It might seem odd, but does anyone hear any jungle stuff?
With all the hype recently, I couldn't resist picking up a handful
of highly recommended releases, and I think one or two are genuinely
interesting from an "intelligent" point of view. Of course you have
to be able to withstand 170bpm breakbeats to appreciate this stuff,
but let me mention:
Spring Heel Jack "The Sea Lettuce"
cd5/double 12"single on Rough Trade
vinyl is part 1,2,3,4. cd is part 1,2,3,5
1-3 are jungle rhythms with generally trancy synths and a well
crafted sound - highly listenable from my point of view
4 is not so good with a very fast 4/4 beat, but a few minutes of dub
breakdown at the end, the same as...
5 which is a great 10 minute ambient dub track (I realy mean dub -
in the bass-heavy reggae associated meaning)
(NB this was highly rated by top IDM shop Fat Cat in London)
Dead Dread "Dred Bass"
Moving Shadow 12"/10" (haven't heard the 10")
This is a bit "tuff"er - an ambient intro precedes massive
percussion rolls and gunshot sounds which are accompanied by
gorgeous synth sounds, processed "what de time, dred" vocals and a
sweet little "the burning light" female vocal hook.
The complex drum patterns which jungle has developed are reminiscent
of those used in much of "our" kind of idm - just a hell of a lot
faster.
J
^
James Skilton email jamess@firefox.co.uk
aka Steady J tel +44 (0) 121 703 3067