How did you get into jungle/dnb? (First time stories)

[Consumer]

The first time I really heard a jungle track, was on a remix cd single I got of Soul Coughing's 'Sugar Free Jazz' - there was a dub remix by Mad Professor, and a jungle mix by Omni Trio. The dub sound caught my ear more, and I started buying dub/dancehall (just cd's).

Fast forward to 1997 - I was really into electronic/dub/experimental music, and was diggin' hard/minmal techno the most (cari lekebush, prototype 909, adam beyer, joel mullen, etc.) All of the jungle I was hearing at local raves was jump-up and ragga, which I wasn't feeling (I was searching out techy noises the most).

I then started to listen to mixes by local dj's Terra and Essential, and some of the vibe started to set in with me. But it wasn't until I heard X-acto (man, I hope he's doing allright these days) play a sunrise set of ambient dnb at an outdoor rave that I became fully hooked. The lush synths and big, smooth bass hit a nerve in me that reminded me of the organic & techy sound of dub.

I started buying every mix cd I could find. Most notable was Dieselboy's "Octane '97" (recommended and sold to me by Miss Jag when she was working at Swell). I was pounding it in my car stereo later that night and had to pull over when Decoder's "Twister" came into the mix. The sound just freaked me out to a point where I wanted to stop and give it my full attention. I just sat there on the side of the road saying "OH MY GOD!" and played it over and over. It was at that point that I realized not only did I really like this music, it was hitting me harder than anything I'd ever heard before (I was 25 at the time, and had been exposed to a lot of music)

I immediately started buying vinyl (a year before I got decks), focusing mainly on techstep, dark jazzstep and neurofunk.

[Miss Jag]

Hehehe...I like this question... :D

So here's how it happened to me...I started playing records because a friend of mine thought I was a natural. He picked out five records for me to practice with--I'm not even sure what you'd call it today...anyway, I started picking up more tracks, but I was all over the place with my selections because I really didn't know what to play and what went with what...

Then it happened...

One night, my roommate--who normally played house--dropped this bomb-ass, gritty, dirty track that I fell in love with (and still play on occasion when the mood strikes me) from the first beat--I'm not saying what track--it's my dirty little secret, so NEENER~NEENER! :p Anyway, he started playing all dnb...now granted that most of it was Aphroditi BS, but it was the style and grit and toughness of some of the tunes that really grabbed me. From that moment on, I knew I had found my niche; he let me play some of the tracks to get a feel for the music and that was it.

I had found my sound...only my tastes ran a little darker, harder and faster than what everyone else was playing...I've been a tech-girl from the start.

Nowadays my sets run fast, hard, dark and I throw some hip-hop a cappellas in for shits and giggles and pull a few tricks or whatever--it's boring just standing there and mixing, I've got to do SOMETHING with myself, other than blow gi-normous pink bubbles and batting my eyelashes at everyone! :kitty But now that I've managed to hook up with an AWESOME MC...well, you'll all just have to wait and cross your fingers that he'll be with me at my next AZ appearance...we just have too much fun together dropping people's jaws and then kicking their asses. :menacing

WooT! :banana

[craig]

well... this was way back in my sophomore year in high school. a close friend had moved to DC upon high school graduation to attend Howard. He went out and got into scene there or whatever. he transfered back to KU at semester, and i ran into him. he said, man you really have to check this album out, it totally changed my life. so, to make a long story short, the album was logical progression, and upon hearing seba&lo-tek's "so long" i was hooked. very soon after, i heard digital's "spacefunk", and that was it. i was completely mental over the shit for a while, but since then, it's been in waves if you follow. sometimes all i will let myself hear is jungle, then there's like a nine month period where i dont even buy a record. but im in the wave right now, so youll probably see me around for a few more months:metal

[kid kryptic]

my friend drop a snuggles and slak track down for me...grit, tons of bass and distrotion, heavy drums, insanity....end of story.



:devil

[X-Gote]

I accidentally bought a cd called Jungle: Sound of the Underground (http://www.cdnow.com/cgi-bin/mserver/SID=1758038311/pagename=/RP/CDN/FIND/album.html/artistid=JUNGLE/itemid=364072) back in 96. At first I really counldn't stand it until I noticed it really bumped in my car a month later after I installed an amp and 12' sub. My favorite tracks back then, Atomic Dog and Mutant Jazz. I wasn't fully hooked until 97 when I found that someone uploaded some dieselboy stuff on my ftp site, Octane 97. That got burned to a cd really quick and yup in my car. Thats uncanny that this same album had a simular effect on Jason.. that was the album that really did it for me. Later on, a year later I think, I found his Eastcoast Science set and that just took me up a notch. My tastes now have changed quite a bit though.. so has the music though.

[Polytrickster]

Well first I was in Jr. High and I was learning to play guitar. I wanted a band but of course in Yakima, WA there was no one else into it or good enough for it. So I got into .MOD files. My parents wouldn't let me listen to heavy metal or alternative rock stations so I downloaded MOD files of Metallica and stuff. (First time a heard a Metallica song was in MOD format. YIKES!)

