Music / Styles A–Z / Rap and bass · 18 of 35
UK garage
UK garage began in England in the early to mid-1990s: shuffled, syncopated drums and chopped, time-stretched or pitch-shifted vocal samples at about 130 BPM.
- Where and when
- London, early to mid-1990s
- Tempo
- Usually around 130 BPM
- Played on
- Shuffled drums, sub-bass, chopped vocal samples
- Lesson
- Rap and bass →
What it is
UK garage began in England in the early to mid-1990s. It is defined by percussive, shuffled rhythms with syncopated hi-hats, cymbals and snares, and by chopped, time-stretched or pitch-shifted vocal samples, usually at about 130 BPM. Speed garage and 2-step are its branches.
For the producer. The story goes that the tempo came from a DJ playing a 120 BPM American garage house track at 130. Swing in the hats, sub-bass, ragga vocals, reversed drums and spin-backs; the dub mixes strip the vocal down to small cut-up pieces played on a sampler.
The records that made it
From the lesson Rap and bass, where the sources are listed · links open a search
- Never Gonna Let You GoTina Moore · Kelly G's remixes are among the earliest 2-step records.
- Sweet Like ChocolateShanks & Bigfoot · The first UK garage number one in the UK.
- Re-RewindArtful Dodger · Became a 2-step anthem and went platinum.
- Fill Me InCraig David · His debut, mixing R&B with 2-step.
UK garage in this month’s records
New releases the press we read wrote about, tagged uk garage on MusicBrainz · updated with every build