VERY INTERESTING: JUNGLE

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about 

Jungle

With a lineage encompassing everything from acid house to dancehall, jungle was more than a short-lived fad

To say that the late ’80s and early ’90s were a fertile time for UK dance music is a big understatement. And it’s crucial to understand how tech, youth culture and musical ideas collided to create these bold new sounds.

The catalyst behind much of this rapid evolution came in the form of raves, where sounds and trends changed from one week to the next, assisted by lightning-fast distribution of new music on tape packs, white label vinyl and pirate radio.

Jungle’s musical family tree is complex. The sound grew out of hardcore and breakbeat-driven forms of techno, which respectively drew influence from a range of styles including the obvious (acid house, hip-hop) along with more esoteric genres such as Belgian new beat and electronic body music (EBM).

The various roots of the jungle sound extend all the way back to ’70s reggae basslines and funk breaks, but in terms of something that might be recognised as a direct precursor to jungle, early ’90s hardcore already had most of the characteristics in place: breakbeats, chopped samples, heavy reggae-inspired basslines. Tracks like SL2’s On A Ragga Tip(opens in new tab)are clear signs of the sound emerging.

One of the final pieces of the puzzle came as ravers - possibly under the influence of illicit substances - clamoured for faster music. Average tempos crept from around 120bpm for acid house, through the 130s and 140s for hardcore, to the 150-160+ range which really defined jungle.

Welcome to the jungle

The origin of the name itself is disputed, with some claiming it as a reference to producer Johnny Jungle, others seeing it as a nod to Arnett Gardens in Kingston, Jamaica, known as the Concrete Jungle or just Jungle. The term stuck. Jungle became a distinct form, and its acolytes earned the name junglists. The junglist aesthetic - a blend of hip-hop fashion and designer clothes, graffiti and spliffs - became easily recognisable.

Production was rough and ready, focused around sampling rather than synths and drum machines. As such, the technological element came largely in the form of whatever sequencing and sampling technology producers could afford, mainly Atari computers and Akai samplers.

Software options for the breakbeat chopping process eventually arrived - notably Steinberg/Propellerhead’s ReCycle, released in 1994 - but slicing and rearranging samples was largely a painstakingly manual process. The ‘ruffness’ in the music came from this unpolished aesthetic, plus MC samples and vocals inspired by dancehall and ragga.

By the mid-’90s, jungle was a phenomenon. Iconic tracks like Goldie’s Terminator(opens in new tab), Shy FX’s Original Nuttah(opens in new tab) and Dead Dred’s Dred Bass had defined a clear blueprint for the sound.

In the UK, a major sign of mainstream acceptance came as BBC Radio 1 launched a dedicated jungle show, One in the Jungle, in July 1995, the same month Goldie released Timeless, signalling a transition into a more expansive form of drum & bass. As such, some might argue retrospectively that jungle is part of the broader DnB genre.

Despite receding from the spotlight to some extent, jungle has remained a consistent reference point in dance music, playing a role in shaping the sound of UK garage and cross-pollinating back over with techno. Producers like Skream and Burial certainly took major influence from jungle as they developed their vastly different takes on dubstep. Burial’s erstwhile Hyperdub labelmate Zomby took things to extremes with whole albums of deeply retro jungle.

Revivalism lives on via producers mimicking the original early ’90s sound, but perhaps the most interesting takes come from producers like Paul Woolford under his Special Request alias, taking jungle tropes and reinventing them into fresh, exciting styles.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking