Future Garage

From the hazy subterranean fog of dubstep, lo fi eccentricity of grime and, recently, cross genre adventurers such as Martyn and Joy Orbison, the legacy of UK Garage has been the foremost influence on bass driven electronic music in the mid-late 00s.
 
But while grime went platinum and dubstep became a conquering force in its own right, garage itself slipped slowly from view, doomed, it seemed, to a never ending slew of ‘old school UKG’ nostalgia events and mass-marketed compilation albums.  All this, however, is changing.
 
Soulful, experimental and weighty, the so-called Future Garage sound has emerged as the most exciting movement in the post-dubstep wilderness. And while dubstep has (much like DnB before it) almost become two distinct scenes, with aggressive gurn-inducing ultra wobble in one corner and introspective, techno-infused chin strokery in the other, the Future Garage scene is still very much cohesive, taking in a wide spectrum of influence but tied together by ever present bass and soul.
 
We caught up with Sub FM boss and Future Garage pioneer Whistla to talk chew the whole thing over.
 
How would you describe Future Garage to the uninitiated?
I would say Future Garage is a movement that is trying to give garage a future outside of cheesy clubs & bars, and that seeks to combine the garage template with new and exciting sounds and approaches to tune building.
 
What do you see as the roots of the music? How does Future Garage relate to 'traditional' 2 step/garage and also dubstep?
Many moons ago dark garage and experimental garage got absorbed into the emerging dubstep scene, and everyone was cool with that, but as time progressed the dubstep moniker no longer applied to a lot of garage-inspired producers, so they went looking for a new term for what they were doing. Myself and others would throw around names like "Psychedelic Garage", "Detroit Garage", and the one that stuck with people is "Future Garage", although this is only really half the story because while some of us (me included) came to it this way, once we had got our feet on the ground there was huge interest from traditional UKG artists, as well as other people from other scenes becoming involved. So now Future Garage is blessed to have a truly diverse make up and is in a way reuniting the garage fraternity as well as welcoming in people from other scenes like techno.
 
What excites you about the music, and how did you initially become involved?
What I was playing back in 2004-ish started to become known as dubstep, so I went with that, but as the years went by the name no longer really fitted what I was doing. What excites me is the way you never know what you are getting with FG - someone will send you a tune and you listen to it to find a whole new soundscape that you never knew existed.
 
Is the scene currently UK based, or is the sound spreading to other places?
I think Future Garage is the antithesis of UK domination of dance; it’s something that from the outset has had fans, DJs and producers all over the world. Unlike the original garage explosion that was entirely London-centered, Future Garage is truly international in scope. The internet (and particularly Sub.FM) have made FG reach out to people that never had garage the first time round in their own countries. There are a lot of UK producers, but there are heaps of non-UK ones too.
 
What labels/producers would you currently recommend?
So many! Firstly check out my label L2S Recordings. Other labels off my head would be; Night Audio, Well Rounded, Immerse Records, Ramp, Bass Machine Music, Hessle, Frijsfo Beats, Mata Syn, Hype Music, Car Crash Set, Furioso, Keysound and more! Some artists people need to check are: Submerse/FortyFour, VVV, Cosmic Revenge, Littlefoot, M2J, Erra, Duncan Powell, Monz, KingThing, Para, Maddness, Touch, Sentinals, TRO,Jericho, Demos, Sines, Clueless, Vibezin…. I could go on for ages.
 
How do you see the FG club scene developing? Are there many established pure FG nights up and running, or dedicated FG rooms at other nights? 
At the moment there is no dedicated FG night in the UK but that’s about to change with the launch of Swivel on Bank Holiday Sunday 30th May (check www.SwivelLondon.com) More and more events are getting FG in their line-ups however, and I think its just a matter of time before we see more 100% FG nights. Canadians already have a night called Swing & Skip which shows the international aspect of the Future Garage Movement.