Liquid funk

Calibre & Marcus Intalex in a set. Both are well known DJs, Producers and promoters of Liquid Funk.

Liquid funk (alternatively, Liquid Drum & Bass or just simply Liquid) is a sub-genre of drum and bass. While it uses similar basslines and bar layouts to other styles, it contains fewer bar-oriented samples and more instrumental layers (both synthesized and natural), harmonies, and ambience, producing a calmer atmosphere directed at both home listeners and nightclub audiences.

History

In 2000, Fabio began championing a new form of drum and bass he called "Liquid funk", with a compilation release of the same name on his Creative Source label.^[1] This was characterised by influences from disco and house music, and widespread use of vocals. Although slow to catch on at first, the style grew massively in popularity around 2003-2004, and by 2005 it was established as one of the biggest-selling subgenres in drum and bass, with labels like Good Looking Records (although this label is strongly cross-genred with atmospheric drum and bass), Hospital Records, Liquid V, Shogun Limited, Fokuz Recordings, State of the Art Recordings and artists like Calibre, High Contrast, Logistics, London Elektricity, Nu:Tone and Solid State among its main proponents.^[2]

Liquid funk is very similar to intelligent drum and bass, but has subtle differences.^[3] Liquid funk has stronger influences from soca, latin, disco, jazz, and funk music, while IDB creates a calmer yet more synthetic sound, using smooth synth lines and samples in place of the organic element achieved by use of real instruments.

New Wave

The new school of Liquid was a second wave of Liquid music starting from 2006-09 with a rise of artists such as Eveson, Alix Perez, Zero T, Lenzman and Spectrasoul to name a few. Like the Liquid preceding it, it came predominately from the UK. Although more of it was coming internationally. These new innovative artists tended to steer away from the Amens and 808's and brought new sounds to the Drum & Bass scene.

On the 1st October 2007 High Contrast brought Liquid Funk back to the mainstream with his album, Tough Guys Don't Dance, releasing tracks such as If We Ever (Featuring Diane Charlemagne) which made Radio 1's Dance singles chart, Kiss Kiss bang Bang and Tread Softly. This ended up "crossing over" and becoming one of the most listened to Drum and Bass album's of 2007. The success of Liquid Funk never left the mainstream, and was followed by Mistabishi's No Matter What being played on daytime radio, Chase and Status's More Than Alot album charting and the Brookes Brother's single Tear You Down hitting Dance charts.

Related artists

• 4hero
• Alix Perez
• Aquasky
• Artificial Intelligence
• Calibre
• Camo & Crooked
• Carlito
• Chase & Status
• Chino
• CLS
• Commix
• Cyantific
• D.Kay
• Danny Byrd
• Decoy
• DJ Patife
• DJ Marky
• EZ Rollers
• Flatline
• High Contrast
• Kaleb
• Klute
• L.A.O.S.
• Logistics
• London Elektricity
• LTJ Bukem
• Makoto
• Mindstorm
• Mistabishi
• Mutt
• Netsky
• Nu:Tone
• Phorenzix
• Q Project
• Redeyes
• Seba
• Shapeshifter
• Sigma
• SKC
• Solid State
• Stabile
• The Insiders
• Total Science
• XRS

External links

• LiquidDNB.com: Online community for the liquid drum and bass scene.
• LiquidFunk.ca: Liquid Funk DJ Tedder. Offers info and links to top artists such as Calibre, Condition Red, and more.
• Marcus Intalex RBMA video lecture session
• ItsTooLoud.com: UK-based website and Liquid funk resource. Offers a friendly community, up to date scene news, and has been active since 2001.
• Fabio & Grooverider on Radio 1. The home of Fabio's Liquid Funk show on BBC Radio 1

Notes