10) Happy People (DJ Jean & Peran Speed Garage Remix), 2019
I was born in 1988, I grew up in the 90s boom of handbag house and Ibiza vocal anthems, I fell into 2-step and r&b as a teenager, started clubbing in the days of electroclash and proto-EDM, then went out through UK funky and dubstep hybrids, the disco revival and whatever tech-house is meant to be now. I love all kinds of dance and electronic music. But my biggest love is speed garage. It pains me that I didn't get to live through it as a contemporary scene. Deep tech has the basslines but without those skittery drums it just isn't the same - I love the energy, the weight, the ruffness of it all. In my flat I practice mixing on Ableton, with compilations from eBay with names like "Undaground Garage Anthems," wishing I could hear this stuff at volume, for dancing, in the environment it's meant to be heard.
Hogmanay in Scotland is a big night. I don't know why - we drink and party all year, and a date on the calendar is barely an excuse. But to start 2019 our plans are to go to a warehouse rave part-organised by the landlord of our latest home. We've lucked out - it's a gorgeous place to stay, she's a friend who just wants her mortgage paid every month without turning a profit or any damage befalling the place, and best of all she's an active clubber and DJ.
We go to the party about 10pm and it's a good start - slow disco and funky r&b, the DJ plays Grace Jones and Kelis, before swapping over with some lads who pick up the pace in time to drop a cheesy crowdpleaser as the bells ring, in the form of a 2-step remix of "Thong Song." Welcome to 2019! We dance for a good hour to a mix of crossover anthems, Hessle Audio style techno and pitched-up vocal house before taking a break to explore the venue/pee/get more booze. We are easily the oldest people in the place outside of the DJs, but we're also going the hardest. Nobody seems to be really into it - they're all queueing in the chill-out room, mingling and chatting and being boring. I hate the trope of "these young people are glued to their phones unlike us" but there is something different about the next generation, I think, not in a judgemental way because I would expect them to be different but it is saddening.
We go back to the main room and it is wobbling. Speed garage central. Everything pitched up to 140 bpm. Massive drops, wailing diva samples, gunshot noises, rewinds. Everything I've ever wanted in a dancefloor space. I'm losing my shit because it is fucking brilliant.
I don't know if they played this, to be honest, but I'm using it as a stand-in as for me it's the platonic ideal of the genre form. Dancing at 3am, sweat wringing from my clothes, not caring who around me is or isn't enjoying it, just going mad for sound. I love music, I love dancing, I love how I feel and I don't ever want to stop being able to have moments like this.
(a footnote: we have to leave the flat because the landlord wants to live in it again, but she encourages me to keep buying the compilations and practicing the mixing, and by the end of lockdown I've been invited to contribute a mix to a local radio station, with the prospect of a regular slot playing vocal house and garage on another. It's nothing major but it's great to have a hobby where other people are interested and it feels like I'm finally doing something that excites me...)
