RETURN OF OF THE BOOGIE

Last year I wrote about famous dubstep producer Skream hitting it hard and surprising the hell out of his listeners, when he decided to play a disco and boogie set on one of his Rinse FM Stella radio sessions. At the time it seemed like he was the odd one out, a lonely soul with a taste for late 70's/early 80's disco 'n boogie, but the last couple of months the disco sound is resurfacing more and more often. Either in its original form, most notably sported by Danish producer and dj 2000f, or in an updated style: a synth laden kind of dubstep that's been getting a whole lot of support in the scene lately.

Bristol based youngster Joker is one of the key players in the latter category. His sound is created by a whole heap of fat, blazing synthesizers that are literally on, and over the top of everything. What his sound may lack in thick, heavy (wobbling) bass, is more than made up for by such outgoing and, dare I say it, corny melodies and arrangements that truly haven't been heard in this extravagant form since the day the boogie was still legal on the dancefloor. Like disco, the new disco influenced sound proved often to be too extravert for many hardcore dancefloor lovers, but it's also gaining the dubstep scene a bunch of new fans who seem to be taken in by the melody, the more uplifting sound (whereas older dubstep is raw, dark and a bit evil) and the openess of the songs as a whole. A Joker song like "Snake eater" could very well pass as a disco-hit remix: It screams, sighs and invites; it's just over the edge but not too far and it's incredibly sticky. Once heard, it'll remain in your heart and your mind for days on end. Again, like disco, that can both be as annoying as much as it's fun. And that makes it a proper hit.

Taking things even further is Copenhagen based 2000f. Like Joker, this versatile producer is utilizing the heavy synthesizer sound as well, although he tends to mix it down a bit further. 2000f is somewhat of a pioneer in the dubstep scene, he was one of the first outside the UK to pick up on the new sound from south-London, but none could have guessed he would be as far ahead of the times as he recently turned out to be. His epic "You don't know what love is" tune (co-written an co-produced by JkaMata) is due to come out on the Hyperdub label, is setting the world on fire as a dubplate, is eagerly awaited by many, many fans and....is two years old already. With the resurfacing of the synthesizer sound in the dancehalls, the tune, available as dubplate only to a small group of lucky ones, proved to be some kind of missing link and was finally understood for what it really is: ultra funky, proto-dubstep disco. Call it whatever you want, the tune is so good it comes as a surprise to me that no one, not even outside the dubstep scene, was interested in it at the time of birth. Guess it's aquired taste and it needs some maturing? Funilly enough, for all it's popularity and long stretch, the tune now seems to be guarded to the extremes because it is nowhere to be found on the net, accept in a few mixes here and there. Watch out for the proper release and make sure you listen to it by then.

To complement the "new wave of funk," and perhaps encouraged by Skream's Stella disco session, 2000f has unleashed a series of oldie-disco mixes that are a must have for anyone who's into disco, funk, house, proper mixing and good music in general. Three mixes have surfaced so far, but more will undoubtly follow. And if that is the case, I'm praying 2000f includes Donna McGhee's "Do as I do" somewhere. All 10 sighing, whispering, moaning and excellent minutes of it...

Untill then we'll make do with volumes one, two and three of 2000f's excellent Fyraftensboogie series. Download them here:

Part One
Finis Henderson - Skip To My Lou
Jackie McClean - Doctor Jackyll and Mister Funk
Grey and Hanks - You Fooled Me
Patrice Rushen - Number One
Slave - Stellar Fungk
Central Line - You Know You Can Do It
Tom Browne - Funkin' For Jamaica
Don Blackman - Never Miss A Thing
Trouble Funk - Good To Go (instrumental)
Rick James - You Turn Me On
Precinct - Shining Star
Odyssey - Inside Out
Mystic Merlin - Just Can't Give You Up
Syreeta - Can't Shake Your Love
Funkadelic - (Not Just) Knee Deep
Fat Larry's Band - Act Like You Know
D-Train - Keep On
Shirley Lites - Heat You Up (Melt You Down)
Yvonne Gage - Doin' It In A Haunted House

Part Two
Light Of The World - London Town
AM-FM - You Are The One (Instrumental)
AM-FM - You Are The One
Junior - Mama Used To Say (American Remix)
World Premiere - Share The Night (Club Mix)
Edwin Birdsong - Son Of A Rapper Dapper Snapper (Dub Mix)
The Dazz Band - Single Girls (B-Beats)
Ex Tras - Haven't Been Funked Enough (Ex Tras Special Version)
Savana - I Can't Turn Away
Conversion - I Can't Stop Dancin' (Dance Version)
Ohio Players - Fast Track
Inner Life - Let's Change It Up (Extended Version)
Brooklyn Express - (Spank) Sixtynine
Al Hudson & The Soul Partners - Spread Love
Johnny Hammond - Los Conquistadores Chocolatés
Al Johnson - I Got My Second Wind
George McCrae - I Get Lifted

Part Three
Kool & The Gang - Summer Madness (live at the Rainbow Theatre in London, England)
Don Blackman - Holding You, Loving You
Eddie Kendricks - Intimate Friends
Con Funk Shun - How Long
Aleem feat. Leroy Burgess - Think
RAH Band - Cloud Across The Moon
S.O.S. Band - Just Be Good To Me
Kinkina - Jungle Fever
S.O.S. Band - High Hopes
T-Connection - Saturday Night
Kongas - Anikana-O
Jeanette 'Lady' Day - Come Let Me Love You (Instrumental)
Trouble Funk - Trouble Funk Express
B B & Q - Riccochet (Club Mix)