Thrive in '95 - Jungle's zenith

[Corpsey]

berlin techno djs you mean.

but nah i know your point. the thing is though bukem is a skilled dj but the glr stuff is not hard to mix anyone can do it, there are huge wishy washy 3 minute ambient bits before the breaks kick in.

It wasn't so much the skill of mixing as the skill at sustaining and subtly altering the tone/vibe/whatever. For three hours.

Mind you this was in 2007 and I'd done two pills and the sun was coming up so I was very susceptible lol

 

[thirdform]

Bukem was an amazing DJ. Long blends, well thought through sequences and the technical skills to pull off really tricky mixes using the whole tune. Big influence on Naphta who was a huge influence on me.

strange that naphta is into him given naphta is into the soulstep roller (you know the stuff im talking about, the stuff that is like da intalex and l double.) Would think randall would be a bigger influence on him. I'm not sure how anyone can listen to a whole bukem set from 95 and not feel like it was all getting a bit monochrome. a bukem set from 92 though, amazing.

 

[thirdform]

95 for me it's like djs younghead sl and assorted other pirate radio jocks. trace great around that era as well.

 

[blissblogger]

The way you describe that set in New York reminds me of the EXIT set. It was the only time I've seen a DNB DJ mix like a house/techno DJ. Long, smooth transitions, slowwww emotional shifts.

exactly, Bukem was transposing the house way of deejaying onto jungle, and i think consciously trying to move jungle into that house mainstream and reach that audience

but a lot of those guys loved house first ... so for them it was like a return to source thing

 

[thirdform]

i dunno which house djs you guys are talking about. i mean i have never seen pete tong who was supposedly credible in the 90s. david morales i guess? the house djs i have always seen generally local lads have been the trackhead types doing fairly quick chops. my mate yuri plays chicago jack trax alongside electrofunk/disco etc etc all night. house more as a feeling than house as a codification.

 

[thirdform]

this is the kind of house i am into. i guess this was not the house mainstream of the 90s though bliss blog was it? or wasn't it idk.

 

[thirdform]

thats my kind of house, dj rush cajmere as well, also lil louis, slammin dj, proper funk master. traxman sometimes as well.

but none of this was probably considered house mainstream in the 90s.

 

[Slothrop]

but then when he didn't have to smuggle it in but just let it blossom it became something else - bit mild, bit pacific - but the logical progression of what he wanted to do

See what you did there.

 

[droid]

strange that naphta is into him given naphta is into the soulstep roller (you know the stuff im talking about, the stuff that is like da intalex and l double.) Would think randall would be a bigger influence on him. I'm not sure how anyone can listen to a whole bukem set from 95 and not feel like it was all getting a bit monochrome. a bukem set from 92 though, amazing.

Well, what Bukem did was show what was possible and offer a template for mixing the deeper stuff. The reason I rate Naphta's sovereign rhythms mixes so highly is because he took that template and applied it across the whole spectrum of jungle whilst integrating the more typical chops and cuts of the likes of Randall.

Despite the many disadvantages of being distant from the scene, there was one huge advantage for an attentive and diligent DJ - no prejudice or partisan scene politics hampering your selection choices. In retrospect Dublin was ideally placed to exploit this - partly why Bassbin was so successful.

 

[thirdform]

Well, what Bukem did was show what was possible and offer a template for mixing the deeper stuff. The reason I rate Naphta's sovereign rhythms mixes so highly is because he took that template and applied it across the whole spectrum of jungle whilst integrating the more typical chops and cuts of the likes of Randall.

Despite the many disadvantages of being distant from the scene, there was one huge advantage for an attentive and diligent DJ - no prejudice or partisan scene politics hampering your selection choices. In retrospect Dublin was ideally placed to exploit this - partly why Bassbin was so successful.

ah yeah that makes sense. i really rate sovereign rhythms vol 2 very highly, wish there were like 10 more of those tbh.

 

[droid]

Me too. There are 2 or 3 decent tape mixes that I ripped a few years back. 95-97 style. Ill have to ask him about them

 

[pattycakes_]

Despite the many disadvantages of being distant from the scene, there was one huge advantage for an attentive and diligent DJ - no prejudice or partisan scene politics hampering your selection choices. In retrospect Dublin was ideally placed to exploit this - partly why Bassbin was so successful.

Way better explained than my ham fisted effort earlier in the thread. Word up.

 

[thirdform]

im listening to your razors edge mix again droid. did you do this in one take? seems like you really thought it through, i could never really do that i will just pick a load of tunes and throw em in and it could be the best or worst thing ever.

 

[droid]

Ha! No, unfortunately. I think there were 3 or 4 takes in total and then some splices. That runnin' man mix took a couple of goes. Rolldabeats>>Rollin Voodoo>>Kemistry was a nightmare as well. Nearly all of our mixes are completely notated. We rehearse them mix by mix write down the pitch/EQ, dynamic changes etc. and then hit record. We did play it out live though and it worked out very well.

I do have '93 mix done using this method that we were determined to do in one take. 28 attempts and three years later we finally got it right.

 

[thirdform]

madness.

 

[thirdform]

and there I'm thinking if i listen to the entire trojan back catalogue for 30 years i can be the sasha and digweed of jungle in my old age.

 

[droid]

The way of the perfect mix demands sacrifice, precision and discipline... or time, a lot of time.

 

[droid]

That said, if you DJ out on a regular, you shake the rust off a lot more quickly.

 

[droid]

Secret weapon of Jungle DJs... spreadsheets!

I reckon Bukem used Excel for his mixes as well. He has that look about him

 

[thirdform]

it's the precise key mixing bit i struggle with i know when something sounds right or wrong but i couldn't notate it.