Decided to make a list of old skool jungle tunes from back in the day. Everyone’s rockin’ dubstep and drumstep, but some of these tunes helped set it off twenty years ago, laying the foundation that dubstep would eventually come out of..
I only chose ten, but obviously there are tons of great tunes to be heard that I didn’t mention. But, if you’re into jungle, you’ll probably know most of these tracks…if you’re new to jungle, then these tracks provide a great introduction to the sound of hardcore vintage eletronica.
And, with that, let the old skool jungle arguments about top-ten placement start….NOW.
10.) Deep Blue – The Helicopter Tune
By today’s standards, it might not be the most insane thing on the planet, but it’s a fun track, with classic and unrelenting jungle sound.
9.) Bizzy B – Every Day Junglist
The champion, Bizzy B! Some straight-up good junglism, with lots of fun samples that one came to expect from the super-quick rave genre…
8.) Cool Hand Flex – Must Feel
This is definitely a fun tune. Super heavy bass, and a tripped-out little reggae sample to put you in that irie jungle vibe. I remember first hearing this one about ten years ago. I kept replaying it, turning it up louder and louder, each time. I just love the contrast between the treble-ish beats and the super-low bass. As far as I’m concerned, all you really need for good jungle is a subbass and a snare. Oh, and a fast tempo. (…and, I suppose, an irie demeanor?)
7.) Dj Zing – Super Sharp Shooter
With a fun sampled-synth and a cutty vocal, this one’s great for drivin’ around and blasting the bass and annoying the neighbors. And in the end, isn’t that half the fun of listening to bass music? :)
6.) Mental Power – Deep Soul
I enjoy the soulful old-skool-house piano and vocal intro on this one. Bustin’ chopped amen loops with sweet ‘n soulful vocal melodies: what’s not to like?
5.) Remarc – Drum n Bass Wise
This tune’s got a great example of the super-stretcched vocal right before the break – a sound effect that came to help characterize the sound of 90s jungle sound. Plus, the eery tones give it that dark and unhappy feel, which further separated it from the rest of rave culture and acid house, at the time. I mean, to say that all of acid house was happy would be an overstatement, but when jungle started gaining momentum, it really defined itself as the aggressive and darker side of rave music. Remarc’s tune, above, is a good example of that.
4.) Omni Trio – Renegade Snares
An older one. There were a lot of bomb Omni Trio tracks.
3.) Congo Natty Junglist
Aside from being an incredible tune, the video brings depth to the experience, and you get the feeling of being right next to Congo Natty, making jungle records. Very fun.
2.) DJ Rap – Intelligent Woman
This one’s just a masterful work of jungle, in my opinion. It’s got everything – a diversity of breaks, fun dancehall vocals and samples and sirens, a very effective bass, and even that time stretch effect on the vocals. The breaks are pretty tripped out, for the time period it came out in. All in all, a great track.
1.) Uk Apache & Shy FX – Original Nuttah
I’ve yet to hear a better jungle track than this one. This is one of the few jungle tracks I’ve heard with an actual lyrical verse that makes the song feel like a conventional song, and not just a track. I know, yes, there are other tracks with vocals… but, typically, they’re just vocal samples that go on for a few seconds or so. This one has more than that, as does the track I put in for # 2, and that was one of the reasons they scored so high on my list. Songs like this made jungle seem like a whole genre, and not just a rhythm style. Plus, the beats are hard as hell – just merciless, really! So fast – and yet – so masterfully controlled.
This on gets the #1 spot for all these reasons, and also, because it’s just the funnest old jungle track I’ve ever heard. Whenever I listen to it, I can’t just hear it once. I’ll typically play it over and over and over again.
So there you go, top ten old skool jungle tunes! Hope you enjoyed it! If ya did, please leave a comment, as I would very much appreciate it! Or, if you’re an old junglist and absolutely hated this list, feel free to tell me what I messed up on, in your opinion :)
Gentleman Bastard was awesome enough to provide the world with 128 incredible robotic-sounding samples! Here’s the write-up for this free pack, in his own words….
What this pack contains is 128 samples of robot sex sounds. they vary in length from under a bar to 8 bars long. sound include bangs, grinds, robots on a sex rack being stretched, fallers/risers and so on.
these sound were created using a combination of massive synth patches, field recordings from my handy Zoom H1 (examples I used the sounds of making hummus, cooking pot stickers, bailers, hydraulic lifts and much more) as well as percussion sounds that were all run through random effects chains I have, and then all fed into S-layer by Twisted Tools (this thing is the tits).
