Been listening to this darkside of Garage this afternoon. Some of this stuff is awesome - a lot like late 'Ardcore and early Jungle. Menta 'Sound of da Future' even grabs/samples Prodigy 'Charly'. That Naughty track 'Pussy' Hype remix is really different - I like the combination of UKG pop sounds with edgy techier drums, deeper bass-drops, messier percussion.
I'm sitting through an Oris Jay mix right now, more of the same.
Whatcha think about this 'yardcore' stuff though? Does it *really* maintain London's status as the global capital of hardcore? Are the massive still holding the winning ticket - I'm halfway convinced...
― Michael Dieter, Saturday, 1 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
for a second i thought you said a combo of
ugk pop sounds with deeper bass drops &
messier percussion and got really excited
― ethan, Saturday, 1 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I supposed a distinction should be drawn between what is basically
darkside Garage and this raggage that is being described
as 'Yardcore'. In my mind, I can hear a definite similarity or
progression from the Ghost/Horsepower records to, say, the new Ms
Dynamite 'Ramp'. So I just lumped them together...
― Michael Dieter, Saturday, 1 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
My position is clear: the constant injection and re-injection of dub
and reggae into garage is almost never a bad thing. The best
"yardcore"/"nu dark swing" is the stuff that sounds most like
dancehall and/or soca, to the extent that it even starts picking up
on the latinate (ie. South American) influences that are latent
within Jamaican rhythms.
Like, one interesting development has been the development of
a sort of "tribal garage" that is obv. quite different to the same
style in the US sense - the rhythms are now so infused with a
West Indian that their pro/re-gressing into African and South
American territory.
(an interesting prototype/precursor to this development is the
Jaxx Wild Dub of Ronnie Richards' "Missing You" - which proves
how OTM Basement Jaxx are when they start messing with
ragga influences)
Whereas the problem with the non-yardcore darkside stuff is that
it's influence-dry, an only slightly twisted reiteration of straight
breakbeat.
You could also rephrase the split as: why is Darqwan's
"Nocturnal" so much better than any other Darqwan/Oris Jay
tune ever? (other Darqwan/Jay stuff is still good, but only
because he's the best of an indifferent bunch when it comes to
breakbeat garage).
― Tim, Sunday, 2 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link