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Masters At Work
(MAW Records, NYC)
Live at 103 Harriet, San Francisco - Pt 1
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Hitek House
Future Garage Special on RBMA Radio
It's refreshing that going into this new decade, the legacy of UK garage and 2-step won't just be champagne, Ayia Napa, Dior sunglasses, and Shanks & Bigfoot. Especially during the last couple of months, a new wave of producers and labels has been reminding ravers that the deep, dark, breaky swing that characterised club sonics through the late ‘90s deserves an update, and a doff of the cap to the original 2-step originators.
Two outlets which can claim to take the original garage rhythm and 2-stepping into tomorrow are Hotflush and Hessle Audio. Producers like now Berlin-based Scuba or TRG from Bucharest effortlessly mix dubby garage and techy steppers, with plenty of lush Detroit leanings, rave signals, and weighty low end characterising their tunes. While Scuba continues to host his popular Sub:stance nights at Berlin’s infamous temple of boom, Berghain, 2007 Academy participant TRG has recently been lending his ‘Hitek House’ sound to remixes for Moderat, Greymatter, and L-Vis 1990, and has now found a home on legendary label Tempa for his forthcoming LP.
Another label flying the flag for an update of the garage template is Night Slugs, from producers Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990. Only launching recently, the East London-based collective can already claim a massive London anthem with their 001, Mosca’s Square One. Blending soca, funky-infused tribal house, r'n'b vocals, and carnival-minded rave-step with supernatural ease, the tune got plays a plenty from industry bigwigs like Kode9 as well as a devastating remix from funky’s cool ruler Roska, and the Sub FM regular has a more future hits packed in his crate.
There's also Dutch expat Martyn, who splices his own mutation of Detroit techno, deep dubstep, and rolling drum 'n' bass to create whole new vistas of raver’s delights. Using platforms like his label 3024 or, even more notably, his celebrated Fabric 50 mix compilation, he stands head and shoulders above the pack with his ability to fuse styles and maintain a highly emotive core running through his tunes. Meanwhile Hyperdub's first lady Cooly G crafts her own version of dubby tribal house and deep funky riddims, and sends dancers into a frenzy with only a handful of releases like Weekend Fly, and her essential tune of last year, Love (Dub).
Currently leading the pack though is Jack Dunning aka Untold whose Anaconda was a sure shot in both open-minded dancehalls and the critics’ best-of lists in 2009. Releasing on both Hotflush and Hessle Audio, as well as his own label Hemlock Recordings and Fabric’s Elevator Music, he channels 15 years of studio experience and influences ranging from US garage to grime, to bring a truly unique, percussive bass sound that’s causing dancefloor mayhem around the globe.
While some look to twist the original blueprint into a whole new beast, some producers to emerge from this scene are more than happy to keep dancing in the garage of Eden. Especially funky bubblers like Fuzzy Logic’s In The Morning or Deadboy’s U Cheated clearly owe to the original creations of pioneers like Wookie, Horsepower Productions and MJ Cole. Wookie emerged from Jazzie B's Soul II Soul fold, and has a ridiculous number of club anthems to his name, from Scrappy and the spiritual masterpiece Battle, to remixes for everybody from Jill Scott to Justin Timberlake. Likewise, MJ Cole displayed a similar talent for mixing soulful vocals, heart-melting pop melodies and pizzicato arpeggios with rude, bouncing basslines. While hits like Sincere might have defined an era, the Mercury Prize-nominated producer hasn't rested on his laurels, and has been tearing up clubs with an updated spin on his sound recently.
There's plenty other pioneers that wrapped scattered snares around the garage tempo. Both Dave Jones aka Zed Bias and DJ Zinc found a way to re-route the frantic energy of drum 'n' bass around a more measured 135(ish) bpm. Zed Bias burst onto the scene with his early releases on labels like Locked On and Sidewinder, and later helped mould a deeper garage sound under his Maddslinky alias – just check the ’09 remixes of his notorious signa-tune Neighbourhood to get an idea of how influential Dave has been to the new school of UK bass producers. Just like Zed Bias, the ever-solid deck-wrecka and former jump-up jungle don Zinc scored one of the biggest tunes of his decade-spanning career in 1999, with the aptly titled 138 Trek (which funnily enough also featured a Zed Bias remix). And he’s been updating and tweaking his sound ever since, most recently spearheading a whole new house ‘n’ breaks movement with his Crack House EP.
But the UK wasn't the only place where the new Londonbeat took stems from. New Jersey native Todd Edwards pushed house beats to a breaking point with a vicious swing, and his trademark melodic approach to cut-up sampling and collage. Deftly meandering between a chunky house beat, disco-flavoured bass lines, and that ecstatic energy behind his samples that would later become a characteristic feature of the UK garage sound, Todd The God (as he’s commonly referred to inside the RBMA Radio HQs) has had a huge influence on generations to come.
Even though this list is just the tip of the iceberg, it shows something's clearly afoot in clubland, as genres and styles become mixed together at lightning pace. More and more producers with access to cheap production technology can blend their favourite sounds past and present, with dizzying inventiveness. But while the sounds and templates can be updated ad infinitum, it's the creativity that remains a constant… bo’ selecta!
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