100
- Thread starter wild greens
- Start date
wild greens
Well-known member
89 - 85
Seeing as it's sunny let's try and round out to 85 with four more big Funky EPs from round this time. I would have bought all these from Uptown I think; and bought the Gabryelle Refix from UKfunky.net on mp3 before that, even though i didn't have anything to play them on yet.
Mario is Tadow as well, he made Hornz/Stressed Out etc as well, loads of big tunes from that era but never quite on the same level of recognition of the other big names. Weird really, not sure I even ever saw him DJ out, despite having all those bangers. Face doesn't fit sometimes I guess? I am just guessing there. I have the green vinyl of Bloodclart Bass, there is zero difference to the black vinyl but it is apparently worth more money? So good for me
D-Malice EP all great- these producers were pretty kind to us vinyl DJs with no money, lashing out 3-4 tracks at a time, you could build a pretty bait set within a few weeks. Uptown helped out with the bootleg 4-trackers as well.
The Hard House Banton EP was a revelation on that one, I couldn't believe I was getting Sirens/Reign/Zulu Form all on the same 12. Can't really listen to Sirens now- the siren grates on me- but I really think Reign is one of the all time classic UK Funky tunes.
I did a favour for my ex's mate and played some massive houseboat party in Brighton for fuck all really, I think a couple of beers and some shit weed, we fucking travelled down with a big record bag and paid train ourselves. TBF I was a nobody, it was summer 09 probably, I shouldn't moan. The reason I bring that up is that I remember standing on the deck smoking a spliff talking to some lad and there was a fucking shooting star, we watched it dart across the sky; I was transfixed by that and really stoned at the time. Anyway that night someone came upto me when I was DJing and fucking wheeled The Music while it was playing, leaning over the decks and made everything jump, I was worried it was scratched. A bit like that Riz La Teef/Sherelle farrago, though this didn't make me famous I just wanted to punch him. Records were precious then when you were skint*
DJ Mystery- Speechless, got to be top three or four funky vocals ever, love that backwards synth sound thing going through it. I bought it late but it actually reminds me of being freshly single at some point in 2009 and accidentally singing along with some girl at Brixton Jamm (maybe a Cooly G night? Not sure). Thinking yes go on lad you've got her here, and I didn't, she fucked off after I bought her a drink. C'est la vie. Great tune.
Never owned Lighter- Skanker; pretty sure it was only a dub, though people do have the wav now so I know there are fake "dubplates" that have gone on discogs or ebay for daft money. They're not real unless they've got the music house label on though lads
*Once saw someone do this with a dubplate in FWD at PP and Tubby looked like he was going to kill him. Always seemed like a really mild-mannered lad, him, but there are some things you just don't do.
Probably do some grime 12s next to take it upto 80 but I am going to make a start on dinner now
Seeing as it's sunny let's try and round out to 85 with four more big Funky EPs from round this time. I would have bought all these from Uptown I think; and bought the Gabryelle Refix from UKfunky.net on mp3 before that, even though i didn't have anything to play them on yet.
Mario is Tadow as well, he made Hornz/Stressed Out etc as well, loads of big tunes from that era but never quite on the same level of recognition of the other big names. Weird really, not sure I even ever saw him DJ out, despite having all those bangers. Face doesn't fit sometimes I guess? I am just guessing there. I have the green vinyl of Bloodclart Bass, there is zero difference to the black vinyl but it is apparently worth more money? So good for me
D-Malice EP all great- these producers were pretty kind to us vinyl DJs with no money, lashing out 3-4 tracks at a time, you could build a pretty bait set within a few weeks. Uptown helped out with the bootleg 4-trackers as well.
The Hard House Banton EP was a revelation on that one, I couldn't believe I was getting Sirens/Reign/Zulu Form all on the same 12. Can't really listen to Sirens now- the siren grates on me- but I really think Reign is one of the all time classic UK Funky tunes.
