Category Archives: Tracks

130bpm, 4-to-the-floor, afrobeat, dem bow riddim and R&B…

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…make up UK Funky, in a nutshell. Well, it’s actually much deeper than that. I really don’t wanna get it wrong or tick the professionals and experts off. It’s this sexy, not at all misogynistic, tasteful, and yet so raw and tribal house type of music with almost live-sounding drum patterns.

UK Funky is like a bowl of delicious, ethnic, colourful, tossed salad of UK Garage, Tribal house, Soca, electro house with chunks of goodness like soul or R&B-style vocals on top, dressed with Latin or African percussions in the dem bow riddim (dancehall ting), served at a groove-friendly 130-135 beats per minute tempo.

There are heaps and heaps of amazing UK Funky producers out there, but today I’m scribbling about the 23-year-old Ossie from East London. He used to make Hip Hop and R&B with his friends since he was 11 until House took over and he started fusing them all like a boss chef. Anyway, Ossie’s ish is bomb. It’s deep, it’s modest, soul, natural.. Take a bite.

His newest creation, “Love Crazy” is released on July 9 from 2020 Midnight Visions.

 

Some more tracks from his Set The Tone EP (released by Hyperdub - prestiiiiige!!!).

Ossie – Set the Tone

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Ossie – The Power of Love

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Ossie – Moves

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Redlight.. House, Bass and Beyond

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Redlight, (Hugh James Pescod) another Bristol OG/record producer/DJ/re-mixer/composer with never too many other aliases such as Clipz, Animal Youth Club, Conqueror – whose fans and followers incude Skream, Toddla T, Jack Beats, A-Trak, Mark Ronson, Zinc and Annie Mac – is about to drop another party tune of the summer, “Lost in Your Love”, due for release on August 5. This one is probably more dedicated to the mainstream end of House than to his usual UK Funky/Grime/Dancehall/Garage die-hard fans. Very lyrical, very dance floor friendly, got dat build-up and dat drop.. I’m not hating though, Redlight is a badman, can’t fuck with Redlight. Check out the official teaser video for the track.

 

Here’s a Redlight hit from a couple of years ago, “MDMA”. You might’ve heard the one which featured Ms. Dynamite, “What You Talking About!?”. I still lose my shit and have so much fun dancing to that. And another release from 2011 if you’re interested.

Redlight – MDMA (original mix)

Redlight – Source 16

Again, all thanks to William J for showing me Redlight.

A BrEaCh of All Norms

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Bristolian (oh yeah, so Bristol is the OG hood of excellent underground music) BrEaCh is a man of many talents. Trained as a classical cellist and vocalist since the age of 10, he had always been influenced by soul, jazz, house and the street music – hip hop. He was baptized into Church of G-Funk when “Straight Outta Compton” by N.W.A. blessed all the hoods in the world (if you were born in or before the 90′s, you know you had to claim your gangsta rights listening to that shit. Rrrruuuthlessssss!!!!). His musical career started as Ben Westbeech in 2006, as a vocalist and producer and he has since collaborated with many dons of the drum&bass genre, including DJ Marky, Nu:Tone, and DJ Die. Westbeech’s probably most well known track “Get Closer“, in which he sampled the soul/funk singer, keyboardist Linda Williams’ “Elevate Our Minds“, is a classic example of his inspiration.

Last summer he came out with THE tune of the season, so playful, so soulful, almost acid jazz – “Something for the Weekend”, and his remix of the said track with a banger drumline.

This very summer he launches a new record label, Naked Naked with the release of his carefully composed track “You Won’t Find Love Again”. Does it sound like a typical house track to you? It might, but if you notice, there is actually nothing wrong with it. None of that tacky shit. Velvet subkick and that garagey hi hat with the twinkling synth and classy bits of vocals.

Sorry, no freebies on this one, cause I want you to support him. Or just find your own free download links. Haha.

All in all, this man’s basically a go-getter and his outputs influenced by a diverse spectrum (“Fuck the Police..” to Mozart’s Sonata) of music will exceed all norms and expectations.

If you’re down with the “healthy dose of bass” and a little moody vibesss like that of Claude Von Stroke’s dirtybird Records, you’ve got to peep BrEaCh’s set on Boiler Room. He’s an excellent DJ.

Finally, I just wanna thank my boyo William J for introducing me to BrEaCh and a bajillion other artists. He practically brought me the joy of appreciating old and new house, because I never really liked house before. More on the bajillion other artists later though.

Julio Bashmore is Losing his Mind and is Giving Things Away for Free

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Julio Bashmore is a man who does not need to give his music away for free. The Bristolian producer has got enough fans following his every move that he could release an album of looped fart noises and he’d probably still make enough money to get him through 2012. Inexplicably though, Saturday saw a new link pop up on his soundcloud with ‘FREE DOWNLOAD’ slapped on the end of the title, and after listening, I’m even more confused as to why this is free – its great.

This track has got some chunky samples out of ‘Troglodyte (Cave Man)’ by Jimmy Castor Bunch, chopped up and generously sprinkled about, mixed in with a steady rhythm, a bouncy bassline and some ripe chords. This shouldn’t be free.

And it sort of isn’t anymore, the download link on soundcloud has hit capacity; Luckily for you though I grabbed a copy before it was too late  - here, take it, love me:

Troglodytes – Julio Bashmore

-mrpoopoo

 

 

Major Lazer Feat. Amber Coffman – Get Free (Original Mix)

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Now here’s a track that puts the unique, siren-like vocals of Dirty Projectors’ Amber Coffman to good use (I’m looking at you, Rusko). ‘Get Free’ sees Major Lazer take their music down a couple (dozen) notches in terms of intensity, but the result is a dreamy, pensive song that’ll get you swaying your head instead of your hips. Definitely keep this one handy for a lot of situations: chilling, sleeping, thinking, working… Even the video has the Major himself just floating around the universe without any worries – if you think want whatever he’s having, it’s right below.

Major Lazer Feat. Amber Coffman – Get Free (Original Mix)

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Also check out this fun, electropop remix by São Paolo-based Bonde do Role.

Major Lazer Feat. Amber Coffman – Get Free (Bonde do Role Remix)

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Nine Lives

TJR – Eat God, See Acid

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Following my failed foray into the realm of fashion, I’ve decided that Radio Control Plan is the place for me after all. Yay, happy endings! Now onto the beats. TJR is a very talented individual who happens to fucks with House, Tech House, Electro House, Techno, Bass and pretty much anything that’ll get you movin’ and groovin’. His latest offering, Eat God See Acid, in addition to having a ridiculously cool name, is pretty much amazing. Incorporating elements of Techno, Tech House and Electro, TJR manages to create a track that sounds like it could be played at a circus, but also goes hard as hell. If I was gonna throw out an adjective to describe this song, I’d probably call it wonky. As fuck.
But that’s enough out of me! Ingest a deity and see an illegal substance after the jump! Continue reading →

Florence + the Machine – Cosmic Love (Seven Lions Remix)

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Epic is a term grossly overused by today’s youth (admittedly myself included). However for a track such as this, no other word does it justice. The mastering is perfect. The percussion is varied and keeps you hooked. The bass is smooth and steady. And don’t even get me started on the use of vocals. I almost feel ashamed that I hadn’t heard of Seven Lions before this. Well, you can best believe that I’ll be paying very close attention to him from now on. Catch this piece of aural magic after the jump. Continue reading →