My 7 All Time Favourite Jungle Tracks

A little while ago someone asked me to do a list of my 5 all time favourite jungle tracks.

“Sure! Absolutely!” I answered. Like the dedicated junglist I am. That just never ever ever gets old, digging out some of the classic anthems for people.

Shortly afterwards I thought “Five… Oh, but which five? That’s impossible. I can’t. There are so many”.

But then, as I was biking home through Copenhagen, music in my ears, playlist set to random, and one of my absolute favourite jungle tracks came on, and I was like, of course I can!

Obviously there are heaps and heaps of awesome tracks to choose from, but some of them are just … well… the Absolute Favourites. Tattooed so deep, they’re part of my skeleton.

But 5. Just 5?
Well. Almost.

Here are my 7 All Time Favourite Jungle Tracks. Essential tunes.
And there is a really, REALLY good reason why I am making this list just now, today. I will get back to that. But first: The tunes.

(Go to my Soundcloud here for mixes: https://soundcloud.com/chriszka)

Q Project – Champion Sound (Alliance Remix)

Oh, how my heart trembled with ecstatic terror the first time I heard the sound at 1.42 on a London dance floor. It still does. So mean. So dark. So perfect. As far as I know this track was once voted “Best Jungle Track of All Time” by thousands of readers on some major drum’n’bass site. I am not alone as I bow my head to this evil prototype techstep classic.

Origin Unknown – Valley of the Shadows

2.24. Saddest sound in the world. I can’t begin to describe how much sense the “Felt that I was in this long dark tunnel” sample made back then in London, on the dancefloor, raving through set after set after perfectly mixed set of darkside jungle. Uuuuh. And there was a very very bright light at the end, so brilliant…

Hyper-On Experience – Lords of the Null Lines (Foul Play Remix)

Sample hunting was so much fun back then! Fucking voodoo magic man.

Deep Blue – The Helicopter Tune

At one of my very first jungle raves, when I still didn’t really know what was going on upthere behind the decks, I thought this was somehow played live with drum machines on stage. Later on, on the same night, when I heard the chopper entering the mix again, I was like, oooooh… it’s a track. I think this was at a new year’s eve party at The Marquee, actually. I learnt a lot that night.

Remarc & Lewi Cifer – Ricky

Proper original darkside. Real angst samples! Beautiful terror!

Shimon – Predator

Yup, the jungle came alive and took me, too. That’s for sure.

Pulse – Stay Calm

This is so immensely sad and beatiful. Should you dance? – or just stand there, with your arms raised, solemnly, ceremoniusly, like in a church? Both.

Okay, so that was the list. I am going to have to make a new one soon with some of all the tracks I had to leave out. Some choices sort of sorted themselves out. Should Crystl’s “Warpdrive” be inthere, for instance? I couldn’t find the proper version on youtube, so it isn’t. Coming up: The 5 Most Romantic Jungle Tracks. Yes, that can be done. 🙂

But first… Off to London!
What is particularly beautiful about listening to these tracks RIGHT NOW, for the gazillionth time, is that I am going to London this weekend, today, right now! – to attend not just one, but TWO oldschool jungle parties – which makes it VERY LIKELY that I will hear one or two, or several, or maybe all! – of these on the dancefloor, mixed by experts, like back in the days, when I lived in London and went to The Paradise, and The Astoria, and The Roller Express, and The Lazerdrome, in the 90s.

Goose bumps! It’s gonna be proper TIME MACHINE BUSINESS!

One is The Ribena Jungle party at a secret location in Shoreditch, with Uncle Dugs and Navigator (my absolute favourite MC back then (and ever, really)). Very limited amount of tickets, and it sold out in a whoopin’ 7 minutes or something. The other one is Kenny Ken & Friends at the Union Club – with Kenny Ken, Randall and Slipmatt.

I am clearly not the only one wanting to go back in time to hear some proper tunes and proper mixing! ENDLESS JOY! I’M DIVING IN!