Rude boys

New jungle compilations mix it up

by Norman Weinstein

Jungle, that musical style born when techno music mutated into a sound embracing hip-hop and reggae, has recently undergone startling transformations. Go to a jungle event at Quest, still the only Boston club sufficiently open-eared for this music, and you'll likely hear Julian Carow (a/k/a DJ Casper) or Ian Melven (a/k/a DJ Timestretch) working the turntables. The two are emblematic of what's happening to jungle music internationally, and by listening to them live, or purchasing their expertly crafted mix tapes at Quest (Casper's "The Jazzstep," Timestretch's "This Style"), you hear the same kinds of musical excitement found on noteworthy new discs from labels like ffrr, Sour, and React.

At jungle's heart is a love of frenetic, almost anarchistically spirited, complex rhythm tracks. Jungle was created when a number of UK DJs in the late '80s experimented with fusing Detroit techno rhythms (regular as cars rolling off the assembly line) with accelerated samples of hip-hop percussion tracks. The reggae touches were borrowed from dub: thunderous drums and bass were high in the mix. They created a jagged, convulsively quick style of urban music. By the early '90s, LTJ Bukem and Goldie bypassed the dead end of seeing how many beats per minute humans could withstand by introducing melodic ambient colors. Bukem's recent Logical Progression (ffrr) and Mixmag Live! Volume 3 (DMC) are stunning examples of how lush synthesizer sounds can introduce a calm center into the midst of music that threatens to explode rhythmically in all directions. Think of the impact of introducing looped samples of Debussy's piano études into the mix of a noisy industrial band -- and making it cohere. Bukem knows how to program a jungle event so that this near-schizoid fusion is accomplished, borrowing, as does Julian Carow, from mellow jazz. In fact, you can expect to hear certain jazz artists sampled by junglists working this ambient vein. They're jungle's musical "glue."

The best of the new ambient-flavored jungle might be labeled "jazzstep" or "jungle jazz," and though jazz purists may find nothing of substance here, alert and open-eared listeners will hear smart incorporation of the fusion styles of Miles Davis and Sonny Sharrock. Sour has just released one of the best jazzstep compilations, Shapeshifter, in which junglists like B.L.I.M. and Unguided Lights mix jungle rhythms with wicked jazz-fusion samples to great effect. There's a lot of Miles-sounding trumpet darting in and out of these hyperkinetic tracks; it could make you wish Miles had lived long enough to collaborate with junglists. Piercing, muted trumpet phrases offer a steadying island of repose in the midst of helter-skelter rhythms. Another noteworthy compilation is Artcore 2 (Reactor). The Miles-ian trumpet loops give way here to soulful female vocals and Weather Report-like synth grooves. T. Power and Doc Scott are the acts to notice, the way they meld jazz swing and jungle propulsion.

This emergent mellow jungle is one offshoot. The other, called "darkstep," exaggerates the harsh thunderous bass and chattery snare-drum taps omnipresent in jungle, plays down melodic hooks in favor of sheer rhythmic drama, and samples violent male rappers. DJ Timestretch favors this rough and tumble sound. Another Sour anthology, Nu Skool Flava, offers a taste (T.C. Islam & the Alien 3 are a perfect example). And Photek's The Hidden Camera (Astral Werks) is the most sophisticated hardstep session available, full of percussive bombs set against stark bits of menacing bass and synth, and sounding like a soundtrack to a 21st-century remake of Hitchcock's Psycho.

Jazzstep and hardstep are the two clearest directions jungle music has recently taken, but there's another, more enchanting path that perhaps only those outside of jungle circles would find. English free-jazz guitarist Derek Bailey joined with UK DJ Ninj to create Guitar Drums 'n' Bass (Avant). Although Ninj's drum programming is rather pedestrian, Bailey transcends it by inventing his own sense of frenetically asymmetrical rhythm playing, picking skittering showers of dissonant 16th notes, building riffs only to tear them swiftly and gleefully down again, teasing at rock, even heavy-metal, clichés. This is great fun, maybe also a classy mockery of jungle's conventions (not to mention those of jazz guitar!). And anarchistic. Anarchy in the UK has never sounded so robustly rude.