Keith wrote: "However, it seems like the best talents in the experimental end of
acid jazz are going towards jungle, which to me is a great loss. Most every
Ninja Tune, Mo'Wax et al releases are either completely jungle or else half of
the mixes are jungle. Does anyone see this as the first signs of a dying genre
or is it a natural progression for this music?"
Agree and disagree. I, too, hate the 'acid jazzers turning jungle' thing. But
not because I hate jungle, but because I hate a lot of what these folks are
putting out as jungle. I'm not accusing anyone of being trainjumpers (I only got
into this sound recently myself) but some of these folks doing 'junglist' mixes
who were doing AJ before don't do too good of a job at their newfound genre.
Coldcut's excursions into jungle are pretty lame, for example, which is probably
why they now have outside talents like Lemon D. do their drum n bass remixes
now. The Coldcut crew should themselves stick to what they do best. (my opinion,
of course)
I like some of the Mo Wax drum n bass releases, though, but those are done by
other folks... not Mr. Lavelle + crew. Actually, I hated jungle at first because
what I was hearing were these AJ'ers attempts and not the true drum n bass
artist redefining the boundaries of the genre (like the aforementioned Photek).
Keith also wrote: "I see in the not so distant future bands like the Ballistic
Brothers who straddle the fence between experimental and jungle as thriving
while true jazzers like the New Breed people either sink or jump on the
bandwagon."
I love the Ballistic Bros. drum n bass attempts however. And New Breed may not
be holding out for too much longer if some of the stuff Smash played me last
Wednesday is any indication! Remember... those last Dj Smash 'Party Platter' EPs
were getting faster in BPM....
But the death of a genre? Nah... just the welcome blurring of genres, as
experimentation takes over. (Maybe I'm being hopeful...)
PEACE
Michael Donaldson
Q-BURN's ABSTRACT MESSAGE