Blasts from the Past: The Babyface Special
Posted on December 16, 2016 Leave a Comment
It’s time to have some time travelling fun. Let’s rejoice in the fountain of youth that true junglism bestows upon us and dive right into the ultimate BABYFACE SPECIAL!
So where does this eternal youthful glow come from? Witchery? Dark magic? No. High bpm’s, high pulse and never leaving the dancefloor until the very end.
A true classic, soooooo rare. The babyface group hug! Warming up for Just Jungle at Eigens Ballroom. Teenage room style furniture. Way before digital cameras entered our lives.
Bobby “Babyface” King II shows up behind Daniel Dreier at Nadsat.
My most babyfaced jungle pic. We’re just about to jump into 1995 at the The Harder They Come rave at Stonebridge Park Complex, London. Footnote: That’s the only rave I’ve ever been to where the music was so loud it actually hurt my ears. Troubling volumes.
The most babyfaced picture of dj Nis that I have. This is in the kitchen were Nis now plays about with a new fountain of youth: veganism.
Blitzed babyfacin’ in front of Jolene, Kødbyen.
Okay, the 11-year-old dj is NINE YEARS OLD in this picture!
Rune RK, 2000F and Dr. Disk do some extreme baby facing in this gem of a picture scan. We’re at Jungle Fever IV, January 1995, Operaen, Christiania.
Chriszka the Time Traveller babyfacin’ and Adidas’in, junglist style.
Children smoking cigarettes.
Advokatorex’ best babyface pose. At the Raw After After After party, August 2007.
Svingsen wins this babyface trilogy battle. Old scan, private party.
Okay, Kristobal wins the entire babyface competition right here. At Stengade. Photo by Vitus.
Mariiiii puts on a babyface to fool the world after her sneaky jungle monster exorcism.
Babyfaces and aliens (and me taking a short nap) at the Silo party at Islands Brygge.
World famous dj and producer Axl Rise does a real baby face while toying with sound effects.
Babyfacin’ at the Public Service festival at Strandgade by Luftkastellet. Possibly 2004.
And the outro: A babyface arrival by Casparados.
More time traveling? – Check out Blasts from the Past: The Raw After After Party
More veganism? Go to Jungle Confessions: “I Get Goosebumps on My Legs Thinking About That Party”
Did you miss out on yesterday’s post? Here it is: The 7 perfect games for junglists
Did you miss a day of JUngLE? Scroll through three years of JUngLEkalenderen
The 7 Perfect Games for Junglists
Posted on December 15, 2016 1 Comment
It’s an interesting day for games, because
1) any European vaguely interested in the mainstream of mobile gaming has now been waiting for more than 10 hours for the release of Nintendo’s new mobile blockbuster Super Mario Run
2) I just got an invite to the world premiere of the Assassin’s Creed movie
and
3) right now, the 6 new games made by students from DADIU (The National Academy of Digital Entertainment) are being celebrated at Filmskolen in Copenhagen. Again this year, the games reveal a healthy sense of humour (a Danish trademark that we should be proud of), so check them out here; anyone with an Android tablet can download them for free).
With all that in mind, JUngLEkalenderen will spend this day diving back into the landcapes where gamers and ravers meet.
(If you missed the last one, here it is: Gamers and Ravers – the Amazing Similarities between the Two Worlds.)
Here it is, your indispensable guide: The 7 perfect games for junglists.
RECORD RUN
This mobile game is an overlooked gem, made by Harmonix, the people behind Rockband and Dance Central. It’s a rhythm runner, where you sprint along the pavement, dodging parked bikes and garbage piles and fire hydrants and men reading newspapers and other obstacles to the rhythm of the music of your own choice. Yup, that’s the true genius of it. You can run to the beats of your own iTunes music collection, which makes it a great choice for junglists. Just choose your own tunes!
For some reason, Back to Your Roots (Friction & K-Tee Remix) makes a perfect running tune for me in this particular game.
You have to collect as many vinyls as possible, while running, jumping and sliding along the pavement. When you’re doing really well, all the obstacles start dancing along to your beats, which is super cool.
Extra junglist point: The game begins in a record shop jam-packed with vinyl albums. And it’s free. Download here.
GRAND THEFT AUTO III
This is a classic. I never really did get up to much mischief in GTA III. I just found myself a car and drove around the streets of Liberty City, listening to the pirate station MSX FM 101.1, hosted by DJ Timecode and MC Codebreaker.
140
Things get dubsteppy.
This 2D platformer game is made by former Playdead lead gameplay designer Jeppe Carlsen and has an awesome, dubsteppy soundtrack by Jakob Schmid. Just listen to some of the bass lines in this clip, headnodders: carlsengames.com/games/140/
The game was released on Steam in 2013 and recently hit the consoles.
THE LONDON HEIST
If you have access to a Playstation VR headset, you will already have tried The London Heist, which is part of the demo pack. I have tried it every time I got the chance to do so at gaming conferences and such, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the car chase sequence on the London motorway every time.
You are in the passenger seat in a getaway car after a coup, chased by bandits that you can shoot at while you mess about with your soda and stuff in the glove compartment and such. And tadaaaaa: The car radio is tuned into a pirate station! No idea which track is playing, though, since I’ve been too busy hanging out the car door shooting people and stuff. Fun! You can google translate my (p)review here: Playstations VR headset is out – here are the games.
Wipeout 2097
A flow classic. More games should have soundtracks like this. The futuristic racing game Wipeout 2097 is packed with tunes, from Photek and Orbital to an instrumental version of Prodigy’s Firestarter.
