what is funky house?

[elgato]

"funky", "tribal", "deep", "progressive", it's all generic, cookie-cutter house by numbers.

Ark or Robag Wruhme are house-y and funky like they was no tomorrow, but have nothing to do with "funky house"

I know what you're saying, but theyre all just labels, they dont necessarily mean that much. Holden and border community are apparently progressive, and their music is far from generic and certainly doesnt come by numbers! I can agree to the sentiment, but there's a lot of generic stuff in the minimal/tech/wonky arena as well i reckon.

Funky house is a funny one. It completely dominates the bars in Newcastle (my home)...

live-recorded, slapped/slide bass
generally fairly chunky compressed beats
organs, wawa etc
all already mentioned i think

but the funny thing is, i saw an advert recently for a compilation called Funky House Nation or some such thing, and that seemed to consist of what I would have previously referred to as euphoric house or something like that, big, glitzy vocals and loads of shimmer and sparkle, rather than the sort of 'lounge'/smooth sound that i'd gotten used to. So maybe the funky house getting aired in london is older records, or maybe they were pushing the wrong label!

 

[hurricane run]

none

Went to night in Brixton about a year ago. Expected nice white m/c crowd but lots of gangster types. Music was 'funky house' i think. Loads of early nineties Strictly stuff like Deep inside and Critical. Mainly vocals rather than dubs. Loads of bubbly and weed. A bit dull and smug (and old).

 

[MATT MAson]

There is loads of music being produced now, by a whole new generation of producers in the UK and elsewhere and selling well by all accounts, but lots of classic MAW etc never seems to go out of style.

Many of the old skool garage prouducers are now making it, Soul Avengers, Hoxton Whores etc were all part of the UK garage community (the Hoxton Whores are two of the guys behind Essential Direct distribution).

Even MJ cole is experimenting with funky house, and there's always Grant Nelson (read an interview I did with him here about why he made the jump from UKG to Funky House -

http://www.rwdmag.com/articles/fullstory.php?&sid=&id=1461

More recently, I've even heard Wiley and Slimzee singing its praises. Totally agree with Hurricane Run's take on the South London scene - spot on! Lots of Ibiza Mums chomping pills...

 

[luka]

oh, good point, people take e to this stuff. try doing that at a grime night!

 

[ambrose]

can we demarcate:

-Funky House
-Bassline House
-"Urban House" (did this ever even exist?)/Duncan Powell style 4x4 garage/the remains of the UKG scene

?

is it geograophical?

eg: a = nationwide
b = Brum, yorkshire, maybe essex?
c = essex/east london?

or is it sonic?

a = live elements, less emphasis on bass freq etc
b = sped up speed garage, loads of organs, ravey elements
c = just people carrying on making 4x4 as though nothing ever happened EG wideboys, agent x

or maybe they are all one and the same thing?

eg agent x is playing the niche reopening night, with naughty nick, the former being a darling of the old 4x4x garage scene, the latter being a pivotal figure in Northern Bassline/Bassline house

 

[mms]

oh, good point, people take e to this stuff. try doing that at a grime night!

it sounds more gakky that e music - there is a similar line going thru breaks and d and b stuff all midrangey and compressed to fuck

cocaine is the drug of fucking idiots

 

[luka]

i'm not totally sure i understood that mms. i guess you're saying the music doesn't sound like its made to take e too which is fair enough. i was just saying a lot of people go to those raves to take pills.

 

[Buick6]

Amazing how despite all these crummy micro-genres and whatnot, it always come back to HOUSE. One of my theories is that HOUSE is the last great 'roots' music.

 

[Tomtefar]

Amazing how despite all these crummy micro-genres and whatnot, it always come back to HOUSE. One of my theories is that HOUSE is the last great 'roots' music.

I've been thinking the exact same same thing since this thread started.

Someone here on Dissensus wrote about rock having been "eternalized"; I strongly believe the same thing has happened to funky house (or whatever you want to call it), and no wonder. I would argue that, like the classic rock template, the funky house template is unrivalled in its effectiveness to carry a strong tune. By the same token, like with classic rock, if the song-writing is tired and vacuous the song will be dull and drowsy (because there is nothing sonically exciting about the template when one has been exposed to it for so long).

Bob Sinclar's most recent singles poignantly attest to the latter I think. Love Generation was great (but sonically uninspired - to say the least) precisely because it perfected everything that the funky house template has strived for over the last ten years or so (the funky drums (stop the hating - this sure is "funky", even though it's programmed), the super-crisp production, the live elements to add some human touch), and added that extra key ingredient - good songwriting. The follow-up World, Hold On (Children of the Sky), too, had all the basics perfected, but failed miserably when it came to the song-writing and thus was abysmal. This is the price you have to pay for using pre-fabricated production values I think: if you are not inventive enough with your song-writing your only escape route is to spice up the production with bells and whistles.

