Here is a good definition of Jungle.
jUANO
----------
Until I have time to sit down and write out my own stuff..this will do I
think
What is Jungle?
by Ian Melven & Julian Carow
Jungle is a form of dance music that comes from London and the rest of
England. Its main
characteristic is that it uses a "breakbeat" instead of a straight "boom
boom boom boom" 4 to the
floor beat. These days the beats are chopped every which way possible. While
the beats move at
around 165-170 bpm, the basslines are moving at half speed (85 bpm), making
the music perfect to
bop your head to. These complex polyrhythms makes jungle one of the most
complex forms of
music today. Jungle's more technically correct name is "drum & bass". But
"jungle" is simpler to use
and more people recognize it so that is the term that i will use.
Jungle first gained mass popularity on the rave scene in 1992, utilizing
sped up hip hop "breakbeats".
At this time, it was known as "breakbeat", "rave", or "hardcore". Tempos
were around 145 bpm.
Key components of jungle during this time are piano breakdowns and sped up
vocal samples (think
of the Chipmunks :P ). Typical tracks from this era are tunes such as DJ
Seduction ("My Own"),
Acen ("Trip II The Moon"), and Dance Conspiracy ("Dub War"). The popularity
of the Prodigy's
"Charly" which sampled a children's safety ad off of British TV started a
whole wave of "novelty"
records which used heavy sampling of TV in attempt to cash in on Charly's
success. Examples are
"Trip to Trumpton" and the Smart E's "Sesame's Treet" which lifted the theme
from Sesame Street
and stuck a breakbeat underneath it.
In an attempt to move away from the growing commericalism of the scene,
artists began a new style
of jungle in '93. The music got darker and faster. Known as "Darkness" or
"Darkside", this style
used screams, samples from horror movies, and a sound known as the "hoover",
because of its
similarity to the sound of a vacuum cleaner. Examples of classic darkside
tracks are Boogie Times
"The Dark Stranger", Rufige Kru "Terminator", and Origin Unknown's "Valley
of the Shadows (31
Seconds)".
In 1994, the big sound was ragga. Producers took reggae samples and at some
times full on vocals
and put jungle beats under them. Examples of these tracks are Conquering
Lion's "Code Red" and
the infamous M-Beat featuring General Levy with "Incredible." During this
time jungle went through a
tremendous surge of popularity, with several tracks charting in the top 40
in the UK. This period
saw a tremendous outpouring of extremely dodgy tracks as everyone attempted
to cash in on the
jungle trend.
1995 witnessed the insurgence of the "dread bass" named after the classic
track by dead dred.
Basically it is a very pronounced bass line that gets its sound from
"reversing" a normal bassline. By
the summer of 1995, ragga had pretty much died out and artists began using
more and more hip hop
samples from artists such as Wu Tang Clan and KRS-One. These styles became
to be called
"hardstep".
On a side note, the old happy sounds of '92 still hadn't died out. Although
almost totally split from
the jungle scene, happy hardcore continued under a new name, "4-beat".
4-beat has ianos, vocals,
and bouncy technos riffs with 4/4 beats over the breakbeats. It still is
very popular with ravers in the
UK.
Meanwhile so-called "intelligent" (btw only thickos use this word) drum and
bass was also being
produced. By the end of 1995, it had gained widespread media coverage. Music
that used to be
shunned by the UK press was now the "in" thing. Clubs like "Speed" and
"Metalheadz" are now
widely popular. Artists and DJs such as LTJ Bukem, Goldie, Alex Reece, Wax
Doctor, Fabio, etc.
are all pushing the limits of technology incorporating jazzy chords into the
music. As 1996 starts, this
music is rapidly becoming more and more complex (as if this is even
possible!). Watch out.
A few more summaries
The Wire (September '94)
NY Times (9/22/94)
Details (January '95)
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c1996 Julian Carow jcarow@mit.edu
last updated 8 Feb 96