There is an ableton live set with 128 raw samples for you to use as you see fit, also included in the pack is a 128 sampler instrument rack with a few macros controlling spread, fm amount and type as well as a selekta knob. There is also a link for just the sound for those without ableton.
This is obviously an article for beginners. I’d like to give a little advice to those n00bs out there (because we all started out as n00bs, no shame in it) who dream of being the next StrangeFlow! …Ok, so that might not be your dream. Maybe you want to be the next Skrillex or Moby or some other famous musician? Ok, that’s also fine.
Anyway, the point is, your first track is probably going to suck. I could be wrong, it could be the craziest thing ever; but, unless you have a decent amount of experience in music – if you’re still new at it, then the first sound you make probably isn’t going to be that great. And, that’s fine! Even if you’re relying entirely on complex samples you didn’t alter whatsoever – well, then you’re just going to sound cookie cutter and boring, and that’s arguably even worse!
So, what’s the point of this article? Am I trying to discourage you? No, of course not! You should make that first shitty track and learn what you’re doing with it! My first few tracks were god-awful – and even if you’re first track isn’t terrible, you’ll still know it was your first track, later on, as you progress in skill and develop style.
A lot of folks over-plan everything for their first track, when, really, what they SHOULD be doing is figuring out where they’re going during the process of writing their first track. And yes, obviously, it’s never a bad idea to do your homework and figure out where you want to go, to a minor degree, but my basic point is this: you shouldn’t expect your first groove to be the best groove of your career. There’s a 99.9% chance it will NOT be your best. So, try out some things; figure out what you enjoy, and see what you might be good at. Gauge your potential.
Do NOT expect to put your very first track on your first album.
Now, this advice might prove wrong if your track turns out better than you thought, but don’t anticipate gold upon your first try. Don’t take two months on it, either. It’s not going to sound as epic and awesome as you thought it would. Plus, if you take too long, you’ll likely lose track of what your original ideas were, to begin with… Not that you should know EVERYTHING about the track beforehand, but just having a general idea is best. Remember that – a GENERAL idea.
Also, you shouldn’t take longer than a week to cut the track. Ideally, it should take less time than that. Seriously. I know your first song will probably be a big deal for you, and there’s nothing wrong with that – and, in fact, that’s great. It should be a big deal, this is your introduction into the wonderful world of music production! But you should consider your first track like a rough draft for some of your future tunes.
Remember, if your first jam really sucks, what’s the big deal? It’s your first tune, and at least you didn’t spend three months on it. Besides, you don’t need to show it to anybody, if you don’t want to. Though, you’ll probably be playing it non-stop for about a week. Again, nothing wrong with that, either; you should be proud that you were able to accomplish what most people don’t know how to do, and don’t have the patience to figure out.
I’m not saying you need to rush through every song you do, but trust me when I say this – you can plan things out much better (and go into crazy amounts of planning) once you know where you stand. Maybe you’ll start making an electro tune and it’ll come out as hip hop. Or, vice versa. That type of thing has happened to me, and it’s happened to most musicians who aren’t afraid to experiment a little bit.
Also, don’t get caught up in fake-professionalism, taking hours trying to figure out which is a better use of your time – the 808 snare or some jungle sample you stole from a Venetian Snares track. Make two tracks, one with each! Bing bang! Now you got two versions, the ‘real’ version, and the ‘alternative’ version!
Just get it done, and don’t spend three days tweaking some 6Blocc wobble patch in Massive! If you really want to do that, do it next time. I’ve heard so many new tracks by completely-new producers who go on rants about all the time they took on some minor preset (getting it just perfect, spending crazy amounts of time getting it juuuust right, etc) and then I’ll listen to their track, and the preset will be decent, but I’ll think, “goddamn, that’s a shitty beat… It’s not ambitious at all; he was going for a basic dubstep beat, and it’s mediocre and quantized incorrectly!”
If this helps, here’s an obtuse piece of advice that many will surely take offense to – all electronic music can be over-simplistically put into two camps, rhythmically: house, and hip hop.
Yes, it’s insane to say something like that, isn’t it? Electro has nothing to do with house, and there’s no hip hop in it at all, is there? Listen to the beat. Does it have that stomping boom….boom…boom…boom sound? It does, doesn’t it? Exactly. House.
