⏱ 2 min read
Soulful, melodic D&B with warm basslines and emotional content. Hospital Records built an entire identity around it.

What Liquid Funk sounds like

Rolling, lighter drums, jazz chords and warm, melodic basslines. Soul and disco samples, strings and vocals that sing rather than shout. Smooth, flowing and emotional. The floor rolls instead of jumps, and a big vocal hook brings a sing along.

What you would see

Hospitality nights in London clubs, sunlit festival stages in the afternoon. Summer T shirts, soft warm lighting and a relaxed, smiling, mixed crowd singing the hooks.

Where and when

Liquid Funk took shape around 1999 in London, UK. Tracks usually run at 170 to 176 BPM. You will also see it called liquid DnB, liquid.

Family tree

It grew out of Drum and Bass.

Artists to start with

High Contrast, Calibre and London Elektricity.

Labels that carried it

Creative Source (1999), Good Looking Records (United Kingdom, 1991) and Liquicity (Netherlands).

One track to hear

High Contrast, Return of Forever (2002). It is an official upload, and you can play it on this genre’s card in the Dance Music Timeline.

Where it stands in 2026

Steady, the melodic core of modern DnB.

Want to hear how it connects to its neighbours? Plan a mix from here with Tempo Bridge, or see where it sits among 127 genres on the timeline.

From the booth

Liquid funk is the melodic heart of drum and bass. At 170 to 176 BPM, rolling, lighter drums carry jazz chords, warm melodic basslines and vocals that sing rather than shout. It grew from Drum and Bass.

The floor rolls instead of jumps, and a big vocal hook brings a sing along. I tend to play liquid to open a drum and bass set, or to give the room a breather between heavier stretches. Pay attention to the soul and disco samples, the strings and the smooth flow. For newcomers, this is a lovely place to practise long, musical blends. The tracks are forgiving, and matching keys makes a real difference to how smooth it sounds.

Sources

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Matthew Clement plays house and disco in Seoul under the name Clement, and has been behind the decks here for more than two decades. By day he teaches business and marketing communication at a university...