Jungle music

Jungle music, also called Oldschool Jungle, is a style of electronic music which had its origin in London and Bristol at the beginning of 1990. It incorporates influences from genres including breakbeat hardcore, and reggae/dub/dancehall. Some people consider jungle and drum and bass as a single genre, though they are widely considered sister genres. For those that consider them separate genres, drum and bass is usually considered to have started to separate musically from jungle in the mid to late 1990s.

Subgenres

Subgenres of jungle include:

• Darkcore; instrumental jungle with a dark and more minimal focus (1993-today).
• Hardcore Jungle; a subgenre which has a large influence from the early 1990s Rave scene. Mostly produced from 1993 to 1995.
• Atmospheric jungle; a more ambient sound, focusing on mood, synthesis and production methods (1993-today).
• Ragga Jungle; more Jamaican-Reggae influenced styles and lyrics (circa 1990-today), which often features an MC who recites dancehall-style lyrics.

General description

The fast tempo, from 150 to 170 bpm, breakbeats, other heavily syncopated percussive loops, samples and synthesized effects makes up the easily recognizable form of jungle. Producers create the drum patterns featured; sometimes completely off-beat, by cutting apart breaks such as the Amen drum loop. Long, computer generated pitch shifted snare rolls are also common in oldschool jungle.

Jungle producers incorporated classic Jamaican/Caribbean Sound system culture production methods. The slower, deep basslines and simple melodies (which are directly descended from dub, reggae and dancehall) accentuated the overall production and hence gave jungle its "rolling" quality.