Devil May Cry
The entire soundtrack is by Noisia, so there…
DJ Hero
You need some extra gear to play this one on your console, and it’s getting pretty old, but I had insane amounts of fun playing DJ Hero back in the day – especially with tracks like this. Not so much when you were forced to mix tracks by Blackeyed Peas. (Tip: The drum’n’bass action in the video above starts at 3:47).
Outro
And I’m just gonna end this with a screenshot from Playdead’s newest game Inside, because it’s so incredibly darkside.
“We’re not gonna die, we’re gonna get out of here!”
Yeah, sure.
If you’re a gamer or a raver, don’t miss Gamers and Ravers – the Amazing Similarities between the Two Worlds.
Did you miss a day of JUngLE? Scroll back through three years of entertainment right here: JUngLEkalenderen
Jungle Confessions: “I had to stay on the dancefloor until the very end”
Posted on December 14, 2016 Leave a Comment
Whohooo, this is gonna be fun. It’s time for a Q&A with Sofus the Amazing Shape-Shifter! Sofus is many things, so I will let the pictures and my comments speak for themselves and get right on with it. You will love this. I do.
When did you become a junglist?
It was at Nis’ party at Rugbyklubben in Christianshavn.
OMG, everyone was there! THAT’s where I would want to go in my time machine!
Yeah. I can’t have been very old… I must have been 15. I found the flyer in Loud, the record shop in Hyskenstræde. That’s where I spent my pocket money bying vinyls. The party was an eye opener. There was a lot of trance, too, at the time, and compared to trance, jungle had this chaos of beats that seemed difficult and very complex to me in the beginning. Even though I was listening to death metal, too. But jungle was way more freaky. It was a storm that just came and took me.
My first rave ever was around that time, too – at Pakhus 11 in April 1994 – the Seawolf party where Photon made the visuals. I still have the poster in my flat.
OMG again! You have to take a pic and send it straight away.
Will do.
Sofus sent the pic. Whohooo.
Why do you love jungle?
“It was the unpredictable bass and the unpredictable rhythms that got to me. In trance, the bassline was very dominating and monotonous, but in jungle, it just jumped about all over the place. I liked the tunes where everything was shifting constantly. Jungle challenged you with new beats all the time. You distanced yourself from the repetions of house and techno. I felt very inspired.
And back then, you needed a space where you could just go berserk. It was some kind of teenage rebellion where you just went to the raves and made a point out of being the last man standing on the dancefloor. Now, it’s a lot easier for me to leave a party or a rave when I feel tired. But back then, I stayed ’til the last drop of blood – every time . It wasn’t exactly like doing sports, but it was something like it, and you felt super cool and kind of like a cyborg and definitely very future-like!”
I know exactly what you mean!
“Sometimes I had these inner struggles on the dancefloor where I was really tired and had to sit down for a bit, but I always got up again. I had to stay on the dancefloor until the very end. That became a big challenge when I lived in Berlin in 2002 and 2003. Because their parties never end. It was the same thing with the underground outdoor parties in Denmark – they sort of never really ended, either.
There’s something euphoric about it, the fact that the body can just keep going. It’s a meditative quality, almost shamanistic. All of us doing this tribal dance together. A collective consciousness. You are actually doing it for the community. You don’t just go home, you stay and dance until the end.”
Exactly!
“And afterwards you feel really proud and sore in all your muscles for days and days afterwards.”
How does raving make the world better?
“When you’re at a rave with a lot of people you don’t make a lot of conversation – you use your physical body to express your feelings and the sounds in the music. We don’t use our language but the bodies and the rhythm and pulse of the music instead. And you start to recognize eachother when you’ve experienced a thing like that together. You feel connected. There’s a poetry of the body – a compassion and inner knowledge that we’re all in tune with each other. When you get home from the raves, you feel that there has been a bond, that we turned into a tribe. That’s why afterparties are so popular for ravers. It’s hard to let go of that bond. And all the things you didn’t get to say while dancing… You can get to say all that at the afterparties.”
What have you learnt this year?
To be persistent. To keep the focus even when projects take a lot longer than I expected. That has really been a thing for me this year. To keep going, to not let go.
Sofus being persistent at the Ohoi! 6 year anniversary.
If you could timetravel to any point in time right now, where would you go?
I would like to go back to Love Parade in 2006. There was a whole Danish crew on a float with Kim Kemi and Daniel and Patrick Bateman and Rune RK playing. I would like to go back there and experience that one more time.
That’s what THAT moment looked like.
What’s the best thing that happened this year?
The Somewhere Festival at Boesdal Kalkbrud in Denmark.
Awesome answer! I have a whole selection of photos of you from that festival. Perfect. Here’s one:
Secret junglists sharing a moment at the Danish floor at the Somewhere Festival.
“That was one of the best outdoor event of 2016. It was a super awesome location, at the old Camp Electric spot, and I liked the fact that there were 3 stages: One Danish, one German, one Swedish. Joint forces from 3 nations. I would like to see more of that kind of collaborations at festivals. It was awesome.”
Sofus posing for my iPhone on the German floor at the magnificent Somewhere Festival.
What’s your favorite jungle tune?
Awwwww!
Sofus having a laugh at the German floor at Somewhere.
What’s the most exciting thing about 2017?
“I would like to go to Burning Man in 2017. I have started planning. I have an art project that I would like to unfold there. We are working on it.”
Sofus the Amazing Shape Shifter and Chriszka the Time Traveller working on it at the most awesome Dyssen party in 2008.
Thank you, Sofus! That was awesome.
