The Impact of Jungle Music in 90s Video Game Development

Some rough mixes here and there (especially the first one) because it was live from a NYE event. But it suits the style of music, that era was so raw and fresh, the future was being invented right there! Very happy days :)

1) DJ SS - Intro

2) Higher Sense - Cold Fresh Air

3) Deep Blue - The Helicopter Tune

4) Roni Size - Time Stretch (93 Mix)

5) DMS & The Boneman X - Sweet Vibrations

6) Engineers Without Fears - Spiritual Aura

7) Omni Trio - Soul Promenade

8) Codename John - Kindred

9) Brainkillers - Screwface

10) Dubtronix - Fantasy (Remix)

11) M-Beat - Incredible

12) DJ Rap - Your Mind (Gimp/Steve Mix)

13) Asend & Ultravibe - What Kind Of World

14) LTJ Bukem – Horizons

15) Bruck Wild - Silent Dub

[1] https://on.soundcloud.com/WjQVyJRfYMyQLP3f8

One of the things I noticed with a bunch of the younger producers is that they make really nice tunes but they don't bother with the whole intro/outro thing so there's no buffer on either end of the track to mix the thing unless you go add them yourself before even attempting to get them in with a bunch of older choons meant for mixing. like this is great [1], but 1:34 minutes lmao what? On the other hand people who have been at it since the very early days are still quietly releasing alot, here's some secret dillinja cuts [2]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M77SxLGAxWg

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfyHx7SCn3g

I didn't expect a jungle setlist while browsing HN — bless

I didn't ever expect to post one! :D

https://youtu.be/9hJ4OROIvxY

...and as a bonus, have this 'n all...

https://youtu.be/HImPRflyyJk

...and as it's a Wednesday, have this as a freebie:

https://youtu.be/M_tKjqUK5lM

I've been told by several Gen-Z that they've never been to a "rave", and I feel sorry for them. In my town, we had quite the underground scene, but then times changed and it is so much smaller now. Now, "kids" just call it all EDM instead of the specific genre that we know and love.

There's a night in London called Cartulis (which is usually at Fold), when I go there it feels very much like the early rave scene to me (this is just one example, of course). I think there's a tendency when we get older to not be as exposed to the bubbling undercurrent of music, so it's easy to just say "it's not as good as it used to be", but that would be a mistake imho. It's there if you look for it.

I'm constantly listening to new music, and I've come up with lots of new tracks that will make a helluva set list, one day. Problem I have is only owning 1200s, and none of the gear to let those drive digital files. My discretionary funds for gear has evolved into other things so buying the right equipment gets pushed lower on the priority list

I feel like with each new wave of music technology, people basically search the space for a while until the fruitful sub spaces are identified.

The novelty of the exploration is what is there the first time and not there in the future. You don’t know what’s going to sound good until someone happens to bump into it. You get surprises.

https://soundcloud.com/paullouth/paul-louth-jungle-mix-nye-2...

no, you got your trance in my drum-n-bass.

that new wave of technology meant that anyone with access to warez could create music for $0 instead of the thousands on buying synths and samplers. no more renting a truck to haul that gear to a gig; now it's just a laptop and/or tablet. new choons level achieved

Mixing and production are worlds better and musicianship has improved compared to where it was for genres where people care about musicianship, but the actual music is mostly either painfully derivative or actively worse because it's trying too hard to be "different."

Modern metal is amazing compared to the stuff from the 90s though.

I don't think there were any available in my hometown (or they were too underground for me to have ever heard about!), and there wasn't much exposure to electronic music at all, so it's not an experience I'd ever considered trying to find out how to have.

Just one person's anecdote, of course, but I wonder what the balance of generation vs. location is!

Thanks for sharing your mix!

Biggest hit: Rocking steady - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5xlLs-OQY

I also cannot get this track he made for a 1998 video game out of my head:

Tremors - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUKno5p9U04

Long gone are the days of "shoes in the dryer" mixes where guys were just slamming two DATs together with no pitch control. Sadly, I think we've gotten to the point of those tight mixes being less of the skill of the DJ and the result of software. With everything being done on laptops with cool software, I really wonder how many DJs are even mixing and just performing while a premixed file plays.

But as you say, the production quality has definitely improved. The music is just clean with no quality loss from layering/multi-tracking/bouncing. The concept of the space between notes has never been so distinguished.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrR82XLCKq8

I know what you mean but Metallica, Pantera, and Emperor (black metal) are still all-time classic staples in my discography.

Per TFA, most of my exposure music that's now put under the EDM umbrella was through video games (DDR...). Also mix-discs curated from Limewire downloads, keygens, Windows Movie Maker AMVs, and the Newgrounds/Youtube/Bandcamp releases of amateur FruityLoops producers.

I suppose what might make this paradigm interesting to consider is that it means most of this music was a contributing element to some larger project, and not just something to enjoy on its own (though you could make the case that music at a rave is just a means to forging social and emotional connections). As such, there are a lot of songs that people my age will recognize immediately, and absolutely could not tell you who made them (just where they heard it first).

But for example techno and house these days have such a gargantuan amount of variety. And because those genres were digital-ish to begin with, they didn't suffer as much from the evolution of DAWs compared to some other genres.

This would have done well at a 90s rave (especially from 4:45 onward): https://open.spotify.com/track/5v2NmAWURnM260nd2acPLr

I guess for "90s" Metal it strongly varies how much studio backing there was and if it is early or late 90s. Late 90s sounds great: https://open.spotify.com/track/0JBQnLKfLXmlkquabLtAgd?

