman is a much better standard bearer for your argument

Click to expand...

this is what i got at with my simon reynolds insulted me thread. the people who get most annoyed are the people with vested interests. Fact mag needs the london bass stuff to be the best thing in the world as they'll always cover it better than xlr8r, RA, the fader, dummy etc. Joe Muggs + Blackdown are the go to guys for articles so if there's more interest they get more work. etc etc.

it's like how once footwork blew up dave quam started getting lots of writing gigs and if there's a salsa revival by cousin pablo will be in a good position to write some articles too

juanroberto said:

this is what i got at with my simon reynolds insulted me thread. the people who get most annoyed are the people with vested interests. Fact mag needs the london bass stuff to be the best thing in the world as they'll always cover it better than xlr8r, RA, the fader, dummy etc. Joe Muggs + Blackdown are the go to guys for articles so if there's more interest they get more work. etc etc.

it's like how once footwork blew up dave quam started getting lots of writing gigs and if there's a salsa revival by cousin pablo will be in a good position to write some articles too

Click to expand...

still i guess with my new latinuum project if simon doesn't like that either i'll feel quite offended too. then you'll all be laughing at juanroberto and his Boogaloo samples

Blackdown said:

but i accept your premise (ish), can you elaborate how the piece should be less coloured? am all ears

Click to expand...

I think slothrop is right. More focus on individual producers outside your usual territory. Coverage of Funky outside of Roska, Lil Silva and the other usual suspects would be nice. Granted, some of these people are fairly inaccessible but I think most would be delighted with the attention. I've often thought it would be great if you tracked down and interviewed people like the Devine Collective and other Live FM -affiliated producers and DJs, find out their views on the scene. Something like that great Marcus Nasty interview you did a while back.

Coverage of UK Funky by journalists has been woefully inadequate. There are literally a handful of places on the net that are worth checking out to keep up with funky. There's here, ILX (where Tim F and RTC do good work), http://www.ukfunky.net/ ...Tim's Skykicking blog (now defunct?) and thats about it.

There's loads of people you could be interviewing: DJ Eastwood, Funkystepz, Champion, DJ Naughty, Naughty raver, Illmana, Seany B, LR Groove, Mad One, Miss Fire...the list goes on. All of these people are releasing tunes, DJing out, play on radio etc. Many of them have roots in garage and grime which would make an interesting angle for someone like you to write about too.

Thats what I'd like to see anyway...

btw, your pitchfork article is actually a pretty well rounded, well written piece about post dubstep. It would just be nice to see you reach outside your comfort zone a bit more.

Actually, the column was supposed to be about DJ Champion (feel free to ask him...) but then Fact did a massive Q&A and left nothing left to add.

I'm sure I'll cover someone from funky again another month - i tried to acknowledge the influence of funky from the top but not mistakenly claim this was funky - but honestly certain bits of it doesnt grab me, as much as lots of it is the best music in the world and i'm not going to say sorry for liking the bassy rude side more than other bits. When i've said this 'so so about certain parts of funky' in the past people have shouted me down but kindly offered examples, which i've gone off and listened to with an open mind but mostly dont feel them like they do. And i always use the 'feel strongly' feeling as a barometer as to who I cover, I can't be standing up and writing artist profiles, presenting them to people, if they're so so.

Seany B could be interesting though, I'm nuts about his Klambu refix.

Blackdown said:

Actually, the column was supposed to be about DJ Champion (feel free to ask him...) but then Fact did a massive Q&A and left nothing left to add.

I'm sure I'll cover someone from funky again another month - i tried to acknowledge the influence of funky from the top but not mistakenly claim this was funky - but honestly certain bits of it doesnt grab me, as much as lots of it is the best music in the world and i'm not going to say sorry for liking the bassy rude side more than other bits. When i've said this 'so so about certain parts of funky' in the past people have shouted me down but kindly offered examples, which i've gone off and listened to with an open mind but mostly dont feel them like they do. And i always use the 'feel strongly' feeling as a barometer as to who I cover, I can't be standing up and writing artist profiles, presenting them to people, if they're so so.

Seany B could be interesting though, I'm nuts about his Klambu refix.

Click to expand...

didn't Simon Reynolds write something about how today people only blog about stuff they like?

step out of your comfort zone.

Yours sincerely

Not Simon Reynolds

http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-01-19/music/leave-chillwave-alone/

there we go.

