NUKG Monthly: EL-B, Everything But the Girl, Riz La Teef and more

New Wave Magazine writer Nathan Evans's UK garage and club music column covers the latest songs, remixes, bootlegs, mixes and albums that captures his attention.

Photo credit: El-B Bandcamp

Some Thoughts on the Fred Again.. Discourse

Fred Again.. has been the biggest name to come out of UK dance music in some time, but this past month, information about his background was spread like a big, dirty secret across Twitter. His family has an aristocratic history, with his parents being members of the British Peerage, and though this isn’t a hit at Fred himself, he’s an extreme case of an artist from a privileged background gaining massive popularity in the dance music space. I should state right now - artists from that background have every right to operate in these spaces in theory. But it still feels icky, right?

There’s no pretending that Fred Again.. is talented at making inventive UK garage and bass, but that talent was born from the freedom of not having to worry about working to make ends meet or find connections in the industry. When you read RA’s feature piece on the working class being shut out of electronic music, or think of the many working-class artists in this genre who have been grafting for years, to watch this guy from a background that sounds like something out of The Crown achieve enormous success in such a short time feels like it's all a rigged system. His PR team knows this, and someone has been caught suspiciously trying to scrub away the section that mentions his family history on his Wikipedia entry multiple times.

Personally speaking, until the Boiler Room set which first got people talking about him and his background, I thought he was just a background producer who had worked his way up to the stars and then forged a solo career, à la Benny Blanco. This is another issue for journalists and coverers of culture, that lack of information out there about the background of artists we’re helping propping up. When they get acclaim and it’s revealed they had such an advantage that is so at odds with the roots of UK dance music, it feels like a form of deceit.

Ultimately, the contempt towards Fred’s background is a frustration at the product of continued neglect for grassroots initiatives that help working-class artists get a foot in the door. The rumour that BBC Introducing is being shut down is not helping that, and it could do with support from fellow artists who have such a massive platform to showcase an amazing scene to the world. The question for Fred Again.. is: how will he give back to other artists and the style of music that boosted his career?

And for this column, know that it was set out with the goal of platforming working-class artists in the UKG scene. If you're such artist, reach out to me with your stuff - nathanlevans00[at]gmail[dot]com.

Everything But the Girl - Nothing Left to Lose

Everything But the Girl has returned with an announcement of their first new album in a quarter-century, and its lead single ‘Nothing Left to Lose’ is a dark and simmering garage nightcall.

The British duo’s original magic was how they fit pop into electronica without sacrificing any of its club energy and out of the gate, it’s clear they haven’t lost the touch. Tracey Thorn’s vocals have understandably changed to become much deeper and thicker, but her songwriting still has that underlying angst that defined their classic catalogue. As she’s surrounded by a spiralling bassline, air wooshes and digital clusters, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Overmono had a hand in the production. We should feel honoured that EBTG stepped into the garage world, and with the thoughtful execution on ‘Nothing Left to Lose’, it seems the feelings are mutual.

El-B Rummages Through the Vault

As the UKG revival grows, there’s been a big push in the last month to document its history. Articles about legends like Big Ang and Double 99 have been plastered on the front pages of Mixmag and DJ Mag, and veteran DJ El-B has recently been re-releasing some classics.

El-B was one half of Groove Chronicles alongside Noodles, famous for old-school anthems like “Stone Cold”, “Black Puppet” and “We Are People”, as well as their incredible remixes. Going solo in 1999, his style crosses heavily into dubstep, dark but pure pyrotechnics, and his influence stretches across the entire Time Is Now label. There wouldn’t be a UKG and speed garage revival today if not for his productions, and now they’re finally resurfacing through his rereleases on Bandcamp.

First came Essential Ghost, a 20-track comp pulling together the best hits from his record label Ghost Recordings. These are mainly limited or unreleased tracks that have never properly seen the light of day, and to top it all off, he officially released his 2009 track with Burial, ‘Prophecy’. It’s a shotgun marriage between their two styles that results in slow clacking percussion and stinking bass, and an essential in both artists’ canons.

Mix of the Month: Riz La Teef Mixmag mix

I have to mention Conducta’s appearance on Radio 1’s Essential Mix this past week for what a landmark moment it is for the scene, but it wasn’t quite Mix of the Month.

