Funky/London/UK House

T

Tim F

Well-known member
No way the "Love Lockdown" cover is fabulous, one of my favourite things that DJ Naughty has done.

Awful news about Sami Sanchez, some of his funky productions recently have been excellent. Doesn't he do the one with the stiff descending horn riffs and then the beat that's a bit like "Gabryelle Refix"?
 
B

boomnoise

♫
bungatuffie said:
I didn't mean to recycle anti-disco heresies but rather to point out that the issues of swing, syncopation and what I call "generic thump thump" electronica do correspond directly to the conceptual and critical problems that arise when the racialised attributes of musical styles are articulated.

What is disco? Are Chic funky, is Sharon Redd, are The System, Ian Levine and the South Shore Commission? These questions aren't very interesting. But the problems involved in finding, using, claiming and loving the black in this music are, as this thread reveals, still alive.

Some folks love the blackness they hear but aren't quite so keen on the company of the people whose being invests that quality in the music. This matters as we (hopefully) shift towards a post-exotic relationship with black culture.

Above all, I wanted to highlight the evolving and unstable character of contemporary Britain's (europe's) black communities. Ethiopianism is still there but it is residual. Another, postcolonial Africa is emergent. Does unfunky, funky herald its becoming? probably.
Click to expand...

i have to say i find this all very compelling. funk vs funkiness.

surely the raw funk that uk funky lacks, it makes it up in groove and rawness?

which is still something that is essentially 'funk' in its essence?

it is very hard to draw boundaries, no?

these days something can be funky but it can still lack funk (?)

it's largely a question of meaning i guess.

but these are huge differences still. funkiness has become a fairly disposable notion and one that is seldom self applied.

something that defined funkiness in retrospect, was self awareness.

that knowing that you are funky.

at least this was part of the concept/product/rhetoric i've picked up on via clinton et al

no one in uk funky is saying this.

and here comes the house connection: talking about disco>funk>beyond etc. when house came in things got unfunked. things became 'funky'. it become a quality rather than some core concept. totally nebulous still, which undermines everything but still, removed from its essence.

surely funk has to be a rarefied thing

i'm not sure if it was george clinton who first came up with it or not. but the notion of unadulterated funk: 'uncut' funk vs the implied diluted funk.

surely this is key here. funk has had several musical decades on it now as wholesale genre and i don't think anything can replicate 70s or even 80s funk but what we have now is cut. Cut with a variety of different sounds.

Thinking about uk funky especially, it's been filtered through uk dance music culture. acid house > ardcore > jungle > dnb > grime / dubstep etc

it is funk passed through years and generations. cut with influences and other, perhaps 'unfunky', ideas.

your other points about black fetishism and moving towards a post-exotic relationship with black culture are fascinating as well. but i feel that's a wider point. something which can be levelled at music culture generally, rather than talking about this specific issue. but the awareness of the fact we're are moving through something post pan-atlantic and that african voices are now being heard is great and crucial. but are you saying integration is an issue here?

the white enjoyment / cultural exploitation of 'black music' is nothing new.

anyway I'm sorry if i'm missing the point which, i think i might be. but i think you can still make a connection between funk and uk funky.
 
Grievous Angel

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
yeah, i guess the mistake is to say that in order for the adjective "funky" to be valid, the verb "funk" must be invoked as well.

ashes to ashes, funk to funky...
 
Q

QueenofSheba

Keep It Funky!!
Tim F said:
Awful news about Sami Sanchez, some of his funky productions recently have been excellent. Doesn't he do the one with the stiff descending horn riffs and then the beat that's a bit like "Gabryelle Refix"?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure which track your talkin about, but if they're Sami's I'm thinkin it would be What!? or Dirty Trumpet.

I'm really devastated by what has happened. I'm having one of those times when I'm trying to understand why someone would want to do that to him. He's such an angel. The launch party for instance would've never happened if it wasn't for him taking it upon himself to give the mag so much support.

I really hope he pulls through, he's got too much to finish accomplishing.

Sorry I'm wafflin on, I'm off to bed now anyway.... Say a prayer or something :(
 
T

Transpontine

history is made at night
Tune ID?

Female vocal, spoken word bit in the middle where she compares herself to the London Eye... what is it? And what does she say about that landmark?
 
T

Tim F

Well-known member
Female vocal, spoken word bit in the middle where she compares herself to the London Eye... what is it? And what does she say about that landmark?
Click to expand...

I think that's "Energy" by Yass (sp?). She also did "Still In Love With Me", the DJ Naughty remix of which is a big Marcus Nasty track. Not sure whose done the production on "Energy" but it could easily be DJ Naughty also.

The relevant lyric is:

"Supreme! The main attraction, like the London Eye!"

She's talking about the guy, whose energy she's feelin'.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the dancehall-ish vocals in the bit afterwards when she sings "GET UP GET UP GET UP! Stand to attention! Keep gettin' down to the vibe that i mention!"
 
C

Chris

fractured oscillations
The sense I get from this stuff's rhythmic engineering is of a pinball machine.


Like all the rhythmic components are so tightly sprung that the bouncing bass-ic forces and the assumed ghost dancer bounces off them with such an energy that it almost feels like these percussive triggers have sent them on their way before they've even made contact (like the uncannily anticipated reflexive force of the parts in a pinball machine).
 
slackk

slackk

-
Moony's Teedra Moses remix needs a bit more recognition as well, much better than that Perempay & Dee one- that little riff gets stuck in my head for hours at a time.
 
A

alex

Do not read this.
slackk said:
Moony's Teedra Moses remix needs a bit more recognition as well, much better than that Perempay & Dee one- that little riff gets stuck in my head for hours at a time.
Click to expand...

Mmm. I dont mind the prempay one, probably because thats the only one I have heard...The press is really bad though, I mean like seriously fucking awful man...

Thanks Tentative Andy, will check that ;)
 
T

Tactics

BBP!
Funky is

helping a lot of 2nd and 3rd gen Africans (especially those from the motherland) to feel proud about themselves or even finally relate to back home (those from the islands) cos the music is a tempo in which traditional musics can work in so it’s like ‘oh I fit in. it’s cool (as in cool not cool bless)’. that’s ridiculous in itself but lets not get into that

but one of the problems with that is they are still ‘othering’ themselves which is a par

anyway Gilroy says sick things sometimes but he’s probably mad about Soca cos he visited whatever island he’s from and either didnt he get the props he wanted for being lightskinned, edumacated or they called him ‘Inglish’ (lol) cos of the accent or he took a white lady with him and felt they didn’t get the respect he wanted

real talk – it’s that simple atimes

that DVA track is f***** but the quality is too low to purchase tho

say a prayer for Sami but no one knows what it’s about. still no one should get put in a coma still
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top