'1994. The year jungle broke out. The year the major labels interest in the independent underground dance scene soared to new heights. The year working inner city England embraced Jamaican culture in a way not seen since the original skinhead movement of '67. The year a small fanzine called Knowledge launched. And, finally, the year the UK produced some of the finest, most progressive and technologically advanced music (for the time) she could ever lay claim to.
'While middle white class suburbia was growing mop tops and getting stoned to Oasis there was a cross collaboration of cultures fiendishly working in basements and bedroom studios creating a sound totally unique to the British Isles. Musical barriers were being broken almost daily, MIDI technology was being pushed to its absolute limits by minds so creative that their legacy is solely responsible for what is now a worldwide drum & bass scene.
'DJ Fabio stated at the time that the jungle movement was the most exciting and completely self perpetuating youth movement England had witnessed since punk. And he was right. In 1994 jungle owned the UK underground. Airwaves, car stereos, tenements, Walkmans and clubs and raves were awash with the unstoppable sound of jungle.
'Although it would be unfair to say that London was solely responsible for the growth and expansion of the jungle movement, it is also true to say that without London there wouldn't have been a jungle movement. Events like Roast, Orange, Jungle Fever, Jungle Splash and, of course, the myriad pirate stations like Kool FM gave the music a chance to mutate and expand at an incredible rate. It was a completely forward-thinking music and that is why its influence can still clearly be heard over a decade and a half later.
'Music is a personal thing and your interpretation of jungle might differ slightly from mine. To me jungle means one thing and one thing only. Tearing breaks. Those tearing breaks might be layered over a half time stepping reggae bass line, or maybe sit under a soaring chord sequence. Either way they gotta tear. If those breaks aren't stuttering and smashing their way through your consciousness then you ain't listening to jungle.
'Favorite tracks from that era will always be open to interpretation and will also always be open to scrutiny. With that in the front of your mind consider the fact that what this top 20 does do is go some way into There are literally a hundred ways of highlighting the musical journey jungle took from the demise of 1993's darkside movement up to the advent of interest from major labels and not only the explosion of jungle, but also the eventual demise of the sound itself and the influx of a newer, starker and more intense sound that presented itself at the tail end of '95 and early '96.' -- K Mag
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Aphrodite 'Shine'
'The Drum 'n' Bass DJ and producer Gavin King from Eltham, UK is one of the original rave scene and Jungle pioneers. He runs the label Aphrodite Recordings and has founded Urban Takeover with Michael Hearn aka Micky Finn. He took his artist name from the name of a house night he used to co-promote in 1989. Held a regular Sunday night show on pirate station Pulse FM until it shut down in 1995. King is one of the reigning, well, kings of jump-up style jungle, a sparse, high-energy offshoot of drum'n'bass designed for maximum dancefloor impact. With tracks propelled by simple, rolling drum loops, huge, warbling basslines, and loads of chopped-up hip-hop and ragga samples, King's releases began ruling dance floors in the early '90s.'-- collaged
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Subnation 'Scottie'
'This track, a perfect example of the darkcore style, is a jungle classic which was way ahead of its time. Over haunting synths 'Scottie' features several dialogue extracts from the horror classic 'The Evil Dead', including "Is there a way around the bridge", "We're all gonna die, all of us" and "We're not going to die, we'e going to get out of here", as well as the eponymous "Scottie" and demonic laughter. The true genius of the track though is the drum programming with 'Cold Sweat' used as the main break, often played in reverse, with a heavily chopped 'Amen' giving the track plenty of momentum over the simple bassline.'-- DnB365
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LTJ Bukem 'Hardcore Volume 11'
'Bukem was trained as a classical pianist and discovered jazz fusion in his teenage years, having a jazz funk band at one stage. However by the late 1980s he decided to become a DJ, and gained fame in the rave scene of the early 1990s. As a producer, he released a series of jungle tracks such as "Logical Progression" (1991), "Demon's Theme" (1992), "Atlantis" and "Music" (1993). His most notable release was the track "Horizons" (1995) which attained considerable popularity. He then dipped in visibility as a producer, with his work running the London club night Speed and his record label Good Looking Records coming to the fore. A series of compilations entitled Logical Progression highlighted a jazz and ambient influenced side of drum and bass. The style became widely known as intelligent jungle, although Bukem himself was opposed to the moniker, unhappy with the implication that other styles of jungle were not intelligent.'-- collaged
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4hero 'No Imitation'
