*rfi* uk two-step/garage also *s/d*

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someone please fill me in on u.k. garage. i want to know the best and the worst of garage/two-step as it's a genre i've nearly completely ignored.

i spent a bunch of time in the u.k. in 2000/2001 and heard some great stuff on mixtapes made by friends but don't remember any of the names. i would tend to be interested more in the underground stuff so i don't count craig david ...

help!

― fields of salmon, Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Check out all the "Pure Garage" comps and the "Sound of the pirates" comp.

― Michael Bourke, Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Why do they call it "two-step"?

― Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

as opposed to "four-to-the-floor". Listen to the earlier stuff & you can hear house tipping over into two-step, moving from kick-hat, kick-hat, kick-hat, kick-hat to kick-hat, kick, kick-hat-hat, kick, to... well to soforth.

― Sterling Clover, Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If you guys can talk to the powers-that-be and try to come up with some more innovative names for your latest dance crazes... to me, garage is the Standells, two-step is Bob Wills, and hardcore is the Cro-Mags.... if you called it 'honeydew' or 'placid-beat' or something, there'd be a lot less confusion.

― Andy, Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually, Sterling's explanation made perfect sense to me. Cheers.

― Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

As with any dance genre, it's best heard in the mix. The Pure Garage comps are all fairly good, but my absolute favorite set ever is to be found here: http://hws.tilted.com/rm/ez_exposure1.ram - it's 10/99, just before the stuff went aboveground in a big way with "Re-Rewind," EZ is doing ridiculous mixes, PSG is chatting his head off, and the crowd is absolutely going wild. http://www.heavyweightsound.com/mixes.html has a bunch of sets of varying quality. http://dirtyfunk.com/ (bad name, not my fault) has a set I did last summer that runs the gamut from sparkly vocal to dark, 4-on-the-floor to jerky 2-step. There's also a "Vital 2-step" or something domestic comp that's meant to be pretty good. The real pirate thing is on at http://dj-sl.co.uk . Reception sometimes sucks, as do the MCs.

― cooper, Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ATTENTION! Avoid "Pure Garage 4" at all costs. Number #3 was very good though.

My two favourite compilations would be the two "Ayia Napa, The Album" compilations (from 2000 and 2001) put out by Ministry of Sound. Both are excellent mixtures of standards and obscurities, and cross the light/dark and populist/underground divides brilliantly.

And now in no particular order Tim's spontaneous 20 favourite garage tracks (I'm sure I've done this before, but anyway...):

Amira - My Desire (Dreem Teem Mix)
David Howard - U & I
James Lavonz - Mash Up Da Venue
Sticky ft. Lady Dynamite - Boo
Dem 2 - Destiny
Richie Boy & DJ Klasse - Madness On The Streets
Artful Dodger - Woman Trouble (Wideboys Remix)
TJ Cases - One By One
Doolally - Straight From The Heart (Bump & Flex Hardstep Dub)< BR> Valerie M - Tingles 2000 (Artful Dodger Remix)
Kavana - Will You Wait For Me (Shanks & Bigfoot Dub)
Matt Darey's Mash-Up - Beautiful (Dubaholics Dub Mix)
So Solid Crew - Oh No
London Dodgers - Down Down Biznizz
New Horizons - Find The Path (not 2-step, but probably the best speed garage track ever)
Wookie - Down On Me
Zed Bias - Ring The Alarm
Sunship - Try Me Out (Let Me Lick It)
Cleptomaniacs - All I Do (Bump & Flex Dancehall Dub)
Sweet Female Attitude - Flowers (Sunship Remix)

― Tim, Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Tim's not the only connaisseur here, you know... ;-) Just don't ask me about about compilations. These 12"-es cost enough as it is. When you go into a shop asking for some UK garage, you're likely to be asked "what kind?". There's fluffy vocal r&b stuff on one end of the spectrum and dull thudding so-called breakbeat-garage on the other. However, there's good stuff in all sections so don't limit yourself. Anything by MJ Cole or Zed Bias is likely to be top stuff. Here's my Top Thirteen of 2001, in alphabetical order:

