UK Funky
Bass · 2008 · 128 to 132 BPM · also known as Funky House UK, UK Funky House
UK funky is 2008 to 2010 London: a soca and Afro-inflected house sound born on pirate radio, built on tribal percussion, female vocals and a rolling 130 BPM swing. A brief, bright genre sitting between UK garage and South African house, its percussive motifs still run through UK bass today. Kyla's Do You Mind, later covered by Drake, remains its best-known pop trace.
16 reference tracks
- Kyla: Do You Mind (2008)
- Donae'o: Party Hard (2009)
- Roska: Squark (2009)
- Roska & Untold: Myth (2010)
- Katy B: Lights On (2010)
- Murder He Wrote & Roska: Feel It (2021)
- Disclosure: Simply Won't Do (2023)
- Mura Masa: Rise (2023)
- Wilfy D & Ghost Phone: After Dark (2023)
- Jessie Ware, Sbtrkt: Nervous (2025)
- Disclosure: White Noise (feat. AlunaGeorge)
- Disclosure: Omen
- Disclosure: Tenderly
- SBTRKT: Pharaohs
- PinkPantheress: Do you miss me?
- Katy B: Why You Always Here
At a glance
- Tempo: 128 to 132 BPM
- First appeared: around 2008
- Machines: Apple Logic, FL Studio
- The sound: Percussions soca programmées, Basses rondes, Voix féminines lead, Logic et FL Studio
- Labels: Hyperdub, Roska Kicks & Snares, More Time, Numbers.
- Key artists: Roska, Kyla, Donae'o, Lil Silva, Champion
Producing UK Funky
UK funky sits between 128 and 132 BPM with a tropical feel borrowing from soca, dembow and South African house; the kick is not always straight four-on-the-floor, often syncopated, and the groove comes mainly from stacking three or four sixteenth-note percussion patterns, the 3+3+2 dembow rhythm turning up often in the congas or the bass. Snare or clap sits on 2 and 4, or a rimshot on 3 for a broken feel, with congas playing a tumbao motif, bongos, offbeat cowbell and shakers, dry and panned wide. The bass is round and short, between a sub and a house bass, playing a syncopated pentatonic minor line that follows the kick on some hits and contradicts it on others, no wobble, no Reese. On top, sung female lead vocals and sampled marimba or steel drum for tropical color.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is UK Funky?
UK funky is 2008 to 2010 London: a soca and Afro-inflected house sound born on pirate radio, built on tribal percussion, female vocals and a rolling 130 BPM swing. A brief, bright genre sitting between UK garage and South African house, its percussive motifs still run through UK bass today. Kyla's…
What tempo is UK Funky played at?
Between 128 and 132 BPM.
Who are the key UK Funky artists?
Roska, Kyla, Donae'o, Lil Silva, Champion.