'Consistently on the front lines of the drum'n'bass battleground, the duo of Dego (McFarlane) and Marc Mac (Mark Clair) nevertheless failed to receive the exposure of luminaries like Goldie and Roni Size, mostly because they didn't release much 4hero material during jungle's crucial crossover years, from 1994 through 1997. Despite beginnings in London's hip-hop underground during the mid-'80s, the duo moved into the hardcore/rave scene later in the decade and recorded classics like "Mr. Kirk's Nightmare" and "Journey from the Light" for one of the scene's best labels, their own Reinforced Records. The tracks were among the first to chart the dark side of the rave scene and presage the more sinister tendencies of drum'n'bass. Quite ironic then, that while the jungle scene caught up with (and grew increasingly obsessed by) 4hero's innovations during the late '90s, the duo had already moved on to a more polished, fusion-inspired sound.'-- collaged
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Deep Blue & Blame 'Re-Transitions'
'This dropped in 1993, but I think it's important to include it here to show what an impact this had on the jungle scene. One third of 2 Bad Mice, Deep Blue made what is maybe one of the best jungle tracks of all time when he and colleague Blame rolled out this bad boy on Moving Shadow. More than anything it opened up the art of the stepper and paved the way for more jungle tunes than I care to remember. Influential is an understatement.'-- collaged
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Rebel MC feat. Peter Bouncer 'Junglist'
'Rebel MC got to number 3 in the UK charts with the single "street tuff" in 1988. He started chatting over acid house and techno in the late 80's and many people thought he'd sold out to the mainstream. Luckily for us, all the money he made was invested in a studio, sound system and a truck load of 'erb. He grew a beard and massive dreadlocks and formed Conquering Lion/Congo Natty pressin' the best Ragga Jungle ever made introducing acts like Buju Banton, Beanie man, Cutty Ranks, Tenor Fly, Demolition man and the legendary Top Cat to the land of Jungle.'-- MC Directory
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Alex Reece 'Pulp Fiction'
'Though he's most interested in acid house and early Detroit techno, Alex Reece came to prominence in the mid-'90s as a jungle star. His interest in techno began in the late '80s, when acid house was popular. Reece gradually earned enough money to buy turntables and a decent vinyl collection. He then began DJing and worked for Basement Records in 1992, engineering for Wax Doctor. Quitting his job to concentrate on making his own music, Reece first tried his hand at house (recording with brother Oscar as Exodus), but found it too formulaic. He realized that there was much more to explore in jungle/ drum'n'bass, so he began to experiment. His initial releases appeared on the Sinister, Creative Wax, and Moving Shadow labels, but Reece made his name with Goldie's Metalheadz Records. Singles like "Basic Principles" and "Pulp Fiction" -- with its trademark lurching bass line -- became jungle standards, showcasing his minimalist style, a sound partly inspired by his fixation with acid house. In fact, the case might be made that Reece's music isn't jungle at all, since most of his beats are quite steady. It is only the occasional percussion break and offbeat rimshots that spin his work into jungle territory.'-- John Bush
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Source Direct 'Snake Style'
'Source Direct is a jungle producer team from St Albans in the United Kingdom, initially consisting of Phil Aslett and Jim Baker. Source Direct are often compared with ambient drum and bass artists such as LTJ Bukem and other Good Looking Records producers, but their work displays a much darker sonic landscape with more of an emphasis of percussive assaults of syncopated breakbeats. The duo produced singles for a variety of different labels: Metalheadz, Basement, Certificate 18, Odysee, Street Beats, Good Looking Records, and their own Source Direct label. They also released singles under other names, such as Intensity, Sounds of Life, Oblivion, Mirage and Hokusai. Aslett had left the team by the end of 1999, but Baker still records under the Source Direct name and Aslett still performs as Phil Source.'-- collaged
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Goldie 'Inner City Life'
'Goldie uses this phrase, again and again, throughout our conversation: "It's wide open." It's a phrase that indicates a feeling of possibility, of visions that could yet be made real, of ambitions to be fulfilled. And it's the answer to the only question that's worth anything when you're talking to this bloke, here, now, today - the question, what's it like to be Goldie now? "What's going on for me now is powerful shit - I'm able to tap into and manipulate things that I could never do before. My sixth sense is on. I think I'm peaking." We know a lot, so much, about Goldie: how he was estranged from his parents and brought up in children's homes in the West Midlands; became a graffiti artist and a breakdancer; drifted in and out of crime; discovered the rave scene and ecstasy; began making records to impress his heroes Fabio and Grooverider; became the first jungle artist to be signed by a major label and debuted with a double-album epic, 'Timeless'; dated Bjork, split with Bjork; was transformed into a celebrity whose public image has a far wider reach than his records. But what matters above and beyond all of these specifics - the long struggle and the ultimate pay-off - is his fearlessness, his daring. Goldie dares to challenge the notions of what 'jungle' should be, dares to be called pretentious or self-indulgent or extreme: dares to try, dares to fail.'-- Mixmag
