Review: Oh gosh... Jungle Cakes look back over their delicious back catalogue, and the wider jungle vista, to bring together 74 of the finest recipes known to mankind for this Gold level baking session. Featuring some of the biggest dishes in existence, one minute we're skanking out to Klue's insane 'Rudy, A Message To You', the next we're getting slapped by Spyda on Serum's 'All Ganja Man' then the next we're being tickled by seminal classics such as M-Beat & General Levy's 'Incredible'. The list of incendiary cuts goes on and on and on... Bossmen Ed Solo & Deekline's 'No No No', Potential Bad Boy's 'Over My Head', Dope Ammo & Taiwan MC's 'Babylon Falling' - every single cut is as hot as your oven on baking day. What a package... And there's a mix thrown in for good measure. Gold... Always believe in your soul.
Review: Positive vibes! Jungle Cakes head bakers Ed Solo and Deekline link-up once again with original don General Levy for some feel-good, sun-splashed system-primed fun. Springy, loaded with a crisp sawing bassline and driven by Levy's rapid flow, you can picture the exact festivals the three of them had in mind with a vibe like this. Especially Levy's precision double time rap mid way. For added vibe value, the mighty Aries has also provided a killer remix. A little darker in dynamic and stripped back, it leaves even more space for the General's voice to lead the way. Uplift central; we need music like this right now.
Review: Three legends combine on this one as we welcome back Jungle Cakes, an extremely well respected original jungle imprint, who here see the combination of three musical legends in perfect harmony. Deekline and Ed Solo combine with the untouchable vocal abilities of General Levy for an original, high energy slap entitled 'Have Some Fun', and boy does it bring out a party vibe. Levy's uplifting lyricism layers perfectly over the high pressure drum expressions and potent bass movements of Deekline & Solo's instrumental below, concocting a certified rave smash. Excellent work as per from three jungle giants.
Review: In a reggae laden expression of the stylistic backing behind Jungle Cakes, Deekline & Ed Solo are teaming up with Specimen A and renowned MC Blackout JA. 'Let The Music Play' rolls out with all the intent of four artists who know exactly how to blend dub-infused tones with a rolling 170 beat, as they have done many times the past. This time is well-trodden ground for them, but the shimmering brass notes and funky vocal lines don't sound any less wicked. There's a B-side which takes things a bit heavier on some VIP business, rounding out the single well.
Review: Chest thumping badness from the man like Ed Solo on his and Deekline's fast rising heavyweight D&B imprint Gorilla Warfare. "Min Wob" is all about the infectious riff where a clipped mid range one note glitch goes toe to toe against a lavish groaning sheet metal bassline while "Super Subs" lives up to its name to the very last detail with some exceptional bottom end work, blissful rave pads on the breakdown and a rolling sense of foundation funk that fellow OG Zinc used to be known for. Super and indeed sharp.
Review: Cor blimey, Jungle Cakes aren't messing around with their Welcome To The Jungle series are they? Hot on the heels of Ray Keith comes another stone cold OG; Nicky Blackmarket. Digging deep across the classics and sparking up a whole forest of fresh fires, it's a 40 track, 2 mix, 10 FX tool trove of pure jungle magic curated with the wide-armed style you'd expect from an originator. With classic ranging from well known such as "Incredible" and "Pulp Fiction" to cult such as "Keep It Raw" and "Gangsters" and upfront jams flexing from all the right names (Serum, Aries, Serial Killaz, Drumsound & Bassline Smith), Blackmarket has absolutely smashed this out of the mark.
Review: Brighton's own Ed Solo makes an epic return alongside Hot Cakes for a heavyweight single entitled "Bass In My Trunk". This one sees Ed experiment with UK Bass flavours and 4x4 maneuvers with great results, as weighty sub layers converge around punchy drum patterns and some catchy vocal slicing. On remix duty for this one Omega Squad step forward first for a stripped back recreation whilst Little Legs follow it up with a more funky inspired overhaul. It's always great to see Ed Solo releases pop up and this one is no disappointment.
Review: Selector! Jungle Cakes' Welcome To The Jungle series welcomes a bonafide legend to the controls: Ray Keith. Digging deep across the board he's put together over 40 killer tracks from an obscene rollcall: Serum, Vital, Dillinja, Bladerunner, Margaman, T>I, DJ Hybrid, Turno, Filthy Habits, Ed Solo, Deekline and many many more artists are responsible for the savage soul and badman bounce on offer as we're rattled and shaken from pillar to post. From the naughty ragga skanks and turbo reverse bass lashes of Deekline & Ed Solo's "Hot This Year" to Ray's very own seminal "Chopper" via Bladerunner's evergreen breezer "Jungle Jungle" via two mixes and 10 FX tools, this is one of Jungle Cakes' tastiest ever projects to date. Big up the Dark Soldier
We Play The Music (Acoustic version feat Darrison) - (4:14) 107 BPM
Love Your Life (Jesswah remix feat Darrison) - (5:20) 58 BPM
When I Was A Yout (King Hydra remix) - (4:12) 132 BPM
When I Was A Yout (Ed Solo remix) - (4:04) 131 BPM
We Play The Music (Erb N dub remix feat Darrison) - (4:49) 130 BPM
Review: 10 years ago, Ed Solo & Skool of Thought's debut album 'Random Acts of Kindness' made a sizeable impression. Its bottom heavy, vocal laced, feel good affair of varying tempos ducked and weaved through the genres of dubstep, breaks and drum 'n' bass. Label manager Skool of Thought (who is also boss for the now Australian based Against The Grain label) and Ed Solo have decided to invite a small group of talent who they greatly respect to rework the key tracks: and keep the momentum going. Best known for its upbeat collaborations with MC Darrison, the album has some real party friendly moments, but also had its deep and dark moments. Highlights for us this time around were the hip-hop party starter "We Play The Music" (feat Darrison & JFB), the Jazzamatazz style street language of "Sometimes" (feat Bukue One & Pimpernal Jones) to the ska influenced block-rocker "Life Gets Better" (feat Darrison) and the jump up drum and bass destroyer "Always There".
