Funky/London/UK House

[Tentative Andy]

^Agree with everyone about the 20.3.10 Petchy set being great, anyone who didn't hear it the first time round should def grab it now.
Other people have already kind of said this, but I think what I like about those sets so much is that they're in some ways a lot like grime, but also sort of the opposite of grime at the same time - it's like an alternate universe where grime found a way to be more positive and playful without it seeming like too much of a compromise.

Also got about a half dozen beats from the 30.10.10 Petchy set that I want IDs on now, might post up some clips later.
"E16 is my manor/Walk round in a bright yellow bandana in my manor"

 

[Sectionfive]

Yip, and you can't help but enjoy it when hear them having so much fun the other end I think.

So much energy

 

[Tentative Andy]

check "la Kettele" on ukfunky.com, that's my favourite.

Hey buddy you were right about this, it's a cracker!
(Also now available slightly cheaper on Juno for the bargain hunters ).
From listening through more of the Soulserious stuff, I've decided that what they are doing (and everybody can please feel free to disagree with me, shout at me etc about this) is kind of blurring the boundaries between funky and the more 'dubbage' direction. Predictably though, I much prefer their stuff with funkier drums to their ones that have more straight house kind of beats (though some of these are ok for a change-of-pace sort of thing).

 

[4linehaiku]

re: That Petchy set, what's the tune at 12:00 that gets pulled up about 3 times? I think Petchy plays it a lot, but it could just be that I keep listening to that one show.

 

[Blackdown]

^Agree with everyone about the 20.3.10 Petchy set being great

i agree too, flippin brilliant, but as i said up thread this is just grime with percussive beats, even down to the flow style. Topsy getting an instant reload by shouting "ITS T.O....".

think i like Shantie best on this though, he's doing things on his own terms. the more these funky MCs edge into the shout/reload territory they need to compete on grime's terms, ie with P Money, Tempa T etc...

 

[Benny Bunter]

. the more these funky MCs edge into the shout/reload territory they need to compete on grime's terms, ie with P Money, Tempa T etc...

Don't really see why. I doubt someone like Topsee would feel the need to 'compete' with P Money. Aside from the odd special here and there the MCs don't seem concerned with putting out records. And even though on a set like the one being discussed the MCs are brought to the forefront, a lot of their lyrical focus is still on bigging up the DJ (Peeeeetcheeee!) and acting as hosts on most sets. So, there are obvious similarities but also quite a few things that are distinct from Grime, not least the subject matter.

 

[Blackdown]

Don't really see why. I doubt someone like Topsee would feel the need to 'compete' with P Money.

compete for distinct artistic space, not directly clash obv.

Toppsy just said "out to 'Smackbangwallop' y'na..." ahahahah, flippin priceless.

 

[outraygeous]

I dont know if I have mentioned this before but when I did radio there was a crew called Black Vynal Crew. There was 3/4 djs and mcs and they would play mainly house music and lots of todd edwards. Its a shame I dont have these sets recorded but that sorta vibe is whats missing from radio, thats why these Petchy sets are so good.

 

[David_M]

I don't necessarily see that much similarities with grime, yes it's pirate radio and there are mc's, but I see more to it than that...
You know, I understand sometimes when I hear a familiar element it clouds my judgement on it or makes me ignore other things, but there is a lot more happening in there that mc's getting rewinds.

I mean, like 30% of what Petchy plays is straight up house music hits from the last few years ("any house" as some would say ) and he plays lots of vocals in the middle and tunes to vibe out to in general, it's not as if he's only playing tools for the mc to get in. And as Benny says, the mcs also seem to be on board with building that vibe for people to rave to.

by the way, I recorded a bit of yesterday's show with Petchy, Topsee & DPO:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/75itgw

 

[gumdrops]

the reasons im not so into it is yes, they are fucking loud. to the point where they obscure the beats somewhat. whicih is what reminds me of grime mcs, when they didnt care about the beats, they just wanted to dominate the whole set. rankin is less ego-centric in that way, which is why i think he makes a good funky mc. subject matter wise, they do have some overlap with grime mcs, but its still a bit diff, more like old jungle mc-ing maybe? but the main issue i have is that they just overwhelm the tracks with lyrics. the music gets BURIED. its almost like theyre def jux style rave mcs lol, just full torrents of lyrics over and over. cant they just let the beat ride a bit more? jesus. and then if theyre basically taking the shouty grime aesthetic to funky, then yeah, lets just get dog-z, crazy t and tempz on a set. cos that i would rather hear. those guys have more distinct characters as mcs.

 

[continuum]

i'm with gumdrops on this the mc's are spoiling it by never shutting up. if you have to have mc's then they should be like the old hardcore mc's doing hosting and shout outs. anything else is grime where the mc's need beats like the ones in the video below for it to work:

 

[Tentative Andy]

you can't help but enjoy it when hear them having so much fun the other end I think.

So much energy

*nail on head*

 

[Tentative Andy]

I mean, like 30% of what Petchy plays is straight up house music hits from the last few years ("any house" as some would say ) and he plays lots of vocals in the middle and tunes to vibe out to in general, it's not as if he's only playing tools for the mc to get in. And as Benny says, the mcs also seem to be on board with building that vibe for people to rave to.

These are important points too I think.

 

[Tentative Andy]

Also I don't really agree with people saying that the MCs are just shouting all the time rather than riding/following the beats. Maybe that can be true at times of a couple of guys that I don't really rate like Ramzee and Brimes, but guys like Tops, Krispy, DPO, Shantie, even Dream can all switch up their flows well and that's one of the things I like about them.

