The UK Garage recs thread

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UK garage - opaque as fuck, never get to hear most of it except on pirates where they don't tell you what the song is. Too old to get info from the kids. Let's swap knowledge.

― Jacob, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Last bunch of things I liked:

London Dodgers - "Down down bizness" (Darquwan mix)
Jay da Flex - "the Spooks" (Ghost)
Zed Bias feat. Elizabeth Troy - "Heavyweight sound"

All had a kind of post-breakbeat feel with the garage rhythm crossing over with more trad breakbeat rhythms. Also fuckin huge basslines. The Jay da Flex thing also had a hint at the bassline being half-speed in a 95 jungle sort of style, although it wasn't actually half speed it just sort of sounded it. That sounds stupid, but it worked.

― Jacob, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ms Dynamite's Ramp even tho Dy Na Mi Te Ee is destructive and not to be trusted+Grouch by Sirus is a charmer.

― David, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Mark One & CB - "Amazon" (ruthless soca beat + congo percussion + heavy xylobass counterpoint + Bump & Flex style ragga riddim = exotic *and* punishing dark-energy masterpiece - there's a sample on dubplate.net)

― Tim, Wednesday, 31 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Dubplate.net, wow. Never seen that before. this is bound to make me buy more records. What the hell is 'yardcore'? Does that just mean 4beat with big basslines in a '98 style, but with '02 type mcing?

― Jacob, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

No 'yardcore' is non-beat-specific, so it can be 4/4, 2-step, soca or breaks-ish. Basically the defining feature is really really heavy ragga and dub influences, whether that be Elephant Man MC-ing on the D'n'D remix of "Standard Flow" (awesome!) or Horsepower Productions doing Maurizio-meets-Lee Perry instrumental 2-step. Obviously it's a spin on "hardcore", so most tracks that get the name share a sort of dark, weird, energy.

There's some articles about it at www.hyperdub.com, and even a thread in the archives I think. "Down Down Biznizz" is probably my favourite yardcore track ever, along with "Mash Up Da Venue", the Zed Bias remix of El-B's "Serious", Horsepower Productions' "Fists Of Fury" and "Log On" (with Elephant Man), Sticky's "Boo!" and "More Weed!" etc. etc.

― Tim, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Actually I'd been meaning to start a thread asking for Garage with those wurb-wurb noises. I mean the ones like in MJ Cole's remix of Roots Manuva Dreamy Days, or some Stanton Warriors tracks, or that Bump N Flex single. What are these strange chunky blips called, I love them.

― Ronan, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Actually for a perfect yardcore/nu-dark swing summation listen to this Windows Media Player mix from hyperdub, "21st Century Skank". Ronan, you too.

Which Bump & Flex single are you referring to by the way Ronan? Or which Stanton Warriors tracks? There's a couple of different bass tricks in garage (xylobass, 808 splurges, etc.) so I'm not quite sure.

― Tim, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

I haven't been able to find any Horsepower tracks on soulseek et al (I'm assuming they're vinyl only - Tim, get to encoding now!) except for a snippet of Gorgon Sound. However, there is that J Da Flex mix CD that comes with Deuce magazine which has some 'Yardcore', I think. I haven't listened to it much as I can't stop buggin' to the Pay As U Go mix CDs. And speaking of Buggin', I just threw on the True Steppers album a week ago and decided that "Out of Your Mind" was the apex of all music and everything is downhill from here on out.

― Spencer Chow, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Get dirty is in soulseek or does it vary in location surely not?

― David, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

getting that one now, thanks!

― Spencer Chow, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ha I wish I had more Horsepower Productions mp3s so I could put them on CDs/upload them, but all I've got are "Get Dirty" and "Smoking", both of which while great are not *quite* my favourite tracks.

You can however listen to a fair amount of their tracks in Windows Media Player format at Hyperdub, who have a page of their releases on the Tempa label (also check out the related pages for El-B's Ghost label and the Shelflife label, both of which also follow the nu-dark swing/yardcore sound). Not CD quality obviously, but the sound quality is surprisingly good.