With that last comment, I can expect at least a little bit of hate in the comments. Ha! But that’s Ok… If I can survive an onslaught of fickle readers when I release an article about Rolling Stone magazine falling out of relevancy, I can survive anger from a hip hop vs. house point of view ;)
Back to the point, why is it helpful to debate the hip hop vs. house thing in the first place? Well, it might help to know what direction you’re going into, as an artist, for one thing. If you really hate the house vs. hip hop thing, then go on making music without it – but all I’m saying is, if you’re going to make a certain style of music, it can’t hurt to know where your chosen genre stems from, so you can do some homework and figure out how best to make your particular style of music even better.
Example: So you want to make grime? Why the hell wouldn’t you want to listen to a ton of hip hop, then? British hip hop & rap, and American hip hop & rap.
So, there you have it… I don’t mean to come off as angry, I just wanted to express some basic points that I wish someone would’ve told me when I was beginning electronic music. Beginners still make these same classic mistakes, and it’s not the end of the world, but you’d think some n00bs would have better information about the whole thing – especially when you consider how many people are making edm these days. Ten years ago, everyone around me called my music techno, even though I was making weird / annoying hip hop remixes of big band tunes. But, eventually, my music got a whole lot better, and culture progressed a lot, too. Now, anyone who thinks electronic music is all just techno really just isn’t paying attention to music culture. Ah, but once again, as I always do, I’m digressing about music culture… The point I’m trying to make is this – your first track won’t be gold, and that’s Ok – just get it done, and then figure out what you want to do in music, and go for it! End of rant.
So I was wondering about how better to add value to this site for musicians, and I thought, well, why not get super specific about it?
It’s great to have how-to guides for genres, or tips on productivity and creativity (and, in fact, I like doing all those things, too, as I find articles like that quite helpful) but also, I decided it might be good to get into dissecting the real-world methods of actual musicians…
I decided to do a dissection of a song that I think it representative of (some of) the modern glitch hop / edm I’ve been hearing lately…
I mentioned in an earlier article how it can be good to sit through your favorite tracks and write down specific things about the track, to give you an in-depth idea about what you’re hearing… so, on that note, I decided to give an example of such an exercise.
One difference, though, is that this is an article, and not a series of bullet-points. I feel it will be better to write it in paragraph-format so that I can get into more detail on each point. I decided to go really in-depth on it, too, because I figured that would be the most helpful way to go about it…
Some of the techniques I mention might seem obvious, but I’ll try to mention them, anyway, because they could, potentially, be very helpful.
I dissected Bassnectar’s ‘Bass Head’ tune. It’s a fun little track. The song starts off right away with a basic three-note melody that reminds me of some of the melodies in British grime music… It plays out for a bar, and then repeats a second time, but lower in melody, maybe an octave or two lower. At the end of the second bar of notes you hear the vocal phrase, ‘base head,’ and then, the next time around, just, ‘base,’ with some fx assigned to it. It’s been placed at the end of each bar, which is a common hip hop sampling technique.
While the melody is going, there is also a beat tying the notes to the ground, with a basic 4/4 hip hop or dubstep type of rhythm structure, with an emphasis on the clap. It sounds like there’s more than one layering to the clap, giving it a thicker sound. I think that’s one of the secrets of modern funky production in music – layering up, and an emphasis on the hi-end clap or snare sound on the 2 and the 4…
Also, I noticed that there is a lead up to the second snare. The affect is almost a glide-like sound, and he could’ve done a number of things to produce that type of technique… You can emulate that sound with a double-up of the snare or a reverse echo rising in volume to meet the snare, or some mix or combination of the two. It’s like a tiny build-up. Bassnectar is all about the build-ups.
Also, concerning the rhythm, the high hats are playing in double time, typical for a dubstep-type style beat.
It takes about a minute to get to the first breakdown (oh, I mean ‘drop,’) with a riser leading up to it. At the end of the riser you hear, ‘base-head,’ one more time, and then comes the drop and the wobbles. There’s definitely a touch of some reggae or Jamaican sounds and influences, (the “boom” vocal, off in the background, adding texture) as well as the synthesized sustained-bass note at exactly one minute into the song.
A more melodic-sounding wobble appears, involving a synthesized melody that is similar to the original three-note synth we heard in the beginning. Though it is similar, it isn’t identical, but it’s close enough that it takes us back to the original catchy three-note grime melody that starts up very soon thereafter, and without too much contrast – though before the original melody comes back in, there is a slightly different variation of it that plays out for a little while, in what sounds like a bridge section.
