Available on: Funkystepz digital download

The UK Funky vocal is a beautiful thing. ‘Do You Mind’, ‘Speechless’, ‘Frontline’, all those Crazy Cousinz R’n’B remixes that kind of sound the same; it’s the best pop music of the last few years, and the natural heir to chart UK garage, which was pretty much the best music ever.

‘Are You Gonna Bang Doe’ and ‘Dash Down’ and ‘Sweep Dem Gally’ and the skank tunes are cool, but they’re novelty tracks and you’ve gotta take them as that. They’ll never be as addictive and heartbreaking as these bad boys, and they also won’t have the same appeal beyond Funky. Funkystepz get that. Their new tune, ‘For U’, has these warped synths like the ones in ‘Speechless’ and Ill Blu’s ‘Parachutes’ remix, but takes them one step further, wrapping them around each other as the track goes double-time. Vocalist Lily McKenzie stays dead cool throughout, never breaking a sweat.

Tom Lea