And I’m just gonna end this with one more picture from the Somewhere Festival so you can see how beautiful it was.
Want more romantic jungle tunes like Sofus’ favourite? Go to my list of the 7 most romantic jungle tunes ever.
This is a good day to reread the 7 best things about being a raver.
It would also be a good day to reread The Secret Junglists.
Did you miss a day of JUngLE? No fear, it’s all here: JUngLEkalenderen
How to be a Junglist: The Hand Horn Special
Posted on December 13, 2016 1 Comment
Today’s post is dedicated to Kristobal, boss manager at the venue Pumpehuset in Copenhagen. The hardworking people at the popular venue has just managed to land an awesome deal with Københavns Kommune which means that the venue in its current form (which is top form and still evolving) is safe and sound all the way until the year 2024 – which is a VERY CHRISTMASSY YEAR, we might add, so JUngLEkalenderen approves in many ways.
So here’s a pic of Kristobal, conveniently placed in front of a sign that reads December 13th!
IS THAT A COINCIDENCE? Of course not. Nothing is a coincidence in JUngLEkalenderen.
And here’s the article on the good news, all fresh: http://politiken.dk/ibyen/byliv/art5737045/Spillested-reddet-Pumpehuset-får-usædvanlig-julegave-fra-kommunen
The crew at Pumpehuset likes their basslines to be deeper than deep. And they like their music to be dark, mean, sometimes unpleasant and sometimes downright weird – and we salute that. I mean, JUngLEkalenderen doesn’t salute a genre like hardstyle as such, to be honest, but we salute the fact that somebody is musically curious enough to explore the uglier soundscapes, too.
So today, let’s give it up for Pumpehuset, home to many drum’n’bass parties, high quality death metal extravaganzas and cosy long table afternoons under the chestnut trees. We celebrate this with a post dedicated solely to a handsign that’s immensely popular with both the junglists and the metal heads.
THE HAND HORNS!
So what IS this sign, here expertly shown by Feltman at the reopening of Jolene in Kødbyen 2008.
Is it used to invoke the Horned God? Does it bring trouble or peace? It definitely seems to bring peace to Sulu here, as invoked by JSL.
It’s earliest known use can be seen in India – by Gautama Buddha (born 567 BC), for the expulsion of demons and removal of obstacles like sickness or negative thoughts. It still works in 2007!
Some people would say it just means “Rock on” or “Hell, yeah” or “Good times.” I mean, that’s what it looks like on the surface while we’re dancing through the afternoon sunshine on our way to a Hatesphere concert at Roskilde.
The cartoon version of John Lennon also uses the sign on the cover of the “Yellow Submarine” album from 1969, and theories speculate that he wanted to signal an interest in Aleister Crowley. That’s definitely what we’re doing here. With a sprinkle of Buddha, of course. We’re backstage at the Kraken party, 2007.
Here’s an entire room working on the expulsion of demons and removal of obstacles, Buddha style, while warming up to DNBZone. 2008.
A rumour tells us that if you dont keep you thumb in while doing the gesture, it means “I love you” in sign language. So here it is, shown in a double I Love You version by JKamata, surrounding Kristobal with love and flowers – at a summer party at Dyssen.
Here’s a handful of junglists having a great time with the handsign at Roskilde Festival 2008.
Okay, fair enough, it was actually the Slayer concert, but there are junglists in there, somewhere, for sure.
Here’s another relaxed version thrown by Garridge Bwoy. That’s the one that actually means “I Love You” . According to rumors. Can anyone confirm this?
Another double at the Hatesphere concert, Roskilde Festival.
Aaaaand let’s finish off with a sharp one, thrown by dj Hype at Stengade 2008. We can’t look at this picture enough. JKamata does wonders for it.
More hand sign specials? Jump right in: How to be a Junglist: The Hand Sign Special
Want more metal? Go to JungLE Confessions: It’s against all odds, and it’s fabulous
Did you miss a day of JUngLE? Go here: JUngLEkalenderen
Blasts from the Past: The Fashion Week Special
Posted on December 12, 2016 Leave a Comment
You might think that junglists only go to The Grey Hall in Christiania if there’s a jungle rave on. But oh no. We would go to a proper trance rave, too, if there was one. And the Christmas market. And the roller disco. And hey, a fashion show.
Welcome to the Completely Unexpected Junglist Fashion Week Special. We’re going to a Vibskov fashion show in 2008 – and then on to Nadsat, a club cool enough to be named after a language in a book.
(Or, okay, maybe they named the club after the language spoken in the film, BUT STILL.)
Okay, so junglists don’t only squeeze into The Grey Hall to go to Nis’ rave parties. This is what we look like waiting for the Vibskov fashion week show.
This is what a blitzed line-up of people look like photographed with a digital camera from 2008.
Wait, maybe this is a trance party after all.
Nah, too many people sitting down, not a trance party, definitely a fashion show.
Super busy high fashion junglists ready in their seats, waiting for the show to start!
The show is on. Maybe this is a trance party after all.
No, wait, THAT’S CARSTEN JENSEN RIGHT THERE on the catwalk. It’s not trance, then.
Audience and a piece of Drop’s forehead.
Drop just loves a good old fashion show.
Fashion mingling time.
A junglist fashion pose. Or we could call it: A Benetton moment.
What the back rows at a fashion show in The Grey Hall looks like.
And theeeeeeen, we’re off to Nadsat, the nightclub that once resided in Hyskenstræde, where we are greeted by two lovely dj’s dressed in fashionable shades of grey.
It’s fashion week, so there’s champagne, all the time everywhere.
And blond people everywhere, being hugged.
