Funkstep (also known as dubbage) is a style of

UK funky UK funky (sometimes known as UKF or funky) is a genre of electronic dance music born in United Kingdom that is heavily influenced by Soca, soulful house, tribal house, UK garage, broken beat and grime. Typically, UK funky blends beats, bas ...

, incorporating elements of

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

and sometimes drum and bass.

History

Since the

movement in 2001, funkstep has gained more listeners and therefore more

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

s to produce this music style. Funkstep took shape since 2012Chavey, Preston; "A Guide to Dubstep, Including Artists Such as Skream, Benga and More". Webster's Digital Services, 2012, p. 30pp. by blending the genres of

drumstep Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

, drum and bass,

and

electro house Electro house is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 130 beats per minute. The term has been used to describe the music of many ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJs, including Benny Benassi, Skrillex, Steve Aok ...

Characteristics

The changes of speed in funkstep are evident, since drumstep will register at anywhere from 150 to 170 BPM as a result of its 2-step beat and French and electro house by contrast between 120 and 130 BPM. This problem is usually solved by playing the song during its drumstep or even dubstep parts in half speed, as compared to the occurring house in similar parts. Most funkstep songs start with calm intros, which can sometimes be mixed up with drumstep because of its dubstep and drum and bass-like drums. But after starting with a typical funkstep

riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or acc ...

and changing the

bassdrum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

to a consistent 4x4-

cadence In Western musical theory, a cadence (Latin ''cadentia'', "a falling") is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (199 ...

, it is easy to recognize the bridge to more complex house music, which is typical for a funkstep song. A song can contain these bridges and changes repeatedly, which mostly indicate the drops and highlights. Funkstep is also often in conjunction with

glitch A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among ...

because of their similar BPM and arsenal of distorted sounds. Since funkstep contains parts sounding similar to different variations of house, drum and bass and drumstep, it is attractive for listeners of several styles of music and pretty diverse. Since 2009, notable scene reports were trying to simply explain the idea of funkstep to the audience, posting headlines like "Dubstep + Funky House = Funkstep".

References

{{Reflist

External links

Discussion about Funkstep and sibling genresFactmag reporting about FunkstepXLR8R Magazine about variations of FunkstepFeral One Records
Electronic dance music genres UK funky Dubstep English styles of music