I did a favour for my ex's mate and played some massive houseboat party in Brighton for fuck all really, I think a couple of beers and some shit weed, we fucking travelled down with a big record bag and paid train ourselves. TBF I was a nobody, it was summer 09 probably, I shouldn't moan. The reason I bring that up is that I remember standing on the deck smoking a spliff talking to some lad and there was a fucking shooting star, we watched it dart across the sky; I was transfixed by that and really stoned at the time. Anyway that night someone came upto me when I was DJing and fucking wheeled The Music while it was playing, leaning over the decks and made everything jump, I was worried it was scratched. A bit like that Riz La Teef/Sherelle farrago, though this didn't make me famous I just wanted to punch him. Records were precious then when you were skint*
DJ Mystery- Speechless, got to be top three or four funky vocals ever, love that backwards synth sound thing going through it. I bought it late but it actually reminds me of being freshly single at some point in 2009 and accidentally singing along with some girl at Brixton Jamm (maybe a Cooly G night? Not sure). Thinking yes go on lad you've got her here, and I didn't, she fucked off after I bought her a drink. C'est la vie. Great tune.
Never owned Lighter- Skanker; pretty sure it was only a dub, though people do have the wav now so I know there are fake "dubplates" that have gone on discogs or ebay for daft money. They're not real unless they've got the music house label on though lads
*Once saw someone do this with a dubplate in FWD at PP and Tubby looked like he was going to kill him. Always seemed like a really mild-mannered lad, him, but there are some things you just don't do.
Probably do some grime 12s next to take it upto 80 but I am going to make a start on dinner now
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wild greens
Well-known member
Worth mentioning the grime > funky connection, yet again. Lighter aka Lightning, the grime MC who turned up on a few Fuck Radios and was in The Movement I think? I always hated that crew, and genuinely fell asleep every time I heard a Fuck Radio. Like a mental block or something. Scorcher is good though, always liked him
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
So happy to see funky getting repped like this, the nuum's most unloved child, pretty much consigned to oblivion. Ok, we've had a couple of quite lame revival attempts, Drake sampling crazy cousins, some producers going to more success in afrobeats and house, but the '08 to to '09 vibe (and slightly later with the Live FM petchy shows) is now largely forgotten and difficult to explain to others why it was so good if you weren't tuned in at the time. So many tunes that never came out, unidentifiable.
Leo
Well-known member
Digging the tunes and perspective, but also love the enthusiasm for record buying. The excitement and anticipation, going to stores a few times a week with the hope of landing this or that, sometimes by pure luck being in the right place at the right time and scoring a fleeting gem. the Spotify generation will never truly understand. Great stuff, wildman.
wild greens
Well-known member
84
I'm not sure what comes next but I do need to crowbar this in, somewhere, so lets get it out the way. It's not called the Devils Mix, I don't like the way these things become fake-gentrified/labelled. It's the East/West Bass Mix, let's get it right. No diss to silverdrizzle ofc he is a good lad and put a huge amount of graft in before he got burned out.
Anyway I never really knew the deal with Bionics; did he write any of the tunes or did he just jack them? There was the situation with him stealing "Capsule" by Hindzy D, but then you have this, which is one of the best beatless grime things ever. From what I've heard over the years this was maybe a uncredited Wiley remix but not sure how true it is. Anyway I think it's the top 3 abuse of the gliding square preset off the triton, and certainly timeline wise it fits in with the roll deep studio etc. Plus those shaker patterns sound like Wiley to me.
Beautiful tune, to me; ghostlike in a lot of ways. The slight reverb sitting on the pizzicato strings, the awful mixdown, those ramshackle qualities mean a lot; East London ambient. I got this for like three quid off ebay years ago and feel like I robbed them, really. A lot of old grime was really undervalued once, and now it's overvalued. Like all the best ones from this era if you pitch them upto like +6 they still sound like the maddest music in the world.
I'm not sure what comes next but I do need to crowbar this in, somewhere, so lets get it out the way. It's not called the Devils Mix, I don't like the way these things become fake-gentrified/labelled. It's the East/West Bass Mix, let's get it right. No diss to silverdrizzle ofc he is a good lad and put a huge amount of graft in before he got burned out.