Nadsat bathed in blitz light. Nothing looks amazing bathed in blitz light.
Well, apart from Sofus the Amazing Shapeshifter, of course.
Kim Kemi og Daniel likes the blitz, too.
So what IS Nadsat, then? Nadsat is a mode of speech used by the nadsat, members of the teen subculture in the novel A Clockwork Orange. It was also a club in Hyskenstræde – from 2005 until 2009 – focusing solely and stubbornly on high quality electronic music (JUngLEkalenderen appreciates this. We like stubborn.)
“Quaint,” said Dr. Brodsky, like smiling, “the dialect of the tribe. Do you know anything of its provenance, Branom?” “Odd bits of old rhyming slang”, said Dr. Branom … “A bit of gipsy talk, too. But most of the roots are Slav. Propaganda. Subliminal penetration.” Drs. Brodsky and Branom, A Clockwork Orange, page 114.
Whohooo, Daniel Dreier arrives at the decks in Nadsat while Kim Kemi finally gets to wear his fashionable cake hat.
The dancefloor is getting juicy, apparently.
Daniel Dreier has an intense moment with the mixer.
And Luis has an intense babyface moment on the dancefloor surrounded by his droogs (that’s the word for friends in nadsat. The language, not the club).
Do you want more Blasts from the Past? Don’t miss Blasts from the Past: The Dressed-Up Junglists, where everyone is wearing really interesting outfits.
Do you want more Nadsat? DO NOT miss Blasts from the Past: Birthday Bash Edition. Tons of pictures from a packed evening.
Did you miss a day of JUngLE? No fear. it’s all right here: JUngLEkalenderen
Jungle Confessions: “It was a secret community that you wanted to be a part of”
Posted on December 11, 2016 Leave a Comment
Day 11 is dedicated to Nufound – star of many enthusiastic dancefloor snapshots, builder of bikes and last but not least, the man behind what several JUngLE calendar regulars have called ”Best thing to happen in 2016”: The All Jungle parties at Loppen, bringing back the oldskool jungle vibes from the 90s. Big up Nufie!
Nufie feeling it at Culture Box. Photo by Miss Popo.
When did you become a junglist?
“Someone brought a walkman and a cassette tape with jungle on it to school in ’93. . It was at Det Fri Gymnasium at Christianshavn. And I was thinking ”what iiiiiis that…?!” I couldn’t make heads or tails of it at first and I had been playing music all my life up until then, in bands and such. The tape was a mix. It was probably made by Nis or Opiate. And then I went to one of the first parties at Operaen. I was about 18 at the time.”
Nufie loosing at Trivial Pursuit because Svingsen and Chriszka the Time Traveller ARE WINNING.
Why do you love jungle?
“I think we were missing some sound that we could truly identify with back then. There was American hiphop and American heroin rock and you wanted to identify with it, but you couldn’t, really. And then this new sound just came in from London and it just matched us completely. That was us, that was what we were! The sound was wild, it had lots of energy, you could dance to it all night. And it was something noone had ever heard before. So completely new and crazy. It mixed all the genres. Rock and hiphop and everything. Hard beats and lots of humour and crazy samples. There you were, as a teenager, not really knowing where you belonged, and there it was, this community from London showing you the way. It seemed slightly dangerous, too, compellingly dangerous. It was underground, it was secret. It was a secret community that you wanted to be a part of.”
Nufie feels part of the community at the Seba party at Culture Box, 2006. Caught by Vitus.
How does raving make the world better?
“There’s a special unity to it. Thousands of people meeting to enjoy something that really means something to them. And you can see it in the eyes of the others. You don’t have to know them, you can see it in their eyes that they feel the same way. It gives you hope. That’s what it was like for me in the beginning. I didn’t know the people I would be raving with that night. But I had the flyer, so I knew where the rave was, and I would get ready listening to jungle at home and then just go to the rave and walk in through the doors and it felt like a private invitation.”
Nufound and Chriszka the Time Traveller feeling it synchronically at the Kasra party at Culture Box. Caught by Miss Popo.
How are you spreading the jungle gospel?
I’m doing the All Jungle parties at Loppen – dedicated to reviving the vibe from the 90s. Because it was so good back then. There are so many people who remember the parties from back then, and they all show up. And those who are too young to remember or too young to have been there themselves get a chance to experience how awesome it is. There’s something really special about the old vinyls. The genre has so much to offer, still. And we promote the parties with flyers like in the old days, too. So that people can hold a physical object in their hand representing something to look forward to. I miss that, now that everything is digital. So I’m doing the parties to revive the vibe from back then. We have to keep going – there are so many good dj’s in Copenhagen, and so many great people. We will do a couple more decades of this, haha. The next All Jungle is on May 20th 2017. Last time we focused on 1994-95. In May we will go even further back, to ’91-’93.
Intense dance floor moment at Culture Box. Caught by Miss Popo.
What’s your favourite tune?
Dream Team with Stamina.
It has all the elements of a proper jungle tune. Sick breaks. Crazy drums. Sirens, horns and ragga samples. It’s my fave.
What’s your best party moment ever?
I have to say all the parties at Operaen. But that’s quite a span of years. And the big parties in The Grey Hall back then. With a massive stage and MC’s. And some of the very very first RAW parties. They had a really awesome vibe.
Nufound floats above a very junglistic group hug.
What’s the best thing that happened this year?