I tend to be a bit obsessive about Horsepower Productions, I'll freely admit, because they seem to represent be the magnetic north for all the stuff I love most about dance music these past few years.

― Tim, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Actually a point about "Get Dirty" - I'm not actually sure if it is in fact a Horsepower Productions track. Hyperdub have it as the b- side of Es-G's "Rollin London City" on Shelflife (a listen confirms it's the same track), which also might explain why it's more minimal than the usual Horsepower sound; on the other hand Es-G might well be a pseudonym for the boys.

("Rollin London City" is great too, and I'm convinced the name 'Es-G' is a reference to ESG, which makes absolute sense when you listen to the music).

― Tim, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

WHA BLO WIT CHICHI FASSYMON TALKIN BOUT YARDA MAN

NONE U FASS KNO NUFFIN BOUT THE YARDCORE SOUND

U KNO NUFFIN TILL U HEARD EZ SMASHIN IT IN FLESH AND B-LIVE ROLLIN KRIS OVER A 4BEAT LIK WIT X AMOUNT A CRACKMAN YARDIES MASHIN UP INSIDE THE ARENA

ALLOW DIS FORUM

― HUNTA-D, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oh do shut up.

― Tim, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Hey, it is everybody's favorite sheep shagger, Hunta-D

― mt, Thursday, 1 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

It was the bump n flex single that was released, and it had a guy rapping "didn't I give you the finer things/diamond rings" and stuff. It may not quite be in a Stanton's track, although the one with Busta Rhymes on the mix album (not their own actually) has similar noises to it in the background. It's also used alot by the Plump DJs, I presume Garage towards the Breaks end of things uses it a bit.

― Ronan, Friday, 2 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ha ha Ronan this sort of bassline (which I now think I know because I have both those tracks) is as *common as muck* in garage. And I don't mean that in a bad way - if a garage track is going to have a big bassline (and most of them do these days) this, the physically-impacting-dub-hit-model, is one of the most common types because it works so damn well. I'd almost say that breaks learnt it from garage, but in truth both probably got it from jungle circa '94. In fact, the best example of this EVAH (though the bassline might be too slow for your tastes): Back 2 Basics' "Horns For '94".

I'd recommend individual tracks but I'd be here all day honestly. For the best collection of bass-heavy garage tunes, a large proportion including the bass sound you're talking about, get Zed Bias' "Sound Of The Pirates" mix from 2000. Indeed, some of the best examples - Bias' "Neighbourhood" (well, *one* of its various basslines) and *especially* the peerless, deathless Bump & Flex Hardstep Dub of Doolally's "Straight From The Heart".

Wookie (as himself and as Exemen) pretty much perfected the most recognisable varient of this, emphasising the commonly used slight sickly acid tinge to it so the bass notes sound like they're morphing and mutating into eachother. In fact Wookie has perhaps the most recognisable bass sound in dance music since the reese bass or dred bass days. Search: "Scrappy", "Down On Me", the Exemen remix of Sia's "Little Man". Disregard: "Battle".

― Tim, Friday, 2 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

BTW the Bump & Flex song is called "Promises".

― Tim, Friday, 2 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

It seems to me that UKG is either a) winding down or b) going through some subterranean transitional phase that I'm not aware of.

Evidence for a): Various sub-genres have splintered off and pursued single aspects of the original fusion into hardened monotony (most obviously the Zinc/Zed Bias axis). Self-consciously "art" versions of the music have appeared (the Streets). The underground/chart crossover appears to have ceased. The steady stream of excellent comps/mixes has mostly dried up (only ones I've enjoyed in the last year were So Solid/Pay as U Go). Solo artist albums (Ms Dynamite/Ed Case) are disappointing. Retrospective comps with titles like "The Way We Were" are appearing.

Evidence for b): Maybe someone can help me out...

