Funky/London/UK House

[Tentative Andy]

Ok I've been slacking for the last couple of days but here goes. First, this-
The Evolution EP by Carnao Beats which is out now here:
7 tracks on it, apart from Biker Gonga & Think She's Spanish these were all new to me. In terms of production quality to my ears these sounds great, prob ahead of most people in the scene. In terms of style and ideas though I'm going to be honest and say that some of these aren't quite my thing, what people have been saying in other threads about blandness seems to apply here. But still, Don't Stand There and Reborn I think are excellent and Deep In My Mind isn't far behind. He's also given a couple of decent tunes away for free download:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/avt5dl
http://www.sendspace.com/file/2om4pi
*****
Sweep Dem Season, Dream's mixtape, is now out. You can order the CD from here:
and I think it's supposed to go up on digital download from tomorrow.
I don't have this and in a way I'm apprehensive about what to expect: Dream was honestly one of my favorite MCs of last year, not just in funky but right across the board, there was just something about his whole persona and how he presented himself that really clicked with me. But partly because of this, I'm half expecting to find his tape disappointing in the same way that I've always found loads of grime mixtapes disappointing; they rarely seem to maintain the quality right through. Not really fair to prejudge it like this though, will let you know what I think once I've had a listen.
*****
Also, Mr Mageeka has started uploading loads of full tunes to his youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrMAGEEKA
which is hopefully a sign that he might be putting some of them out soon. I've said before that I think this guy is a total hidden gem, hopefully these uploads show off some of the great tunes that he's seemed to have no interest in promoing before. There's a couple of straight-up grimey bits here alongside tunes from all across the funky/house spectrum. (There are a couple of bland Ibiza-compilation type house tunes as well, but generally he does the 'deep' thing so much more interestingly than similar producers - I Get A Rush, for example, is ace).

 

[BareBones]

yeah "get a rush" is wicked, really feeling that one. "i love" has some nice marimba action too but yeah it's all surprisingly straight-up considering what he did with different lextrix. different lextrix is still possibly my all-time favourite funky jam though.

 

[Ory]

I've said before that I think this guy is a total hidden gem

this promo mix of his from last year is absolutely fantastic, highly recommended for those who haven't heard it yet

http://www.lowriderscollective.com/blog/mr-mageeka-mix/

baffling that some of these tunes haven't been signed. especially love the tune at 5 mins with the squeaky little synth.

edit: link is down but let me know and i'll reupload

 

[mrfaucet]

Ok I've been slacking for the last couple of days but here goes. First, this-
The Evolution EP by Carnao Beats which is out now here:
7 tracks on it, apart from Biker Gonga & Think She's Spanish these were all new to me. In terms of production quality to my ears these sounds great, prob ahead of most people in the scene. In terms of style and ideas though I'm going to be honest and say that some of these aren't quite my thing, what people have been saying in other threads about blandness seems to apply here. But still, Don't Stand There and Reborn I think are excellent and Deep In My Mind isn't far behind.

Was listening to this earlier and had similar thoughts. I was enjoying some of it, but I really felt that lack of rawness/sheer energy and made me think that I wish there were more tracks being released that had that vibe, like that first group of funky tracks released back in '08 had when the music/scene really started to develop some momentum. Obviously not all tunes have to be like that, but it is something I wish there was more of. Still undecided which, if any, tracks I'll get from this release.

 

[Benny Bunter]

looking forward to checking out these Mr Mageeka things. The only tune Ive heard apart from Different lextrix is 'Touch me' and that was pretty great.

Here's a thought: What the hell has happened to Dubplate Wonder? One of the very best producers funky's had, a handful of releases early on then nothing. That Wonderland 09 mix he did was packed with brilliant tunes, none of which ever came out. I suppose he might have just jacked it in.

 

[Tentative Andy]

Was listening to this earlier and had similar thoughts. I was enjoying some of it, but I really felt that lack of rawness/sheer energy and made me think that I wish there were more tracks being released that had that vibe, like that first group of funky tracks released back in '08 had when the music/scene really started to develop some momentum. Obviously not all tunes have to be like that, but it is something I wish there was more of.

Yeah I know what you mean. I was actually encountering a lot of quite raw sounding stuff (to my ears) last year but it seems at the moment a lot of producers are quite consciously distancing themselves from rawness. This is what I posted upthread when people were discussing the name shift between funky and 'UK house' -
"I think the reasoning behind it is that 'funky' for a lot of punters had connotations at first of the most novelty/young-sounding stuff and then increasingly of the MC-dominated end of things, and those associations led to some people parring it. So rebranding yourself as house was a way around that."
- and it does seem to be an important dynamic to how things are moving right now. People will either avoid making anything that would be seen as too ruff and/or immature, or else sneak it in by marketing it under a classier guise. This change is leading to some interesting stuff getting made at the deeper end of things, but yeah, also a fair amount of tunes that just aren't really cutting it.

