Now my knowledge of this scene is a little limited, so don't take my complete word for it. However, here is my low down on a new-ish, more of a reinvention, that people are slowly coming to terms with, and labelling Nu Funk.
I've been somewhat disappointed with the output with the breaks scene in the past couple of years. There has been some good output from the likes of Stanton Warriors, Stereo:Type and Deekline & Wizard as well as the whole Funkatech crew. Yet, there was a kind of essence missing from those sounds. They were twisted, and they sounded phat, but they were lacking in a crutial component of Breakbeat for me, and that is Funk.
Funk is the lifeblood of breakbeat, it oozes from the basslines, drips off of the percussion and it's fun factor is very prevalent in the synths. I've missed a good, fun acid break, I'll have to admit.
NAPT kind of went someway into bringing back some of the glory days, Gotta Have More Cowbell was a shot in the heart for the Psy-Breaks purists of 2008, and the N-Funk sound has in my view spawned a 'new' sound all of it's own. It's not really a new sound, more an evolution, like the true and old fidget scene of 2007 moving into the wobbly bass dubstep scene of late 2008 and early 2009.
A mix that incapsulates this fun factor is prevalent in a new mix by Rennie Pilgrem for Annie Nightingale's Radio 1 show that I was given a heads up to recently. Some fun, some good beats and a whole lot of good funk. Get down with this.
Nuboy - Where It Began
Basement Freaks - Something Freaky
James Brown - Get Up Offa That Thing (Good Groove edit)
LCD Soundsystem - Bye Bye Bayou
Bush Doctors - Night Train
Bush Doctors vs. Bootsy Collins - Disciples Of Funk
Rennie Pilgrem - F Express
Bush Doctors - Turn It On
Rennie Pilgrem - Dubwa
Spector - Near The Mark
Rennie Pilgrem - Dance With Me ft. Arianne Shreiber
Rennie Pilgrem - Really
Rennie has just released a new 9 track Double-EP titled Street Legal Vol. 1. This double EP represents a bit of a musical departure for Mr Pilgrem. Increasingly bored with making music with nasty noises, he has firmly rediscovered his love of funk and this is the first of a musical series that is all about the good groove, regardless of tempo.
He's also one half of new duo Bush Doctors with Jem Stone from Fingerlickin’, with a few of their tracks are in the mix above. Their first release was played right across the DJ spectrum. Rennie's also currently hard at work scoring his first acting role in feature film The Fix and is also writing music for TV... busy man!
We're very happy to bring you a free 320k track from the EP, the fantastic F Express, which has been on constant repeat for me over the past couple of days.
You can head over to Beatport or label TCR to support Rennie and purchase this superb EP... big big support from Squeaky Bleeps.
Also, finally... please check out this tune from the mix above, which I sneakily found sitting on Soundcloud... it's the opening tune of the mix... Nuboy - Where It Began. Top bassline, cheeky samples, feel good bass.
Where It Began - Nuboy by FFS
