asteraceae – apparitions
Tonight’s mailbox roundup is focused entirely on succinct cuts of online jungle–the type of thing I keep finding my way back to, most of which is less homage to the East London forebears than it is an embodiment of internetcore and perpetual ode to WipEout 2097. First up is two minutes of celestial pads and breakbeats that are as much phaser as they are drum. This is honestly a bit more refined than most of the neo-jungle/neo-breakcore I encounter, and genuinely affecting. It’s from Atlanta-based asteraceae, the only other things about whom I know is that their name is Steph Bayes–and that their bandcamp is full of gems like this. Grab this one on bandcamp or find it for streaming — asteraceae was also kind enough to let me post the mp3 here for you all.
asteraceae – “apparitions”
i9incher – Menu Racer
Second up is a track that isn’t just an example of jungle inspired by gaming culture, but is in fact from the soundtrack of an upcoming racing game (called Neo Kinetic)–as song’s the title no doubt alludes to. The track does a lovely job of actually sticking to the more traditional jungle building blocks, without straying into the chaos of breakcore and syrup of re-re-resampled pads (not that those things aren’t fun). Instead it fuses jungle with some acid flourishes–perhaps evincing an understanding on the producer’s part that jungle was born not just of the wellspring of soundsystem culture and dub, but also of rave and hardcore. The track is from i9incher (aka Justin Franklin), a producer from Kansas City. No bandcamp for this one, but you can grab it below or find it for streaming all over.
i9incher – “Menu Racer”
Ovcharka DJ – Dreams
Last up tonight is a one that strays a bit further, edging out of the world of jungle and into the world of jazzy liquid 160, with more tightly gated crispy breakbeats, Rhodes chords, and multi-oscillator bass stabs instead of pure sinewave subs. The song is from Tbilisi, Georgia’s Ovcharka DJ (Vladimir Sivolovskii), whose artist name is a reference to the Caucasian Ovcharka, a magnificent breed of livestock guard dog native to the Caucasus (including Georgia). The track is really enjoyable stuff, but honestly, now I’m going down a rabbit hole of learning more about this gorgeous dog breed; respect to a DJ whose whole outward identity is dog-focused. Dogs are such good dogs. No bandcamp for this one either, but you can grab the file below, or find the track for streaming wherever you do that.
Ovcharka DJ – “Dreams”