Tim F

Well-known member
Actually the way in which yr argument re Night Slugs, Blunted Robots, Oneman etc might make sense to me is that it seems like all of the DJs who are playing that stuff are playing less funky this year than last year... But surely this is primarily because percussive 130bpm post-dubstep was what these DJs were aiming for all along (as opposed to funky qua funky) and the use of funky tunes was mainly just to plug in the gaps until a fully fledged scene emerged.
 

Blackdown

nexKeysound
@ benny, no, quite the opposite, i really like funky just like i really liked garage, and that's half the issue, it's not been hitting the spot as much as i'd like to be able to say it is.

maybe part of the problem is the issue tim outlined on ILX, where the tracks only seem good in the mix... thing is i just find that a bit lazy, because outside of (wonderful) radio sets, the actual tracks dont often stand up after about 2 mins because the producer hasnt bothered with an arrangement past 2 mins... it's all a bit sad that the tracks cant be listened fully on their own.

@ your list tim, most of those i know. The Fives, MJ Cole Volcano, The Mike Delinquent Project Say Yes, Emvee - Windrush Riddim i'm into. But Ill Blu and Funkysteps are classic examples of producers i find that promise so much but most of their work doesn't totally fulfill it, like they can't quite write the perfect Ill Blu or Funkysteps track (respectively), exactly as per your point about the hyperdub 12" above. Lil Silva is an interesting example because he could have those symptoms but has made some total classics with real identity that elevate him above the 7/10.

which all adds to this sense of plateau rather than sustained levels of growth (regardless of whether it's in one or multi directions tim, in fact multi directions-yet-tied-together is the holy grail surely?)
 

gremino

Moster Sirphine
At least 90% of the best funky hasn't come out to buy but if you listen to radio sets on a regular there's fantastic new stuff getting played week in week out.
If vinyl was still the regular format, there probably would be alot of white labels to buy. Infrastructure has changed (digital dubs for 40£). It seem funky is still a very local thing although afterall we're living in internet-age!
 

Blackdown

nexKeysound
oh and tim, are you gonna do your second half of the year youtube roundup?

might be interesting to link to for an alternate take on things, because as we both know, i'm not going to be singing the praises of cheryl cole remixes in pitchfork any time soon lol... ;)
 

BareBones

wheezy
the ill blu cheryl cole remix is so good. my favourite ill blu remix by far. they're all excellent though.

as benny said, the problem is that it's fucking impossible to actually get hold of any of the tracks unless you're connected to the scene or want to spend £40 for an mp3, which is just fucking stupid.
 

FairiesWearBoots

Well-known member
maybe its also due to the fact that some of the best (popular, play out a lot) DJ's in 2010 are the ones that have their sound in that middle ground (Oneman obv, Jackmaster, Ben UFO, yourselves, Jackmaster, Martelo)
so this has more an impact on perceptions? more 'open' sets (for want of a better description) and this also appeals to a mainstream 'dupstep audience? way more dubstep nights across the country than funky ones, (more's the pity)
 

Blackdown

nexKeysound
@FairiesWearBoots yeah but much of those other DJs, who are people i rate highly, most highly in fact, are all DJs who are or have been inspired by uk funky but now play less of it, in favour of the music that came out of that inspiration... which was my initial point.

@everyone.... and while i hate to sound like some audiophile (i do like good audio quality, but i'm not psychotic about it) isn't there something to be said here for the state of a scene where youtube or radio rips are the main body of the scene, rather than just the media that transmits it?

there's so little wav/cd/vinyl or even high quality mp3s, over rips and sets...? i know this is the sign of the times for everyone to some extent, but it seems especially pronounced in funky.
 

Tim F

Well-known member
maybe part of the problem is the issue tim outlined on ILX, where the tracks only seem good in the mix... thing is i just find that a bit lazy, because outside of (wonderful) radio sets, the actual tracks dont often stand up after about 2 mins because the producer hasnt bothered with an arrangement past 2 mins... it's all a bit sad that the tracks cant be listened fully on their own.

"Lazy" only if the standard is "music that can be treated as discrete artistic artifacts." But heaps and heaps of dance music styles follow this pattern, it's probably the rule rather than the exception. The average amount of variation or internal development in a funky production is greater than most dancehall - again, by far the music's closest direct point of comparison - or traditional dubstep for that matter.

In the radio sets you'll get certain tracks extended for maybe 7 minutes via rewinds as various MCs have a go over the top, again much like dancehall. This has an obvious ancestor closer to home in the form of grime of course, but the feel of it in funky sets is closer to dancehall. In that context the tunes don't get tiresome because of course many of them have been designed to cater for the warp and weft of track vs mc's voice. (similarly, who really wanted to listen to Jammer or Wiley 8-bars play out as five minute instrumentals back in 2002/2003?)

In truth, as much as dance music verges on being my listening (to say nothing of critical) raison d'etre, there's precious little of it that I actually want to listen to as isolated tracks.

