Continuing my comb-through for junglistic jems I never heard or didn't recognise on sight.... now it's the turn of Woebot's Top 40 picks
Well, I know nearly all of these
In fact I think there are just five that didn't immediately ring a bell
Dillinja - "Untitled" from the Tough Toonz EP
Or is Tough Toonz actually the label? The mighty D's debut at any rate.
I am going to assume Matt means the A1 tune
Never heard that. Rough, murky... good stuff.
Tantalised though by the possibility he meant one of the other Untitleds on this EP, Like this -
- which is actually even more jungalistic, a skittering roil laced with droney smears of degraded sample-texture, then punctured by a stammering vocal riff like a Rasta spectre with a speech impediment
Dillinja's formative years are dense
Postscript #1: Matt says the D'ja trak he has in mind is at 2:37:51 in this mix he did a while back
Yes that's good innit - has the edge on the previous tune - the way the breaks seem to whiplash out of dense whirl of murk - ditto those sharp stings of mentasmoid sound
Baby D, "Daydreaming"
This 1990 track is great - more bleep than jungle, though surely? Or did Matt mean a later rmx?
I guess there is something tribally coming through in this sound, a premonition of tangled rhythmic undergrowth
I recognise the vocal melody / performance but don't know either of the versions here
Now does Acen with his Acenhallucination rmx of '91 push it further toward junglizm?
It's getting there! Big and bashy. I would still file this under 'hardcore' though
DJ Hype, "Come Again"
Ah, never heard that, It's ace. Better than "The Trooper", its A-side - a somewhat underpar effort from Hype. "Come Again" has great little dubwize bleeps and an unusual groove with a military-drill feel, impossibly crisp and precise.
This is the first so far I would add to my own 200 (although I think I've actually spilled well over that number at this point)
Actually, listening to "The Trooper" again, it's really pretty exciting.
I think at the time for me it didn't match "A Shot In the Dark", "Weird Energy (Hells Bells Mix)", "I Can't Understand It (Scratch the Fuck Out of the Beginning Mix)" "The Chopper"...
The Johnny Jungle rmx on The Joint is even better
Back to Matt's
DJ Solo and DJ Rossie - "Sure Shot"
Well they don't have that one on YouTube as far as I can tell - the title definitely rings a loud clangy bell but nothing in the way of sound-pictures fill the mindscreen
They got the flipside though, "Inna Strength" - which is really good. Classic bit of rusty bedsprings a-clanking 'n' a-creakin' away with those sproinnnngy processed breaks and a bassline that is fast but reggae-feel, pummelling away below like a fist swinging up beneath your ribcage.
Postscript #2: Matt says that "Sure Shot" is at 41:02 in this other mix of his
Ah, yes, that is really good - Think + thunderbass choppage that gets all clattery and pots-and-pans-y
Adding to this one to the ever-growing canon!
Despite worshipping "Darkage" I have never really got a fix on Solo's other work
This one is good and definitely sets a few memory-tingles going
This is a minor classic
And the last one from Matt's list I didn't recognise
Trinity, "Chapter 19"
Another good one - not as atmospheric OR as deadly honed in its beats 'n bass as Mighty D would get in a year's time (this tune apparently circulating from late '93 on dubplate) but nice churning pummel with some slashing smears of tekno-blare still hanging in there, a linger from hardcore days. Then it goes into terrific middle bit with a sort of I-lost-my-mind broken-doll-person feel about it. Yup a gem - and something I never heard before.
I tend to think of D's aliases like Trinity as being equivalent to Tom & Jerry vis-a-vis 4 Hero - i.e the main name is the auteur name, the artcore name, while the alias(es) are the cater-to-the-massive, bread 'n' butter brand. But "Chapter 19" makes me think I should check through the Trinity trackage thoroughly.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
I was thinking I would do Sadmanbarty's lot right away but I glanced at them and "lot" is the right word - list is ENORMOUS, and full of things I don't recognise. I'll have to gird my loins for that sort-through session.
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