2-step garage (or just 2-step) is a typically British style of modern dance music, and one of the two major sub-genres of UK garage, although UK garage is sometimes imprecisely used as a synonym for 2-step. The other sub-genre is 4x4 garage.

History

In the UK, where jungle and techno were very popular at the time, Garage was played in the second room at jungle events (as counterpart to chill-out rooms at techno parties). As jungle tracks are much faster than (US) garage, DJs in the UK started to speed up garage tracks to make them more suitable for the jungle audience in the UK. The media started to call this tempo-altered type of garage music "speed garage", 2-step's predecessor. DJs usually played dub versions (arrangements without vocals) of garage tracks, as they do not sound odd when played faster (although sped up and time stretched vocals were an important part of the early jungle sound, and later played a key role in speed garage). The absence of vocals left a lot of empty space for MCs, who started rhyming to the records. Since then MCs have become one of the vital aspects of Speed and UK garage parties and records. Early promoters of speed garage included the Dreem Team and Tuff Jam and pirate radio stations like Freeze FM, Deja Vu, Erotic FM or Kiss FM. During its initial phase, the speed garage scene was also known as "the Sunday scene", as initially speed garage promoters could only hire venues on Sunday evenings (venue owners preferred to save Friday and Saturday nights for more popular musical styles). Labels whose outputs would become synonymous with the emerging speed garage sound included Deja Vu, Spread Love and Twice as Nice. Debate continues to rage over the first true speed garage record; contenders include "Love Bug" by Ramsey and Fen, 'RIP Groove' by Double-99, and Armand van Helden's remix of Tori Amos's "Professional Widow". Speed garage tracks were characterised by a speeded-up house-style beat, complimented by the rolling snares and a reverse-warped bassline sound that were popular with the drum & bass producers of the time.
Speed garage already incorporated many aspects of today's UK garage sound like sub-bass lines, ragga vocals, spin backs and reversed drums. What changed over time, until the so called 2-step sound emerged, was the addition of further funky elements like RnB vocals, more shuffled beats and a different drum pattern. The most radical change from speed garage to 2-step was the removal of the 2nd and 4th bass kick from each bar (see "Characteristics" for more details). Although tracks with only two kick drum beats to a bar are perceived as being slower than the traditional four-to-the-floor beat, the listener's interest is maintained by the introduction of syncopating bass lines and the percussive use of other instruments such as pads and strings.
Among those credited with honing the speed garage sound, Todd Edwards, is often cited as a seminal influence on the UK garage sound. The producer from New Jersey introduced a new way of working with vocals. Instead of having full verses and choruses, he picked out vocal phrases and played them like an instrument, using sampling technology. Often individual syllables were reversed or pitch-shifted. This type of vocal treatment is still a key characteristic of the whole UK garage vibe.
The UK's "answer" to Todd Edwards was MJ Cole, a classically trained oboe and piano player, who had a string of chart and underground hits in the late 1990s and early 200s, most notably with "Sincere" and "Crazy Love".
Arguably one of the earliest examples of a 2-step track is 'Never Gonna Let You Go' by Tina Moore.Jess Jackson was responsible for many garage records but one which stood out was "Hobsons Choice". The B Side of this record changed the UK garage scene from funky and soulfull to dark and bassy.
The producer duos Shanks & Bigfoot with Sweet Like Chocolate and The Artful Dodger, aka Pete Devereux and Mark Hill, who (together with Craig David) were very successful with the track "Re-rewind", which became an anthem for the whole 2-step scene. After the platinum-selling success of Shanks & Bigfoot's Sweet Like Chocolate released the year before, the floodgates had been opened. Although Re-rewind was denied a #1 position by Cliff Richard, it was also a platinum seller, one of the garage scene's first and last.
Recent developments are showing an evolution into two main directions: firstly, 2-step is moving away from its glamorous appeal into a darker direction called grime. This sound is much harder and rougher than its predecessor. This is one of the reasons why 2-step is being pushed back underground again, as more and more people turn away from the "negative" sound. Secondly, you see 4x4 garage gaining popularity, which is a convergence towards UK garage's mother house music. This sound abandons the classical 2-step patterns used for UK garage, as it employs the old "4 to the floor" drum pattern (see "Characteristics") as it is used in many forms of electronic music.

Characteristics

2-step is a melting pot of ideas incorporating elements from a wide field of different styles (mainly house, drum and bass, R&B and hip hop) and has produced a large spectrum of different sounding songs/tracks over the last few years. What holds all 2-step productions together is the basic logic of the drum patterns, which also denominated the name of this style of electronic dance music.

Bass kick and snare drum

Different from other styles of electronic dance music (e.g. most forms of house and techno), 2-step does not use a so called "4 to the floor" bass drum, which hits strictly on every beat of a bar (usually those types of music have 4/4 bars and therefore you will have 4 bass kicks per bar, which explains the name of this bass drum pattern). 2-step differs from this scheme as its bass kicks basically skip the 2nd and the 4th beat of each bar. Additionally, besides the first bass kick (which usually rests on the first beat), the other kicks are also moved away from the main beats of the bar and create a busy and skippy feeling. What holds the pattern together is a powerful snare drum on the 2nd and the 4th beat. There may be additional snare drums to add further groove and drive to the pattern, but you will always have a snare drum which emphasizes the 2nd and 4th beat of any bar.

Other drum sounds

Alongside the basic kick and snare, the drum kit used for 2-step consists of closed and open hi-hats which give the pattern the needed drive to create a busy groove. Furthermore you will find additional snare drums, and other kinds of percussion, which will vary from song to song. The sound of the drum elements is often slightly distorted, as most of them are "second-hand", which means, that they are manipulated by various kind of sound-modifying techniques and are difficult to classify.

Bass

As 2-step was heavily influenced by jungle, the bass lines play a strong role for the 2-step sound. Often you have very dominant sub-bass lines, which generate heavy pressure if heard in the club or on a sound system which is able to play low frequencies. Sometimes these bass lines are doubled with an organ. Mostly you will find bass melodies of two bars length, which are interacting with the drum pattern.

Heavy shuffle

Most 2-step tracks are heavily shuffled, which gives the tracks a swing feeling. This means that you move away from a metronomic and strict to a more natural sounding drum pattern, which creates a very busy and nervous feeling. This swing beat is quickly applied to the whole track, as the "quantisation function" of modern music production programs (e.g. Cubase or Logic) allows the application of a shuffle feeling with the push of a button.

Tune

Basically you will find two different kinds of tunes among 2-step tracks. Firstly, you will find tracks that are very upbeat and create a positive vibe. Mostly these tracks contain full vocal arrangements and are very bright and crisp sounding. Many R'n'B bootlegs and remixes go into this direction. Secondly, there are tracks that have a more bass oriented composition. There the main focus is on a heavy bass line that is already meant to be the hook of the track. Sometimes there exist many different versions of the same track to cover both aspects of 2-step music, so the listener or DJ has a choice of preference.

MCs

As mentioned above, MCs often appear on 2-step records. Usually, there are separate versions of the same tune, one with the MC's rhymes and one without them. At 2-step parties live MCs rhyme to the music, and so DJs will play 'dub' versions without the recorded MCs, this leaves room for the live MC's voice.
Source
http://en.wikipedia.org/

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