“Definitely All Jungle. I had been missing that vibe terribly, and we succeeded in recreating it. I had to do the parties, because I really felt that something was missing. We had so many great years at Culture Box, too, and then it was all gone. I found an old mixtape with Dj Jeffy. It was called Jungle Spliff. And then I started bying all the vinyls from that mix on Discogs. It was all 93-95 tunes and I was at my decks mixing them and I justr thought ’fuck, this is crazy, we have to do a party and play this again. It will work, definitely’. And it really felt like jumping into a time warp, shooting us all 20 years back. It was an out of body experience. It was in the original part of town, at Christiania, and it was the right dj’s, the right lights, the right everything. And we just wanna pay tribute to the old tunes. So many other people play the new stuff. Oldskool jungle is… they were pioneers. It just hits you.”
What’s your favourite track that’s not jungle?
“It’s a classic, but Jean Michel Jarre, Oxygen part 4. It has that spacey dreamy feeling to it that I find important. It lifts you to a different place. Lots of other tracks and genres do that, too, but this piece in particular. If a spaceship comes by and takes us all they could very well be playing this track in the lounge.”
What have you learnt this year?
“That we sould pollute less. I was travelling in Vietnam at the beginning of the year, and I just got home from Kenya, and we really have to take care of our environment more and watch out for the global warming. We saw som sick stuff in Kenya with lakes that have risen 20 meters and roads that have disappeared. We went to this place that used to be pink with flamingoes and they had all migrated to somewhere else. We all have to start with ourselves. I do little things. I never throw my cigarette butts anywhere. And I use the bike.”
Nufie and Chriszka The Time Traveller, surrounded by nature, like proper junglists.
What’s your favourite JUngLe calendar post?
The 7 saddest jungle tunes ever. I’m a sucker for sad drum’n’bass tunses. My own favourite sad tune is Simon V – When Fancies Speak. Man, that’s sad.
Listen to Chriszka the Time Traveller’s selection of the 7 saddest jungle tunes ever here.
Do you want more Nufound? Check out his soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/cbakpedersen
And put down the date of the next All Jungle party at Loppen in your calendar: 20th of May 2017. Good music and good vibes guaranteed.
This post would be appropriate to reread today: Flyer, flyers, flyers everywhere
Did you miss a day of JUngLE? Go to JUngLEkalenderen
The Tim Driver Special: Tim Driver looking at things
Posted on December 10, 2016 Leave a Comment
To keep OCD people everywhere happy, the JUngLE calendar dedicates day 10 to everyone who likes order, square angles and the dark arts of number magic. For those of you wondering what a Tim Driver special is – here’s a repetition of the first question of day 5 of the Jungle calendar:
So, Tim, what’s up with you and the number 5?
”My favourite number has always been 5. And I just have this OCD thing going on with 5s and 10s and zeroes and 100. I like it when things add up. If I look at my watch at :58, it kind of has to swith to :00 before I can look away again. Yeah, that’s a little bit weird. But it’s always been like that.
I feel a certain kind of satisfaction if I play a dj-set and I realize afterwards that I have played exactly 25 tracks, or 30. I don’t think about it during the set, though – but if it adds up to 25 when I make the tracklist, it just feels good. It’s not something that bothers me in my day to day life. I just like order and square angles and the number 5.”
Let’s go!
Tim Driver looking at the meat he is about to eat at the BEST steak restaurant in the entire world, wraaaaaaaaaa! La Cabrera, Buenos Aires, 2011.
Tim Driver looking at Lewis. Roskilde Festival, 2008.
Tim Driver looking at an invisible hologram.
Tim Driver looking at the ground.
Tim Driver looking at women.
Tim Driver looking at the world.
Tim Driver looking at the neon frisbee I bought for Ohoi!’s 6th year anniversary.
Tim Driver looking at a junglistic swamp in Buenos Aires.
Tim Driver looking at the amazing patterns on his hand, whooooaaaaaa.
Tim Driver looking at Morro de São Paulo.
Tim Driver looking at his oldskool flip phone. The RAW after after after party – August 2007.
Tim Driver looking at a plant.
Tim Driver looking at one of Chriszka the Time Traveller’s magical time travel portals.
Tim Driver looking at the amazing hologram in his hand. Sadly invisible to others, but they listen semi-politely, because this is Tim’s birthday bash (at Rust 2009).
Tim Driver looking at the menu.
That was 15 different pictures exactly. You’re welcome!
More Tim? Dive back to day 5 with Jungle Confessions: My first big raver experience
Even more Tim (but IRL)? Join the JuleBass Party on December 17th: Facebook event here
Other specials? Try out the Jungle Feelings: The Weird Faces Special
Did you miss a day of JUngLE? Find everything here: JUngLEkalenderen
Jungle Confessions: “I get goosebumps on my legs thinking about that party!”
Posted on December 9, 2016 1 Comment
Nis at Jungle Fever IV, Operaen 1995. Pic taken with my white plastic camera.
Today is dedicated to a Q&A with the one and only Nis, a completely unique character and friend who was an absolute jungle first mover in Copenhagen with his legendary jungle parties at Operaen and The Grey Hall in the 90s. If it hadn’t been for Nis and his early Jungle Fever parties I would probably have moved back to London. The legendary Jungle Fever II – which was the party where I met Nis and the crew (small at that point) – seemed like a lifebelt in an otherwise empty ocean to me at the time.
This is what I wrote in my diary about Jungle Fever II at Rugbyklubben:
“We jumped on the bikes at midnight. The place was through a backyard and up some stairs. On the way up, I heard the incredible sound of the drum & the bass float down towards me. The best sound I’d heard for months! It was loud, it was real, it was jungle! I FLEW up the stairs. Walked in, and it was dark and packed! Black plastic bags hung from the ceiling, lights flashed.”
