GET SOME UK UK MUSIC, ART AND CULTURE

OUZO BEATS SUMMER SPECIAL 2010 by OUZO

PEACE&OUZO

I have been chatting to some friends about the quality of releases so far this year and while there have been some really good productions, most people seem to be unimpressed, if not uninterested with what is happening in the UK bass space. Friends seem to be moving away from what is seen as ‘the scene’ and returning to their roots. While this isn’t a bad thing it is also quite surprising that within the space of 6 months I get the feeling that we gone through somewhat of a transistional period. I myself have also returned to my roots, although, I have been helped by the type of releases I have found the most exciting in 2010.

You could say that 2010 is going to be very exciting and that when we look back on this year we might be saying ’2010 has really shaped the future of bass music’. Unfortunately for me, I am getting a horrible feeling that bottom is falling out. I remember being around 14 or 15 when I first got excited about dance music in the UK. Discovering Tod Edward, Tuff Jam, Steve Gurley, Gerideau and Roy Davis Jr changed my life, I thought I had heard the future, and by the sound of things at the moment, I had. Groove Chronicles, EL-B, Sunship, MJ Cole, Wookie, Artful Dodger, Dem 2 and Zed Bias blew me away between 1996 and 2000 and pushed a new exciting sound that will forever be my (along with many others around London) one moment in music.

I got lost in 2003 and strayed form my musical path, mainly because whilst I was studying most of the people I knew turned their noses up at garage and I was a musical outcast. This was a positive in some respects as it opened me up to a broader spectrum of music. I discovered more of the electronica scene that I had only briefly touched on prior to this and also caught up on the history of some of the most inspirational record labels and artists in electronic music as a whole. I became obsessed with Techno, experimental stuff form the rave and hardcore scene, all things Warp records and started digging into the archives of Detroit and Chicago house and garage. This was a massive boost as by the time I first heard about DMZ and FWD>> things had changed massively. I met Whiskey in 2005 and he had been through the transition form garage to grime and then on to Dubstep. This was when I realised what I was missing.

The grooves and melodies I was accustomed to, listening to 2-Step and UKG, had been replaced by a hypnotic, head bopping, dubbed out future bass. There were obvious nods to the sound being pioneered by Ghost Records, EL-B, Groove Chronicles, Zed Bias and Wookie, but something was very different. Apart form the lack of Ralph Lauren shirts (which are once again very evident) and loafers with no socks, there were no girls and no real dance moves (if you ever frequented Liberty’s, Exposure or Twice As Nice as I did back then,  you will know what I am talking about, UKG had it’s own moves and grooves and you could always tell a hardcore garage raver by these). Instead, what you had was a load of sweaty boys in hoods and caps, smoking weed and moving slowly on the spot, I loved it!

FWD>> was an eye opener, it was there I was exposed to the most varied of sounds as it was on a weekly basis but, DMZ was where I really felt the spirit of the scene and it became my second real moment in music when I first heard Mala drop ‘Anti War Dub’ and Skream play ‘Midnight Request Line’, I was mesmorised! These tracks will forever be ingrained in my memory, this was the new future and I didn’t know what the future held or where it would take me.

The point of all of this of course is what is happening now. As the scene has grown and become more popular it has fragmented opening itself up to more influences, collaborations and crossovers. There are plenty of young and exciting producers around and lots of very interesting music, which is obviously great! The music is the most important thing after all and the evolution of this sound had really stunned me. I never thought it would get to where it is now and I am happy and excited to have been involved for all of these years. From a Saturday night MC’ing with DJ Miles Slater on Flex FM to GET SOME, it has been an amazing journey. My issue right now is that the lines may be blurring a little too much and this is causing a little bit of saturation.

The Facebook phenomenon, Twitter, MySpace and Soundcloud have made this music more accesible than ever and opened it up to a huge audience. But things are beginning to sound very similar and apart form Joy Orbison, nothing has excited me very much in the last 12 months, nothing that dance floor ready anyway. Mount Kimbie, James Blake and Actress are amazing, but not something I would drop at 1 in the morning. I think the saturation has stunted the scenes growth, or creativity in my opinion and it is struggling to come to terms with the amount new music being released and is having serious problems digesting it. So much so that I think a lot of people are also struggling with the same things and are therefore being put off. In fact, I have gone ‘back to the future’ and started buying up a lot of ‘Future Garage’. For me, a sound that is around 12-13 years old, still sounds the most futuristic, exciting and progressive. As my friends are returning to their roots, I have returned to mine. I like to think that the first half of this year has been some kind of a reflective period for most producers and that this is the calm before the storm.

I would also say that the last year has been a period of growing pains for the scene, in my opinion, and that at some point it will come through this period of growth and return bigger, stronger and harder. But I have serious doubts as to when, if at all it will ever give birth to another ‘Anti-War Dub’ or if we will ever revisit the the kind of atmosphere that FWD>> created on a Friday night with there being so much choice nowadays. We are trying to produce this kind of new and exciting atmosphere at GET SOME raves and I think we are getting there, slowly but surely. Would be nice if we could eventually achieve, we will keep trying that’s for sure!

Here some tracks I really liking right now, a return to something deeper maybe? Have a listen and enjoy!

Please feel free to comment and add to the debate…

PEACE&OUZO x