Happy Tuesday, everyone. I want to introduce you to a whole new sub-genre of house music today, entitled UK garage, or UKG. It is near and dear to my heart, and full of wonderful music.

UK garage was born in the UK (duh) in the early 90s, and comes in many flavors. You can go for the more grimy, hip-hop variations with the So Solid Crew and The Streets, most notably in his single ‘Has It Come to This?’ Or you can savor the lighter, R&B-tinged variety produced by the likes of Shanks & Bigfoot and (often) MJ Cole. UKG also goes by the names “2-Step Garage,” “Grime” and “Speed Garage” when necessary. This may all seem very confusing, but just watch this first:

 

The Artful Dodger, a duo of Englishmen, was one of  the main actors on the UKG scene, and tended to produce singles on the lighter end of the sonic spectrum. They helped make Craig David a massive star (only in Britain, sadly) by using only a few samples and some serious help from crooner Robbie Craig on the above track, entitled ‘Woman Trouble’ and released in 2000.  If you don’t believe me that this stuff was super popular, check out this live performance of ‘Woman Trouble’ on British TV back in the day.

Hit the jump for some more of this sweet house nectar, and some more on the story of this strange and awesome type of house music.

After producing some underground successes in the late 90s, this British twosome struck gold with “It’s All About  the Stragglers” in 2000. Every one of the videos in today’s post comes from that album, which turned out to be the group’s only major commercial success. But what a success it turned out to be.

In 1999, The Artful Dodger positively exploded the house music scene with ‘Re-Rewind,’ which featured goofy sound effects as part of the serious house experience. I wasn’t there at the time, but sources indicate that certain UK clubs would play this song over and over again, as the crowd dutifully responded by chanting ‘bo selecta.’ It was a British thing, and great.

 

The first song from The AD that caught my attention was ‘Movin’ Too Fast,’ released in 1999 as well. With the smooth vocal stylings of Romina Johnson, who is clearly dancing like it’s 1999, this track serves as a gateway into the deeper, darker world of UKG. Also, bongos!

  

In 2000 the AD released three (!) singles, all of which made the top ten on the UK charts. After ‘Woman Trouble’ and a remix of ‘Movin’ Too Fast’ did their thing, the group released ‘Please Don’t Turn Me On.’ It’s tale of infidelity and lust, and of everyday objects spontaneously combusting.

  

In 2001, the writing was already on the wall for UK garage. As fast as it had come and made its mark, it seemed the genre was not destined for lasting success. Realizing that their trademark sound was not long for this world, The Artful Dodger began to move towards the more traditional R&B sound that was reasserting its aural dominance — although, to be fair, both of these next songs were already on their album.

First up is ‘Think About Me,’ which still retains some of the staccatoed syncopation of the UKG genre, but slows things quite a bit. The difference is quite noticeable.

 

If there was a death knell for the end of The Artful Dodger’s life as UK garage artists, it surely must have been ‘Twentyfourseven,’ which was injected with a serious dose of pop R&B during the transition from album to single. You can still hear the faint traces of a 2-step beat here, but things have clearly gone pear-shaped for the old days.

  

While these English producers have been mostly dormant since 2002, with the exception of a few middling singles, they appear to be attempting a comeback by diving into deep house and DJing for R&B artists like Amerie and Nina Sky. Check out their official website for more.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this foray into new musical genre. Next week we might return to more traditional house fare, but I hope you’ve enjoyed these songs and even make them a part of your iTunes rotation.