What I am trying to say is that if you know you have a killer-tune the funky house template is rewarding because it pushes all the right buttons for most any dance floor to go buck-wild, bar that essental last one--the tune--which you already have covered. So it should come as no surprise that the formula is still in use and does not evolve (it doesn't have to).

Just my random musings...

 

[DJL]

Funky House is, as Logan points out, just an extension of UK Garage had 2step not happened. Given the current feeling about Grime it is no surprise that another genre is on the rise. Funky House on its own all night though is boring as fuck (as is any genre) and alienates those who can't fulfill its bling/beautiful people/gangster credo of acceptance.

Quite an interesting thread over at the Fantazia forum about which musical route people have taken since dance music split in the early 90's:

http://excoboard.com/exco/thread.php?forumid=26717&threadid=440456

Certain djs such as Easygroove are remembered for their ability to mix up all styles. The mistake underground uk dance music made in my mind has always been the seperation that occured.

It was the case that djs were booked for their overall value as djs rather than the case now of genre/exisiting-fame holding sway. Certain promoters have forgotten that its supposed to be a party rather than some personal show-and-tell depicting their own lack of imagination and sense. The acid house/hardcore scene of 88-93 holds all the answers with regard to any serious movement being formed imo.

 

[seahorsegenius]

 

[the undisputed truth]

artful dodger is having a remix competition of a "funky house" tune of theirs - flex...

http://www.theartfuldodger.co.uk/main.html

...here's some mates take on it

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=74120064

funky slap bass, garage swing and a bit of wobble. Still needs work but I'm likin it...

...not much house about it except the filtered disco pussy vocals...

they have inspired me to go through the garage files and give em a decent re listen...

...damn if some of that shit wasn't funky as fuck

and it shows how ms dynamite on BOO and Envy was so far ahead of her peers and pisses all over lad-e-sov

 

[mms]

ha ha

shopping bags
funky chicken
tree!!!

 

[tate]

"Funky House"

Is the Bizarro world version of Uk Garridge if 2 step was never assimilated.

Thought this thread might be worth revisiting, given Blackdown's Pfork column and SR's farewell to grime. I'm still not entirely sure what 'funky house' actually sounds like. Any links or suggestions to satiate the curiosity?

 

[Logos]

Thought this thread might be worth revisiting, given Blackdown's Pfork column and SR's farewell to grime. I'm still not entirely sure what 'funky house' actually sounds like. Any links or suggestions to satiate the curiosity?

Its just us garage basically, pop oriented house like MAW. Its NOT new. But it is quite eleastic too, you won't be able to find a watertight definition that forbids counterexamples...

Just go and get a mainstream house comp from defective or something from the last 5 years and have a listen, if you want to waste an hour of your life.

 

[swears]

Sounds to me like there were some big crossover discoish house/garage tracks in the mid to late 90s like Armand Van Helden's "Professional Widow" remix, Stardust's "Music Sounds Better with You", Gusto's "Disco's Revenge", etc, and the cheeseball producers that haven't been making "hard" dance, have been pathetically emulating a few half-forgotten faves like these.

 

[Logan Sama]

It's like a bastard amalgam of Hed Kandi and Defected.

You will hear broken beat, afrobeat, deep house and electro all in one set.

It is a scene in so much as it is just a bunch of places playing a type of music.

It's not dissimilar to the original Levan ethos of just playing whatever the fuck you like.

Oh, and gangsters go there with guns and coke and sometimes get in disputes outside.

 

[the undisputed truth]

I'm surprised no ones mentioned proggy breaks, ghettotech or plodstep as it's known in the trade. House meets breaks in a pillow fight to the death. Leading proponents there would be Meat Katie and Stanton Warriors. It mixes well with funky house. A good jump off point for funky house would be the Housexy Ministry of Sound compilations. The latest vol 4 is not that bad in that you can shake ya ass to it more than you can to say, dubstep I've always dug the big gospel diva sound or the male falsetto married to some funky bass, cheesy standup piano, chickenscratch wahwah guitar and floating strings over a thumping 4 on the floor backbeat with offset hi hats.

 

[DJ PIMP]

I've always dug the big gospel diva sound or the male falsetto married to some funky bass, cheesy standup piano, chickenscratch wahwah guitar and floating strings over a thumping 4 on the floor backbeat with offset hi hats.

Its golden by virtue of that description alone.

 

[borderpolice]

Thought this thread might be worth revisiting, given Blackdown's Pfork column and SR's farewell to grime. I'm still not entirely sure what 'funky house' actually sounds like. Any links or suggestions to satiate the curiosity?

the biggest FH tune this year here in east london is the dennis ferrer remix of "Cure and the Cause" by Fish go Deep (what a great track!). I reckon the scene itself has not decided what exactly "Funky House" is, but the 2step/UK garage influence is palpable. another term that gets bandied about a lot is "Bassline House". the crossover with broken beats that is also alluded to in the pitchfork article is indeed conspicuous. something's up, something is brewing, but what it will be is not yet clear. whoever makes a breakthrough tune with a novel signature sound that is close enough to slot into "funky house" can forge a new genre !!!