UK Garage
A fast, chopped British style that mixes house, soul and jungle rhythms.
History
UK garage grew in London in the mid-1990s s1. DJs took American garage house and sped it up, adding the fast breakbeats of jungle s1. Two main styles appeared. Speed garage had heavy bass and sped-up vocals. 2-step shuffled the drum beat and left gaps for the bass s1. By 1998 garage had become a big British pop sound s1. MJ Cole's 'Sincere' (1998) showed how musical and smooth the style could be s1. Artful Dodger's 'Re-Rewind' (1999), sung by Craig David, was a large chart hit s1. So Solid Crew and Sweet Female Attitude also had hits with the same sound s2. The style had a strong influence on British pop and on later styles such as grime and dubstep s1. It also kept a close link with the underground, where DJs and producers released white-label records for clubs s2. Later British styles such as grime and dubstep grew partly from the same scene s1.
Sound
- Fast tempo, faster than most house
- A shuffled 2-step drum pattern with gaps
- Heavy, low basslines
- Pitch-shifted or sped-up soulful vocals
- Sharp, syncopated drum hits
Key figures
- MJ Cole — Producer and key 2-step artist
- Artful Dodger — Production duo behind 'Re-Rewind'
- Craig David — Singer on 'Re-Rewind' and 'Fill Me In'
- So Solid Crew — South London garage collective
Labels
- Talkin' Loud — London , 1990
- Public Demand — London , 1998
Defining tracks
Connections
Came from: Garage House , Jungle , Ragga Jungle
Led to: Bass House , Future House , Pop Deep House
Sources
- UK garage — Wikipedia
- Who killed 2-step? MJ Cole and UKG's second wave — Line Noise