― Ben Williams, Friday, 2 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

dunno, personally this year is the first time I've really been gripped by it since around '98 or so. I think it's certainly matured and lost its initial brashness and unfinished feel. But the rhythmic experimentation in the drum patterns feels to me to be completely unfettered again, unlike the uniformity of 2-step a couple of years ago. In fact you could point to some similarities between garage now and the golden age of jungle in the mid-90s. Garage seems to have taken longer to reach this point, possibly because it has become a much bigger commercial phenomenon than jungle ever did, but also because it is a much more diverse scene and far less focused on a handful of mafia-like producers. The dubplate fascism of jungle is less evident, which I also think drives more consistent innovation.

― Jacob, Friday, 2 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

The Dynamite album is disappointing because it *isn't* garage. Note that "Ramp!" (her sop to jilted garage fans) is excellent.

Agreed on Zinc, but I think you're being hard on Bias, whose stuff as Maddslinky (broken beat influenced) and much of his own work ("Ring The Alarm" most notably) is a) very very different to Zinc and b) very good.

Pop songs - this year Mis-Teeq, Beddingfield, The Reelists, More Fire Crew and Heartless Crew have all done pretty well in the charts, which puts it about on par with last year. I imagine that Oxide & Neutrino's "Shoot To Kill" will do very well (it's excellent).

There have been retrospective comps appearing since 2000, and I'm not surprised that it would be increasing - the soulful/ dark split was very much a generational/cultural one and there's a distinct audience who'd be open to retrospectives (cf. jungle, which dropped off four years before retrospective comps came into fashion - perhaps the garage comps are merely symptoms of the broader malaise of retro fever).

All that said, I can't honestly say that garage isn't dropping off - I just don't hear enough to know for sure. But I was similarly ambivalent this time last year, and by the end of the year I was supa-happy again (all a matter of finding the right releases), so who knows?

― Tim, Friday, 2 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

UK GARAGE IS CLOTTED BECAUSE IT DONE WHAT JUNGLE DONE A FEW YEARS AGO - EVERY PRODUCER IS GUNNIN FOR THE DARKEST BLUDCLART SMACKHEAD TUNE POSSIBLE, AND THE MUSIC DESCENDS INTO A BLACK HOLE OF SOULLESS RUBBISH, EACH TUNE COMING HARDER, DARKER AND MORE STERILE THAN THE ONE BEFORE. DONT TRY AND TELL ME DERE IS MUCH HEAVY VOCAL TUNES ATM COS THERE SIMPLY ARNT. THE BIGGEST TUNE RIGHT NOW IS PULSE X AND THIS IS A FINE EXAMPLE OF UNMUSICAL, SOULESS, PLAYSTATION PRODUCED GASH THAT WILL SMASH ANY RAVE PROVIDED THERE ARE CRACKMAN 400 MCS JIBA JABERING OVER THE TOP

AS WITH JUNGLE, THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL ISOLATES MANY MANS WHO JUST ARNT FEELIN THIS VIBE. IN JUNGLE IN 98-99, THEY LEFT TO GARAGE. NOWDAYS THE GARAGE MANS ARE PISSING OFF TO HIPHOP AND R&B. CHECK THE DREEMTEEM SHOW ON R1 - THEY AINT PLAYED A BASSLINE TUNE IN MEMORY AND COS THERE AINT ENUFF SOLID VOCAL TUNES AROUND THEY END UP PLAYIN X AMOUNT OF R&B

D&B'S SPIRAL ENDED WITH KONFLICT'S "MESSIAH" IN MID 2000. DIS TUNE BASICALLY WAS THE BADDEST SICKEST TUNE OF ALL TIME, MAKING DANCELFOOORS SHIT THEMSELVES WORLDWIDE. IT ALSO MADE PRODUCERS SAY "OK I CANT GET ANY RUFFER THAN THAT. I GOTTA TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT." SO NOW THE SCENE IS AWASH WITH DUB VIBS, VOCAL TUNES, JAZZY BIZ, BOUNCY FUN BASSLINE ROLLERS, DODGY BOOTLEGS AND GENERALLY LOADSA GOOD TUNES.

