A Brief History of Jungle Music

Sampling is an integral part of African diasporic music, especially in the US and UK. In America, Hip-hop became the dominant form of black sampled music. This distinction went to Jungle music for young people attending clubs in the UK (“ravers”). That’s not to say that hip hop wasn’t present and incredibly popular in the UK— Jungle, Acid House, and Techno were just the choice for most partygoers and rave DJs in the early to mid-90s. 
As the 90s progressed, raves gained more and more media attention, as UK police began to crack down on these often illegally organized parties. In addition, rave culture was heavily associated with drug use. Ravers used weed, MDMA (ecstasy), and amphetamines, among other drugs, to enhance their partying experiences. After peaking in 1995, Jungle began declining in popularity because of negative media attention and police raids on raves. It was eventually succeeded by Drum and Bass, an offshoot genre that was ultimately more commercially consumable. 

This Track

While researching jungle music, and listening to Jungle music non-stop, I decided I wanted to release a Jungle tune for this EP. In true Jungle fashion, I primarily used samples for this production and a Roland TB-303 (bass synthesizer) emulation. The TB-303 also has a close association with Rave and Jungle music. The samples I used were taken from soul, jazz, and Jungle records. Since the sampler is integral to jungle music, the melodies and harmonies are often short song snippets pitched around chromatically to create motifs. I used this method to write the melodies and harmonies for this track. My drums are sampled from classic soul and jazz drum solos (called “breakbeats” in the context of electronic and hip-hop music) and chopped up into individual drum hits, which are then rearranged to create complex drum rhythms. 
Jungle music uses a variety of basses, ranging from electric basses to synth basses to samples. The most recognizable Jungle bass is the kick drum from the Roland TR-808 drum machine. Jungle producers would sample the 808’s kick drum and use it as a pitched instrument. For my track, I used a sampled electric bass, an 808 kick drum, and a specific synth bass sample, predominant in Jungle music and commonly known as the “Dred bass.” Another instrument I used was a Roland TB-303 emulation, which is heard at the end of the track building up to the climax.
Don’t ask me what this track means. It was an experiment to pay homage to a genre of music I love.

Jungle Study

Email: m68kz80@gmail.com for collabs and beats. Or DM me
Making music isn't free. If you want to support my efforts, feel free to donate to my PayPal (exodusmodules@gmail.com).
All tracks are self-produced unless stated otherwise.