Review: Wake up and bake up, Jungle Cakes are back in the kitchen with their prize dish range 'Welcome To The Jungle'. This time the guest chefs are none other than Dub Pistols who've been flexing all styles and sizes of breakbeat since the very beginning. Currently coming correct with 50 tracks, they cover the full range of D&B through their dubwise, reggae-roasted selection. From the steam engine skank-ups like Isaac Maya and Daddy Freddy's thundering 'Bring Dem' to Deekline & Ed Solo's instant sing-along smash-out 'Bam Bam' to the dancehall bashment of Selecta J Man's 'My Style', this isn't so much of a jungle welcoming but more of a full jungle takeover... And you'll never want to leave.
Review: Jungle Cakes always tend to put out music that rests on the foundations of UK underground, the cross-over influences of soul, reggae, jungle and D&B. it's always a fresh sound and it always brings up connotations of Boomtown, free parties and sunny afternoons. This is a monster album curated by Aries and Kelvin 373, who have taken tracks both old and new to form a banging compilation. Bou nails it on 'Music Takes Me Higher', a rustic revisit to classic jungle sounds; Aries and Nicky Blackmarket roll things out in a tight way on 'Champion'; and Chimpo slams the brakes on 'DidDieDoThat'. We don't know the answer to that, but we do know this is fat. Big ups.
Review: A treasure trove for the true drum and bass / jungle head, the Formation label sends in a second wide load of 170BPM+ steppers and bangers in a follow up to their Back To Jungle compilation series. Highlights straight off the bat include numbers from Dan Blackout and DJ Andy, with something seriously frenetic coming out of Mogshot's "Jungle Volunteer Force". For your stripped back rhythm tracks One Dread has you covered, with the likes of Slaine offering up a subtle dose of rave (all the more) with junglisms pushed to the max in Aries & Haslem's knees up special "Just Break". A wild compilation of maxed out jungle prominence.
Review: Deep in the Jungle continue their onwards march with this, the seventh edition in their widely acclaimed Anthems series, a compilation that always finds the ideal mix of current and future talent to showcase. In the case of the former, well-travelled producers Epicentre and Kumarachi roll things out and tear them down on 'Light Em Up', which features a gnarly array of interlinked bass nodes and torn low frequency sonics, al underpinned by a percussion section that's the perfect blend of rusty and sharp. New talent emerges in the form of Trobe and Mirage, who have their first label release with '89', although you wouldn't have guessed it based off this tune's razor clean percussive edge and expert use of space, a hard thing to get right and one this pair blow out the water here. Rave samples, expansive basslines and a synth arrangement you won't be able to shake - unmissable. 34 tracks later and Deep in the Jungle have nailed every single one of them - big ups.
Review: It doesn't get more legendary than DJ SS' Formation Records, and the man himself has organised a fat, 56-track compilation that will take you back to jungle. This is part 1 of 3 parts, and at 20 tunes it's nothing to be sniffed at, featuring music from the likes of Kenny Ken, Dave Shichman, Sikki and Fabric8. The first of those has a track called 'Gimme Dat Roller' which is simply crazy, with a clean, penetrating percussion that flips and nods its head with flair; the bassline comes next, and it's a true creeper. 'Jah' by Fabric8 has a wicked, lounging reggae introduction that sets the stage for a jagged, spiking bassline that zips through the arrangement in a seriously catchy way. Seminal stuff.
Doctor Spook, Dubstep Spook & DJ Acid Hard House - "Drum & Bass, Jungle Hardcore & Trap Top 100 Best Selling Chart Hits V2" (2 Hr DJ mix) - (1:52:35) 175 BPM
Angel & Spider - "Soulful" - (5:14) 174 BPM
Wwer - "Loading" - (4:17) 174 BPM
Gunz N' Brozes - "Infernal Pleasure" - (4:05) 172 BPM
