Woebot on funky house

[UFO over easy]

Music pretty much dominates every aspect of my life, and if it was just about entertainment, I wouldn't let it..

I have no problem with people's different attitudes towards music, but honestly, if all you want from music is for it to be jolly good fun, why on earth do you spend your time writing about it?

I think there should be a balance. I don't think thought and meaning should ever be discouraged.

Yeah.. there's so many different ways of approaching music, why should one be ruled out? Music means different things to different people, that's why articles like this are useless.

 

[Guybrush]

I listened to some funky house while walking to the grocery store today, and I must say that it’s pretty boring listening to it attentively through headphones. The lack of dynamics issue I have already mentioned, but there’s also that it offers very little ear-candy: no subtle effects lingering in the background, no surprising twists or turns, just super-obvious builds and releases.

I came to think of another thing. Do people listening to funky house use different drugs to those listening to, say, minimal techno. Judging by the sound of the music, it does seem like funky house would match alcohol intoxication pretty well, while minimal techno definitely does not.

 

[mms]

I listened to some funky house while walking to the grocery store today, and I must say that it’s pretty boring listening to it attentively through headphones. The lack of dynamics issue I have already mentioned, but there’s also that it offers very little ear-candy: no subtle effects lingering in the background, no surprising twists or turns, just super-obvious builds and releases.

I came to think of another thing. Do people listening to funky house use different drugs to those listening to, say, minimal techno. Judging by the sound of the music, it does seem like funky house would match alcohol intoxication pretty well, while minimal techno definitely does not.

the sound gives me ideas of coke and booze.
that kinda take some coke to drink more booze style, not massivley cokey but enuff to straighten out a really drunk guy or girl.

thats what it sounds like to me, bright hi-end and very crunchy with nothing deep or spooky to throw off a pissed person.

 

[Tactics]

I would say that this is quite

i'm starting to think that 'funky house' encompasses all contemporary 4/4 dance music that has a melody and isn't designed for people on ketamine, and isn't hard-house.

how's that for a definition?

accurate

 

[swears]

http://www.myspace.com/robotneedsoil

"Volta" is a decent enough tune, but surely it fits into the category of electro house alongside other decidedly un-funky stompers like Roman Flugel's "Geht's Noch?" and Smash TV's "Yellow Asteroids"?

 

[Landfill Elektronikz]

Do people listening to funky house use different drugs to those listening to, say, minimal techno.

Well I listen to quite a lot of minimal techno, and woebot listens to a lot of funky house. but neither of us takes drugs. where does that leave us....?

 

[dominic]

a couple points, in response to things said upthread

house music started as disposable pop for christs sake. without house music dubstep wouldn't even exist - people forget their roots so easily.

sometimes girls (and boys) just want to have fun. its the old rave ethos. most people didn't feel the need to masturbate over white labels and were more than happy for tunes to be disposable, to be about the moment or even as background music for scoring. why is this wrong? save the awe-filled reverence for hoary old prunes like the rolling stones and try to take it less seriously before real life comes crashing in with something to really worry about.

first, the stuff dj superior was playing this morning (nyc time) was NOT disposable music -- esp. in early part of his set he was playing music that, if anything, has no expiration date relative to lots of other dance music -- it was, pardon the despicable term, "quality" house music

my sense is that there is both (1) a standard narrow definition of funky house, i.e., the relentlessly uptempo, highly compressed, cheap crap -- which is perhaps what woebot perversely defends? -- and (2) underground house/garage/electro played by scene djs with an eclectic djing approach, electicism within the bounds of the original "house" umbrella of sounds

To take you on a journey.Free your mind and your ass will follow.Remember the original definition of Garage? Larry Leven would certainly have approved of what they are doing!

sorry, but superior's set lacked cohesion, it was genre jumping, not genre weaving, and so made no compelling argument. however, i don't think he's was trying to get an aesthetic (i.e., his own "twist") across so much as communicate a "new" kind of mindset. which isn't to say that if he were to try to weave different strands he couldn't do so successfully . . . .

 

[straight]

and thats precisely why this thread shouldnt have gotten this out of hand, funky house is WKD steeped getting laid saturday night music. it doesnt stand up to close scrutiny. the main problem with that woebot piece is that its a serious piece of emporers-new-clothes writing, it seems hes such a respected blogger that few lower down the food chain are afraid to put their hands up. every music has a rich heritage if you look hard enough. even a shit one. im looking forward to his primers on UK Hardstyle and wigan pier 'scouse' house

 

[stelfox]

if an event bills itself as "funky house", this says way more about the kind of people that are expected to attend than the music that waill be played.

it really is just house music (a hugely diverse genre, hence the inclusion of electrohouse and all sorts of other stuff in matt's post) of any kind that fits, played to a traditionally "urban" crowd, nothing more or less than that.

worth remembering that this isn't without precedent. 2step came out of traditional US garage and after calcifying into its own genre still absorbed house tracks like mr oizo's flat beat and the timo maas mix of azzido da bass's doom's night.

that's why funky house is difficult to write about. it isn't really a concrete, definable style in the way that minimal or dubstep are. personally, i do not want to read in-depth descriptions of funky house records anyway because that's pretty boring.

what would be interesting is a good scene piece on this stuff, involving going out and talking about the experience, the variety of music played, interactions with people etc, because that's what it is... a scene, not a sound.

 

[Chef Napalm]

and thats precisely why this thread shouldnt have gotten this out of hand, funky house is WKD steeped getting laid saturday night music. it doesnt stand up to close scrutiny.

