Visit Thru You – Kutiman Mixes Youtube

Thanks to Craig Pilling for this!

In this case the product is Bacardi and the site is called BliveShare. Good on them for being up there amongst the first to try such a thing. The deal is simple: Rather than try and sell you a Groove Armada CD, the record company has agreed to give you their new EP, free (that’s FREE!) with no legal implications, provided you get it from this site and then you share the site with your mates. Sweet.

CLICK HERE NOW TO START DOWNLOADING!!!

This is 100% genuine. The downloads come down at 320kbps, which is just about as good as a Groove Armada CD, only FREE!

The real heart of the scene was in London, but since I lived in Guildford back then, I was confined to bopping to N ‘n’ G in Bojanglez nightclub on a Monday night, and the SU, of course! That’s not to say they didn’t snag some big names down there: Norris Da Boss, Dreem Teem, Luck and Neat, Oxide & Neutrino, Creed, even Matthew Beal, all had their turn as part of Surrey’s Garage scene.

For what seemed like years, we danced every night away to the DJ’s selectas, jumped in the air when asked “Who want tha ree-wind?!?” and even cheered and screamed “Bo!” when a remix of the theme to BBC series ‘Casualty’ was spun in!

UK Garage disappeared back underground sometime in the early noughties. It semed the pop-buying British public weren’t as up for its deepening, darker sound. The masses liked catchy lyrics like “Somethin’ In Your Eyes”, the high-paced rolling breaks and bass of “Ripgroove”, the remixed classics like “Let Me Be Your Fantasy”, the funky delight of “Funk On Ah Roll” and they loved the sleazey/cheesey MC sending every record out to all the ladies’ backsides or the gents’ car stereos. The sound started to lose its pace. The beats became more broken and, dare I say, darker and grungier. The chanting of catchy lyrics like ‘Re-Re-Wind’ and ‘Sam-boo-caa’ in the club was over. Jaimeson’s “True” acted as something of a sentimental revival in 2004, proving the point that garage chart hits are mostly made of fast-flowing, dancefloor pumping stuff, but UK Garage never put its chart hat on again. It had grown up and given birth to genres like grime.

So that’s what UK Garage was like for me. It never failed to show me happiness, right before my eyes. It never seemed like it was movin’ too fast, just made the bodygroove. Some would call it fate that it didn’t just fly bi. Not a bad habit, more a liferide. With a little bit of luck it will bump ‘n’ grind again. Imagine.

“When the bass is thumpin’, you feel invicible, like nothin’ can hurt you, nothin’s gonna kill you. It’s great, cos you can drive all fast & not die.” – Gary, Benfleet, UK

“UK Garage is da best!” – Gerald, Southend, UK

“Cruisin’ to tha 2-step sounds makes your life betta!” – Darryl, London, UK

“Garage music makes every girl horny.” – Dave, Littlehampton, UK

Every Friday morning would have but been wasted were it not for Jo Bryant (and Mrs Partridge on keys) dragging us all into the school hall to sing childish covers of ‘Penny Lane’, ‘Ob-La’Di Ob-La-Da’ and ‘Yellow Submarine’, along with other uncredited ‘hits’ (‘The Age of Technology’ – anybody?) that were catchy enough to remain with me to today. I can seldom remember an educational session delivered with such passion and energy, from the cheek-rubbing warm up through to the medleys that only a mother could love.

Word of Mrs Bryant passing on did make it round the Plumcroft Primary School alumni, but I can definitely say every bit of energy she dedicated to Friday morning choir lives on today. I may not have gone on to learn a thing about music creation, but those lessons sure helped with the music appreciation!

Thanks Jo Bryant!