Speed garage

Characteristics

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

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.

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

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:

• "Let's Groove" (1993) – George Morel
• "Dancing for Heaven" (1995) / "Saved My Life" (1996) – Todd Edwards
• "Sugar Is Sweeter (Armand's Drum 'n' Bass Mix)" (1996) / "Spin Spin Sugar (Armand's Dark Garage Mix)" (1997) / "Digital (Armand Van Helden's Speed Garage Mix)" (1997) – Armand van Helden
• "Gunman" (1997) / "Kung-Fu" (1998) – 187 Lockdown
• "Deeper" (1997) / "God Is a DJ (Serious Danger Remix)" (1998) – Serious Danger
• "Hype Funk (Dub)" (1997) – Reach & Spin
• "RipGroove" (1997) – Double 99
• "Vol. 1 (What You Want What You Need)" (1997) – Industry Standard
• "Going On" (1997) - Baffled
• "I Refuse (What You Want)" (1997) – Somore featuring Damon Trueitt
• "Oh Boy" (1997) – The Fabulous Baker Boys
• "A London Thing" (1997) – Scott Garcia
• "Something Goin' On (Loop Da Loop Uptown / Downtown Mix)" (1997) – Loop Da Loop
• "Ripped in 2 Minutes" (1998) – A vs B

References

References

1. ''DJ magazine'', 1996–97, "''Raggage''": "...earning the scene the slightly mocked nick-names of 'plus-8' or 'speed garage'."
2. [http://www.toucanmusic.co.uk/articles/speedgarage.html 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. [http://www.toucanmusic.co.uk/articles/speedgarage.html History of Speed garage]: "Speed garage can be broadly defined as a mixture of slightly sped up garage beats..."
4. [http://www.garagemusic.co.uk/2step.html 2Step]: "In the original 1997 speed garage, the snares are fussy and clattering over the stomping 4-to-the-floor kickdrum."
5. [http://www.toucanmusic.co.uk/articles/speedgarage.html 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. [http://www.toucanmusic.co.uk/articles/speedgarage.html 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. [http://www.toucanmusic.co.uk/articles/speedgarage.html 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. (2022-09-20). "How Speed Garage Returned as a Club Staple". Mixmag.
15. Rob McCallum. (23 February 2023). "How Scott Garcia's 'A London Thing' became an era-defining UKG anthem". [[DJ Mag]].
16. (6 July 2018). "The 15 best speed garage records released in ‘97 and ‘98". [[MixMag]].