Rinse:03 - Supa D

WOT DO YOU CALL IT; FUNKY?

Supa D might be a man caught up in the here and now, at the epicentre of an explosion of a whole new chapter in UK urban music, but he has one day in the past to thank. That was Christmas Day, around three years ago. While the nation tucked into turkey and presents, the then-old school garage DJ chose his moment to take a risk, pulling out all the new house records he’d been buying but had never played out. Until then.

Something must have felt right that quiet Christmas day, because years later Supa D is one of the biggest DJs in London’s new and blossoming funky house scene. That day he gave himself perhaps the ultimate DJ’s Christmas present: a whole new musical direction.

“It’s a new era,” insists Supa and he’s right. Five years ago grime rose out UK garage’s ashes. Now, London is turning full circle as a new, warm, danceable sound emerges from somewhere between house and broken beat, attracting fans from grime, r&b and bashment. Why it’s happening now is hard to quantify: perhaps urban London is looking for something of its own that is more danceable yet less masculine and aggressive than grime. Perhaps they wanted something dressier, to escape the grind of the week. Certainly there are precious few grime raves allowed to happen. Either way, the movement is so new, in fact, that it doesn’t have a name – always a sign that something exciting is afoot. While Supa prefers to emphasise the connection to the US-born house movement, the UK sound’s own fans simply call it “funky.”  It may yet end up being called something else entirely.

“I started off in jungle,” explains Supa. “That was about 13 years ago. After that I went to garage, getting into a bit of grime and that but as I was playing it I was buying house at the same time. I’ve been working in a record shop, Wired For Sound in Hackney, since I was 16. I used to get everything, garage and then house. One Christmas Day I did a whole house set and from then I kept on doing it.”

Now he finds himself at the heart of a bubbling new scene. Whether it’s east London afterparties, bigger funky raves around the capital or even, post-Ayia Napa 07, Niche clubs up North, he’s building a strong following with this new sound At funky raves and afterparties “everyone’s movin’, everyone’s bubbling, getting down. The people who rave to funky every week, they’re open to new tunes.” And it’s not just the ravers who are moving quickly, so are the producers, with the scene, according to Supa, mutating and evolving at a rapid rate. “There’s always something every week that sounds different. Each tune that everyone makes, gets better,” he admits.

The only place you’ll find tunes from these producers is on this CD, the first to chronicle the new London funky scene. “It’s something different,” insists Supa. “There ain’t that out there, in the shops. You can’t go to HMV and get a whole CD of up and coming [London] producers. That ain’t been done before. It’s something new.”

Martin Clark
Dec 2007, LDN

TRACKLISTING

1. ‘Buss It’ - Perempay + Dee
2. ‘Girl Like Me’ - Naughty feat Addictive
3. ‘Get Off The Wall’ - Delio D’Cruze feat K Cat
4. ‘Sweet Blue’ - Jay’s Kitchen & Daniel Sea
5. ‘Quick Time’ - Naughty
6. ‘Tell Me’ - DJ NG feat Katy B + Versatile
7. ‘Yellowtail’ - Geeneus
8. ‘Risingsun’ - Tadow
9. ‘Signed + Sealed’ - Fingaprint feat Courtney
10. ‘Emotions VIP’ - Geeneus + Zinc feat Nikki
11. ‘The Matrix’ - Tadow
12. ‘Pain’ - Matic Productions feat Addictive
13. ‘Devil In A Blue Dress (Instrumental)’ - Doneao
14. ‘Just Leave’ - Footloose feat Simone
15. ‘So Hot’ - Fingaprint
16. ‘What Goes Around’ - Fuzzy Logic
17. ‘Appletiser’ - Apple
18. ‘I Try’ - Geeneus + Zinc feat Katy B
19. ‘The Anthem’ - Matic Productions
20. ‘Right Here (Naughty Remix)’ - MA1 feat Sophia
21. ‘Mind, Body and Soul’ - Funky Junkies
22. ‘Night (Geeneus Remix)’ - Benga & Coki
23. ‘Segalizer VIP Remix’ - Apple

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