GARAGE WILL DO THE SAME - THE RUFFNESS WILL PEAK AT 1 TUNE.. I DOUBT PULSE X WAS IT.. THERE WILL BE MORE... THEN AS THE SCENE STARTS TO TAKE A GOOD HARD LOOK AT ITSELF, AND THE DICKHEADS WHO WERE IN IT FOR THE FAME FUCK OFF TO HIPHOP/R&B/JUNGLE/WHATEVER, THE RENNAISANCE WILL ARRIVE AND QUALITY UK GARAGE WILL SEEP FROM THE UNDERGROUND.

THE NU MJ COLE LP "CUT TO THE CHASE" WILL MARK THE 2ND COMIN TRUST ME.

― HUNTA-D, Friday, 2 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

speaking of fucking off to r&b, can i just say how much i love sunship's remix of misteeq's "one night stand"?: a LOT.

― jess, Friday, 2 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

All mixes of "One Night Stand" are good (Jess have you heard the Agent X mix?) - it's one of those songs. But the Sunship/Mis- Teeq marriage is a special one.

― Tim, Saturday, 3 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Promises, I remember it now. It got lots of airplay.

― Ronan, Saturday, 3 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

"I think it's certainly matured and lost its initial brashness and unfinished feel."

maybe I'm alone here but for me this selfconsciousness is the major turn-off. I LIKE my garage hopelessly opaque, I LIKE getting mindblown to a blast of some unknown radio flexing by some kid I never heard of on some estate I never heard of, or just going to a rave and experiencing the totality of the kulcha rather than picking apart label lists and who's who's... hence my distrust of Zed Bias et al. (MJ cole ultimate YECH. talking loud my arse) What next, fuckin' Manitoba? I'm not a DJ but maybe I have a romanticized notion of DJing and more meta, the mix. Perhaps not even just record mixing but socially also; that whatever happens there'll be another unflinching youthswarm rather than the machinations of another individual who was the first to mix genre x with genre y, and thus proceeding to the history books to be reinterpreted by some next guy. I'm 20 but it's far far more exciting, more hopeful for to me to behold a (abstracted? thus illusive? I don't care abt the truth anymore anyway it's all garbled enough as it is) creative flux than it is to try and get a pathetic lastgasp foothold on something that's not mine, and y'know 'incorporate' that with other stuff.

And i never wrote jouissance once. Maybe I SHOULD write for the Face after all.

― Bob Zemko, Saturday, 3 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Bob I largely agree with what you're saying but I think you're wrong to hit at Zed Bias - as I think Jess said (or said something close to), what makes Bias interesting is how he pretty much sums up a lot of the sonic "arguments" that hardcore/jungle/ garage have *collectively* put forward over the last ten years - the house, hip hop, dub, ragga and techno elements are all present and correct, and neither the brilliance nor the novelty stems from unexpected genre-splicing, but rather from perfect execution eg. nothing in "Neighbourhood" was particularly *new* at the time of the release (has Bias ever really done anything that Steve Gurley, Dem 2 or Chris Mac didn't do first?), but each of the separate elements were so... ultimate, and then combined so perfectly, that it felt much more groundbreaking than perhaps it was.

In fact what I found interesting with Bias in my '01 wrap-up article was how he takes splinter-sounds such as Zinc's breakbeat monotony and draws them back towards garage "proper", folding these outsider ideas back into 2-step's original luscious and sexy blueprint - his remix of "138 Trek" is a great example of this, and I think the same analogy could be drawn for Maddslinky vis a vis Landslide.

― Tim, Sunday, 4 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

... ie. (to sum up) Bias = much more interesting as a microcosm of the scene as a whole than as an individual producer; putting together "Sound Of The Pirates" may be a greater contribution than any single track he's put out or will put out.

― Tim, Sunday, 4 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

Exactly. Since "Sound of the Pirates"... pfft. Well, not quite pfft, he's done the odd good tune, but.... What was cool about SoP was all the different flavors rubbing together, and he seems to have abandoned that.

