Review: There is no doubting the majesty of Garage Shared as an overarching titan of the new school UKG world, with their label operations being among the best in the game right now, a theme amplified and proven further by the pure magnificence of this here compilation. Being the fourth in their self-titled series, they have once again pulled together a seriously vibrant collection of artists from their ranks, unleashing a collection of 30 outstanding garage originals. The cast of this incredible performance is nothing but quality, with the likes of Soulecta, Tuff Culture, WZA, Smokey Bubblin; B, DJ Jackum, Gemi, FooR, DJQ and more all lending their hand. It's such a great way to celebrate the success of the label over the last 3 years, whilst also applauding the garage community as a whole.
Review: The Garage Shared crew have remained one of the most exciting imprints in the UK for exploring the very best of new school UK garage, with this latest seven track LP from Soulstate being another fantastic addition to the catalogue. We open up with 'Don't Think', a sizzling introduction silkily woven between tidy vocal chops and groovy drum drives, before 'I Can't' unleashes classic sounding vocal lines with nostalgic organ chords and a bag of skippy percussive inductions. From here, the title track 'Backstreets' darkens the textures with a much more moody backdrop of grizzly reese slides, before lightening up the arrangement again with 'How Long', another glittering combination of skippy rhythmic pockets and vocal dives. The emotive soundscaping of 'Judge' then arrives to add a touch of the epic to the EP's arrangements, before finishing off with two lively bubblers, with the Sharp One arriving for a high energy verse on the self titled 'Razor', next to the more Burial inspired backdrops of 'Together', rounding off a classy collection in style.
Review: The Garage Shared team have landed again, this time delivering a spicy second edition of their extremely popular 'Around The World In UKG' series, exploring garage from across the globe. We open up with the jittering piano runs of 'Wind' from Mar'One, which sets the tone nicely, before the bulbous moogy basslines of 'Leep Stick' from Unknown David leap into view. From here, the gnarly LFO sweeps and unpredictable rhythmic chops of Pligfig's 'Wake Up' arrive in style, followed by both the stuttering acidic basslines of 'Nostalgia' from Tripleset and Lincoln Baio's nostalgic masterclass in 'Fallin', which utilizes a fabulous vocal sampling to conjure up images of a yesteryear. Finally, NEVE & 5thSuite link up with Connie D for 'Flex', giving us euphoric exploration to round things off, topped with cowbell-like percussion and hard hitting horn stabs for good measure, signing out on a very successful collection!
Review: So when it comes to UKG, there are few labels who have been able to keep it as consistent as the Garage Shared crew, who return once again with another fabulous box of remixes, this time working with the second edition of 'Soulecta & Friends' With the original project being a fully collaborative episode, this new collection allows a wider range of guests to make their appearances, with bassline and D&B versions being slipped into the tracklisting for an extra dash of spice. The full list of remixers includes the likes of Howden, IndiAlman, Ollie Weeks, Drax, D:Tune K9 and more, with our favourites having to be Hans Glader's luscious rethink of 'Something About You', next to Tengu's high octane overhaul of 'Tell Me It's Over'. Fabulous work!
Review: December is of course the time of year where every label starts to unleash their final compilation drop of the year, with the Garage Shared crew being actively hailed as one of the country's most valuable UKG platforms. This is reflected in their 2021 catalogue which is explored in great detail across this new compilation, with the likes of Gemi, Tuff Culture, Soulecta, FooR, Bar Li, Oh My Daze, Deja, Smokey Bubblin' B and many more top names all landing killer originals. The full selection features 23 of the label's most popular drops for the year, with some of our particular favourites including the niche-inspired LFO pulses and scattered drum slides of MKJAY's 'Recess', next to the big room chord progressions of WZA's 'Over Me, Over You' and the singalong flavours of Blakk Habit and Gid Swedgewick's sumptuous 'Solid Plan'. Awesome stuff as per!
Review: Well, when we see releases like this one move into view, it's difficult to describe UKG as anything other than thriving as we are gifted sixteen brand new belters, all stuffed full of nostalgic 2-steppy themes and fantastic vocal leads, showcasing just how strong the scene is looking right about now. We are introduced to a fantastic roster as major UKG players FooR, Soulecta, Blakk Habit, Rico Tubbs, Wittyboy and more are spread throughout the tracklisting, with our personal favourites including the super original, drum heavy grimey twists of 'Where I Wanna Be' from Vital Techniques and CB's super colourful 'Room 931'. Truly excellent work on this one!
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