Also, I’ll point out that something I always noticed about Bassnectar was the diversity of different styles and sound structures he employs in any one of his tunes. He’s not against using dub techniques, hip hop sampling methods, glitch hop sound aesthetics (and any other old rave-centric techniques) all in the same tune, sometimes layered on top of one another. I think the affect is that it sounds less ‘niche,’ and probably makes it more accessible. It’s also the reason, in my opinion, why so many people who are new to electronic music tend to like his sound. You don’t have to know anything about electronic music to know that Bassnectar sounds good. That’s not a cynical judgment on his fans, either; his music reminds me a lot of Fatboy Slim and his eclectic mixing. It’s just something that’s worked for him.
If you ask the typical Bassnectar fan what kind of music the dude makes, you might hear something like, “oh, he makes dubstep…” (Which is partially true) or, more often, I’ve heard people say things like, “oh, Bassnectar is impossible to explain, he mixes everything into his music!”
I always found that anyone who says a style or a musician is “impossible” to explain or articulate, is always – with no exception, ever – wrong; but at this point, I’m digressing a lot, and I’ll save that tangent for another day…
I think the overall style for this song is more or less about the balance of bouncy and light mid-tempo grooves with hard / bass-heavy sounds. It’s definitely not as dark as some early Benga-style dubstep, but it’s not as light as most pop music you’ll hear on the radio. That being said, if I were to hear any Bassnectar tunes played on the radio, I wouldn’t really be surprised at all if this were one of them.
It definitely gets into dubstep, and explores a few different wobble aesthetics, but overall, it sounds a lot poppier than a lot of dubstep. Again, not saying that’s a bad thing, but merely saying it’s a thing.
I’ve barely even gotten to the bass, yet! Most people might argue that the bass is the most important aspect of his sound, but I would disagree. I think it’s in the overall layering of different types of electronic sounds in a basically-poppish structure.
At first, I thought I heard more reverb on the higher-pitched version of the melody (the one that’s played first) as compared to the second set of notes… I think this might be wrong, however; I think the volume is turned down for the second set of notes to make room for the sub-bass kicks that played out…
Now, I could be wrong about this next point, but it sounds to me like the bass notes that play out in the first section of the song (the sub-bass) have no variation in melody. If there is variation, it isn’t very noticeable, at very least.
A lot of subbass plays throughout the song. Probably an uncessesary thing to mention, but figured I would, anyway. Though some of the bass notes are sustained, the overall sound is quite agile, and the bass kicks or subbass sounds have no problem stopping, on an instant, for a half second of silence in between bars. This seems like another hip hop technique he uses. There is an interesting contrast in a lot of Bassnectar’s tracks of thinness and thickness.
Concerning the riser that leads to the first drop – there appears a tribal-sounding two-tone drum sample that rises in volume along with the synth riser, and it starts to double up near the end. There’s also some odd-synth sample (not sure what that sound is, actually, @ 0.56 onward) that is played in what sounds like double-time compared to the rest of the build-up, which helps create more dramatic tension, which, in turn, helps create contrast when the drop comes in.
Without getting into what “patches” or instruments he used for specific wobbles and low frequency oscillators, I’ll definitely point out that the hip hop groove is still intact, and that the wobbles layer over the beat in a style that sounds as close to hip hop as it does to dubstep – which I think is another secret of Bassnectar’s success… He takes all the elements of the last twenty years of electronic music and hip hop, and puts it into a basically-very-accessible format.
There are mainly two different types of wobbles (or “wobble patches”) used, with other occasional wobbley-sounds thrown in here and there, for a moment or two… Plus, did you notice at around 1.41 or 1.42, there’s a drum n bass / jungle sample added, right before the next bar? I didn’t notice that, the first time around! It’s subtle, but it definitely adds something to the mix. It hints at speed, and at…uh, ‘hardcore-ness’ for lack of a better word…. (and hardcore-ness really is a stupid word…)
Anyway, the wobbles bounce around for a bit, with variations on the basic sequencing here and there, with a slight build-up around 1.52 or 1.53. (Bassnectar loves adding slight-build-ups… ) After that, we hear a wobble that contains more melody (not really ‘more’ melody, but a melody that is higher pitched than in previous wobbles, and something that sounds closer to a conventional melodic octave) and this melodic LFO is contrasted by the new wobble sound, which is angry and grimey… Here again, you get something more poppish, and then, right after it, something hardcore and angry – and then the whole thing repeats, over and over…
A lot of meticulous cuts are played, here and there – especially in the middle of the mainly-wobblish sections, and often with touches of other metallic / industrial LFO sounds. It’s a glitch technique (or, arguably, a breakcore technique) to add meticulous little cuts like that, and it adds a sense of complexity.