I liked your most recent Pitchfork column Martin having not really read it like I did for some time but I also got "IDM" coming into my head about some of the artists you mentioned.

Separately, one of the most exciting things for me about grime was it was the start of the internet being used to spread music culture rather than by pirate radio and raves only and personally I think this outlet is starting to peak and is no longer exciting just for being new. I agree with the people who say it feels like we're at a holding point or sorbet moment. No one idea really grabs me right now. I'm interested in lots of stuff but not with total passion.

As a side note I picked up a copy of the NME the other day and you could say that the indie rock scene is in much the same position. The first decade of the the 21st century recently ended and certain important events in those ten years are now officially being finally being closed. Feels like we're right about to launch into something. Or not, and it all just peaked and we're now about to head downhill.

I try and cover what I can in funky for Sonic Router, I review tracks that I'm feeling that come out and play even more on the radio, I'd love to get more mixes and interviews going we've only really had Ossie do that from the scene so far. I'm always on the lookout for people to ask though and really want to try bring some more through and showcase them alongside everything else we do but its been a bit of a mision getting some involved with that or even to send you promo's to review. I even shot Tim F an email to see if he'd be up for writing something but no reply yet I'd love to see him write a column somewhere talking about funky radio, random tracks, DJs whatever that don't get covered.

Back to the post-dubstep business though I really feel a whole lot of it the good outways the bad right now. I really like that its all pretty wide open it just means I focus what I play in sets more so if I want to do a slow house set I can and it can still have a thread of UK Bass sounds running through it. Same if I want to play some thing else. Its almost like you end up building sets around the bass stuff since it reaches into other areas so well. I like that its fun and happening right now. Some of it reaches back and covers simular ground and some is tepid shite but the good stuff is a right treat.

The DJ tallent in this bass scene is quality as well. I went off techno and house for some time cos DJs in those genres just plain sucked and didn't bring much excitment to it. But now you hear a load of the Hessle guys playing it with flair and a raw edge and it brings it alive. Or you have Oneman being Oneman, Jackmaster doing his thing, Brackles is quality, Braiden mixing it up. They all play pretty diverse bits from here and there but they do it well and bring it together so it doesn't sound like a clusterfuck. I guess it just comes down to focus, selection and finding a way of joining the dots that doesn't jar to much. For every one of those guys there are to many others who are slopy, un-focused and just a bit shit but thats how it goes.

gumdrops said:

the straight funky, what shd be the clear opposition to this stuff, isnt cutting it.

Click to expand...

Listen to Eastwoods last show (the Bacardi special) that he posted in the funky thread and see if you can still make that statement.

Interview Eastwood he's posting on Dissensus so i'd be surprised if he wasn't up for it.
His funky stuff is great but not much has actually been released yet. If he's got a release coming up it could be the perfect time.
He's got the Grime background which gives a hook to people who don't know too much about Funky, I imagine he'd have plenty to say.

Agree on the quality of DJing, its great to see so many really talented DJ's all so connected with each other.

Benny B said:

I think slothrop is right. More focus on individual producers outside your usual territory. Coverage of Funky outside of Roska, Lil Silva and the other usual suspects would be nice. Granted, some of these people are fairly inaccessible but I think most would be delighted with the attention. I've often thought it would be great if you tracked down and interviewed people like the Devine Collective and other Live FM -affiliated producers and DJs, find out their views on the scene. Something like that great Marcus Nasty interview you did a while back.

Coverage of UK Funky by journalists has been woefully inadequate. There are literally a handful of places on the net that are worth checking out to keep up with funky. There's here, ILX (where Tim F and RTC do good work), http://www.ukfunky.net/ ...Tim's Skykicking blog (now defunct?) and thats about it.

There's loads of people you could be interviewing: DJ Eastwood, Funkystepz, Champion, DJ Naughty, Naughty raver, Illmana, Seany B, LR Groove, Mad One, Miss Fire...the list goes on. All of these people are releasing tunes, DJing out, play on radio etc. Many of them have roots in garage and grime which would make an interesting angle for someone like you to write about too.

Thats what I'd like to see anyway...

btw, your pitchfork article is actually a pretty well rounded, well written piece about post dubstep. It would just be nice to see you reach outside your comfort zone a bit more.

Click to expand...

Would def be up for reading an interview with Miss Fire, judging by her posts on twitter she's a proper character.

Also I'm late on this but Northern Line by LV is great.