Funky/London/UK House

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Blackdown

nexKeysound
Tim F said:
I'm pretty open to "outsider" tracks (including from dubstep producers) becoming big on the scene and thus becoming insider track. But I think the fact of them actually having traction within the scene remains relevant.

UK Funky as a style is a lot about context, about how different stylistic impulses and sonic approaches (sweet r&b tunes, housey throwbacks, skank tracks, ruff instrumentals) are thrown together and vibe off one another. But there has to be a narrative thread running through the tracks that renders them part of a single genre. In fact this is a big part of the appeal: the amazement that all of these impulses could sit next to one another and yet still sound of a piece.
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I'm not someone who thinks the two parallel scenes we're taking about here are in fact one, at all, but i dont think your signifiers ( "stylistic impulses and sonic approaches (sweet r&b tunes, housey throwbacks, skank tracks, ruff instrumentals)") define funky accurately, as you could classify most of Oneman's sets as sweet r&b tunes, housey throwbacks, skank tracks, ruff instrumentals these days.

So either the groups are defined by class or perhaps more accurately by social groups, defined by the places they hang out and meet, who they know, labels they release on etc, with Rinse being a main loci of overlap and dialog.
 
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Tim F

Well-known member
Martin that's a bit specious - it's like saying that you can't tell the difference between jungle and dubstep sonically because both fit the description "tracks with looped syncopated grooves with big bass drops" or something.

i.e. there's other differences that fall outside the terms of the description.

To say that because a OneMan set comprised of old garage tunes, some dubstep, some wonky, some proto-grime and some funky might fit the same description "sweet r&b tunes, housey throwbacks, skank tracks, ruff instrumentals" there's clearly no stylistic distinction between that and a straight funky set ignores the obvious difference of entirely different groove matrices as between each of those styles!

The "narrative thread" of coherence I refer to in the bit you quoted is a certain cluster of interrelated groove types which can be defined as of a piece with one another while not of a piece with a 2-step garage groove, a dubstep groove, a grime groove etc.

My point is precisely that this point of distinction is already elastic and tenuous enough that there's no value in weakening it further by throwing open the term "uk funky" to subsume anything from the uk that shares any stylistic similarities at all.

I know that OneMan increasingly does sets heavily dominated by funky - but then I'd acknowledge them as such; to the extent that they are so dominated they're literally different in track selection and in sound to the DJ style for which he's known.

You're correct to the extent that, if OneMan does do a set like that, then what would define him as "not funky" (to the extent that anything does) becomes "more accurately defined by social groups" I guess.

But really that's not something I'm a position to determine or place much weight on - my distinctions between what I consider to be funky or "funky-not-funky" are pretty much entirely sonic/stylistic.

Not hearing those differences would seem obtuse to me; conversely, I have no interest in defining artists or DJs as "not funky" on any other basis, though I'm sure those issues are important to others. If a DJ here in Melbourne started playing sets that were along the lines of of marcus or footloose or supa-d or funk butcher then I'd think of them as a "uk funky dj" even though of course they're not actually part of the scene in certain obvious ways.
 
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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I still see funky as wedded to that socafied beat, but i guess that's a bit over-specific. Most all the UK stuff i've liked has broadly fitted that template. Probably.

God, am really feeling funky again now (the remix(es) of Lions and Tigers and Bears is on almost constant rotation today), after a few months of feeling it was getting a bit too tasteful (very subjective opinion based on the records I heard).
Anyone got any recommendations for good places to go out and hear funky these days in south London (I'm out of the loop)? As close to Brixton as possible! Brixton Fridge Bar is the only place I know of, and it's a bit poncey-sounding these days.
 
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Blackdown

nexKeysound
Tim F said:
Martin that's a bit specious - it's like saying that you can't tell the difference between jungle and dubstep sonically because both fit the description "tracks with looped syncopated grooves with big bass drops" or something.

i.e. there's other differences that fall outside the terms of the description.
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if there's differences that fall outside of the description tim, you need a better description!
 
Tentative Andy

Tentative Andy

I'm in the Meal Deal
DJ Havok loves the sound of his own voice. Plays some good tunes though.

Edit: ironically enough, "actions speak louder than words" seems to be one of his catchphrases.
 
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gumdrops

Well-known member
havocs got one of the most annoying voices on any station. feeling himself way too much to the point that it sounds like hes too good to sound bothered.
 
mos dan

mos dan

fact music
probably just missed/forgot this the first time around, but i had it pointed out to me last night and HAD to chop it out and up it... majestic's STD bars..

 
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Tim F

Well-known member
Blackdown said:
if there's differences that fall outside of the description tim, you need a better description!
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But I wasn't trying (or holding myself out as trying) to define funky, Martin, I was referring to its diversity, a fact which I suspect you know full well.

I said in that post I linked to above: "You know a track is "uk funky" in the same way that a judgment of physical hotness is like the square root of the entire interrelationship between a person's appearance, swagger, accent, the heat outside, how long it's been since you've gotten some, not to mention your most private odd desires and fantasies. It's never clear what the key factor is, if there even is one."

By this I was trying to establish that an overly prescriptive notion of uk funky wasn't useful because it wouldn't capture the flexibility of the genre and the multitude of factors sonic and otherwise that go into a tune's identity as "uk funky" - but that's not at all the same as saying that a uk funky tune and a dubstep tune, or a uk funky tune and a 2-step garage tune, cannot be distinguished - a point which seems so obvious it barely merits stating.

I think it would be very hard to verging on impossible to establish a pithy definition of "uk funky" that could legislate on any dispute as to whether a tune was uk funky or not. But assuming that means there's simply no sonic identity to this music is would be an overly simplistic reaction to that, an either/or equation that ill-suits the nuance of this music.
 
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continuum

smugpolice
has anyone got any info on DJ Champion???
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Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Love that HHBanton tune 'Peek N Duck'. I've not been paying attention to HHBanton or Lil Silva or D-Malice or any of those producers who initially got me excited about funky for a long time.
 
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tom lea

Well-known member
benny - apparently it's produced by naughty boy, who also did 'diamond rings' for chipmunk. that's according to the press release.
 
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