Tuff Culture – Circles

Despite something of a revival of late, the TIWWD inbox isn't troubled by as much UKG as I might like… so to get a whole album of the stuff that's as good as this, is something of a rare treat.

There are ten tracks here, that between them take in most shades of garage music the UK has ever produced. I Wanna Hold You is a jerky, twitchy 2-step number with cut-up vox inna Todd Edwards stylee, It's Me & You is a bassier affair with ragga vocal flourishes, Need You Around is smoother, more commercial 2-step, Walking In Ecstasy works a classic vocal over big, bassline house-ish backing, there are more bassline-y vibes on the R&B-vocalled Temptation (featuring Miss Rhodes), Like A Star takes us back to the SG glory days (complete with a few cheeky, very familiar samples) and Enigma Dubz collab Maris flirts with future garage/post-dubstep flavas.

Consistent enough stylistically to feel coherent, yet varied enough not to get same-y, this is a must-check for UKG fiends.

Out: This week

About: This comes on LU10 Records – find 'em on Soundcloud and Facebook.

Morcee – It's You

A trip into garage/dubstep territories now, with the latest from Four40 Records.

In its Original form, It's You fuses elements of dubstep and vintage rave, with a vocal that owes a great deal TO but isn't, I don't think, sampled FROM Onephatdeeva & Lisa Millett's Bad Habit. The Lakosa Remix is a deeper, darker and dubbier pass with lashings of sub-bass, while Majora's Unorthodox Mix veers towards dubstep's more experimental fringes with its chopped-up beats and heavily treated vox.

If pushed it's the Lakosa mix that's doing it best for me, but all three mixes are very respectable and, most importantly, not one of them feels the need to get all stoopid and gnarly for the sake of it. Excellent work.

Out: This week

About: You can find Four40 Records on Soundcloud and Facebook.