MJ Cole

When UK garage came crashing into the charts in the late ’90s, few artists defined the movement’s crossover potential better than MJ Cole. Born Matthew Coleman in 1973, the London native got his start as a tape operator in studios where breakneck drum 'n' bass was giving way to garage’s slinkier grooves. On 12-inches in the mid-’90s, the DJ and producer developed a touch for swinging drums and giddy vocal chops. But it was his 1998 single “Sincere” that confirmed Cole’s status as one of UKG’s most exciting talents, with a knack for some of the sharpest hooks in the scene. His debut album, 2000’s Sincere, appeared on Gilles Peterson’s Talkin’ Loud label, and the album’s satisfying mixture of silky melodies and nimble drum programming netted it a Mercury Prize nomination—validating not just Cole’s talent but also garage’s status. The musicality that Cole brought to the genre helped pave the way for later revivalists like Disclosure and Gemma Dunleavy, but Cole wasn’t about to stop there. Though he continued to release garage records over the years, he broadened his horizons on productions for Dizzee Rascal and Katy B, and in 2020, he detoured into neoclassical piano études on the gentle MJ Cole Presents Madrugada.