The "in-between" stuff, taken as a whole, represents dance music at its most Black Dog-like (much of which is due to the crucial though understated influence of minimal), but that doesn't mean that everything should be judged by that standard.

Re Ill Blu and Funkystepz I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, a tune like "Dragon Pop" sounds tenuous to me, but their Roll Deep remixes seem to me to be the ultimate in dance-pop generally, to say nothing of being the ultimate in Ill Blu productions. But I can see where people with an aversion to shiny pop maneuvers would disagree (of course I don't check for the originals!). Funkystepz are a different case because their best tunes are a task to actually track down.

oh and tim, are you gonna do your second half of the year youtube roundup?

Yeah, got a massive backlog of official articles to clear first, itself usually relegated behind, y'know fulltime work... Will get to it though.
 

Tim F

Well-known member
@everyone.... and while i hate to sound like some audiophile (i do like good audio quality, but i'm not psychotic about it) isn't there something to be said here for the state of a scene where youtube or radio rips are the main body of the scene, rather than just the media that transmits it?

This is a bit misleading. All of the DJs are playing wavs or (at least) 320s. If you're actually listening to the radio live (rather than via MP3) then the sound quality of funky is the same as for any other dance genre on radio (assuming a decent signal of course) - and that has been the way that most consumers of dance music have actually consumed it in a non-club/rave/etc. setting since time.
 
But Ill Blu and Funkysteps are classic examples of producers i find that promise so much but most of their work doesn't totally fulfill it, like they can't quite write the perfect Ill Blu or Funkysteps track (respectively), exactly as per your point about the hyperdub 12" above.

It's weird that you chose those two as I can't think of any other producers that can make hit tunes so focused on a regular basis, the Hyperdub release being the exception for me, not the rule...

As for the state of the music this year, I also think this has been a better year than last two. If anything things have moved a bit outside the "public eye" as the hype has been wearing down, but there's surged a lot of new producers that have been making really good stuff. I can see how it can seem a bit slower for someone who only listen to funky from the Rinse FM / Fact / Hyperdub perspective, but personally I hadn't heard last year anything as exciting as the G Smalls and Petchy sets linked in this very thread, for example.

I'd also add Dj Champion to that list Tim made, everything he's made lately is competely awesome. And Mr.Mageeka, athough no one other than Scratcha (and myself :p) seems to be playing his stuff...

Edit: and surely the scene is focused on tunes to be played on raves and radio, not youtube?
Edit2: Ok, Tim already beat me to it...
 
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Tim F

Well-known member
Yeah DJ Champion should not be forgotten! Oversight on my part.

Mr Mageeka needs to provide DJs with more tunes. Apart from "Different Lekstrix" the only ones I've stumbled across outside his myspace are "De Congo" and "Fire", neither of which set my world alight. Whatever happened to "Frozen"??

Yeah with Ill Blu I just take for granted that their remixes are gonna be these dragon-slaying epic monstrosities. If anything they're too good at making "ultimate" tunes, they make it sound easy.

What is particularly impressive is how in addition to adding these amazing percussive sturm und drang grooves they sort of casually rearrange tunes like "Green Light" and (Sabrina's) "OMG" into better songs, emphasising the stronger melodic bits, dispensing with the weaker bits, and then stringing them into a songful progression that actually is much more effective than the structure of the original song. I was saying on ILX that the Roll Deep remixes actually sound like originals, with the originals sounding like weak mersh electro remixes.
 
yeah, that also happened to me with Funkystepz remix of James Bellamy, not having any idea who he was when I heard the remix (which is a big favorite), and then finding out he's some guy from the UK edition of X-Factor, hearing the original sounded like a really bad remix lol
 

Blackdown

nexKeysound
This is a bit misleading. All of the DJs are playing wavs or (at least) 320s. If you're actually listening to the radio live (rather than via MP3) then the sound quality of funky is the same as for any other dance genre on radio (assuming a decent signal of course) - and that has been the way that most consumers of dance music have actually consumed it in a non-club/rave/etc. setting since time.

sure but the difference being dance music since the dawn of time had a club infrastructure, which outside the greek/cypriot islands over the summer, uk funky doesn't. there's the odd thing like If bar or fonti's recent bash in southend but where are the roadblock raves a-la garage? if indeed there aren't any this puts youtube as it's centre, not 320-playing DJs...
 

FairiesWearBoots

Well-known member
sure but the difference being dance music since the dawn of time had a club infrastructure, which outside the greek/cypriot islands over the summer, uk funky doesn't. there's the odd thing like If bar or fonti's recent bash in southend but where are the roadblock raves a-la garage? if indeed there aren't any this puts youtube as it's centre, not 320-playing DJs...

that is what I was trying to say (badly)
 

tom lea

Well-known member
Rinse FM / Fact / Hyperdub perspective
fyi i listen to live more than i do rinse, and i'm one of the guys who edits fact.

there's no fact perspective here. we love petchy and dream and live fm as much as we do numbers and night slugs and brackles, it's just that the latter put out more records, so there's more to write about.
 
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