Great 4x4 Garage

Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Anyone got an mp3 of this by any chance?


Don't think it can be bought/legally downloaded and I'd like it for my mp3 player.
 
computer_rock

computer_rock

Well-known member
Does anyone know what UK garage sounded like before 1997 when it was co opted by junglists? I mean there must be a thread that links uk house pre-uk garage to the paradise garage/new york house sound of the early 90s?

i ask because in energy flash reynolds seems to give all the credit to the junglists for making uk garage what it is, but it seems like most of the defining parts of the uk garage sound (tempo, rhythm etc.) were already there before jungle imploded - ie in US artists like todd edwards.

was uk garage in 1997 just jungle x todd edwards?
 
Sectionfive

Sectionfive

bandwagon house
2step maybe but "sped-up house with a proper bassline" was around long before then.
Ice cream, TuffJam, Danny Foster etc
 
Benny Bunter

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
Don't forget about Armand Van Helden. i think he was possibly even more influential than Todd on the early speed garage sound. His sound is all over stuff like 187 Lockdown's big tracks. Then again, he was quite into Jungle too wasn't he?
 
wise

wise

bare BARE BONES
R.I.P. Productions were releasing stuff from 1995 onwards, I think UK Garage before the influx of Junglists was prob very similar to US Garage of the time
 
owengriffiths

owengriffiths

Owen
Section5's 'sped up house with proper basslines' is probably as good an explanatiopn as you'll get. Not sure if this is really answering the question but here's some of my thoughts. One thing I associate with pre 97 UK garage is a sound that is (i think) reffered to as organ stabs. It's present in one of the earliest UK tracks, 24 Hour Experience- Together

And is even more important in this excellent Cheese & Pickle Ep track, at the 2:45 drop

If I had Ableton Live I'd do a compilation of those organ bits, they're great.

The problem is these type of effects happen in american tunes as well, I'm sure I've heard them in Masters At Work tracks. Which sort of demolishes my argument I suppose, but still. Simon Renoylds would probably say that the rushtastic Cheese & Pickle track is the product of someone exposed to the UK rave scene, not a smooth New York DJ who's never taken a pill and doesnt know anyone who has. But then you have to explain all the American producers who influenced the UK scene. Mark MK Kinchen, Tina Moore, Armand Van Helden
 
Last edited:
Sectionfive

Sectionfive

bandwagon house
owengriffiths said:
It's present in one of the earliest UK tracks, 24 Hour Experience- Together
Click to expand...

Yup, which is pretty much a refix of Logic's 'Blues for you'.
Same year(94) but two different sides of the Atlantic's take on it I suppose.
All the early Grant Nelson stuff was probably when that stuff stopped being NJ and started being London imo.

Van Helden's definitely all over 187 LD.
You can see how things went Spin spin sugar > RIP > The Don etc..

TuffJam's Experience EP from 95, is good example of the stabs and this tune %100 UK to me anyway.


When the London DJs started making the tunes with the clipped vocals already pitch up was another one.
 
Benny Bunter

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
UKG on youtube is always too slow. I'm so used to hearing garage pitched way up now that it just sounds so sluggish at the normal speed.
 
computer_rock

computer_rock

Well-known member
Benny B said:
here's an old one from a producer you might associate more with defected/hed kandi, but its a goodie.

Click to expand...

love this one

what you said about the pitching up reminded me of the other thing i dont really get.

people mention the pitching up thing like it was a moment of innovation, and that it's that moment that gave the UK sound its distinctive tempo, but there was plenty of house tunes knocking around that were that fast (130+) anyway? i guess i don't really understand who it was who was doing this pitching up and where they were coming from (presumably just uk garage/house heads who were mixing US imports with uk tunes at 130+?). basically if that's the case i don't get why the pitching up thing is viewed as that significant because there would already be a faster style
 
Benny Bunter

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
I don't know much about the US garage at the time but I always assumed it was a bit slower than the UK stuff like RIP and all them. The UK stuff certainly seems faster and more aggressive to me, regardless of the tempo. Just a few BPMs either way can make all the difference though.
 
Sectionfive

Sectionfive

bandwagon house
computer_rock said:
i guess i don't really understand who it was who was doing this pitching up and where they were coming from
Click to expand...

I think, and im not saying this is fact but..

London pitching up US records and I could be wrong but Id say pills probably had something to with it...
This ended up with them leaning towards playing the dub mixes because the vocal side would have sounded daft at +5.
So when they started making tunes themselves the vocals were produced pitched up and the tracks only had snatches of vocal because thats what they were hearing every weekend.
I don't think it was a moment of innovation really I think its just became the norm and the garage 'sound'.
Of course Todd had a big part in all this too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top