By Amanda Noinski

JUST WHEN YOU thought you'd learned the latest dance music genre, another one pops up and adds to the knob-twiddled confusion. But this time we're not talking about a minor rift or alteration of style – we're talking about a sound with a popularity that is growing at an unbelievably rapid rate: 2-step, or U.K., garage. A hybrid of American garage, R&B, and drum 'n' bass, U.K. garage integrates the accelerated rhythms and breakbeats of drum 'n' bass with the sultry vocals of old-school garage. This is good-time, put-your-hands-in-the-air stuff.

Although the music has been around for several years – initially referred to as "speed garage" – the United States is just now catching on (look for U.K. garage sets by local DJs Scott Edmonds, Shobhan, and Mikebee). To get the story straight, we contacted 26-year-old MJ Cole, hailed as one of the brightest new U.K. garage producers. A classically trained pianist who started out as a drum 'n' bass engineer for the likes of Ed Rush, DJ Trace, Blim, and Raw Deal, MJ Cole switched over to 2-step in 1997 with the release of the single "Love Bug," one of the blueprints for the U.K. garage sound. Since then he's been releasing a flow of popular tracks and remixing TLC, Goldie, Soul II Soul, Incognito, and Masters at Work, to name a few. Later this summer Talkin' Loud will release Sincere, MJ's debut full-length.

MJ Cole did this interview via cell phone as he trekked through the streets of London in the late evening: proof that he's a completely booked, journalist-harangued producer. Here's what he had to say – when he wasn't dodging cars and pedestrians – about the U.K. garage explosion.

Bay Guardian: Is it fair to describe U.K. garage as a hybrid of jungle and American garage?

MJ Cole: It's a fusion. What I make is influenced by drum 'n' bass, but [it also fuses] R&B, traditional garage music, and loads of other things.

It's tricky, because America is the home of garage, like with Larry Levan and such. But over here, when we say garage we mean U.K. garage. I was inspired by producers like Todd Edwards [and] the dub mixes Americans were doing, but U.K. garage is quite different. I wouldn't want to say that the music I make is in competition with Masters at Work.

U.K. garage isn't a regular four-on-the-floor thing like house – there are no regular kick drums. We don't sample breakbeats straight; we reconstruct the breakbeat loops, so the drum programming is quite intricate. [U.K. garage] takes some of the street rawness from drum 'n' bass, some of the energy, but also encompasses vocals and songs. It's a very skippy music; it's got a trippy feel. It's quite dynamic music as well. It's not repetitive; it changes quite often.

BG: Why did you leave drum 'n' bass?

MJC: I didn't really leave, but I wasn't really a successful drum 'n' bass producer, either. I was more of a drum 'n' bass fan, and I was just engineering for other people in studios, doing mix-downs. Garage was more appealing and fresh when I encountered it. When drum 'n' bass got popular it became commercialized, which splintered the music, which then pushed it back to the underground again. I really liked the harder stuff, but it became too scientific and less groovy to me, and I tend to seek out the grooviness in things.

BG: With its housey, party-time vibes, is U.K. garage a more accessible music than drum 'n' bass?

MJC: It lends itself well to pop tunes and songs. Right now in the U.K. it's absolutely mad in the charts – there are U.K. garage records [debuting in the] top five. There's been a massive revolution.

BG: Is it the predominant music being played in London dance clubs?

MJC: I'm playing many, many more commercial clubs now. For example, I played Saturday in Essex at a big nightclub, which is part of a bowling and cinema complex – which is a standard sort of mainstream club. I was playing [U.K.] garage there – strange, really, how fast it's moving. I'm used to DJing in underground clubs around the country, mostly in London.

There were a couple big garage records last year, but this week there's [a song] going in straight at number one, a tune called "Casualty," which is a horrible, horrible tune – a theme tune from a hospital TV program. It's 2-step, but not the side I'm into; nor are most of the other long-standing producers in the scene into it.

[2-step is] becoming a bit like hip-hop: it's becoming more of a lifestyle. There are pirate radio stations, and people who drive around in their cars with alloy wheels. It's got all the champagne connotations. It's spreading a bit further than just a music; it's becoming a way of life for young people.

BG: A credit card and Gucci lifestyle?

MJC: No, it's quite a young music. If you ask kids between the ages of twelve to eighteen what their favorite music is, they'd probably say U.K. garage. This country has been yearning for something new and fresh for quite a while. The [recent U.S.] R&B never really happened here because you guys did it so well [that] anything that got done over here R&B-wise just seemed like [it was] mimicking what was going on in the States. So we've come up with this new sound, and everyone in this country is really behind it.

BG: What about the older clubbers?

MJC: They're into the quality stuff. I don't make disposable music, so I'd like to think that older people are into it. Dance music is always going to be a kid-led thing, because the older guys aren't going to clubs as much, so I wouldn't say it's a big scene amongst older people. [The] younger scene is buying the records. They're also into their flyers [and] listening to all the pirate stations. They can actually be active in the scene, as opposed to just being consumers.

BG: Sounds like the next generation of ravers.

MJC: That's what it feels like over here. It's really incredible what [has] happened in the last few months.

BG: Have you worked with any of the numerous U.K. garage pirate radio stations?

MJC: I haven't had any involvement in pirate radio for legal reasons. If you get nicked here and get arrested, you can't go on commercial TV or radio for a couple years. My record company wants me to steer clear of that. But [pirate radio] is massive here, which is part of the reason why the music is spreading so well.

BG: I've heard 2-step opponents describe the music as drum 'n' bass lite – implying that it's fairly superficial and less intense.

MJC: Drum 'n' bass is a very physical club music. Garage is about vocals and hooks and melody, not just about the heaviest b-line or the biggest buildup. It's got much more longevity than drum 'n' bass, because it involves songs and words, and the song is king.

Drum 'n' bass went really dark a few years ago, and it turned into who could make the most ugly-sounding bass lines and hardest beats, and garage isn't about that. People like to play it in their cars and do their housework to it, and over here women generally like it more than drum 'n' bass.

BG: Is the 2-step scene big on sexiness?

MJC: It's definitely raunchy; people go to the club and dress up and look nice. The style of dancing is based on hardcore dancehall styles; there's a lot of rubbing up against each other. With drum 'n' bass you just get dressed and go to a club and dance all night. But garage people "dress to impress," as they say on most flyers. "No trainers, and no caps." It annoys me sometimes.

BG: Could 2-step push house underground, or is it too late for that?

MJC: There's a place for both of them, there's always going to be housey stuff around, and I think they can coexist quite well. House is very white in the U.K., and garage is more of a black thing, it's got more of a connection to soul and R&B.

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