 

[Benny Bunter]

. This is what I posted upthread when people were discussing the name shift between funky and 'UK house' -
"I think the reasoning behind it is that 'funky' for a lot of punters had connotations at first of the most novelty/young-sounding stuff and then increasingly of the MC-dominated end of things, and those associations led to some people parring it. So rebranding yourself as house was a way around that."
- and it does seem to be an important dynamic to how things are moving right now. People will either avoid making anything that would be seen as too ruff and/or immature, or else sneak it in by marketing it under a classier guise.

From G smallz' twitter:

IM IN THE PROCESS OF SWITCHING MY SOUND FROM UK FUNKY TO A MORE MATURE HOUSE SOUND ....WOW IM SO EXITED !!!!!! LOL

...not really sure if he's being sarcastic or not

 

[simon silverdollar]

Does anyone get the rules of the g smallz getdown game? I can't work it out. Love it, though

 

[Benny Bunter]

ha we've had this one before...

its like mallets mallet only with names and you don't have to really associate them. Just a bit of daftness really. Good fun though eh?

 

[Benny Bunter]

I actually had a little chat with G Smallz on facebook a while back after I sent him some recordings of his sets I'd made. He seemed very surprised and delighted that anyone outside of London had even heard of Live FM, Petchy, Ossie etc. He said his big ambition for 2011 was to make it as a big name proper house DJ, so he probably wasn't being sarcastic in that tweet.

What makes that show is him and Krisby's personality as hosts. Funny how he'll play a 'serious' deep house tune, but you still get Krisby talking about rubbing big boobies all night over the top of it.

 

[Tentative Andy]

ha we've had this one before...

its like mallets mallet only with names and you don't have to really associate them. Just a bit of daftness really. Good fun though eh?

But will getdowngetdown be MATURE enough to survive the change in G's style Benny? Lololol.

.... I'm probably coming across as moaning more than I mean to at the moment. I should say as per usual that I'm still hearing loads of good tunes coming through. But there are aspects of the scene that seem less positive to me and it seems better to talk about them openly than sweep them under the carpet and pretend they're not happening.

 

[Benny Bunter]

I actually think the most positive influence on Funky at the moment is the Bassline house stuff, which I think had been written off a bit too soon by a lot of people, me included tbh. Marcus Nasty playing Burgaboy and Bassboy tunes, Emvee, Ilmana and Screama's stuff. Funkystepz and Champion are obviously into it. Never really saw that one coming, but its actually producing loads of great stuff, Catchy pop songs as well as hard bassline tracks.

Continuum, you are allowed to be smug at this point

 

[Tentative Andy]

I actually think the most positive influence on Funky at the moment is the Bassline house stuff, which I think had been written off a bit too soon by a lot of people, me included tbh. Marcus Nasty playing Burgaboy and Bassboy tunes, Emvee, Ilmana and Screama's stuff. Funkystepz and Champion are obviously into it. Never really saw that one coming, but its actually producing loads of great stuff, Catchy pop songs as well as hard bassline tracks.

Yeah totally agree with this - and what's great is when you listen to guys like Screama, Funkystepz, to some extent Champion you can tell that they're really developing as producers (e.g. more detail, texture, a general fuller sound in there tunes) whilst at the same time maintaining the sense of fun and immediacy and strong hooks which is the basis of this kind of substyle and what caught my attention with it to start with.
I hardly need to say it on this thread, but Funkystepz just have TUNES FOR DAYS right now, and I'm glad they seem to be getting some degree of recognition of late.

 

[Tentative Andy]

Continuum, you are allowed to be smug at this point

LOL.
Big up the bassline diehards.

 

[Sectionfive]

Did anyone ever find out who Dark Knight was?

 

[Tentative Andy]

Hmm I say all that last night but here is an example of someone doing the deep 'n' tribal thing that I actually quite dig,
DJ Whitecoat - Bongo From London:
I think a big part of it is that bassline and the really warm/fat groove it gives to the track.
You can buy it here:
http://www.djwhitecoat.com/Productions
along with a few other kinda similar bits. BFL is prob the pick of the bunch though imo.

 

[matmustard]

Hmm I say all that last night but here is an example of someone doing the deep 'n' tribal thing that I actually quite dig,
DJ Whitecoat - Bongo From London:

 

[Tentative Andy]

Preview of the next Funkystepz Ep:
Shocker sounds pretty !!!!!, got a cool example going on of that carnival crossrhythm ting in the drums that people were discussing a bit upthread.

Jamie George on Rinse just now covering for Roska and it's actually ace so far.

 

[Tentative Andy]

I wish Funkystepz would press that up, its got some sick tracks on.
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After doing the Hyperdub 12" they were saying that they wanted to keep doing vinyl in the future. I don't know yet whether or not this particular one will see vinyl though.

I had some other tunes I was going to post but they've slipped my mind now, bear with me for a sec...

 

[Ory]

"bounce" is a funky classic at this point, would love to have it on 12"..