Anyway I never really knew the deal with Bionics; did he write any of the tunes or did he just jack them? There was the situation with him stealing "Capsule" by Hindzy D, but then you have this, which is one of the best beatless grime things ever. From what I've heard over the years this was maybe a uncredited Wiley remix but not sure how true it is. Anyway I think it's the top 3 abuse of the gliding square preset off the triton, and certainly timeline wise it fits in with the roll deep studio etc. Plus those shaker patterns sound like Wiley to me.
Beautiful tune, to me; ghostlike in a lot of ways. The slight reverb sitting on the pizzicato strings, the awful mixdown, those ramshackle qualities mean a lot; East London ambient. I got this for like three quid off ebay years ago and feel like I robbed them, really. A lot of old grime was really undervalued once, and now it's overvalued. Like all the best ones from this era if you pitch them upto like +6 they still sound like the maddest music in the world.
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
Fuzzy Logik's first 2 Bangers N Mash EPs (4 tracks on each, like you say generous) are sadly lost now too. When I moved to Spain I had to sell all these records to a local shop for next to nothing cos no one wanted them.
wild greens
Well-known member
Yeah both of these have the good formula too- cool vocal, 3 instrumentals for the DJs/hosts
Love "What Goes Around" off the first one I think? "Way You Move" really good too, used to have a good mix between that and Seany B- Stompa
Think this video is from a mix where its pitched way up? That's what i used to do too, tbf
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
Stompa! Classic.
So few tunes actually came out in those first couple of years, even the really big scene anthems, never mind the countless anonymous bangers you'd hear on radio sets. There was that website (UK funky.net or something?) where you could buy some mp3s - often really low bitrate - but the pickings were slim.
So few tunes actually came out in those first couple of years, even the really big scene anthems, never mind the countless anonymous bangers you'd hear on radio sets. There was that website (UK funky.net or something?) where you could buy some mp3s - often really low bitrate - but the pickings were slim.
wild greens
Well-known member
It was similar with bassline- though i didnt get on with that massively bar a couple of tunes (will get into DJ Pantha a bit later)- where the digital release thing hadn't quite happened but vinyl was a difficult proposition too
I know a couple of lads who were into the dub buying thing but that was a bit too much effort for me, to be honest
I know a couple of lads who were into the dub buying thing but that was a bit too much effort for me, to be honest
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
Yeah that's it, it was that tricky transitional period between vinyl and digital, frustrating and alienating for any djs outside the elite who wanted to buy tunes and get into it. I remember all the Mad One/Devine recordings stuff came out like 2 years after it first got played, on iTunes. In their case there was a sort of almost perverse resistance to releasing anything, even naming one of their biggest tunes 'Never Coming Out' (it did come out in the end, long after anyone gave a shit).
IdleRich
IdleRich
This is fascinating to me cos I don't think I've ever heard anyone speak positively about it before - certainly not with the enthusiasm that you two have. I've no opinion on it, I don't even know what it sounds like, but I am gonna listen to the tunes in this thread and will be paying special attention to the funky ones... of course I might think they are total shite but it won't matter if I do.
IdleRich
IdleRich
But what did you do? That is fucking double-cheeky cos one thing he's fucking with your set, and another, he's damaging your property.
One time I was at The Buffalo Bar (is that what it's called?) near Highbury and Joe from The Horrors was DJ-ing and I was talking to him, he put on Vacuum Cleaner by Tintern Abbey (popsike has a copy sold in 2015 for £1462)8 and some guy tried to shake his hand or something and jumped the needle across the record. He wasn't too pleased about that...
You've got her!
A bunch of people on here liked it. There was a huge rolling thread. It's just not as well liked or talked about as jungle, grime and garage.
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
I'd say listen to radio sets but even then probably pretty hard to get into in retrospect if you weren't paying attention at the time. A vibe destined to be lost to history forever probably.
@Corpsey knows, maybe one or two others on here, but I think it's seen as the ginger stepchild of the nuum by most