Rinse FM resident Riz La Teef’s new set for Mixmag’s In Session series starts with a gospel piano/organ combo topped with a pitched loop of ‘Rhythm & Gash’, and that’s a good indicator of what to expect out of this one. He starts off the mix finding a common ground between jazz and UKG, with dub-flavoured beats drenched in watery chords. It’s as though he’s hesitant to lay into the filthier beats at first, but once he reaches for Panar’s unreleased track ‘Murder’, it’s all hitters from there. His play of Prozak’s face-scrunching 'Ruff Dub' is perfectly deployed.

Gerdo G - Hit Em

Hanover’s Gerdo G creates a nocturnal dubby gloom that still surges through the speakers on his new Hit Em EP for Outhouse Sounds. It’s an even split between sickly bass that catherine-wheel out of tight corkscrews (‘Hit Em’, Prove Me’) and DJ Shadow-summoning jazz keys and entire jazz breakdown (‘Tell, What You Had’). Ideal for the month it was released in.

Minista & Danny Goliger - Cause It's You

London producer Minista and LA producer Danny Goliger’s ‘Cause It’s You’ has the best single sound I’ve heard this month: the icy disco shimmer throughout sounds like a sound effect from the SSX Tricky PS2 game. Add to it a soul vocal sample and deep bump-and-slide bass sequence in the breakdown, and it’s a cracking mid-set bouncer.

This track comes courtesy of the Steppers Club label, which is doing a month-long series of cross-continental two-trackers that looks to bridge the gap between the many international scenes of UK garage producers in Melbourne, Tokyo, LA and Mumbai. It’s a welcome relief from the recent UK vs US club producer spat over DJ Jayhood’s Jersey remix of T2’s ‘Heartbroken’, with producers joining forces rather than carving territories.

BABii & Pholo - BUTTERFLY 11 (+ PSYCHE)

Cybernetic artist BABii and Nottingham’s Pholo are an odd producer match that produces amazing results. BABii’s Enya-like art pop vocals and Pholo’s caustic breakdowns make up the highlights of the former’s newly-re-released mixtape SCREAMER, the pick of the bunch being ‘Butterfly 11 (Psyche)’. Though it would be interesting to hear a more fluid transition between the verses and climax in the way that FKA twigs’ ‘Home With You’ elegantly does so, the white-hot synths in the breakdown are enough to send drinks in orbit. Also, check out the remix featuring rapped Snowy and the shattering ‘Ember (crashed) (crashed)’.

Wildcard: Muskila - QAAR

Producers have been doing crazy things with Middle-Eastern instrumentation lately. Between Hagop Tchaparian, Toumba and Denmark producer Muskila, traditional horns, strings and percussion from the region are being used as blazing firepower in the unexpected context of techno and microhouse. ‘QAAR A’, the new single from Muskila, uses slices of zurna horn to create an urgent, chasing piece of techno. The way he loops rapid hand drums as a breakbeat and wraps it around a four-floor beat is genius. Altogether it’s a minimal setup, but there’s a strong it just makes these elements that are close to Muskila’s heart all the more potent.

DJ_Dave - Homer Radio 11

Experimental pop and Algorave artist DJ_Dave was a special guest on Frank Ocean’s Homer Radio this month. Her mix delved into different genre hovels while working odd pairings together, such as when she dresses up SZA & Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘Ghost in the Machine’ with the suction-cup beat of Two Shell’s ‘Touchpad’. Eddie Hazel’s ‘Home’ is put through an ear-splitting filter before shifting into Tom Place & Manao’s warbly UK bass on ‘Slap’, then Take Van’s Chicago-house bop ‘Buzzkill’. Listen and find your own great moments.

(This one is an Apple Music exclusive sadly!)

Speed Garage Bootleg of the Month: Silver - Shine

Aussie producer Silver takes the Weeknd’s ‘I Was Never There’ and spins it into a phantasmagoric bootleg. He starts by messing about with Gesaffelstein’s instantly-recognisable eerie synth slide before adding a 4x4 kick-snap, grizzly bass and a haunted chop of the Weeknd’s vocals. Playing this one feels like you're awakening a thousand-year-old spirit.