Speed garage

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Speed garage (occasionally known as plus-8 [1] ) is a genre of electronic dance music, associated with the UK garage scene, of which it is regarded as one of its subgenres. [2]

Contents

Characteristics

Speed garage features sped-up NY garage 4-to-the-floor rhythms that are combined with breakbeats. [3] Snares are placed as over the 2nd and the 4th kickdrums, so in other places of the drum pattern. [4] Speed garage tunes have warped, heavy basslines, influenced by jungle [5] and reggae. [6] Sweeping bass is typical for speed garage. [7] It is also typical for speed garage tunes to have a breakdown. [8] Speed garage tunes sometimes featured time-stretched vocals. [9] As it is heavily influenced by jungle, speed garage makes heavy use of jungle and dub sound effects, such as gunshots and sirens. [10] [11]

Resurgence in the 2020s

In the early 2020s, speed garage experienced a notable resurgence within the UK music scene. This renewed interest in speed garage has been accompanied by a broader UK garage revival. [12]

In November 2024, Interplanetary Criminal teamed up with Sammy Virji to release "Damager". [13]

Notable songs/remixes

The following is a list of notable songs and official remixes which not only charted but were popular within the speed garage scene:

References

  1. ↑ DJ magazine, 1996–97, "Raggage": "...earning the scene the slightly mocked nick-names of 'plus-8' or 'speed garage'."
  2. ↑ 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."
  3. ↑ History of Speed garage: "Speed garage can be broadly defined as a mixture of slightly sped up garage beats..."
  4. ↑ 2Step: "In the original 1997 speed garage, the snares are fussy and clattering over the stomping 4-to-the-floor kickdrum."
  5. ↑ 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"
  6. ↑ (2004) "Popular Music Genres: An Introduction", ISBN   0-7486-1745-0, ISBN   978-0-7486-1745-6, p.216: "Speed garage basslines were drawn from Jamaican reggae..."
  7. ↑ (2004) "The Dance Music Manual", ISBN   0-240-51915-9, ISBN   978-0-240-51915-9, 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"
  8. ↑ 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."
  9. ↑ History of Speed garage: "Speed garage can be broadly defined as a mixture of slightly sped up garage beats [...], sometimes with timestretched vocals"
  10. ↑ (2004) "Popular Music Genres: An Introduction", ISBN   0-7486-1745-0, ISBN   978-0-7486-1745-6, p.216: "Jungle and ragga-style sound effects, such as the rash of gun shot volleys heard on popular speed garage tracks,..."
  11. ↑ (2004) "Popular Music Genres: An Introduction", ISBN   0-7486-1745-0, ISBN   978-0-7486-1745-6, p.216: "Overall, two-step [..], less relied on the dub sound effects [...] of speed garage"
  12. ↑ "How UK Garage Conquered 2021". Beatportal.
  13. ↑ "Sammy Virji and Interplanetary Criminal Link Up for New Speed Garage Single 'Damager'". DJ Mag.
  14. 1 2 "How Speed Garage Returned as a Club Staple". Mixmag. 2022-09-20.
  15. ↑ Rob McCallum (23 February 2023). "How Scott Garcia's 'A London Thing' became an era-defining UKG anthem". DJ Mag .
  16. ↑ "The 15 best speed garage records released in '97 and '98". MixMag . 6 July 2018.