Sometimes I like to imagine that Tom Jenkins is the kind of person who could just as well have ended up in a Jazz Fusion band if not for some timely mind-bending introduction to breakbeat electro and digital music about four years ago. Some of the songs on Hard Normal Daddy could indeed pass as Fusion. A freind of mine thought it was fusion when he heard it, and he knows what jungle is. The opening track sounds like a 70's cop TV show theme song. To me, 99% of jungle sounds the same, and it sounds very different from SP.
If you heard a NEW t-Power track, or a new Dillinja track, or any of those guys Simon Reynolds talks about, would you be able to identlify the artist without being told who it is? In fact, think about how many artists there are who you could identify at all just by the way it sounds. The list would be tiny, and it would include Squarepusher. It would not include 99% of jungle artists. 99% of jungle artists are basically just one big musician with a single agenda: to create the perfect expression of the formulaic jungle/house track. These guys make good music, but not great music. TJ makes great music.
I think the artists whom this list revolves around (AFX, Squarepusher, etc) have distinct styles and innovative ideologies about what they do, and purposefully differentiate themselves from mainstream crap. Most artists try to fit into a scene and make music which fits into a mix (which is what Simon Reynolds advocates). Most artists seek to conform, which is why I think they mostly suck. Some people try on purpose to make music which sounds different and distinct. These people do not suck.
I don't even think of what SP does as jungle because if you make a list of what he does with his music and who his influences are in order of importance, you will probably come up with something decidedly un-jungle. He's a bass player and obviously has some drum skills. I'll bet he played in his high school marching band, if they have them in england. I'll even bet he doesn't even listen to much jungle, and I'll bet he never went to a rave in his life. Maybe I'm idealizing him. I need a drink...
-CF
-----Original Message-----
From: April O'Neal [SMTP:giv@purescript.com.au]
T-Power was doing experimental Drum and Bass
when Jenkins was still hanging out with his raver friends in the early
90s, BUT.... Squarepusher has taken Jungle and taken it to the edge,
even Aphex can't top that, but there is only so much you can do with
jungle and thats why 'Hard Normal Daddy' has taken a sudden turn towards
cheesy 70s disco funk and Tom knows that!