Soul Jazz Presents Rumble In The Jungle

[Alfons]

I'm not sure that "ironic appreciation" is all about listening to things and going "oh this is so silly", though. Maybe I have too high an opinion of hipsters, but I can't imagine that listening to loads of records that you genuinely don't enjoy would stay interesting for very long. I think it has more to do with listening to things where you actually like the sounds but aren't supposed to like the record according to your friends / tastemakers / whatever because it doesn't fit in with your current conception of what 'cool' is. So you can get of on the bass and the energy and if anyone asks why you're listening to this and not po-faced indie you can give them a knowing "aaaah" and it's okay. This works for soft rock and cheesy pop as well as it does for rave.

Im not saying they don't like the tunes, but I think their appreciation for them is somewhat ironic. The "tastemakers" used to deem rave/ragga jungle as silly or dead, these nu rave hipsters take a liking to these tunes (old rave music isn't very demanding I guess?) but at the same time there is an ironic detachment; "its so 90's", "silly music" etc... I think a lot of the time these people aren't sure wether they genuinely like something or if it's just tongue in cheek, this goes for music, fashion, tv, movies, books... everything.

Im always reminded of the Homperpalooza Simspon episode when two teenagers are speaking of Homer as the cannonball guy:

Teen1: Oh, here comes that cannonball guy. He's cool.
Teen2: Are you being sarcastic, dude?
Teen1: I don't even know anymore.

 

[DJ PIMP]

It's almost as if everything is moving at hyperspeed in terms of things being revived.

Yep, that Armand van Helden quote I posted in the Touch Your Toes thread made me laugh... hyper-conscious self styling.

"I was going for a retro throwback 1985-89 soul uptempo urban type sound. Chicago meets Miami meets New York City kind of thing. Or to put it differently, house meets freestyle meets hip-house meets club meets new wave."

I'm 30something, and the degree of style awareness of the younger generations blow me away. It's way higher than I remember it being as a kid. Kind of like everything has become historicised, commoditised, and advertised to the point where people growing up are crucially aware of the evolution of style as sign and signifier, and there is simply nothing outside of it. Irony is a flawed attempt at creating a distancing mechanism.

 

[Trevor Lunch]

Maybe's reviving music is like remaking classic films.A lot of the time people just dont have the balls to use their imagination.

 

[Buick6]

I love jungle, I reckon it's the last really great music the Pommies invented besides the shoegazers.

I've got one of those jungle compilations from the early 90s, it's one of those Slipmatt or Grooverider presentations with really shitty computer cartoon funky-hiphouse graphics.

I love jungle.

 

[petergunn]

The tracklisting itself is a bit simplistic, 'Original Nuttah' and 'Incredible' - but no Congo Natty or Marvellous Cain? When I first heard about the compilation I was hoping for some real insights into early jungle, not a colour-by-numbers breakdown of the obvious, including the chart-toppers - stuff that has featured on countless jungle compilations before.

uh, were you aware this compilation was on Soul Jazz?

 

[adruu]

Great Hypothetical Jungle Compilation of "totally missed shit"

T Power - Everything on Soapbar
Dig the Nu Breed - Labello Blanco
Untold Records - Back to Nam EP (still looking for more info on this)
Undercover Elephant - Jellyhead- Bogwoppa Records
This weird Pre-Rugged Vinyl Rugged Vinyl record forget the catalog..."Jungle Jungle!"

MMM jungle...the last couple of minutes of Bukem's Music, right when the chimes cut out, still does it for me

 

[soul_pill]

Remarc

Remarc has been producing some new stuff - check his myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/djremarc

and Undercover Elephant is still making tunes in France on a farm as Hellfish

 

[Dusty]

Plenty of great comps got released on CD at the time though (Drum & Bass Selection 1-5, Jungle Massive 1-4 are both universally great and many more amusingly named ones like Jungle Mania 1-3, Jungle Hits 1-3, Ragga Jungle Anthems 1 & 2, Renegade Selector Series 1 & 2 are all respectable etc, despite a bit of repetition.) Actual single artist jungle full lengths were rarer but Kemet Crew, Shy FX and Congo Natty/Blackstar all released very nice CDs.

haha, I'm almost embarrassed to say I own almost every single release you mentioned there - its become more and more of a guilty pleasure as the years go by and its strange to see it come back.

The artwork is cringingly bad on the drum and bass selection CDs (the worst artwork for the best compilations), but then it wasn't exactly slick at the time either. Jungle was never known for its highbrow art ethic... I think Congo Natty did all his own covers, fair play.

uh, were you aware this compilation was on Soul Jazz?

I'm a bit of a newcomer to Soul Jazz I have to say.

 

[Guybrush]

I'm 30something, and the degree of style awareness of the younger generations blow me away. It's way higher than I remember it being as a kid. Kind of like everything has become historicised, commoditised, and advertised to the point where people growing up are crucially aware of the evolution of style as sign and signifier, and there is simply nothing outside of it. Irony is a flawed attempt at creating a distancing mechanism.

I think you are right, but I would add that this still only concerns a select few. Most people are as clueless as always. I think the reasons why it’s easier than ever being cool («cool») today are, 1. information on what’s «in» is easier than ever to get hold of, 2. culture, and thus the concepts of what is deemed cool, moves so damn slow nowadays.