Three related playlist:

- Very underground 90s Hip-Hop cuts: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1LhtrTYYMKu8G33paRWFIL

- Rave-y Techno: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7ktoUGruqYdoY3vLhDDtaB

- All sorts of Metal with melodic elements: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Wec2pdudcDyIHvOu4fL7b

Anyway to avoid app install?

Thanks for all the great tunes!

https://soundcloud.com/paullouth/paul-louth-jungle-mix-nye-2...

With dB festival gone, do people just hit up showbox or monkey loft shows and try to make friends?

I know the artist that made the image* used for the inside jacket for the Prodigy says it wasn’t about rave culture, but it’s still one of my favorite counter culture images.

* https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6c/54/ff/6c54ff7df285244d2d56...

Sorry for the Pinterest link. It was the first one to pop up in search

Europe is a given but I hear Asia is popping off too. I have friends in Oceania who do some work around the scene. Really it's all over the world, people never stopped partying it just goes a little more underground here and there

With my experience as a Polish Gen Z member, gentrification has only made raves MORE popular in here in A.D. 2024.

Bored kids out of good homes, eh...

Tell me you're American without telling me you're American.

As a jungle fan since the 90s, don't spout that offensive nonsense ;)

Seriously, there are marked differences between the two other than BPM that make them sound very distinctive (and D&B typically boring to me as a result) - generally, jungle is heavily syncopated and makes more uses of chopped samples vs D&B which tends to be sequenced fairly straight and makes more use of programmed drums.

For example Pete Cannon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1eA-FGJ8B0

More recent livesets using dual Amigas, from the Amiga Junglism channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHPIxrcjKW4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P6VxIWFl7g

Some mixtapes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NjqNwHidpk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe3jEA7710s

This is your own fault for going to EDM/house/trap parties. Go to better parties, then you'll find better music.

Eh, I've still got a lot of time for 80s/early 90s thrash. Megadeth mostly, it must be said.

Here in Western Australia there still seems to be a “Bush Doof” party scene. I’m way to old to know the details of that though.

Nah.

https://soundcloud.com/kmyle/kmyle-empire-bns089?si=0ce480e4...

https://soundcloud.com/kmyle/kmyle-cocoon-original-mix?si=73...

https://soundcloud.com/hate_music/premiere-introversion-sea-...

https://soundcloud.com/regalmusic/regal-undisputed?si=a6bdf3...

https://soundcloud.com/darko-esser/darko-esser-zondag-2008?s...

https://soundcloud.com/hate_music/premiere-wtchcrft-new-frie...

https://soundcloud.com/hate_music/premiere-marco-bailey-trai...

Blasphemy!

I'll reraise you any decent size college town in the US as well.

Heck, I'm in Iowa and there's plenty of raves in the middle of nowhere here.

I enjoy Berlin minimal techno but it's not exactly popular.

As an oldster who has only recently gotten into edm, I am clue free on where to begin finding anything underground and mainstream venues suck.

You're right, minimal techno is not the most popular form of techno right now. That's not a new thing that happened in this decade though. Techno has been going through trends of being faster and more maximalist vs slower and minimalist since it began. I'm sorry that you're struggling to find minimal techno nights to your liking, I'm sure there are some out there and I'm sure the trend will come back around. But the techno of my generation is not all EDM or trap influenced so I know you're talking out your ass. You may have been to many techno events in your life, but what you're saying here just proves you're out of the loop like many nostalgic oldheads. So maybe just take a step back and consider that you may have lost touch with the underground. You certainly have if you think drumcode is an underground reference these days.

If I have to go to a club in new york or berlin to hear music it's not culturally relevant. The stuff you linked gets zero play at festivals.

The key word is GOOD. Not that you just go places bro. You're clearly unsatisfied with the music you're hearing at these events. SO FIND BETTER ONES.

Edit: Festivals have never been the beating heart of the techno scene my friend. I'm sorry to break it to you. And again, I've been to good festivals which do play this stuff - you clearly don't know where to go and you're taking it out on my generation when its on YOU.

I think I'm at the age where I'm more interested in participating as someone actually creating part of the entertainment if I'm going to feel like I'm having the best time though, I think that's probably the best way for anyone to get into it. Lots of volunteer opportunities at festivals and of course paid gigs you can do. If you're a programmer, maybe getting deep into visuals is a way you can have some fun contributing too.

There are raves happening in warzones and even places you think there would be authoritarian crackdowns like China

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp2qB9qXJ1w

Using metal as an example; the 80’s and 90’s as an example had several distinct vibrant scenes, Bergen’s Black Metal, Gothenburg’s Melodeath, Tampa Bay’s Death Metal, as examples. All distinct and vibrant with a period of sustained development with a cluster of artists who seemed to circulate and work off each other.

Today it feels easier to connect with others globally with music genres we like, but it’s almost as if this homogenises the art we produce in a sense.

A core collection of 20-40 artists and musicians working and operating in isolation (comparative to now), sharing what they enjoy, spinning it and innovating it to something new.

To genericise it and bring it back to the core of this place - In a sense one relate these scenes in a way to areas with a particularly strong start-up scene, albeit more freeform and wholly artistic in their endeavours.

*(Caveat, haven't been to one in the last 5 or 6 years so things may have changed. As always, "it was better next year!")

Figure out who your local promoters are, & follow their socials also.

Go to a youth focused cafe or skate park, look at what event posters are being posted on the walls? Unsure if the kiddies still post bills for small events, honestly everything is on social media these days, and is where you should start once you've identified some names.

In my city, facebook is the most reliable way to discover events - we have very active promoters in the main '$city $genre scene' public fb groups.