Has it Come to This? (Jameson Remix) - The Streets (Locked On)
Mentally Ill to Kill - DJ Hype (Naughty)
My Red Hot Car - Squarepusher (Warp)
They Don't Know - So Solid Crew featuring Asher D, Megaman & G-Man (So Solid Beats/Relentless)
We Come 1 (Wookie Dub) - Faithless (Cheeky)
Bite Dem Up - Zed Bias featuring Sweetie Irie, Miss Dynamite & Spee (Battle Of The MC's)
Clint Eastwood (Ed Case Refix) - Gorillaz & Sweetie Irie (EMI)
Deepdown - Phuturistix (Locked On)
Lucky Pressure (MJ Cole Vocal Mix) - Roni Size/Reprazent (Talkin Loud)
Searcher - Tim Wright (Novamute)
(Slip + Slide) Suicide (Trick Or Treat Darkside Vocal) – Kosheen (Moksha)
Sweeter Than Wine (Asylum Vocal Mix) - Dionne Rakeem (Pure Silk/Virgin)
The International - Sovereign & Jack Jones (KMP).

Top tunes this year include

The Jug - Hi Grade
Nextisms - MJ Cole (Talkin Loud)

― JoB, Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Hi Grade record is on (Bingo) and no, that is not a special Dutch alphabet I was using. Nevermind...

― JoB, Tuesday, 5 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Tim: Pure Garage IV bugs me so much that I keep coming back to it, trying to get my head around anything redeeming. I mean...

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

OI!

― chris, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sterling, I think what annoys is that there's quite a few fabulous tracks on it, and yet somehow (actually, I think I know how) EZ manages to make it sound all rather grim or, if jolly, then totally forced. I think it's his mixing policy - before his stapling together of opposing tracks offered an enjoyable jolt, but on IV it always seems to kill both the song that was playing and the new song as the negating moods cancel each other out.

― Tim, Wednesday, 6 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

six years pass...

Curious to know where ilx stands 7 years after. Anyone want to update this?

― robot@ilxor.com (PappaWheelie V), Sunday, 18 January 2009 21:31 (sixteen years ago)

tracklist of 2-Step best of 2000 mix i have in the werx

Truesteppers ft. Dane Bowers & Victoria Beckham - Out Of Your Mind
Zed Bias - Neighbourhood
Colourgirl - Can't Get Used To Losing You (Marvel & Eli Mix)
Ramsey & Fen - Love Bug (RAF Bump Mix)
Sweet Female Attitude - Flowers
Sunship - Is This Real? (Cheque One-Two)
Craig David - Fill Me In (Acapella)
Wookie ft. Lain - Battle
Richie Dan - Call It Fate
Monsta Boy ft. Denzie - Sorry
M-Dubs ft. Lady Saw - Bump N' Grind (Secret Agent Mix)
So Solid Crew - Sentimental Things (Oh No) (DJ Oxide Mix)
Deekline - I Don't Smoke
Azzido Da Bass - Dooms Night (Timo Maas Mix)
Oxide & Neutrino - Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty)
Wookie – Scrappy
Artful Dodger ft. Robbie Craig - Woman Trouble
B-15 Project - Girls Like Us
Mya – Case Of The Ex (Sovereign mix)
Lonyo - Summer Of Love
MJ Cole - Sincere (Re-Cue'd)

― Bondzilla vs Mechaholmes (blueski), Sunday, 18 January 2009 22:33 (sixteen years ago)

Just rediscovering:

"Love Shy (Club Asylum Mix)" - Kristine Blond
"Friendly Pressure (Sunship Mix)" - Jhelisa
"Crazy Love (Todd Edwards Mix)" - MJ Cole

― Tantrum The Cat, Monday, 19 January 2009 00:55 (sixteen years ago)

"Love Shy (Club Asylum Mix)" - Kristine Blond

^ this

― Tim F, Monday, 19 January 2009 02:49 (sixteen years ago)

There's a bassline/Niche/whatchamacallit remake of Love Shy here:

Really like the updated groove, the vocals I'm not so crazy about.

― Tantrum The Cat, Monday, 19 January 2009 03:12 (sixteen years ago)

there should be a comp of this stuff called the land before grime

― s1ocki, Monday, 19 January 2009 05:47 (sixteen years ago)

Repeated listenings of that "Love Shy" remake are making me realize that the chorus vocals are out of time, and God is it grating.

― Tantrum The Cat, Tuesday, 20 January 2009 00:32 (sixteen years ago)

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