Beats People Movement

There seems to be a new genre name floating about the web. My twitter homepage has been popping off with comments like this from (Rinse Fm founder and leading DJ/producer) geeneus “i would just like to state that when i said funkstep that i was joking, it was a cuss to people that think they are making funky” or (leading DJ/producer) coolyg “jus to let ppl no i dnt call my music anything its jus wat i make i did not call it FUNKSTEP THAT IS @SCRATCHADVA AND @MRROSKA” danhancox provided a tidy summation “funkstep, dubbage, wonky… genre names have the lifespans of mayflies this year. need i repeat that this is no bad thing? probably”

Funkstep is apparently an amalgamation of UK Funky and Dubstep. Sounds a bit more digestible than ‘UK Funky’ to me. When sharing my enthusiasm for certain elements of this sound I get the sideways looks because it does sound like a sub-genre of cheesy/commercial house music doesn’t it? But yeah I get the whole thing like with Dubstep the top guys generally say “we didn’t name it, we just make music” which is cool but my question is - without a name for people to attach to how can a scene expand? I mean expand past one or two club nights or one or two producers you can be bothered mentioning in a sentence. Eg. “I like those producers like Roska and Cooly G, Kyla’s got the nice lyrics and there is this monthly night happening at Plastic People” any more information and the person your sharing your musical passion with is probably going to go to sleep! My point being in the current culture of (nearly) everybody you meet is essentially attention depreciated there is a need to summarise. That summary being “I like Funky” or “I’m feeling the Funkstep vibe” or “Have you heard any Dubbage?” It’s a human trait to discern that we mean “this” and therefore “not that”. In this case a musical style as defined by measures whether quantitative (bpm, drum pattern) or qualitative (flavour, style, energy).

Music journalists may like to throw ridiculous stereotypes around e.g. Simon Reynold’s ‘wonky-ketamine-dubstep-zomby‘ article back in March and that’s a good example of the content that needs to be filtered in my opinion. The more we hype that nonsense the more we are at the mercy of the next fool who wants to rubbish the music we appreciate and it follows, the artists we respect for making the music we appreciate.

There are of course exceptions, Alex MacPherson provides a nice description of the sound in his recent piece for the Metro/Lite:

From two-step to dubstep, the twists and turns of the British urban underground have long provided clubbers with thrilling, forward-thinking sounds that can also tear up any dance floor.
The scene’s latest incarnation, UK funky house is in many ways a counterpoint to the masculine, aggressive sounds of grime and dubstep. Drawing on New York house, soca and r’n'b as well as more familiar, British strains of club music such as broken beat and garage, UK funky is an altogether softer proposition: you’re as likely to hear sweet, soulful choruses as mind-bending rhythms, and the genre is all the better for that.
Its nights have swiftly gained a reputation for being genial, glamorous places where dressing up is encouraged and champagne flows; they’re also extremely female-friendly, which in turn results in a dance floor thankfully bereft of moody, skulking blokes.
Source: http://www.metro.co.uk/

On a recent visit to the UK I got to experience just that. DJs Cooly G and Brackles provided the soundtrack and there was no aggy, just nice club vibes from start to finish. Truth be told I’m getting to quite like this music, whatever it’s called.

For more of an overview on ‘UK funky’ and its strains (including some nice musical examples) check this recent XLR8R article:

http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2009/09/mutant-funk

Those wanting audio check:

FACT mix 64: Scratcha DVA (July ‘09)

FACT mix 46: Cooly G  (May ‘09)

FACT mix 23: Roska (Jan ‘09)

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 12:42 pm and is filed under uk funky, outernational, people, beats, dubstep. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.