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DJ Crystl 'Warp Drive'
'Structurally, “Warpdrive” sticks to a familiar – because awesomely effective – disco dialectic blueprint. You have your beats (clipped and martial), then you have your top-end keyboard hook (sleek and cold), then you have the hook over the beats. But sonically this record is something else – right from the start it surrounds everything with a stark generator thrum, tactile and tense like a bad ozone buildup. That miasmic background cuts the weight from the beats, turning them into quicksilver jolts of rhythm. Listening to “Warpdrive” on headphones is intensely visual, a ride at impossible speeds through an android world: wireframes and manga shapes, claustrophobia and chrome. The breakbeats turn in your head with a shudder, then slither round corners and down holes in the track’s architecture. Other sound-events – tonebursts and soft explosions – rush at you from the edges of the soundfield and then vanish: by the time you’ve fully registered them they’re light years behind you.'-- Tom Ewing
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Dillinja 'Warrior'
'Dillinja, born Karl Francis, Clapham, South London, England is an English jungle or drum and bass DJ, record producer and entrepreneur. Arguably the most prolific producer within the drum and bass scene (with over 500 releases produced since 1991), Francis subsequently set up Valve Recordings in partnership with long-term collaboratorLemon D (Kevin King), with whom he also designed and built the Valve Sound System. As well as therecord label and sound system, Francis and King have also opened a specialist mastering and vinyl cutting studio, Ear2ground. Albums include My Sound (1993–2004), Cybotron, as well as Big Bad Bass and The Killa-Hertz with Lemon D.'-- The British Blacklist
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Manix 'Turn away skull' (Tek 9 remix)
'Marc Clair's work in the ardkore arena as Manix is without parallel, really: he balances hysterical, helium-vocalled smash 'n grab rave energy with a sharply turned-out darkside sensibility, building up an exhilarating tension between euphoria and paranoia, steely precision and wild-eyed abandon. His characteristic tracks as a music maker and producer are pitch-bent and accelerated to the point where they become acutely psychedelic. Of course the Mac also knows how to rein it in and bliss it out a little too. There's some proper junglist ruffage to get your teeth into on the classic track 'Turn away skull', which probably distils the magic and momentousness of this period more effectively than any other track, bridging as it does the sci-fi thump of continental hardcore techno and hoodlum funk of UK breakbeat culture. Proper, proper, proper.'-- collaged
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Photek 'Rings Around Saturn'
'A fixture on the UK jungle scene since the early nineties, Photek a.k.a. Rupert Parkes is best known for his role in developing the “intelligent” drum & bass genre. Over the course of his career as Photek, Parkes has developed a sound that is simultaneously individual, innovative and accessible, earning him much respect and popularity amongst critics and music fans alike. The strength of the sound finds foundation in Photek’s incredibly detailed drum programming, which is then augmented by his sophisticated sense for combining abstract sounds with jazz and classic techno influences.' -- Elsewhere
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p.s. Hey. ** Lee, Hi. It's so awesome when that happens with a writer. I mean vis-a-vis you and Barthelme, not you and Lin, ha ha. Curious to hear what the end result of your 'Taipei' experience will be. It's gotten really hot here too, ugh. And no temperature drop in sight. And I have a bunch of metro trips I have to make. And the metro right now is way sauna. Such a curious trio of subjects there. I can't even imagine the culling, which is exciting. Stay as cool as cool will allow. ** Grant Scicluna, Hey, Grant! Really good to see you! Excellent about the shaping up of the Grimson film! 35 b&w film, wow, just the idea alone is so sensual. The font question: Usually the book designer makes that decision. Once in a while, a publisher will ask me if I'm okay with the font, but not very often. I don't know what the standard on that is. I imagine there are writers who are very nitpicky about the font. I'm not so much, I guess, which kind of surprises me, actually. Sweetness to have you back, man. I'm good or good-ish, thank you. Having trouble sleeping lately, I guess due to clinging jetlag and the heat and stress or something, but, yeah, I'm all right. You sound more than merely that, which is very nice. ** David Ehrenstein, Well, thank you, David. Grimness can be a good fount, god knows. ** S., Hi. Thanks about my stack, stack master. Oh, Primal Scream therapy. They still do that? I remember