Tipping Point

[thirdform]

crikey yes that was terrible.

and Krust been doing interesting, abstracty-electronic stuff like "Soul in Motion' that was a bit dry and frigid but at least sonically strange.

i found UKG as a culture offputting, not being good with clothes and having a bit of that Socialist-Methodist streak of finding flashing the cash suspect and unseemly.

but the music was great, even more so when it became 2step - and the conquering the pop charts was a wonderful development; i loved the way it could be both dominating the pirates AND running things in the Top 20 simultaneously

very much like hardcore pt 2 - that blend of ruff + cheesy, bass-heavy + toppy-melodic, underground + overground, bliss + dark, technical beat-intricacies + anthemic hooks

the tipping point for me with UKG was a pirate tape a journalist friend sent me from London in the late summer of 1998, which had Groove Chronicles 'Stone Cold' on it. up to then i'd liked speed garage tunes a lot but had some reservations, feeling that it was a backward step from jungle/techstep, a retreat into pleasantness - but then hearing the MC interacting with this track, and the amazing shift from slinky sexy noir Aaliyah-sampling into the doomy bassline, it all clicked - yes, this is the next crucial phase of what i'd been following - and all the more so because it's confounding for a lot of drumbassheadz.

The NYC jungle scene bods reacted to speed garage like it was apostasy, treason. But if keeping the faith meant listening to "Bambaataa" and "Warhead"....

it's funny because I see groove chronicles being more house than jungle. for me the clear junglist in garage was Mike Millrain: much less housier, much more reggae basslines. fantastic mix btw... 🔫

 

[version]

The sax and keys in Stone Cold feel quite housey but it's hard to look past the point where they flick the switch and the bassline comes in.

 

[version]

I see what you mean right away in this mix though, 1:05 and the reggae thing is already in your face.

 

[firefinga]

A personal tipping point for me was getting ADSL in April 2004. All of a sudden I was able to DL tons of music (+porn). Funny thing was, I was still using a fairly old Pentium III PC wirh it until 2007 when I finally got me a (back then) state of the art laptop. So my first years of broadband experience was mostly music, and not vids, the old PC was simply not powerful enough any more for (better meaning higher resolution) video at the time.

 

[luka]

I'd say breaks did that first.

No because breaks wasn't an attempt to capture the same territory. It was like moving into an industrial estate not a residential area

 

[luka]

Hackney wick as opposed to Clapton

 

[thirdform]

hmmm yeah i see what you say though the hackney of garage had ong since passed by then. so yeah i guess this was the new hackneys culture moment, kind of underwhelming,

 

[sadmanbarty]

for me the clear junglist in garage was Mike Millrain

me and third were talking about this a while back.

"to me its slowed down jungle more than proper 2step in some ways. the snare emphasis is jungly. more breakbeats rather than each thing being a sample of individual drums sounds. has far more reggae influences than you'd get in 2step as well. proper dubby basslines. not really a 2step thing. 2step's the least jamaican core-nuum genre"

 

[firefinga]

2012, 2013 was a tipping point when people defected in masses from Forums + Blogs using PCs and Laptops to social media using smartphones.

 

[blissblogger]

Sure sure. I agree with all of this. however I think what I was trying to get at is that UKG was more a codified ruff+cheesy. hardcore's cheese was manic, a frankenstein's monster out of control. /QUOTE]

yes hardcore has the madness, which 2step doesn't have - or maybe it's there, but as this sort of imploded quality.

when i did the Feminine Pressure piece, the Wire originally spurned my chosen title and published it as Adult Hardcore - which was fine - and that phrase does kind of capture that sort of oxymoronic, 'rave but grown up' quality.

also has a porno flavour, which is not inappropriate given the hypersexual atmosphere of 2step.

Re not much Jamaica in 2step, dunno bout that - there's sort of lover's rock, bubblin bassline thing going on... a lilt and a sway - and then a bit of dancehall-y element in particularly the male vocals here and there... dubby flavours... certain artists are very reggae-ish - New Horizons, 'slam down ya body gyal', 'find the path' I always thought sound like Gregory Isaacs on helium

i felt like UKG / 2step was the return of that flavour, after it disappeared from techstep and gangsta-vibed hardstep - the return of a reggae vibe and also of the diva vocal thing

 

[blissblogger]

confess i have never heard of Mike Millrain!

 

[version]

confess i have never heard of Mike Millrain!

Neither had I but apparently I'd heard him without realising as he had a shit load of projects.

Profile

British musician (keyboards, bass, guitar, synths...), producer, DJ, remixer, computer & drum programmer, engineer (recording, mastering, mixing...).

Heavily involved in the UK Garage scene back in the late 90's / early 00's as one of the main artists of Nice 'N' Ripe | FX Promotions.

He was also a member of Mike Skinner's project The Streets until it's dissolution in 2011.

Having set up his own label Soul Revolution Records in 2012, Mike continues to produce and release underground House & Garage.

Aliases

Agent S, Big Blunts, Concentrated Fruit Funk, D Base, Deadly Dubz, DGK (2), DJ South Central, Fruity Loops, Ghetto Funk (2), Glide (10), Large Joints, PVZ, Ruffneck Revival, Scratch & Sniff (4), Soul Rebels, Stone Cold Steppaz, Stylistic, The Archaeologist (2), The Force (20), The Groove Kemist, The Undecided (2), UGF Productions, UP, Urban Fever, Urban Myths, Vibes Alive (3), Voodoo Dredd

In Groups

24Hour Experience, Boogie Masters, C.I.D., D.T.I. (Dub Technicians Inc.), Disco Dub Disciples, G-Men (2), G.O.D., Godfather, Groove Merchants, Java Java, Junk Funk, King & Skin, Money & Extraordinaire, Saxy Trax, Section 13, Smooth Steppers, Sonic Science, The Bud Brothers, The Heavyweight Kru, The Rhythm Construction Co., Tuff Inc., Westside Connecshun, Zephyrus

 

[version]

DJ South Central

Had no idea this was him. Love this one.

 

[version]

A personal tipping point was hearing Skream for the first time. I dunno exactly what happened but something just clicked and it gave me an in to dance music/electronic music. A definite case of 'shock of the new', "what the fuck is this?"

 

[pattycakes_]

Yeah brostep and edm made me understand what it feels like to be the old person who doesn't get what the kids are into anymore.

 

[version]

I was into brostep for about six months then it started feel like a bit of a dead end. This was around '08 though and before Skrillex and whatnot.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

confess i have never heard of Mike Millrain!

I recognized his name from the Grant Nelson connection (Jeremy Sylvester too iirc?)

but I didn't know he brought the ruffness like that

a kind of anonymous auteur, like Pete Parsons in jungle

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

Afa OP

Scum by Napalm Death + contemporary pioneering grind records (Repulsion, etc)

Everything after is zone of fruitless intensification

Or more like pointless intensification. There are some cool records but the concept has already been fully realized.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

Hearing/seeing the music video for Dream by Dizzee Rascal

Showtime isn't iirc terrible but BITC was such a big record for me

Even across an ocean it was like well, that's it

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

Both for him + grime generally