“Oh what a beautiful feeling it was to be able to jump about to jungle again, surrounded by people… SOOO wonderful! I danced for 9 hours non-stop, loving it. I mean, compared to London, it was, of course, outrageously primitive. But the atmosphere was wicked. It’s really underground, a small, tightly-knit group of people. They’re real junglists and I really enjoyed being with them. It was so relaxing, in a way, to be back with people who love jungle. Hearing them say things that I have said a billion times in the last couple of months to people who don’t really understand.”
You can read the entire blog post about the very, very first jungle parties in Copenhagen here: The Jungle Diaries: Longing for the Tribe
So thanks for that, once again, Nis. Let’s do this.
So, Nis, you are practically built out of bass. Your father, Noel Redding, was the bass player in The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
”Well, he didn’t really have much of an influence on me apart from the fact that I can sense it in my blood. There’s something in the genes. I didn’t live with him when I was young. I heard his music, but I didn’t really know him, so I didn’t see him as the biggest inspiration. My inspiration was our own rave scene.
I talked about music with him when I was young and really into hiphop and breakdancing. I spent Christmas with him when I was around 15 years old. He still lived and breathed for rock music, and I only listened to electro and hiphop, so we were in two different worlds. We both have ants in our pants, though. He was an athlete, too – just like I’m really into football. And we have the same perseverance. Unusually high levels of it I guess. And I have felt the drive towards music in my blood. But he didn’t get me started. The music did that. The last time I saw him was the only time I saw him in Denmark.”
I was there! That was an unusual evening.
“Yes. That was …an authentic experience. It was completely unexpected because he had played a gig in Sweden and my mother had met him in town. It was in 1995 and we had just had a massive jungle party in The Grey Hall the day before with more than a thousand people attending, so it would have been better for me had he arrived the day after. But he understood that kind of thing, obviously.”
Junglists hanging out in Svingsen’s kitchen at her birthday party.
When did you become a junglist?
“I was a junglist before it was called jungle. I went to the Coma Club parties and listened to rave music. Dj’s like Slipmatt and Hype played acid style stuff too, back then. And then the breakbeats started entering the music in 1989-90. People started using the term ”jungle techno” even before it was a genre.”
When did you do your first jungle party?
“The first one was in ’92, but that was only half jungle, half something else. The first dedicated one was in ’03. That was at Operaen in Christiania. The next one was at Rugbyklubben in the easter holidays 1993: Jungle Fever I. And then I did Jungle Fever II, at the same spot. That’s the one you attended. So that was my third jungle party. That was the first packed one.”
Why do you love jungle?
“Because it’s just the best sound with the most energy. Nothing sounds better. It doesn’t get better than jungle. Hm, maybe the breakbeat is the reason that I like it so much. That would make sense. Because there’s a breakbeat above 140 bpm.”
Nis gets some magic potion at Svingsen’s birthday party (or was it housewarming?).
How are you spreading the jungle gospel?
“I have made tons of parties and tons of radio shows and given out tons mixtapes and cd’s to spread the word. It’s like a political campaign, with brochures and posters and soundbites, haha, listen to this, it’s free, and if you want more, come to the party. It’s propaganda. That’s how we work. Propaganda and promotion. And with lots of help from other fanatics. It’s like a massive union with lots of people doing lots of voluntary work. We have all sacrificed a lot of time and energy on this. It’s a union, and when you meet someone who likes jungle, too, you’re instant friends, even if you don’t know them. That’s why I I got really excited about the trance scene, too. It has the same feeling as the rave scene did in the 90s. The same energy. You don’t find that at a disco. And when you go to the festivals… It’s a revelation. It’s a big, global union we have here.”
Did you take a jungle break for a couple of years?
“Nah, it was more like the jungle scene that had a bit of a break. And yes, I was busy with trance. Let’s call it an involuntary break from drum’n’bass because of intense activity on the trance scene. That’s how it is. Up and down.
Now I focus on oldskool jungle radio and smaller parties. And I dream about doing an outdoor party. I would LOVE to be outdoors, surrounded by nature, listening to jungle. Not trance, but our music!
And we’re back at Christiania radio, too. Once a month, from now on, on Friday night from 22 to 02, Drop and Nufound and me play oldskool jungle, live at Christiania radio. We did it yesterday, too, spontaneously”. (Check out the ustream here)
Joshua on stage, Nis behind the decks.
What’s your best party moment ever?
“One of the truly great ones was the one in The Grey Hall where you guys had your big dance plateau right next to the stage and the entire hall was packed. That was just awesome.
And then at the Roskilde Festival in 2000 where Pyro and me played with Bad Company on Saturday night. Bad Company brought all these fresh tracks, and the entire tent was packed. They let us play an extra hour. The entire festival shut down, and we played on, until 4 o’clock. Full blast.”
Yes, that was unforgettable. What a night. The scene was called Club Roskilde that year.
“A massive success, completely rampacked. I get goosebumps on my legs thinking about that party. And the sound was so pure. When you listen to drum’n’bass at that level, you have to move your body. Everyone has to.”
Den Grå Hal, 1995. Rare scan!
What’s the best thing that happened this year?
“The All Jungle party at Loppen! It was like being back at the parties in Operaen in ’95. Full house, lots of happy people, awesome music just rolling along and an MC that didn’t talk too much. Exactly like the quality parties in the mid-90s. And 500 people through the doors. Very impressive.”
If you could timetravel to any point in time right now, where would you go?
“I would probably go back to 1993 and live in England and just do that entire year.”