Review: It's 2017 and you can finally have your cake and eat it. It's all down to Jungle Cakes head chefs Deekline and Ed Solo who have been working hard in the bass kitchen since the foundation days. Here we find them in five Michelin star mode as they serve up a banquet of creations both from their own and their peers' menus. Highlights across this incredible D&B banquet abound from the moment Craze and Infiltrata's (aka 12th Planet) classic "Things Just Ain't The Same 4 Gangstas" opens the collection and Firefox's (aka Roni Size) seminal "Keep It Raw" headbutts us a few tracks later. Elsewhere the Jungle Cakes dons treat us to skanked-out banger after skanked-out banger; Spyda's iconic vocals and the hornets nest b-line on "Soundsystem Entertainer", Tippa's harmonic heaven on "Pass Me The Dubplate" and one of the nastiest remixes Deekline's notorious "Don't Smoke" has ever experienced. Loaded with an array of cool FX and two continuous mixes, this is a true jungle feast. What a time to be alive.
Review: In all due respects, if you need background deets on Brockie and Ed Solo you need to go back to school. If you don't, then you know what level of trouble we're dealing with here as the two hugely influential titans of the genre revisit their Undiluted vaults for an incendiary collection of high grade bruisers dating back to the turn of the century. Still hitting with the same spiked out futurism as they did almost 20 years ago, tracks like the distorted riff blunderbuss "Cheltenham Bass" the slappier, break-riddled "Mind Overload" and the star-gazing riff of "Dutty" still pack major punches to this day. Not ones to just look back, they've also commissioned a load of on-point remixes from some of the sharpest acts in contemporary jump-up: Turno, Serum, Annix, T>I... Need we go on? The story continues.
Review: You'd be hard pushed to name an MC with more of a distinctive jungle tonality than Spyda. With Fats coming a close second, Spyda has that musicality, hookiness but bare-faced brute force that instantly smacks with heritage. "Soundsystem Entertainer" is no exception as he does the dulcet damage over one of Solo's strongest bass hooks in a long time (which is saying something, considering his consistency high level) The end result is an instant floor-bubbler with all the funk and gusto you'd expect from the J-Cakes crew. Loaded with an instrumental for those rare arachnophobia association gala parties we all have to endure from time to time.
Review: 39 tracks, 10 FX sounds and a full mix. This isn't any old slice of afternoon cake you might share your elderly neighbour or distant relative, this is a seven-tiered wedding cake full of every type of unhealthy, fattening ingredient you can imagine. And we're not stopping until we've chowed the lot. If you've feasted on Deekline and Solo's Jungle Cakes before then you'll already know how tasty this is; a selection of their own releases and similarly spirited cuts from the scene, all laced with dubwise, dancehall and skank-soaked soul. Highlights hang from every corner but you'd be mad not to peak at Aries & Gold's soul-flecked massage of Mr Benn, or Dominator & Logan D's brokeback bust-up "Cowboy" or Serial Killaz' savage repurposing of Freestyler's iconic "Entertainer". High calorie badness.
Review: Yes yes, it's the latest from Ed Solo and this time he returns with help from Hackney's own DJ Brockie. "Dutty" fulfils its promise with a huge, filthy sound punctuated by hard hitting snares and a ridiculously tough bassline. Annix steps in on remix duties for "System Check", a futuristic ramble through what drum and bass must sound like to your operating system - and final tune "Represent" switches back to the old school, swapping dirty jump up rhythms for a colder, more intense flow. If this is a taste of things to come, that LP is going to be massive.
Review: Allow jungle revival pioneers and Jungle Cakes bosses Ed Solo & Deekline to present the much anticipated follow up to "Welcome To The Jungle". On this second edition of "Welcome To The Jungle", Ed Solo & Deekline delve deeper into their roots, and influences with a heady brew of jungle cuts old and new. From stone cold classics like Ray Keith - Chopper and DJ Hype ft. MC Fats - Peace, Love & Unity, also featured are remixes from Chase & Status, and Sigma. Mixed live by Ed Solo & Deekline over 2 continuous mixes, and crammed with 28 upfront exclusives, VIP mixes, classics, and fresh cuts from Jungle Cakes, Welcome To The Jungle Vol. 2 is all you need.
Review: Few producers nail juiced-up jungle ragga jams like Ed Solo. Here he teams up with the super-talented Elijah MC for a bass-blustered slammer that's sugar-coated with Elijah's soft-but-solid vocal mastery. Instant reload material, this will raze any floor within seconds. Need calming down? Flip for Elijah's stripped back authentic original. Blessings!
Review: It's refreshing to see Disco Cakes add a little something different into the mix of their mash-ups: bass! So in a bold fusion of old and new we get the likes of Deekline & Hotline Zero's "Pump Up The Volume" which takes M/A/R/R/S' 80s hit and marries it to a fizzy Drop It Like It's Hot hip-hop jam. Slynk also has a stab at "Top Rankin" which takes Althea & Donna's perennial 70s party anthem and successfully welds it to some steely big beat sounds and finally Hotline Zero's remix of "All Gravy" gets all tropical bass on our case.