it was in vogue back when John Lennon did it and then when the Tears for Fears 'shout, let it all out' thing kind of gave PST a second wind. Interesting. The best stuff happens under one's breath, no? Maybe not. Maybe that was just a poetic idea that sounded good for a second. The Fixx are not worth checking out unless I'm forgetting something. You made a new stack! It'd been a while. Cool. Everyone, S. is back from his stack-making hiatus with a brand new tall and narrow baby called MEMES. Hope you had that fun. ** Tosh Berman, Oh, gosh, Tosh, thank you, that's so kind. Has there ever been a pop song called 'Gosh, Tosh'? There really should be. Yeah, it seems like in the States it is dark times right now for very indeed. Over here, it's more like ominous gray times maybe. ** Empty Frame, Being in the so-called closet seemed like it paid off for Bogarde, as an actor at least. I'll see what 'Dumbstruck' is today. The last time it was scheduled, I went to see 'World War Z' instead. Which was fun-ish, but, geez, what a bad ending. ** Grant maierhofer, Hey! Cool, both d.l. Grants are here at the same time. Oh, 'Idols', yikes. I was so young then. All that lustful, misty-eyed pining, weird. Anyway, thank you. Trocchi's 'Merlin' was great. I was just thinking a lot about him because he featured heavily in the show of Guy Debord's archives that was just here at the Bibliotheque. Thanks a bunch about the post yesterday. If you can make something for the blog with pleasure for you, that would be great! I'm still scrambling to keep up after the Japan layoff. I'd love those links. So glad things are coming together on your end. 'Bout time. ** Mononoke Paradice, Hi! The temperature here has turned daunting and that has made me kind of drab. Thunderstorm! We need one of those here. But we have desert blue skies, but unfortunately without the desert's dryness. Sorry to complain. I hate the summer. A B&N with good coffee? Wow. ** Thomas Moronic, Thank you, T. That's the way to plan to use your six weeks off. I heartily approve. Knowing that finding the voice is maybe the hardest part, and as I'm still fishing for the right one on my end, I congratulate you and hope to join you there soon. ** Steevee, Hey. Excellent double pieces re: 'Act of Killing'. Can not wait to see it. The outcry in the US about the RS cover may be the clearest sign yet that the media has driven a portion of the US citizenry idiotic and that a portion of the US citizenry has driven the media insane. Fingers crossed on the Ebert front. I'll definitely keep my eye out for 'Sleepless Night', thank you. ** Rewritedept, You really gave your body a thorough working over yesterday. I think it's possible re: what you said you want to do. But you should remember, and you probably do, that there's a lot more going on than just the polarities of youthful innocence and adult offbeat horniness. What that 'a lot' is, only you and/or your subconscious know. Weekend: I have a bunch of errands to run. I'm gathering a bunch of birthday gifts for an upcoming birthday that deserves a lot of gifts. My agent and I are having coffee at Cafe Flore. Probably try to stay cool in the suddenly arrived heat wave. See some art, I think. I don't know. The reveal is amazing. Next week schedule: probably okay, I think, especially maybe later in the week. ** Postitbreakup, Wow, Josh, hi! I was wondering how you are where you were just yesterday. Thank you, pal. How is that job working out and etc.? Give me an update, man. ** Flit, Hi! Was Evan Peters one of the criers yesterday? I have no idea who that is. Oh, wait, yeah, he got beat up by his girlfriend. I read that somewhere yesterday. Okay, got it. Yes, 'another extrastupidwide music post' would be incredibly great if you can. I need guest-posts badly, not to mention from the likes of you. You sweet. ** Chilly Jay Chill, Nice to see your book in Chris Higgs' stack at HTMLG. I think I like 'Snow White' the best. It's the fussiest, most over-stylized one, which puts a plus in its column for me. ** Misanthrope, Hey. I don't know whether to take your misperception of me as a Pollyanna as a sign of success or as a perfect illustration of why I felt inclined to make that post. Dude, you can watch Staxus stuff for free on the hundreds and hundreds of sites that steal and post porn. You can't miss them. I didn't know Helix was still in business. Contests don't tell you shit about your shit, but hugs anyway, and fuck 'em. ** Sypha, Hm, I've read a reasonable amount of philosophy, I think, but not a ton compared to, say, Jesse Hudson. I like reading it. Difficulty is like a candy store to me or something, in fiction and in thoughtful nonfiction. I do like abstract thinking, as you put it. I usually find it very exciting, I think, both when I do it and when I hear or read it. ** Bill, Hi, Bill! Thanks for your statements of enjoyment. Much appreciated. Is your new computer awesome? Susan Steinberg ... I don't think I've read her, no. I'll check into her stuff. My grim mood is over, at least for now, and, anyway, indulging in the externally grim when you're grim yourself always seems like a sign of hope and mental health to me somehow. Fine day to you, man. ** Over. I got in this mood where I really wanted to go back and listen to Jungle and to get its particular pleasure-giving thing the other day, and I decided to bring you guys along. See you tomorrow.