The evolution of house music in the UK in the mid 1990s led to the term "garage" to describe the style. It is said to have been previously coined by the Paradise Garage DJs in New York. Artists such as The Artful Dodger and Sillo brought garage music to the mainstream in the UK. Other artists like Dizzee Rascal were pushing an offshoot of the "garage" genre called "grime."
Grime associated complex 2-step breakbeats, often between 130-140 beats per minute and incorporated hip hop and dancehall samples. While grime had become popular throughout the UK, major record labels were apprehensive to sign record deals due to a fear that the style would not sell on an international level. Both grime and garage had become predecessors to styles like 2-step, bassline house and speed garage.
In the mid-nineties when drum & bass was becoming popular garage was often played in the second room of jungle events. DJ's began to speed up garage tracks to make them more suitable for the UK jungle audience. The media began to call this tempo-altered form of garage "speed garage." When tracks were being sped up the dj's would often use dub versions to prevent vocals from sounding like chipmunks.
The the middle of 1998 speed garage and UK Garage were similar terms. Either term can be described by their mixture of sped up garage beats with heavy, almost junglistic bassline combined with timestretched vocals. Speed garage tracks often included a break in the middle where the beat is stripped down before the track builds up again.
In 1998 "Gunman" by 187 Lockdown had become a popular dancefloor tune in clubs around the world. This was the year that everyone was learning about speed garage and the music had made it's way into clubs and raves everywhere. It can be argued, however that the year 2000 was the biggest year for speed garage as many dj's either switched genres to play primarily speed garage, worked it into their house music sets, or dabbled with it on the side.
Starting in 2001, both speed garage and 2-step experienced a decline in popularity. Some experimental artists such as Horsepower Productions, Zed Bias, Wookie, and Steve Gurley stripped the R&B influence from both genres and the styles took on temporary terms such as "dark 2-step" and "nu dark swing." These changes in production helped to pave a new direction for the grime umbrella and eventually became direct precursors to what is known today as dubstep.
The featured mix is without a recording date but was recorded somewhere between 1999-2001. It was another mix that I had not released to the public possibly near the end of my highschool years or early college. It features mostly speed garage tracks that were popular around that time.
Mr. Oizo - Flat Beat
Dreem Teem - The Theme
Nicole - Runnin Away (E-Smoove Remix)
187 Lockdown - Gunman
Baffled Republic - Bad Boys (Blouse & Skirt Remix)
Boris Dlugosch - Hold Your Head Up High (Julian Jonah)
Somore - I Refuse
Sneaker Pimps - Spin Spin Sugar
Tori Amos & Armand Van Helden - Professional Widow
Ultra Nate - Free (Rip Up North Remix)
Coco - I Need A Miracle (Sol Brothers Remix)
Dsk - What Would We Do?
