{ "slug": "the-desk-garage-on-the-mix", "theme": null, "genre": "UK Garage", "genreUrl": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/", "brief": "Six records most people met in the middle of a mix rather than as singles. The canon this genre left behind was assembled on pirate radio and compilation CDs, and it is not quite the list the charts would give you.", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-garage-on-the-mix/", "updated": "2026-08-29", "curator": { "slug": "the-desk", "name": "The Waxonia Desk", "bio": "The people who write the rankings on this site. We keep the lists honest, we argue about the order, and we get asked the same question more than any other: where should someone actually start. These are our answers.", "link": "https://waxonia.com/", "url": "https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/" }, "ordered": false, "pickCount": 6, "years": { "first": 1997, "last": 2001 }, "picks": [ { "trackKey": "mj-cole--sincere", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/mj-cole--sincere/", "title": "Sincere", "artist": "MJ Cole", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/mj-cole/", "year": 1998, "label": "Talkin' Loud", "isrc": "GBF080000103", "whyItMatters": "The most musically ambitious record the genre produced, made by a classically trained producer. Garage's reputation for glamour has always obscured how well built the best of it was.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-a-way-in", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — A Way In", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/MJ%20Cole%20Sincere", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-djtiU5RE", "exact": true } } }, { "trackKey": "artful-dodger-featuring-craig-david--re-rewind-the-crowd-say-bo-selecta", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/artful-dodger-featuring-craig-david--re-rewind-the-crowd-say-bo-selecta/", "title": "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta)", "artist": "Artful Dodger featuring Craig David", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/artful-dodger-featuring-craig-david/", "year": 1999, "label": "Public Demand", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "A record about the reload, which is a DJ's device rather than a producer's, turned into a chart single. The scene's own vocabulary went national before most of its records did.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Artful%20Dodger%20featuring%20Craig%20David%20Re-Rewind%20(The%20Crowd%20Say%20Bo%20Selecta)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=M0wv_cQv8As", "exact": true } } }, { "trackKey": "sweet-female-attitude--flowers-sunship-remix", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/sweet-female-attitude--flowers-sunship-remix/", "title": "Flowers (Sunship Remix)", "artist": "Sweet Female Attitude", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/sweet-female-attitude/", "year": 2000, "label": "WEA", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The remix, not the original, which is the correct answer and also the whole argument about who authored UK garage. Half this canon is somebody's second pass at somebody else's record.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-the-hundred", "name": "The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred", "url": "https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Sweet%20Female%20Attitude%20Flowers%20(Sunship%20Remix)", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sv2Uu7NOPng", "exact": true } } }, { "trackKey": "double-99--rip-groove", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/double-99--rip-groove/", "title": "RIP Groove", "artist": "Double 99", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/double-99/", "year": 1997, "label": "Ice Cream", "isrc": null, "whyItMatters": "The dark end, and the reminder that garage was never only champagne. The split into speed garage and two-step reads cleanly in hindsight; on a night out in 1997 nobody in the room was choosing sides.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" }, { "kind": "curator", "slug": "the-desk-bass-weight", "name": "Bass Weight", "url": "https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Double%2099%20RIP%20Groove", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8WZGUFGBPNQ", "exact": true } } }, { "trackKey": "dem-2--destiny", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/dem-2--destiny/", "title": "Destiny", "artist": "Dem 2", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/dem-2/", "year": 1997, "label": "Locked On", "isrc": "GBBKS9800304", "whyItMatters": "The most fragile thing on this list — a vocal cut into fragments that never quite reassemble. It is deliberately hard to hold on to, which is exactly why it still sounds like it was made last year.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/Dem%202%20Destiny", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zz4U1B7enkM", "exact": true } } }, { "trackKey": "so-solid-crew--21-seconds", "trackUrl": "https://waxonia.com/track/so-solid-crew--21-seconds/", "title": "21 Seconds", "artist": "So Solid Crew", "artistUrl": "https://waxonia.com/artist/so-solid-crew/", "year": 2001, "label": "Relentless", "isrc": "GBBPF0100618", "whyItMatters": "Eight MCs, twenty-one seconds each, and the record usually blamed for the scene's collapse. Blame is the wrong frame: what it actually did was show where half the room had already gone.", "alsoOn": [ { "kind": "genre", "slug": "uk-garage", "name": "UK Garage", "url": "https://waxonia.com/genre/uk-garage/" } ], "links": { "spotify": { "url": "https://open.spotify.com/search/So%20Solid%20Crew%2021%20Seconds", "exact": false }, "youtubeMusic": { "url": "https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=g7VhofoV3qs", "exact": true } } } ] }