“Modern-day jungle from an old soul.
Jungle is as alive and well as it’s ever been. Just ask Tim Reaper—in the last ten years he’s created a flourishing career for himself making old-school(ish) jungle for a network of labels that represent this scene: 7th Storey, Foxy Jangle, Parallax Recordings, Lickshot and plenty more. More recently, after releasing the standout track on a Lobster Theremin compilation, he inked a deal with the label to release a crossover EP of sorts, earning him the biggest audience he’s had yet. On top of that, he runs a few labels like Globex Corp—reserved for his work with frequent collaborator Dwarde—and Future Retro, where he releases the Meeting Of The Minds series.
Tim Reaper feels like a natural ringleader for this scene not just because he’s a talented producer and DJ. He has a deep and healthy understanding of this music and of what came before him, too. (Watch him handily win a trainspotting competition on Electronic Beats here.) He calls his new label Future Retro, which just about explains it: the music he makes and releases is in thrall to the past, but not simply out to recreate it. What Reaper and his compatriots like Coco Bryce, Dwarde, Kloke and FFF do is find new wrinkles in the old jungle sound, imagining alternate futures or new directions the scene could have taken if it never evolved into what we now know as drum & bass. Yes, you could argue people have always made jungle, but Reaper and friends have made it into a bigger, stronger community with a whole new following.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Reaper’s mix, made up almost entirely of new material from the labels he runs and helps with, was a classic jungle history lesson. But then you wouldn’t recognize any of the tracks, either. This 90-minute mix is a tour of today’s jungle scene through some of its brightest producers, with plenty of precision break choppage, infectious samples and the occasional dip into pre-jungle UK hardcore territory. Like time travelling from 1994 direct to 2020, there’s something about this mix that is both deeply nostalgic and bravely futuristic. This is one for old junglists as much as it is for people looking for a way into one of the most exciting scenes and sounds that dance music has ever seen.”
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Tim Reaper – Resident Advisor podcast #757 2020-12-06 download alternatives:
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