Being on the sold-out dancefloor of Newspeak last Friday felt like being transported to a smoke-filled Manchester warehouse or an underground party in the heart of Sheffield. For Montreal’s UK bass community, this was no ordinary club night. Feb. 13 had occupied calendars for several months, as rising garage producer and DJ Silva Bumpa made his long-awaited Montreal debut at one of the city’s perennial electronic music venues.
As Silva Bumpa loaded the first track of his two-hour set, anticipation buzzed through the room. The Sheffield native’s groovy UK garage music style has made him one of the leading figures of the new generation.
Judging by the expressions of disbelief that accompanied each sub-bass frequency and synth melody, the crowd’s high expectations were met.
“His style makes you so excited and grateful to be there,” Ignacio Hampton, U2 Arts, said in an interview with The Tribune.
Silva Bumpa’s selections are remarkably tight and consistent, making for an extremely cohesive set. He has carved out a distinct style of bumpy, nostalgic garage that prioritizes maintaining a continuous groove throughout a set, rather than producing singular moments of bass-heavy drops. Whether he’s picking from his extensive production catalogue or his prized folder of dubplates, he fills his sets with club-ready tools built for the dancefloor. When discussing his production techniques in an interview with MusicRadar, Silva Bumpa said, “Layering is everything for me. Separating out sub, having stuff that gives punch, stuff that gives texture, and stuff that gives powerful sub energy so that it can hit on a sound system.” This demonstrates the garage prodigy’s astute ability to make tunes that are functional for a rave.
Coming off an all-night long tour in the UK last fall, Silva Bumpa is at ease when he’s controlling the pace of his sets, selecting tracks that keep the audience engaged while still allowing the dancefloor to breathe. Clearly a master at reading crowds, he consistently builds up the club’s energy before dropping some of his most explosive tracks, such as “Wrap it Up,” a bassline-influenced standout from his 2025 EP Check Dis Out. One of the most memorable moments of the set came when Silva Bumpa mixed “Doin’ It” after playing a monstrous edit of Basement Jaxx’s “Where’s Your Head At,” a staple of UK rave culture. Since ATW, a label run by fellow garage heavyweights Interplanetary Criminal and Main Phase, released “Doin’ It” last summer, it has become a viral anthem.
Despite Silva Bumpa’s commercial success, he has stayed true to his northern roots, with the celebrated sounds of Sheffield bassline and speed garage influencing his trademark style. The Steel City has played a huge role in the legacy of UK dance music. One of Sheffield’s most iconic clubs, Niche is regarded as the most influential venue for the development of modern bassline.
Raver Kenzo Ebanda explained his appreciation for Silva Bumpa’s style in an interview with The Tribune.
“Especially in this venue, that more sweaty, underground feel that he has fit really well. We don’t usually get that many sets like that in Montreal. I feel like a lot of the UK [garage music] is more of that mainstream stuff,” Ebanda said.
One of the standout tunes that conveyed the vibe of the underground was Interplanetary Criminal’s “Memories,” a jaw-dropping dub that’s been on every bass-head’s search history for months.
Silva Bumpa’s impressive showing at Newspeak was the latest chapter in an evolving love story between North American audiences and UK garage. With various local collectives thriving and more garage stand-outs slated to grace the city’s clubs in the coming months, the future is bright for bass music in Montreal.
