After the frantic amen breakbeats of Jungle paved the way for Goldie's hallmark release "Timeless" in 1995, the the two part "stepping" signature beat of the emerging Drum and Bass progression drew on the work of Jungle/Drum and Bass pioneer LTJ Bukem who had already begun infusing his breakbeats with dense and hypnotic Soul, funk and jazz flourishes ever since the 1993 anthem "Music", echoed by producers such as Peshay with "The Piano Tune" and Roni Size's break out tune "It's a jazz thing" aka "It's jazzy".

While a distinctly "darkside" movement of heavy, bass driven beats was readying to emerge as "tech step", led by labels No U Turn and Emotif featuring key artists Ed Rush, Trace and Nico, there was a brief era that could be mapped from "Timeless" to Roni Size / Reprazent's "New Forms" where Jazz influenced Drum and Bass became very trendy and exclusive. This movement was labelled "Jazzstep".

Key artists also included Alex Reece with the anthem "Pulp Fiction" in 1996 which signalled the ascendance of the signature 2 step break in Drum and bass and Adam F who made massive impact with his album featuring the anthem "Circles". Other artists of prominence included EZ Rollers.

Drum'n bass toward the end of the 90's was dominated by the darker Tech step sound, first championed by Ed Rush and carried forward by the group Bad Company, Drum'n Bass's first "super group".

But the return of Peshay to scene in 2001 with his anthem "Got me burning" smashing through the domination of dark drum'n bass with its energised filtered disco and tightly looped samples, coined the phrase "House'n Bass".

J Majik also achieved a massive dancefloor hit with his remix of the anthem "Spaced Invaders" by Hatiras which also combined filtered house with heavy drum beats and basslines of tech step.

"Liquid Funk" was a term coined by DJ Fabio of radio 1 to describe the new wave of funk, soul and jazz influenced tunes that begun to come through.

The quintessential Liquid Funk track was a remix produced by a duo who had long been pushing the return of musical vibes to Drum'n Bass. This was originally a tune by tech step Drum'n Bass duo Future Cut, who had begun producing Jazz influenced drum'n bass as Uncut with singer Jenna G.

"Midnight" by Uncut ft. Jenna G (Marcus Intalex and ST files) represented the arrival of Liquid Funk proper.

unlike it's predecessor Jazz Step, Liquid Funk embraced the heavier drum beats and bass lines that had been progressed by Tech Step, but used melodic and musical elements such as

Hits followed on giving rise to the new era of Liquid Stars: Jump up stalwart Shy FX collaborating with another jazz step pioneer, T-power produced the chart assaulting "Shake Ur Body"

DJ Marky had an international hit teamed up with MC Stamina "LK" aka "it's the way", while a teenage producer going by the name of High Contrast rocked the drum'n bass world with a series of soul heavy smashers starting with "return of forever" and "make it tonight".

Finally, an irish drummer with unrivalled ear for classically warm and organic sounding beats who had already gained critical acclaim within the Drum'n Bass scene began to produce some of the best Drum'n Bass - Calibre.

The rise of the Hospital recordings label in the early 2000's as the flagship Liquid Funk label cemented the position of the sub genre.

Recent high profile Liquid Funk artists have included Makoto (japan), Bungle (brazil), Commix as well as a strong movement coming up now in Scandinavian regions.

Here's a list of recently liquid funk artists.

Calibre, High Contrast, MIST, Commix, Makoto, Bungle, SArtificial Intelligence, Greg Packer, DJ Suv, DJ A-Sides, Craggz & Parallel Forces, MJ Cole, Cyantific, DJ Marky, ShyFX & T power, Peshay, Aquasky, EZ Rollers, Danny Byrd, Hospital Records, Klute, John B, LTJ Bukem, Kubiks, Lomax, Alix Perez, Mutt, Logistics, Nu:tone, DJ Patife, Insiders, Donny Dubson, Dan Marshall, Phynkfiction Recordings, Fokuz Recordings, L.A.O.S. Concord Dawn, Trei, Syncopix, Red Eyes, Ram Trilogy, Klute, Ben Westbeech, Submorphics, Sabre, Eveson, Blu Mar Ten, MC Fats, Incident, Metrik, Contour, Naibu, Zero Tolerance, Stunna, Influx Datum, Influx UK, Matrix & Futurebound, Holdtight, Defunked records, Mathematics, Atlantic Connection, Invaderz, Insiders, D.kay + Epsilon

From wikipedia

Liquid funk is a style 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.

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. This was characterised by influences from disco and house, 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, Rubik Records, 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.

Liquid funk is very similar to intelligent drum and bass, but has subtle differences. 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.