― Ben Williams, Sunday, 4 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

tim nailed it. "neighbourhood" is my favorite "pure" garage tune for the same reason "the burial" is my favorite "pure" jungle tune: a summing up, rather than a striking out, of the last 20-30 odd years of "black" music. if anything, to me, ukg 2001 (based on what little i heard: mixes based on tim's discography at the end of "down down bizness", tunes heard in isolation over the course of the year, so solid/oxide/more fiyah, etc.) seemed rougher than before: the drums cut harder, the basslines were nastier, the mc-ing, etc. compared to the 40 pop tunes collected on the best uk garage anthems...ever (which is really one of the best comps i own), it sounded more than ever like jungle circa "rrroll da beats".

― jess, Sunday, 4 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Exactly. Since "Sound of the Pirates"... pfft. Well, not quite pfft, he's done the odd good tune, but.... What was cool about SoP was all the different flavors rubbing together, and he seems to have abandoned that."

I still think he's making great tunes though! His remixes of 2 Banks Of Four's "Hook & A Line" and El-B's "Serious" and his own "Ring The Alarm" are three tracks in particular that stand out in my mind as having an almost unbeatable understanding of all that is good about 2-step groovewise. The syncopated fluctuations of his rhythms have such a perfect inevitability to them, like a game of Mouse Trap where every element sets off the next one in succession. And all three have a surfeit of flavour too - dramatic diva-action, rough MCing and gorgeous reggae/ ragga dynamics respectively.

If I was looking for a jungle comparison, I'd say he's very much Dillinja circa "The Angels Fell" (which is about as high praise as I can give), or indeed "Rroll Da Beats"! (jess yes if I was going to choose a jungle track that reminds me of the best garage stuff 01-02 that's the exact right choice)

― Tim, Sunday, 4 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

seven years pass...

El-B - Serious (Zed Bias Remix):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?m4ue3ywjzje

Cleptomaniacs - All I Do (Bump & Flex Dancehall Dub):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mfgmtqm6kpe

Groove Chronicles - Stone Cold:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?rjpc5yutzli

Wideboys - Something's Got Me Started (Dub):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?xtimjztujyx

Mash Up - Beautiful (Dubaholics Dub Mix):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?im5m5znhwlz

MJ Cole - Sincere (MJ's Dubb 2000):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mj5k2enbmjm

Once Waz Nice - Messin' Around (Wideboys Remix):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?iyvgtj2wtmt

US Alliance - All I Know (Da Grunge Dub):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?dmnemocdzrm

Zoom & DBX - Comin' Again:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?hljnmozydnx

Chris Mack - Plenty More:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mmnmdoode2i

― Tim F, Sunday, 25 July 2010 16:03 (thirteen years ago) link

Two Banks of Four - Hook & a Line (Zed Bias Remix):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tzneqm4qemm

SkyKap - Endorphins:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?dizztozuzuj

Steve Gurley - Freak 'N U (Dub):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?e2jzzmozwwg

Antonio - Bad Funk (Dem 2 Breakbeat Mix):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?dgmgegjuhah

― Tim F, Monday, 26 July 2010 11:16 (thirteen years ago) link

mrroska
I was jsut flicking thru some old garage tracks and they was giving me flashbacks of some ugly chick i used to know
about 2 hours ago via TweetDeck

― r|t|c, Monday, 26 July 2010 11:16 (thirteen years ago) link

oh awesome uploads tim.

bruk magazine put up a couple of old gems a few days ago too - http://brukmagazine.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/backtracking/

― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 26 July 2010 16:40 (thirteen years ago) link

Wow... thanks Tim!

― Jack BS, Monday, 26 July 2010 16:45 (thirteen years ago) link

three years pass...

https://soundcloud.com/paul-browning/live-set-classic-ukg-essential

Dreem Teem & Mc Rankin - Pzazz Napa 2000 - Radio 1

― moullet, Tuesday, 26 November 2013 11:10 (ten years ago) link

three months pass...

dazed zine has an upcoming series on uk dance music, starting with the uk garage scene. looks interesting.

― Daniel, Esq 2, Monday, 24 March 2014 03:02 (ten years ago) link

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