I was listening to a few classic Britfunk tunes last week so I thought I’d do a little tribute mix. For those unfamiliar with the genre it was the name associated with uptempo soul, disco, jazz-funk and boogie out of Britain from about the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s although it wasn’t until Hi Tension arrived on the scene in 1978 that the term itself took hold. Although much of the output resembled the American music that was the most prominent inspiration, there are other influences specific to Britain that set it apart. From the Caribbean heritage of many of the artists involved to the crossover effect of a smaller, less segregated music scene, the sound incorporates influences from Reggae to Punk to Jazz.
Britfunk Mix: 09-08-05 Britfunk Mix. File Size is 94.7 mb, encoded at 192kpbs, runtime is 1:08:55
I have two mixes I did recently that wasn’t completely happy with after recording but I thought I’d make them available anyway. The first was meant to focus on the “Broken Techno” sound and its connection to Jazz but I probably ended up with one intro track too many and left out a couple of more tracks that should have been included. I probably won’t bother redoing it so here it is on soundcloud:
13. Man With The Movie Camera (Domu Remix) - The Cinematic Orchestra
The second one is a sketch mix I did last month. It was meant to be the first part of a longer mix I just never got round to recording. There are a few good tunes on it from Domu, Recloose, Zed Bias, Atjazz etc. It starts at 130bpm, goes down to 98bpm and back up to 119 or so for most of it and there are a couple of alright segues but I just wasn’t completely happy with it so I didn’t put it up at the time. I’m just going to put up a megaupload link for it without a tracklisting:
Got round to doing another mix last night and I went about this one a bit differently. I had planned a long-ish mix and had most of my tunes selected and couldn’t decide the exact order of tunes - I had about three alternate playlists with the same tunes. I ended up deciding to do it on the fly and even though it’s mostly the same tunes, I went for what sounded right and what I was enthused about playing right at that time. Even if it’s a littler rough around the edges, it makes, I think, for a more spontaneous sounding mix - sometimes it can be a little dead-sounding if you’re going through the motions on a predetermined playlist.
There’s 14 tunes, a mix of broken beats, four-four, breakbeats mostly around 127 bpm and concludes with three tunes which have the drum pattern divided into triplets.
April Mix 2: 09-04-27 April Mix 2. File Size is 108.6 mb, encoded at 192kpbs, runtime is 1:19:05
Got a new mix for this month and I hope to get one or two more done before the month is out. This one starts at 113bpm, goes up to 128bpm and has a mix of house, jazz funk, broken and acid and clocks in just under the two hour mark
April Mix 1: 09-04-06 April Mix 1. File Size is 158.7 mb, encoded at 192kpbs, runtime is 1:55:35
Frank McGahon: 09-04-06 April Mix 1
01. BTwo - Arto Mwambe (Brontosaurus)
02. Vulture Funk - Soulfeenix (Xtrasolar)
03. Late Night Mission (Instrumental) - Aaron Jerome (BBE)
04. Withers - Soulparlor (BPSS)
05. The Fuckery Of Fuckeryness - Altered Natives (Eye4Eye)
06. Goodbye Dancing, Hello God (Arto Mwambe Remix) - Lars Bartkuhn (Sonar Kollektiv)
Apologies for the hiatus, here’s a new mix. I had planned this as a longer mix but thought the first part worked better as standalone. I’ll try and get to the other part over the next week or so. This one goes from around 105 to 120 bpm
March Mix 1: 09-03-22 March Mix 1. File Size is 105.1 mb, encoded at 192kpbs, runtime is 1:16:29
Frank McGahon: 09-03-22 March Mix 1
01. Vidambana (Chico Mann Remix) - DJ DRM (Bastard Jazz)
02. Family Function - Arch_typ feat. Joni Love (Bagpak)
03. Smoothly Morning - Azaxx (Tru Thoughts)
04. San Francisco Bound (DJ Obah remix) - Pimps Of Joytime (Wonderwheel)
05. Brotherhood (Steven-J deep ryokou remix) - Sleep Walker (Jazzmin)
06. Black Sun - Slowly (Flower)
07. Runnin’ - Phlash & Friends (Archive)
08. Raw Cuts 3 - Motor City Drum Ensemble (Faces)
09. As Long As It’s Groovin (It’s Allright Now) - Sascha Dive (Deep Vibes)
10. Let Them Come - Dan Electro (Soulab)
11. Mirror Dance (Yoruba Soul Mix) - Afefe Iku (Yoruba)
12. Dancing On Holiday - Souled (Fresh Minute)
13. My Gold (Chico Mann remix) - Pimps Of Joytime (Wonderwheel)
I have two mixes for this month. The second one is more uptempo and house orientated, this one is midtempo and funk orientated and kicks off with Liquid Love by the great Freddie Hubbard who passed away recently
January Mix 1: 09-01-07 January Mix 1. File Size is 96.7 mb, encoded at 192kpbs, runtime is 1:10:29
Frank McGahon: 09-01-07 January Mix 1
01. Liquid Love - Freddie Hubbard
02. In The Morning (Version) - Natural Self
03. Waiting For Our Touch (Domu Remix) - Spanky Wilson & The QSO
Got a new mix finally laid down last night. This was originally planned to be part of a much longer mix and I already recorded the first part (which I might put up as a bonus warmup mix) but I thought it would sound better stripped down to this shorter version. All at 124bpm, breaks and 4/4, a bit of jazz funk flavour and some big basslines
November 08 Mix: 08-11-24 November 08 Mix. File Size is 107.6 mb, encoded at 192kpbs, runtime is 1:18:22
Frank McGahon: 08-11-24 November 08 Mix
01. New Broke - Soulparlor (BPSS)
02. Firmly Rooted (Hint remix) - Lost Idol (Cookshop)
03. Life Is The Music (Miguel Migs Bump the Tech Dub) - Sonny J Mason (Salted Music)
04. Spookie Dookie - Exchange Bureau and John Arnold (Third Ear)
05. Go Get It (Zed Bias mixes) - Sepalot feat. Ladi6 (Compost)
06. Power of 7 - Enzyme Black (Enzyme Black)
07. Sweat - Ye:Solar (Vinyl Vibes)
08. Live At Tomb 37 - Masoul (Bagpak)
09. Digital Revolution - Simbad (Muthas Of Invention)
10. Es Que Lo Es (Kay Suzuki mix) - Broki (Muthas Of Invention)
11. Spiritual War - Ibex (Third Ear)
12. Dancin in Space r2d7 - Anthony Nicholson (Circular Motion)
13. House Muzak - Nubian Mindz Presents CL (Irma)
14. Fantasma - Bangana (Heya Hifi)
15. Reach Out For Love (Karizma’s Kaytronika Skrub) - Marc Evans (Defected)
I thought I’d do another all Broken Beat mix for a change. Got a mix of new and old on this one, ruff and noodly and ranges from 124 to 132 bpm. I’m calling this a bonus mix as I have another longer mix planned for this month which I’ll try to get to over the next week or so.