What doesn't stand up to scrutiny? Under what criteria? Effectiveness? Well it does exactly what its supposed to: make your ass twitch. Instrumentation? Electronic instruments/computer programs, same as Grime or Dubstep. Vocals? Obviously, the majority of House lacks the vocal complexity of Grime. Dubstep, however, uses the same sort of sample-snippet, voice-as-instrument approach, when they use vocals at all. Tempo? One drum beat's as good as another.

the main problem with that woebot piece is that its a serious piece of emporers-new-clothes writing, it seems hes such a respected blogger that few lower down the food chain are afraid to put their hands up. every music has a rich heritage if you look hard enough. even a shit one. im looking forward to his primers on UK Hardstyle and wigan pier 'scouse' house

Put their hands up? What does that even mean?

Put Your Hands Up For Detroit!

Ok, probably not. Seriously, are you saying that people on this board are afraid to disagree because he's Woebot? Seems like an awful lot of disagreement here for a statement like that. Perhaps some further explanation (minus the biting sarcasm) is required on your part.

 

[dominic]

not trying to do a repeat of yesterday's collective listening frolic, but superior's on rinse right now. i really like his vibe and the way he comes across as a person

 

[straight]

i apologise for the inarticulacy of my previous post, i hadnt had my wakeup cuppa yet and i felt a knee jerk coming on. i wasnt saying people on this board were not questioning woebots views, its just that i feel that it will have a lot his readers scratching their heads to see if there is something theyve missed in their appraisal of the music and waste a lot of time on quite mundane sounds considering he is traditionally champions forward thinking music . he is a tastemaker after all and will colour quite a few peoples opinions, i didnt really intend to sound so biting. it just seemed to me that it was another variation on the dubstep backlash pieces currently doing the rounds. im also not saying i hate house, quite the opposite in fact, its just that 'funky house' is the soundtrack to every saturday night ive had out at a moody club full of brandied up meatheads hassling women and i personally cant separate it from that environment in my mind. its think stelfox has a good point on it being a scene rather than a sound, the more i think about it, thats what i dislike.

 

[dominic]

a lot of this music he's playing today is really blah and middle of the road -- though he says he's being "commercial" today, so who knows

the "creep" track is rather catchy, and even has that compressed sound and other cheesy effects that i would ascribe to late 90s funky house

 

[dominic]

its just that i feel that it will have a lot his readers scratching their heads to see if there is something theyve missed in their appraisal of the music and waste a lot of time on quite mundane sounds considering he is traditionally champions forward thinking music . he is a tastemaker after all and will colour quite a few peoples opinions

well, woebot did leave me scratching my head. (what is funky house?) but my allegiance has always been to house and eclectic djing under the house umbrella -- so maybe i'm looking for vindication -- i.e., what goes on inner city london/manchester is like the gold standard of cool, you know -- get my position backed by gold

or is funky house london's version of reggaeton? ubiquitous but highly annoying and disposable

actually, what makes the funky house thing interesting, is the music and scenes and cultural politics seem to be totally in flux

different sounds and constituencies jostling together

competing definitions

and it's the newfound STREET presence of house in london that makes it a different phenomenon and seemingly (or am i projecting?) more vital than what goes on new york

i.e., even if the pirates are playing a lot of imports, if it's on the pirates then it's on the streets, right?

or is rinse fm not really a pirate anymore?

 

[Chef Napalm]

not trying to do a repeat of yesterday's collective listening frolic, but superior's on rinse right now. i really like his vibe and the way he comes across as a person

I like him too, dom. He's much more personable than that DJ NG who comes on after. I'll be tuning in more regularly for my morning shot of housey goodness (11am here in Atlantic Canada).

I like that Creeps track, too. It's the Fedde Le Grande mix thats the goer.

 

[DWD]

I have a confession to make. It's pretty embarrassing, which is why I'm going to do it here, online, anonymously.

I've been dancing to dubstep.

Hang on - it gets worse: I've been really dancing. Not shuffling, bobbing, or nodding. But skanking, pogo-ing, sweating, throwing my hands in the air, whooping and shouting and generally almost-but-not-quite recapturing the kind of sustained, euphoric, abandoned state I used to get into on pills.

I hadn't realised that I was doing this out of a misplaced sense of loyalty, nor that I'd been doing it to the wrong sort of music. Imagine my shame when I read Woebot's piece and learned that dubstep should be evoking some kind of studied, intellectual response rather than the crudely physical one that has been a hallmark of my nights out for the last couple of years.

I've been finding the music exciting, for God's sake! I've been having fun! I feel such a fool.

There's no way to atone for this gross misjudgement, but I can at least change my ways. From now on, I will spurn the dancefloor for a space by the bar, where I can nod sagely to the music and chat to friends. Even better, perhaps I should avoid going to dubstep nights altogether - after all, that's clearly what Woebot has been doing.

 

[elgato]

lol

very good

 

[straight]

heres the pitchfork funky house article from last year which gives a lot more of a balanced background to the topic
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/38063/The_Month_In_Grime_Dubstep

 

[simon silverdollar]

the more i think about it, the more out of place Woebot's comparisons between funky house and dubstep + minimal techno seem. he begins the piece by saying that the many of criticisms levelled against funky house don't stack up, because the same criticisms could be levelled at music which those who criticise funky house admire (the martin clark reference).

but the very criticisms which woebot levels at dubstep + minimal techno- its lack of exuberance, the fact that 'you can't imagine people getting sweaty and losing control to it'- apply to many types of music which woebot himself champions: prog, NDW, avant-garde classical etc.

so, perhaps, the digs at minimal techno and dubstep are simply there to wind us up?

no harm in that, of course. makes the day pass a bit quicker.

 

[nomos]

so, perhaps, the digs at minimal techno and dubstep are simply there to wind us up?

that's my guess. it gave dissensus a good kick start on a monday morning.