Future Garage?

Garage has been undergoing a bit of a revival of late – transferring the skippy percussion of 2-step to the dubstep and funky formulas. Some are calling it ‘future garage’ or ‘post-garage’, others ‘space garage’. I’ve been calling it dubstep-2-step for now: it places a firm emphasis on sparse broken garage beats, with spaced out melodies and a skippy, funky rhythm. London’s newcomer Joy Orbison looks set to make the genre his own (whilst placing his own housy twist on things), meanwhile Falty DL is holding up the post-garage sound stateside. The old vanguard – the likes of Burial, Pinch, TRG, Peverilst, Appleblim, Ikonika, Martyn and Kode 9 – have all been pushing their own brands of the rapidly evolving UK garage-influenced sound. All the while new producers have crept up – whilst Brackles, Shortstuff and Instra:mental focus on the snapping, skittering snares, Sully, Deadboy, Brackles, Shortstuff, Pariah and Synkro are all capturing the soul of the UK garage scene, with their fractured, dreamy vocal samples floating over splintered beats.

For more sublime future dubstep/2-step beats check this Pelski post.

Ramadanman’s been popping up in my charts for half a year now. His productions are both versatile and innovative, inviting comparisons with Untold’s sublime style. He’s collaborated with the likes of Appleblim and TRG and remixed Howie B and Delphic. Rather than the deep, ethereal minimalism we’ve gotten used to on the likes of ‘Blimey’ or ‘Humber’, this time Ramadanman opts for a slamming, dancefloor take on garage. Pulsing dub chords and bouncy 2-step cut James Fox’s vocals into sporadic rave stabs. (I’ve reduced the bit rate – please buy the whole release here):

James Fox – Put It Back (Ramadanman Refix) [pelski highly recommends]

This remix of The XX sees the New Yoker and Panet MU producer on a tribal 2-step flex, bringing a slow underlay of junglist shuffles and hollow peercussive beats. Thanks go to Pipedown for this one.

The XX – Islands (Falty DL Remix)

Chesus work the garage vibe, concentrating on jittery percussion and a pulsing bass. The old skool sound dragged into the future with some relentless glitch. Thanks go to Chrome Kids for sending this over a while back:

Chesus & Rodski – Me n You

Jamie Grind’s snapping snares yap at the heels of a whirring, disco synth and looped vocal snippet:

Jamie Grind – If U Want

And an older classic: Burial shows us how it’s done – using those now in-vogue swirling diva vocal snippets to craft a beautiful dream-like 2-step soundscape:

Burial – Unite [pelski highly recommends]

On a funkier note:

Bonus:

L-Vis 1990 – United Groove (Kingdom Remix)