Nis gets a hug for playing so well. Looks like a back to back set with Casparados. Dj Drop is staring at a time portal in the floor. Jungle Bells at Culture Box, 2005.
What’s the most exciting thing about the future?
“The development of technology. We get all kinds of tools to improve our lives and physics and make our lives easier. Our food will get cleaner in the future, I imagine. Because we will have the tools to test what’s in it, unwanted chemicals and such. I have become a vegan, now. It gives me so much more energy. If only I had been eating like this since I was 15, everything would have been so much easier. I tried turning vegan once before but found it really difficult. I was a complete vegan amateur. But now I figured it out. It’s just like dj’ing, you have no idea what you’re doing in the beginning. Now I’m just avoiding pre-prepared food altogether. I’m all vegan. It really balances you. I can see the results when I’m in the football field, playing soccer. I’m much faster than the others. I have never felt better physically. I’m much calmer and have much more energy to do anything. You get addicted to veganism, it’s that good.”
Do you want more Nis? Hear him live tonight at Stengade where he is playing alongside Slimzee at the Circle Vision party: https://www.facebook.com/events/339528989728661/
Even more Nis? Check out this mixcloud oldskool jungle set: https://www.mixcloud.com/niscontex/dj-nis-old-skool-jungle-mix/
Or this one with Skibadee, live at Operaen:
https://www.mixcloud.com/niscontex/dj-nis-vs-mc-skibadee-live-ca-1999/
Or jump back to the very early Jungle Fever IV in this blog post: Super rare photos: Blasts from the past
Did you miss a day of JUngLE? No fear, it’s all here: JUngLEkalenderen
Jungle Confessions: “It never gets boring”
Posted on December 8, 2016 Leave a Comment
The main character of today hides deep in the middle of this group hug. We’re on our way to Malmø to hear dj Hype – dec. 2009.
Some junglists spend the dark month of December trying to survive on 2,5 hours of daylight and a daily dose of JUngLEkalenderen.
Others have moved to Mexico and spend their days doing yoga, climbing pyramids and planting avocado trees.
Let’s meet one of the others! Give it up for Mai, who lives it up on Playa del Carmen by, for instance, doing yoga in the most junglist way possible:
Hi Mai! When did you become a junglist?
I don’t have a memory of the very first moment I was introduced to jungle. I think the lines were more blurry back then. There was a lot of crossing over between genres. I am thinking of The Prodigy, Lamb, Portishead, Moloko and Squarepusher, just to name a few. But the oldschool jungle tunes that stands out for me the most is “Super Sharp Shooter” by DJ Zink.
It just kind of has it all, doesn’t it? Well, except for female vocals which I really love. Like ATB feat. Olive – “You’re Not Alone”, Omni Trio “Renegade snares” or DJ Hype “Ready or Not” Remix. …and still we are only scratching the surface of what the genre has to offer.
Why do you love jungle?
I love jungle because it’s a genre that you don’t just listen to, you also need to feel it to get the full experience. It’s so diverse, too. I can’t believe the number of sub-genres. I love the contrasts between melody and beat and the changing rhythms that keep it interesting, constantly. It never gets boring or monotone like some of the other electronic genres tend to.
Another thing that I really LOVE about jungle is the story of the amen break behind it. The story is such a great example of how the lack of claiming copyright and creative ownership in this case was part of the evolution of an entirely new genre of music – and an entire era.
Feeling it on the dance floor, yoga style, sort of.
What’s the best thing that happened this year?
I have rented a house for the next 9 months in Playa del Carmen, Mexico….and I am really happy here. I think I have finally found my place in the world – at least for a while. 9 months for me is sort of settling down after a couple of years of living in many different countries. It’s nice to have my own place. And since I now have a full setup of furniture and stuff here I think it’s fair to say that I have moved to Mexico and found my path.
Piece of cake stair climbing when you have legs made by jungle.
How are you spreading the jungle gospel?
I have been travelling a lot and haven’t really found my jungle tribe out here in the world yet. I spent quite some time in southern Spain, and I found a lot of reggae, ragga and dub there, but not really any jungle/drum’n’bass. Playa Del Carmen is sort of a combination of Tenerife/Gran Canaria and Ibiza for people from the US and Canada. And they definitely have a big electronic scene here that I still need to explore. Drum’n’bass-tunes are being played on occasion, but to my knowledge there is no designated drum’n’bass-place here. The clubs are really cool, though. You can’t beat a roof top club with bass, pool and ocean view! But hey, if any of you Copenhagen dj’s want to come over and help me spread the jungle gospel, you are more than welcome. I would love to do some VJ’ing again.
Hey! That was an open invitation, Copenhagen junglists!
Haha, yes. We can make a jungle party, and I have cheap rooms for rent right in the center of town. This is a really cool high contrast place. You can find deep spirituality here from the ancient Mayan culture and yoga, and then there’s the BPM festival coming up in January, where all the ravers from North and South America take over the city.
If you could timetravel to any point in time right now, where would you go?
Awesome question. I have to think about that for a moment.
Mai takes a moment to think – at Ohoi!’s 6 year birthday party.
I have ended up in conflict with myself, because I want to go both backwards and forwards in time. But since this is a thought experiment, I figure I can have it all. Okay, so for traveling back in time I want to go before or beyond my physical existence and experience what is there. And for traveling forward I want to go to that point in time when jungle has its revival – or when oldschool jungle tunes becomes insanely fashionable.
Whohooo, good news, Mai, this has already happened!
Mai celebrating the good news (at RAW 2009).
How does raving make the world better?