From here, the song seems to repeat itself. Though there are variations on everything. Around 4.10 there is a series of rubbery, wobbly triplets. But by and large, the song is more or less through coming up with new sounds. It knows it doesn’t have to, and so it doesn’t.
One difference, though, is that the ‘base head’ sample almost sounds like it’s being whispered near the end of the song. The song seems to try and calm down near the end, with a final riser that leads to another vocal, this time saying, ‘robot…bot…bot… bassss,’ which will inevitably lead into the next drop (in the next song) when played live.
Alright, so there you have it. I could’ve taken even more notes, but I feel this is a pretty good example of just some of the techniques employed in Bass Head by Bassnectar. If you have comments, or feel like I was dead-wrong about something, feel free to leave comments. I figure that understand some of the ideas that went into the construction of a song like this could definitely help people who are trying to figure out electronic music production.
As part of a Bassadelic Mixtape series I decided to launch on the site (there have been a lot of launches lately) I’m posting a link to an AWESOME fucking mixtape by electronic mastermind, Wrong Chris. And it’s dual-formatted, just like back in the day when you get either the tape OR the CD! Remember those days?
(…ah, the tapes always kinda sucked, though, didn’t they? There was always a disappointment if you couldn’t get the CD…)
Anyway, here’s the selection… a straight-up download link, and also a streaming soundcloud version:
It spans the gambit of modern electronic music, from glitch to dubstep to electro swing, and everything in between. Check it out! Wrong Chris has some other fine tracks too, as he’s a producer AND a DJ (…another good example of dual-formats! …Ok, not really… but still!)
Also, the track listing is below…
Bassadelic Mixtape – Wrong Chris – “Amalgamte” – Tracklist:
1)Doug E. Fresh – It’s On
2)Bassnectar – Bass Head
3)Heyoka – Cabin Fever
4)Mr. Rogers – Bird Box (Amalgamate Edit)
5)Bassnectar – Here We Go (Amalgamate Edit)
6)Dirtyphonics – Polygon (Amalgamate Edit)
7)Tantrum Desire – Body Shot
8)DJ Fresh – Gold Dust (Vent Remix)(Amalgamte Edit)
9)Spectrasoul – Absentis (Amalgamate Edit)
10)Receptor – Cigarette Lighter
11)Receptor – Princess
12)Evol Intent, Spor, Ewun – Levitate
13)Bil Bless – Saturday Morning (Amalgamate Edit)
14)Propatingz – Stay Alive
15)HavocNdeeD – Dub Fi Dub
16)Hecq – Sura (Matta Remix)
17)Quade – Throbbin’ the Light (Stephan Jacobs Heady Mix)
18)Gaudi – Brainwashed Again (ft. Elisa & Danny Ladwa)
19)Imprintz, Xilent, Kloe – Maximum
20)DJ Fresh – Talkbox
21)Netsky – Iron Heart
22)Bluetech – Waiting For Initiation
23)Opiuo – Off Chops (Ft. Jess Chambers)
24)Subvert – Speaker Humpin (Dov & Funk Monsta Remix)
25)Si Begg – Jump (Ebola Remix) (Amalgamate Edit)
26)VibeSquaD – New Creatures
27)Herrmutt Lobby – Ghost Roller
28)Si Begg – Jump (Norse Rarebit Vs Si Begg Remix)(Amalgamate Edit)
29)Tipper – Chrome Splat
30)ill.Gates, Stephane Vera & Si Begg – Cut Copy Paste
31)Pretty Lights – Look Both Ways
32)Altz – Max Motion
33)Tipper – Hourglass Infringement
34)Slacker – A Million Dreams
35)Invisible Allies – Mulberry Windows (Aligning Minds Remix)
Ok, so, I’ll admit straight away, this is a post dedicated to various youtube links. Yes, it’s true! Documentaries, of the electronic musical variety! I decided… why not include them all in one place? So, here they are, some of my favorites… This should hopefully keep you going for a few hours, some of them are quite inspiring, as well as extremely informative and entertaining!
Oh, and here’s a sidenote… Anyone know of any good glitch hop documentaries online yet? If you don’t want me posting it, hell, I’d do a blog post about it and tell folks where to buy it, if it’s decent. Anyway, here are some of the documentaries I WAS able to post…
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