jungle 12 inch reviews / "Stone Free" column
Melody Maker, February 1995

by Simon Reynolds

BLAME & JUSTICE--"Chapter II Remixes" (Moving Shadow)
"Nightvision"--remixed here by D'Cruze--is a drum & bass groove so eerily elasticated and dub-reverbed that it's hard to imagine what kind of physical response could do it justice. Art-core rhythm-magick designed for pythons or contortionists, music to turn your body inside out.

HIDDEN AGENDA -- "Is It Love?" (Black/White Records)
Starts as dub-wize weirdness over the most stealthy, stalking bassline, then
abruptly sashays into '70s soul grooviness, all halcyon harmonies, frothing Moogs
and honeyed guitar-twinkles. Jungle meets G-funk--could this be the sound of '95?

RHYTHM FOR REASONS -- "A Statement of Rhythms EP" (Formation)
'The Love Statement' takes the euphoric synth-blip intro to Jonny L's happy hardcore
classic "Alright" and folds it like origami over fucked-up breakbeats. "The
Smoker's Rhythm', a frenzied drum-kit work-out, is one for the Risla massive.

T. POWER --"Horny Mutant Jazz" (SOUR)
Chilled-out jazz-jungle pivoting around a stately, sonorous horn motif. Calms
your metabolic rate as effectively as an intravenous squirt of liquid nitrogen.

TOM & JERRY-- EP (Reinforced)
Four tracks of inventive drum-rolls and multiple basslines that plunge deep into
red-zone distortion. Highlights: the swingbeat-flavoured "'Til The Morning" and
the percussion-labyrinth of "Follow Da Massive".

NICKY BLACKMARKET-- "Wild Geese" (Blackmarket)
Kinda like Ultramarine gone jungalistic, this turns honking waterfowl into
bebop horns, and rippling fusion-era piano into the melancholy ambience of a lake
shore at dusk.

HIGHER SENSE--"Cold Fresh Air (Remix)/People of the Universe" (Moving Shadow)
Ignore the overrated A-side in favour of "People", with its intricate beats,
eccentric bass and lambent jazz-chords.

SKANNA--"Greatest Thing (Remix)/All You Wanted" (Skanna)
Deeply dubby, with a yearning roots reggae vocal, rubbery bass and glassy percussion.

BROWN & DANGERMAN-- "Dreams of Another World" (Stronghold)
Superfast breaks surge through a whooshing wind-tunnel of aciiiiied frequency-modulations.