Re: Jungle Bashing
Matthew Robert Chicoine (scooby@umich.edu)
Tue, 27 Feb 1996 04:05:12 -0500 (EST)
I am briefly going to explain why I, Matt Chicoine, feel "jungle" is
funky. To me, funky loosely means a percussive, compelling type of music;
rhythmically, it is funky for the mere fact that it chops a meter/tempo into
segments that accentuate an off-beat, simultaneously reenforcing the need
to move to that. By working around the boundaries of a given meter/tempo,
the boundaries are that much more defined and interesting. The beauty of
"funkiness" is it employs subtlety to bring out the unsubtle roots of the
music. "Jungle" seems to embrace these very aspects of funkiness that I
have come to value, in an unconscious manner (it touches me without
thinking about it). By cutting and pasting, rearranging the rhythms, drum
and bass music presents unpredictability, subtlety that compells one to
perceive rhythm in a whole different manner. The pace of the music
definitely takes some getting used to, but after awhile it becomes much
less abbrasive and in fact enjoyable. Personally, I like to hear the beats
in half-time; they are thick, yes, but they are laying foundation to
something very different, an ambient sound that compells us to retain the
rhythm of the drums and let our mind go at the same time. Notice the
deep, droning bass lines that will "slice" the rhythm in half. Our need
to move meets our need to lose self-concsiousness and to feel with the .
. . soul (?debate this if you will?). Once you can shut off the head, the
analytical mind, you can eventually appreciate "jungle". Or so it seems to me.
This entrancing contrast is key to a lot of what we dig, it is smooth, yet
is very rhythmically based. We want to move, yet are pulled in by the melodic
lines, the power of the chords/changes, the soothing (trippy?) sounds that
ice the cake. . . Enough.
Over and out, & peace to (not only, but especially) cosmic headz-
Matt "Bubblicious" Chicoine