 

[Chris]

I'm not too keen on revivals, they always feel so half-assed and irrelavant. It'd be better perhaps if a vague feeling of jungle comes back, maybe a return of old samples and early bass sounds, but within a newly sped-up outgrowth of a 'nuum genre (perhaps even in drum n bass itself... although then it would risk being kind of a backbacker/left-field/traditionalist counterpoint to that scene).... but to do the legacy of jungle any justice, it would have to crucially happen within a very much alive, vital, and sincere dance subgenre (as opposed to just being the latest 15 minute hipster craze), carrying forward certain early junglistic elements without being retroist. It can be done... the Creation Records/shoegazer scene was vaguely inspired by the idea and myth of 60s psychedelia without directly imitating it... they just took a few qualitative descriptors and reinterpreted them. Sincerity is the key though in my opinion, we need to end this irony bullshit.

 

[Slothrop]

I sometimes wonder whether the frequency of 'ironic' revivals is basically going to carry on increasing until we're in a permenant state of everything revival and everyone (or at least, people who care about such things) can listen to, dance to and nick influence from whatever they want in a weird sort of uber-popism.

 

[Slothrop]

Im not saying they don't like the tunes, but I think their appreciation for them is somewhat ironic. The "tastemakers" used to deem rave/ragga jungle as silly or dead, these nu rave hipsters take a liking to these tunes (old rave music isn't very demanding I guess?) but at the same time there is an ironic detachment; "its so 90's", "silly music" etc...

I think it's the difference between liking or disliking the music and liking or disliking the various sorts of cultural baggage that come with the music - and it's more the latter that ironic detachment distances you from. So nu-rave kids can now enjoy rave tunes without feeling that they're implicitly claiming that the M1 piano is the sound of The Future. Or indeed, that they're attaching significance to the music beyond what it sounds like. Which is laudably popist of them in a weird sort of way.

 

[rosebeast]

I sometimes wonder whether the frequency of 'ironic' revivals is basically going to carry on increasing until we're in a permenant state of everything revival and everyone (or at least, people who care about such things) can listen to, dance to and nick influence from whatever they want in a weird sort of uber-popism.

I think about this too. It all moves so fast, very soon, everything will have been revived, and people will find themselves slap bang in the very clear present with nowhere to go. That's why I couldn't believe people were talking about a 2-step revival already. Its as if a period of gestation is no longer necessary in order for people to rebrand it as the latest trend. Maybe once everything has been revived, things will be even more exciting and people will be forced to make something new, or perhaps things will become even more depressing and people will simply start reviving trends that have already been revived once before in the past.

 

[Guybrush]

I sometimes wonder whether the frequency of 'ironic' revivals is basically going to carry on increasing until we're in a permenant state of everything revival and everyone (or at least, people who care about such things) can listen to, dance to and nick influence from whatever they want in a weird sort of uber-popism.

I’m sure this will happen, and it will be interesting in its absurdity.

 

[sodiumnightlife]

i don't think people were postulating a 2 step revival in terms of bringing back champagne culture etc, more just a return to 2 step rhythms in dubstep.

 

[DJ PIMP]

Are we not in perpetual revival already? Pretty much anything with a nod towards something vintage is hip to someone.

It reminds me a bit of that technique in advertising where they use cynicism or parody to get buy-in from consumers... the subtext is that both advertiser and consumer are complicit in the game of consumerism. They know we know we know they know.

 

[wonk_vitesse]

I don't think Jungle ever really went away, maybe it did a bit in '98/99 but what with the breakcore mashups and general retro rave atmosphere it seems to be ever present. The problem with Jungle is not the music itself but the fact that the 'Amen' sample has been chewed on so much that I for one can't bare to hear it anymore. Obvioulsy the younger kids may still lap it up. Acts like Remarc & Bizzy B leave me really cold and even the brilliant & pioneering tunes from '94 have lost their impact.

 

[straight]

diplo played at the club i do visuals at last night and finished with super sharp shooter and id say hes a fairly good barometer of what hipster kids will be playing

 

[hint]

It all seems pretty natural to me.

- People start DJing in their late teens, buy lots of jungle, move on and become interested in a variety of styles.

- 10 to 15 years later, you can return to those tunes that were rinsed out first time around, because the audience has changed.

To take "Super Sharp Shooter" as an example - how many of the 18 year old kids going clubbing these days have ever heard it played loud? That's the main focus for me, personally - if I play something like "Warning" or "6 Million Ways" or "Some Justice" it's because these are great club records that should be played and enjoyed in clubs.

The important point is that, playing them in 2007 (rather than in 2001, for example), you're less likely to be playing them to a room full of people who are fed up of hearing them.

"Backpacker" hip hop is probably next in line.

 

[ripley]

Remarc has been producing some new stuff - check his myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/djremarc

and Undercover Elephant is still making tunes in France on a farm as Hellfish

Woh... Undercover Elephant is Hellfish? as in Hellfish and Producer? As in the best ever dubstept-int-breakcore tune (with the best name): Gnomes Tinker With Time?

I love that stuff! I had no idea!