Music changes the world! Nothing less. Music has a major impact on human emotions. It describes our emotions and reflects our subconscious – the human condition in all its forms. And it usually improves the mood and thus heightens the vibration. Music is therapeutic, even spiritual – and will heal anyone who sets the intention and is willing to be open and listen.
What’s your favourite spot at a party?
With the other weedheads, and close to the bass units.
What’s the most exciting thing about the future?
That you can make it into whatever you want! Whatever you can imagine and allow to happen is possible.
Do you want more Mai and Mexico? Check out Om Posada on facebook or go here for some shee.dk visual design.
If you want to read more about the jungle revival, go to How to be a Junglist: Going to London
Did you miss yesterday’s post? Jump back to The 13 best darkside jungle tunes ever
Did you miss a day of JUngLE? No fear: JUngLEkalenderen
The 13 best darkside jungle tunes ever
Posted on December 7, 2016 6 Comments
Okay, people, it’s time for a re-run. Or actually, it’s more of a remix than a re-run.
In the 2014 edition of JUngLEkalenderen I did a collection of the best darkside tunes ever, but I posted them below a tale from my very very early childhood about my very first favourite vinyl record – and that tale got all the attention, so I feel that the darkside tunes deserve to have their very own post. A remixed and extended version, of course, this is a JUngLE calendar!
So here they are – the 13 ultimate darkside masterpieces.
And by darkside I mean: Not just jungle and drum’n’bass with ‘dark sounds’ – because then this list would be something like 20.000 youtube-links long. I mean real oldskool darkside: with horror samples, monstrous laughs, sorrowful strings, dread, crying, panic. And those drums to boil your blood.
Subnation – Scottie
IMMENSE CLASSIC! This tune has it all. The ominous laughs of tiny monsters. Panicky voices. We’re all gonna die here. We’re all gonna die, all of us! Combined with someone who thinks that we’re gonna make it anyway, raver style: We’re not gonna die, we’re gonna get out of here! Touching.
Johnny Jungle – Johnny 94 (Origin Unknown Remix)
There are SO many remixes of this tune. This is my absolute favourite. Again, all the ingredients are in place. Panicky voices. Crying. Voices somehow too close and too far away, like in nightmares. Hectic and awesome drums. Screaming. Chilling synths. WHAUW this tune is good!!!
Remarc and Lewi Cifer – Ricky
I know this tune is already featured on my 7 favourite jungle tracks of all time list, but no darkside collection can be complete without this mega-classic! For some variation, you can enjoy a bad boy gunshot version of the track here. <– Lots of playing around with the crying and shouting here. Those were the remix days…
Shimon – Predator
Same thing goes for this classic. No darkside collection without Predator! For obvious reasons, the Predator movies are heavily sampled in darkside jungle, and this track in particular turned me into such a sample hunter. For years I couldn’t watch ANY movie without thinking about which sound bits and sentences could be cut out and used for new tracks.
Remarc and Lewi – Cape Fear
Speaking of film samples… This tune is so completely over the top. Guns loading. Glass breaking. And what is more chilling than somebody saying “Nobody is gonna hurt you” followed by a scream indicating that somebody clearly did hurt you anyway? Nothing!
Boogie Times Tribe – Dark Stranger (Q-Bass Remix)
There are so many versions of this track, but this remix is my favourite. The original has more direct horror samples: Boogie Times Tribe – The Dark Stranger – and the Origin Unknown Remix is good, too. But the Q-Bass remix is the best.
Brainkillers – Screwface
A techno wolf howling. Ice cold synths. Music built for adrenaline junkies. Escape, escape, escape, but stay on the dancefloor while you do it. Classic!
Remarc – Help Me
REALLY panicky shouting here, like from someone who is clearly already lost. And 1977 Star Wars samples. If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine. Uuuh yes. Man, how I love darkside.
Intense – Journey to the Unknown
More ominous Predator sampling – threatening whispers and swampy sounds. You ghostin’ us motherfucker. I don’t care who you are back in the world. If you give away our position one more time, I’ll bleed you. Proper subcultural warnings.
DJ Pulse – Stay Calm (Foul Play Remix)
The original version of this tune tops my 7 saddest jungle tunes ever list (such a favourite; go listen to it, it’s achingly beautiful!), and they both easily fit on this darkside list, too, but here’s the remix. Beautiful drums, too.
Hyper-On Experience – Disturbance
My all time favorite, Lord of the Null Lines (by Hyper-On Experience), is üüüüber-darkside, too, obviously, but I’m trying to stop myself putting that track on EVERY SINGLE LIST I EVER MAKE, I guess, so here’s Hyper On Experience represented with Disturbance instead. Lots of darks sounds, and that snippet of a chilling’ laugh at 2:29 (and onwards), brrrrrrrrrr. Nightmarish stuff.
Steve C & DJ Monita – The Razor’s Edge
Aaaaaaand we’re back in the jungle with Predator samples. Pouring rain and jungle rivers and menacing planes in the sky. And such creativity and variation with the drums again, too! They really don’t make them like this anymore, unfortunately. Why oh whyyyyyyy.
Intense – Space Time Continuem
Oh, and what better way for the JUngLE calendar to end this list with the eerie Space Time Continuem and its perfect drums and ominous horror movie samples. ❤
That was 13 BIG tunes and I just love them all. Darkside forever.
If you wanna know why, check out my childhood memories and a possible explanation in The DIY test: Is Your Child a Junglist?
Jump back a year: Last year’s day 7 –> The 7 best things about being a raver
Did you miss a day of JUngLE? Have no fear, it’s all right here: JUngLEkalenderen
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