Rewind your minds back to the late 90's/early noughties and I don't know about you, but the main things that come to mind are seemingly pointless Adidas Popper trackies, Tony Blair as Prime Minister and last but not least, raving to UK Garage at the weekend.
When the reign of UK Garage as the UK's most popular dance genre ended, I felt like part of me had died. However, as the popularity of Dubstep gradually fizzles out, a growing number of producers are turning back to the UKG genre in the form of 'future garage' and the more familiar sound of 'two-step.'
Someone who is at the forefront of this rebirth is North London based producer Mike Delinquent, who has been a big player in the UK Garage scene since the early noughties. Testament to the growing popularity is the increased number of UKG remixes being commissioned by record labels at the moment, many of which are being netted by Mike Delinquent, who has stuck to a more traditional 2-step style in his productions.
Another big indicator for me is the recent decision of MoS to release a new compilation mixed by label plugger DJ Fiskin entitled 'The Sound of UK Garage.' Far from being a mix of old classics, the CD is well balanced between old and new, giving an overview of the entire history of UKG to date. Go buy it if you don't know about MJ Cole, The Wideboys, or Sunship.
Travel leftfield and go further underground and you discover a plethora of new styles, all influenced by the sound which dominated my adolescent years. From bass heavy to extremely chilled out, the UKG influence is everywhere. Even Jamie XX recently recorded an acoustic UK Garage influenced album which has proven extremely popular.
Another aspect of UK Garage which has seen a revival in the past few months is grime. Perhaps due to the success of peers such as Dizzee Rascal, Tinie Tempah, Tinchy Stryder and the like, many up and coming MC's have taken to making 'proper' grime again. By 'proper,' I refer to any track which has a dark beat, and lacks a flowery, female vocal hook. Its refreshing to see the scene bounce back so well lately. I did begin to wonder who Logan Sama was getting his tracks from for a while. All the MCs who used to make grime music had tried to follow in the footsteps of their peers who had made it to the charts and were trying to mimick the commercial sound which had proven so successful for them. Kickstarted by the success of Tempa T with 'Next Hype,' I think grime may be the next genre to make a meaningful comeback on the underground circuit.
Is this new emergence of UK Garage something to shout about? I say yes. Dubstep, in my opinion, is done and dusted; as is the fate of any genre which manages to make it to chart success. People's ears are growing tired of the predictable wobbling basslines and seemingly generic beat patterns which are coming out of the dubstep scene right now. All I can say is welcome back UK Garage, I missed you.
