A year after 'Rewind' it became clear UK garage has fractured. On top was the pop tones of Luck & Neat, and below the fertile underground was brewing.
And then a junglist flipped garage on its head, sending a dark and breaky '138 Trek' into the charts.
That junglist was DJ Zinc, and through his Bingo Beats compilation he's here to show that there's lots more where that came from.
Twenty more tracks, to be precise, if we ignore the jungle cut 'Drifting' that concludes this storming session.
Eight of these are by Zinc himself , the singles 'Hold On',
'Kinda Funky' and 'Go DJ' being the most famous.
Elsewhere Hype chips in a few gems, though sadly not his divine Mos Def remix, and the final True Playa Pascal makes his debut in the breaks template with 'ditto' [sic].
But beyond the flailing drum, jungle-influenced garage sound that this compilation surely defines, it's the outsiders that give Zinc a real run for his money.
Zed Bias contributes two belters: the Dillinja-Bladerunner 'function' and clippy Taxi Driveresque 'addiction'. El-B and Ghost Camp member Blaze go deep in a reggae vein with 'Express'. But it's garage's golden boy Wookie who snatches the best-in-Bingo crown.
What he does to Zinc's 'Kinda Funky' ain't clever but it sure is big. Massive in fact. Just like this whole compilation.
by Martin Clark