Dark Garage

Dark garage was the darker, heavier strain of UK garage that emerged in South London around 1999-2002, stripping 2-step of its champagne gloss in favour of sub-bass pressure, sparse swung drums, chopped samples and precise edits. Centred on the #Ghost# label and producers *El-B*, *Groove Chronicles* and *Horsepower Productions*, and distributed through the #Tempa# and #Ammunition# network, dark garage replaced garage's R&B sheen with space and dread, and in doing so laid the direct foundations of dubstep before that name existed.