Speed garage

Speed garage
Stylistic origins Garage house, oldschool jungle,
Cultural origins early-mid 1990s, UK
Typical instruments Sequencer
Turntables
Samplers
Drum machines
Personal computer
Mainstream popularity wide popularity in 1996-1997[1]
Derivative forms Bassline house
Other topics
UK hard house

Speed garage (Plus-8[2]) is a type of music, associated with UK garage and hard dance scenes.[3]

Characteristics

Speed garage has sped-up NY garage 4-to-the-floor rhythms.[4] Snares are placed as over the 2nd and the 4th kickdrums, so in other places of the drum pattern.[5] Speed garage tunes have warp, heavy basslines, influenced by jungle[6] and reggae.[7] Sweeping bass is typical for speed garage.[8] It is typical for speed garage tune to have a breakdown.[9] Speed garage tunes sometimes featured timestretched vocals.[10] As being heavily influenced by jungle, speed garage is full of jungle and dub sound effects, such as gunshot sounds.[11][12]

A widely regarded pioneer of the speed garage sound is record producer, dj and remixer Armand Van Helden, whose Dark Garage remix of Sneaker Pimps' "Spin Spin Sugar" in 1996 is viewed by many to have brought the style of speed garage into the mainstream arena.

Speed Garage (also known as Bassline or 4x4) made a big impact in the North of England (UK) and several clubs welcomed this style of music with open arms. One of these clubs (Niche - Based in Sheffield Sounth Yorkshire UK) helped this genre to grow and this spread to area's like Leeds, Bradford (West Yorkshire) and also to the West Midlands (Birmingham/Wolverhampton etc). Many well known commercial DJ's like the Wideboys, Delinquent, Artful Dodger and Agent X (mask) also supported this genre, releasing remixes in this style. New artists emerged in 2002 and started to release new bassline/speed garage tracks after 2002. One of the biggest tracks in 2002 was "Its Over Now" also known as "Cheating And Telling Me Lies" and this was made famous by a female DJ/Producer in the North of England (Big Ang) who has had releases on AATW and Ministry of Sound. Other artists made their name on the scene (Booda, Jamie Duggan, Shaun "Banger" Scott, DJ Q, Virgo (Mr V), TS7, Wittyboy and MC's like Trilla and MC Bones also were involved in major releases on Ministry of Sound. For over 8 years, the bassline scene was vibrant in the North of England.

References

  1. ^ (2002) "Looking West?: Cultural Globalization and Russian Youth Cultures", ISBN 0271021861, 9780271021867, p.244: "Speed garage", also known as "UK garage", emerged in 1993 and became widely known in 1996-97
  2. ^ DJ magazine, 1996-1997, "Raggage": "...earning the scene the slightly mocked nick-names of 'plus-8' or 'speed garage'."
  3. ^ History of Speed garage: "There are many different forms of garage music, most of these were of little interest to UK hard dance fans until the latest mutation came along, speed garage."
  4. ^ History of Speed garage: "Speed garage can be broadly defined as a mixture of slightly sped up garage beats..."
  5. ^ 2Step: "In the original 1997 speed garage, the snares are fussy and clattering over the stomping 4-to-the-floor kickdrum."
  6. ^ History of Speed garage: "Speed garage can be broadly defined as a mixture of slightly sped up garage beats with a heavy almost junglistic bassline"
  7. ^ (2004) "Popular Music Genres: An Introduction", ISBN 0748617450, 9780748617456, p.216: "Speed garage basslines were drawn from Jamaican reggae..."
  8. ^ (2004) "The Dance Music Manual", ISBN 0240519159, 9780240519159, p.157: "The sweeping bass is typical of UK garage and speed garage tracks and consists of a tight yet deep bass that sweeps in pitch and/or frequencies"
  9. ^ History of Speed garage: "Speed garage can be broadly defined as a mixture of slightly sped up garage beats [...], and usually with a break in the middle where the beat is stripped down and then builds up for a long period of time."
  10. ^ History of Speed garage: "Speed garage can be broadly defined as a mixture of slightly sped up garage beats [...], sometimes with timestretched vocals"
  11. ^ (2004) "Popular Music Genres: An Introduction", ISBN 0748617450, 9780748617456, p.216: "Jungle and ragga-style sound effects, such as the rash of gun shot volleys heard on popular speed garage tracks,..."
  12. ^ (2004) "Popular Music Genres: An Introduction", ISBN 0748617450, 9780748617456, p.216: "Overall, two-step [..], less relied on the dub sound effects [...] of speed garage"

External links

Other electronic music genres