New releases last eight weeks: UK Garage

Review: ScruScru is a name you might well recognise but it is fair to say you might not recognise his work on this first release from Talkbox. He shows a very different side off the back of plenty of top edits that bottle up plenty of disco and Bossanova vibes. Here he has teamed up with Russia's dubplate don BR Selecta for an EP full of energy and joy. 'YEAH YEAH' is happy-go-lucky garage with pitched-up vocals and lively drum, 'Get My Gruv' is a kinetic two-stepper and 'Cyberrave' is just that with its all-out synth madness and flurries of breaks, then 'Serious Talking' closes out on a darker jungle tip. A varied and vital 12' for sure.

Review: When not knocking it out of the park with his garage alias Instinct, James Burnham is somehow also managing to find time to revert to his original Burnski moniker and the minimal and tech sounds with which he first made his name. On this latest 12" via his own Constant Sound label, 'Boom' is a rude boy jam for sure - the filthy bass and low-end wobble are accompanied by ragga vocals up top. 'Toxic' is a more straight-up tech pumper with slinky hi-hat designs, smart filters and bass-driven drums. As always with this powerhouse, the subtle production details really elevate this one into a standout cut.

Review: It's hard to keep up with the hugely prolific output of UK don Burnski and his several different labels these days but one thing is for sure - Pilot keeps on serving up the goods. For its 15th release, the tech and minimal focussed label welcomes Robin Graham who opens up with the lively and colourful synths of bustling groover 'Check Me Out'. 'Spark Plug' is more business-like - the dry drums and hits overlaid with retro chord stabs that amp up the crowd and 'For You' then gets loose and funky with some twisted and sugar synths over garage-flecked beats and 'What's That' (Refix) offers a jumbled percussive sound full of dynamism.

Review: If you're reading this then you will know that Instinct is one of the UK's powerhouse garage labels. Run by Burnski aka James Burnham it deals in serious tackle for rude boys and nasty girls. The drums hit hard, the reversed bassline burn goose old school cool and there gun finger salutes come thick and fast throughout this EP from Mance. 'Checkpoint' opens with the dusty drum shuffles and bulbous bass, then 'The Going Is Rough' is a little more soulful and sweet with its rolling basslines and silky pads. 'Beat 93' closes down with a seriously OG garage sound that takes you back to the mid-90s.

Review: Garage innovators Time Is Now show they are a long way from done yet with another raw and essential 12" to kick off 2024. This one comes from Network and kicks off with 'Lose Control', a track that has it all - the bass-heavy low end, dusty percussion and alluring r&b vocal. 'All Night' is another that will pop right off with its zippy synth lines and seductive female coos, 'Falling' is more fractured in its digital melodies and chopped-up vocal refrains and the flipside keeps the good times coming. 'Desire' has warm and steamy, 'Be There' is an old school number and 'This Ain't Love' is a sixth sizzling cut with more original vocals really making the tunes standout.

Review: NC4K's second hand-stamped 12" is more irresistible garage business from Stones Taro. 'Anywhere' (dub) has lovely warm woodblock hits and oscillating low ends with minimal drums and an aching r&b sample that brings the soul and draws you into the skeletal rhythm. Flip it over and you get something more fleshy and fulsome with 'Finally' (dub). Here the drums have more snap and are more prominent with a corrugated bassline down low and a heavily treated classic vocal sample the hook up top. Two killers that mix the old school and the new school in style.

Review: A veteran of the scene, Jeremy Sylvester makes an unprecedented appearance on a relatively new local label, Timeisnow, for a wicked new five-track speed garage selection. 'Flashback' is led by the track '90s Man', which lays claim to an identity couched in a certain time and exposes the direction of the EP to come - knocking rims and deep Reeses dance about a criss-crossing 4x4 speed beat like carefully-slotted pegs in holes, as a grainy but stylish image of a sunshaded selector is conjured in our heads (and on the record cover). The title track, followed shortly by 'In The Morning', evoke nostalgic visions of a beachside rave that ekes heavy into the morning, at least transgressing the 10am range.

Review: Italian house and techno powerhouse Vithz openly admits he can't dance, but isn't that the whole point of music production - to provide refuge for the less somatically, more cerebrally inclined? It would certainly seem so: Vithz seems perfectly happy behind the knobs and buttons, laying down four behind-the-curtain conspiracies to fill floors on behalf of label Suena Hermosa, perhaps so that he need not himself. Opener 'Break The Beat' is the choppy, vocal-stuttering, short-filling minimal house opener, shortly followed by the titular sampled mutterings of 'Can't Dance', across which oncoming tides of reversed chord stab lap against a muffed garage house propulsion. Then there's the B's wonk-out that is 'Groove Republic', sounding like the inside of a Tardis turned jazz bar, while the closing collab with Emanuele Barilli, 'Sometimez', moves the utmost deep and subbiest.

Review: Zed Bias's superb recent single with Shumba Youth is a modern fusion of dancehall and ragga that is perfect for loud deployment on top sound systems. Here though it comes in four different versions, all of which tap into different aspects of the UK hardcore continuum. The 4x4 Garage mix is just that and perfect for grotty warehouses, the 4x4 VIP Refix has a more prominent baseline feel and the Jeftuz UKG remix is a broken beat killer with wub-wub goodness. Last of all is the restless and kinetic 2-step mix to close out a high grade 12".