The Resurgences and Revivals of UK Garage Music
By Vani Kumar
It’s so clear that current conversations surrounding the 30-year trend cycle now reminisce and support the rejuvenation of 90s and early 2000s visuals in mainstream media. Short-form content has expedited the renewal of old movements, such as 90s rave culture and American house music, giving birth to the UK garage scene. Gaining peak popularity in the mid-to-late 90s, the decline of UKG induced new microgenres to gain notoriety, especially breakbeat, jungle, grime, and dubstep, now re-emerging through old and upcoming artists in present day. Here we go through some of my favourite artists and how I think they contributed to the recent revival of this movement.
The smash debut of recording artist PinkPantheress, who gained popularity through SoundCloud and TikTok, has revived a blend of microgenres, such as hyperpop, speed, and 2-Step, embracing the 2000s sample culture. Her influences of UK garage and rapid drum loops were evident through her sampling of Sunship’s UK garage remix of "Flowers’ by Sweet Female Attitude in her 2021 single ‘Pain’. Throughout her mixtape To Hell with It she reminisces the 140 BPM movement and subgenres born from garage such as jungle and speed as heard in her song ‘Just for Me’, which manufactures an amalgamation of 2-step garage and 2000s inspired funk, hitting us with a wave of 90s nostalgia. As a recent fan, the PinkPantheress pop culture takeover has generated so many iconic moments, such as Central Cee sampling ‘Just For Me’ in his song ‘Obsessed with You’, and even Ice Spice featuring in her recent song ‘Boy’s a Liar Pt 2’.
Another one of my favourite artists is the RnB and hip hop influenced artist Tinashe, experimenting with house and garage in her 2019 song ‘Die a Little Bit’ and ‘SHY GUY’ in her independent album 333, evoking the ever so familiarity of syncopated percussive loops and breakbeats of jungle music and UK rave culture.
Another standout for me is the resurgence of UK garage ‘God’ Wookie, also known as Jason Chue, resurfacing through countless samples. An example is the release of the 2017 cover of the 2000 single ‘Battle’ by the London-based vocal group House Gospel Choir, which was produced by Jason himself.
Speaking of resurgences, UK garage veteran Craig David also re-emerges multiple times during the 2010s through the sampling of his 2000s iconic debut song ‘Fill Me In’, sampling UKG’s legendary duo Artful Dodger’s remix of ‘Still on Your Side’ by BBMak. With his first studio album Born to Do It, the artist gave rise to the microgenre of 2-step garage, incorporating sounds of electronic and UKG, which has repeatedly been referenced in the recent 90s and 2000s resurgence. For me, ‘Fill Me In’ is such an iconic song that encapsulates his success, which is evident from his multiple appearances during the 2010s, such as the 2013 Justin Bieber track ‘Recovery’ and 2023 pop hit ‘missin u’ by Tori Kelly.
In another corner of the world , my newest obsession is the K-pop girl group NewJeans, who experiment with 90s influences of UKG. 2022 single ‘Ditto’ and the 2023 EP titled ‘Get Up’, heavily utilise other popular dance styles such as drum and bass in songs such as ‘New Jeans’, ‘Super Shy’, ‘Cool with You’, and ‘ASAP’. The nostalgic snare drum sound of open and closed hi-hats reminds me of American House producer Armand Van Helden, who instigated the evolution of house and disco into the UK through his remixes of ‘Spin Spin Sugar’ by Sneaker Pimps and even ‘Free’ by Ultra Nate.
To compress all my favourite tracks, here’s a selection of garage influenced music from the early 90s to today. I include all songs mentioned in the article, along with some of my personal picks, reflecting the distinct drum patterns and chopped vocal samples of the era.