Benny is right too that Petchy's own DJing is an important part of the structure and appeal of those sets - it's something I don't comment on or even think about very much, but it's always there. He can actually cross-cut for extended periods of time without it just sounding like random clips of two tunes; I really like 'reload tease' backspins he does which Marcus and others seem to have picked up on now (I suspect this is easier to do on CDJs than vinyl but still) and also when at the end of 8 or 4 bar sections he'll cut out the beats altogether and just let the MC flow on empty space. Obv he's prob not the first person to do that, and some ppl might not like the way it puts attention on the MCs, but I dig it, it kind of reminds me of old jazz records where sometimes at a peak point the rhythm section would cut out totally for a couple of bars and just leave the soloist going.

Reckon if I listen to Live FM much more I'm going to end up saying 'y'know' at the end of every second sentence irl.

 

[Corpsey]

I've not listened to a massive number of grime sets but the beats never seem unimportant in the ones I've listened to - even when MCs are doing interchangeable verses over them. Was the same thing when I used to listen to DNB sets with Fearless/Skibadee etc. from 97 when they do the same bars over various different dirty tech/jump up tunes... It's about hype/energy really.

God I love this Petchy set.

 

[Tim F]

If the Last Supper's style on radio was the dominant style of funky radio sets (or was the only radio show I listened to) then I might find Topsee's presence more oppressive than I do, as it is it's just one vibe among many. In funky you'll hear the same tune in a variety of contexts (i.e. instrumental and then with MCs of varying levels of dominance) so I rarely find that I feel annoyed by not being able to hear more of the underlying tune - though, not surprisingly, I sometimes am when it's a tune nobody else is playing.

Music can't forget the past, and it's undeniable that Topsee etc. are heavily influenced by grime, but there are lots of subtle differences if you look closely that make this more of a synthesis of past impulses than straight recreation of grime.

Like with the MC-based rewind: yeah, Petchy rewinds on "it's Tee-Ohh!!!!", but it's not like this is a particularly amazing lyric, it's a total showman gimmick that Topsee usually pulls out when he's been riding an intense beat and the momentum of the tune and his MCing have both built up to a certain point. So in that sense Topsee pulling it out is effectively a cue that he wants Petchy to rewind what has been an awesome tune for MCs. Whereas while this did happen somewhat in grime the rewinds were much more directed to "wait what awesome bar did you just unleash?"

In this sense, again, with The Last Supper the focus is not on the MC so much as the relationship between MC and beat, a two halves making a whole. It's more true in funky than in grime not because the music didn't matter in grime (nothing could be less true) but because in funky the MC's entire focus is tilted more firmly towards the music, the DJ, the flow, the beat - it's a dialetical twist on the music-MC relationship in grime.

 

[Tentative Andy]

The Last Supper the focus is not on the MC so much as the relationship between MC and beat, a two halves making a whole.

Yeah this is on the right track I think.
A pre-grime comparison point that just jumped out at me is that tape of Heartless Crew over garage from about 98 that was posted in the 2-step thread. Also like Corpsey mentioned, dnb/jungle MCing from the 90s, to some extent anyway. Not really an expert on this, but I was listening to a Kool FM tape from late 94 the other day with Navigator and the Ragga Twins over a couple of DJs, and it def reminded me of Petchy/Live FM type vibes in places. (Think Luka posted a few more sets like this in the jungle thread, should prob check them out).

 

[Benny Bunter]

compete for distinct artistic space, not directly clash obv.

.

I didn't think you meant this (though the concept of Topsee clashing P Money did make me chuckle!)

I do think the Last Supper shows have carved out a distinct artistic space though away from grime. There's less of the Hip hop-style, dog eat dog jostling and more of a sense of working as a team to...well they're trying to create a vibe and make everyone happy. I find this inclusivity really touching and almost like a return to the pre-jungle days of people putting differences aside and celebrating together (with less drugs and more drinking obviously). You find this in Funky generally but especially with last supper's shows, a real sense of brotherhood.

They don't have to compete for distinct artistic space with grime. As far as I know Live FM doesn't play any grime and most of the big players on the funky scene seem confident that grime has had its day and that they're doing something new and different now. As Andy and Tim and David M have said, the grime influences are obviously there but there's a lot more to it than that.


btw, cheers to David for the latest set. I missed this one.

 

[alex]

Benny is right too that Petchy's own DJing is an important part of the structure and appeal of those sets - it's something I don't comment on or even think about very much, but it's always there. He can actually cross-cut for extended periods of time without it just sounding like random clips of two tunes; I really like 'reload tease' backspins he does which Marcus and others seem to have picked up on now (I suspect this is easier to do on CDJs than vinyl but still) and also when at the end of 8 or 4 bar sections he'll cut out the beats altogether and just let the MC flow on empty space. Obv he's prob not the first person to do that, and some ppl might not like the way it puts attention on the MCs, but I dig it, it kind of reminds me of old jazz records where sometimes at a peak point the rhythm section would cut out totally for a couple of bars and just leave the soloist going.

Hate to play devils advocate but that is a fundamental Grime DJ'ing technique, and the way you just described that made it sound like a grime set.

 

[outraygeous]

Hate to play devils advocate but that is a fundamental Grime DJ'ing technique, and the way you just described that made it sound like a grime set.

That comes from UK Garage DJing and pre dating that its from dancehall

You guys must of heard old garage sets from pirate, these are pretty much identical.

DJ Random Mcs 2ton and dollars
Heartless crew
Mc Preshus, cant remeber his dj
EZ and CKP freek fm 1018 express

Go radio, have some beers and get hype

EDITTTTTTTTTT

just thought id add this, a set by me from years ago with Flirta D and Ultra. Its not grime nor garage, it was that bridging time when 138 came out

this was recorded on a sunday night live on Lush 107.6fm

http://www.mediafire.com/?3znemogum2m