Feature · September 2026

Nubreed: The Global Underground Series That Looked Past the Superstars

Global Underground sold its main series through cities and a superstar mythology that was already forming by the late 90s. Nubreed was the parallel idea: give two discs to the next generation instead. Six volumes between 2000 and 2002 caught progressive house just as it was getting darker, techier and much harder to label, and the first one belonged to Anthony Pappa. Anthony Pappa, Danny Howells and Lee Burridge are a few of the names that make the point. The format gave emerging DJs room to make a two-disc statement without borrowing the city-branded grandeur of the main Global Underground series. For anyone who only remembers the famous GU numbers, the side series is full of unexpected routes back in.