In my search more more MOD files I would always run into techno and other electronic style music. (BTW I was listening to these MOD files on a 286 with the PC Speaker running DOS.) I started making tracks in MOD files to be the backing drums and instruments for my one man band. I ended up wanting to write more electronic style stuff, like I was downloading on my 2400 baud modem from BBS's. :laughing

Enter highschool. I was way into it at this point. My parents finally let me listen to and buy rock, metal and alternative music. And I was in a real punk band so writing music on the computer to back me up was dead. It was all about whatever wierd style music I was downloading. I seemed to like the songs with breaks. Of course I didn't know what these were called and in the small town of Klamath Falls, OR no one knew what I was talking about. My girlfriend broke up with me and for some reason I thought dance music would cheer me up. So I went to the store and bought a few CDs the Rave till Dawn and Happy Hardcore etc. Really got into that shit.

Now I'm not sure what came first. I saw Hackers and my friend had the soundtrack. One of the songs I really liked was Prodigy's Voodoo People. Now I heard a MOD remix of Everybody's in the Place. So I had "heard" of Prodigy. So I bought the CD. I then bought the WipeOut XL soundtrack because I recognised Prodigy. Needless to say I discovered Photek, Orbital, Chemical Brothers, FSOL, Source Direct, etc. I feel in love. But I still hand NO idea what the genre was called. I also picked up Lords of Acid's Voodoo U. That's where are heard some of those classic breaks. I picked up all of Prodigy's CDs too. Fast forward to my move to AZ.

I somehow came upon the term Breakbeat. So I bought Breakbeat Massive. Not a breabeat CD but a Jungle/DnB CD. I was buying compilations to familiarize myself with the names. I eventually picked up Jungle - Sounds from the Underground, Jungle Massive, etc....

Now I can't get enough of that Jungle sound.
I started producing that shit as soon as a taught myself how they were breaking up those classic breaks I kept hearing. I stubbled upon a breakbeat heaven that had ALL the breaks you could ever want or need. I started sliceing and dicing and here I am.

:devil Sorry for the long story!

[king egorock]

this is such an involved post...for me at least.
phase 1: i first got into 'ardcore back in '92 when i was a light tech at "club velvet" (in atlanta) back during the first days of moving shadow, reinforced, and sub base. on wednesdays these two cats , hippe-b and mr. scary would drop this shit on . i instantly loved the freshness of the rapid broken snares and the insane bass drops...it made doing lights hella fun!

phase 2: in '93 i was starting to spin hip hop. on a trip to new york a couple of friends who ran a mixed tape distribution store called "house" gave me an early mixed tape by db called "winter jungle juice" telling that the tape was full of this "21st century b-boy music" called jungle (thanx del and christine, where ever you are!). to me it seemed like a more refined version of 'ardcore.

phase 3: 1994; so i'm djing and promoting a hip hop night in atlanta called "sick at nite" at my friend's ghetto-ass club and we are doing really well. my partner and i have insane luck and are clearing about $600 bucks a week on this night. everything was going well, but i was having trouble vibing with the thugged out moronic hip hop mentality. at some point i met hazeus, ti-or-ted, and xqr (more formally called "rydim ryderz"). they were the guys who spun on thursday nites (at the same club which i had my night) at what they called "high in the jungle". haze and ted would spin the beats and xqr would chant potswoi (sp?) on top. this is where i made the connection and distinction between 'ardcore and jungle. i was so compelled by the vibe of the rydim ryderz crew and high in the jungle that i dropped my hip hop nite and got with what was really going on. the rest is history...
insidently the first dnb record i bought was "the mistermen"
-i also met my wife/vocalist, suont, cause of DnB but that's a whole other story!

:king

[Preecha]

The Mistermen with the little cartoon guys on it?

[king egorock]

that's the one
:slayer

[Cleansweep]

Man The Mistermen record is such a jem!!!
I got into dnb after gettin "andy bullox-Presha" mixtape in 97. At this time a lot of the people i knew were playing more mash up style jungle, and tech step was something totally new for me. I loved all the breaks, and the fact the bassline kept moving. Anyhow i began going to locals shows watching locals like Dehga, Kip Killagain, Terra, X-acto, Deepfreq, and dj AUD. It was always nice going out on the weekends and hearing a new style of music that I had no clue about, but wanted to learn.
Much love to the orginators!!
Carlos

[ana]

my mom used to play it to help me fall asleep when i was a toddler:menacing

nah, just messin'...actually i was really into graff. when i was in highschool and i was familiar with goldie because of that. my friend played drum and bass at his house all the time, which i really dug. then somewhere i read that goldie had this album coming out called timeless. hmmm...interesting...so i bought it. it rocked my nuts...and thus began my love for dnb.

the end.

[Preecha]

Timeless was a big moment for many of the youths!

[SUONT]

i got into jungle in "96" as i was shopping for records. i took an immediate liking to it's funky sound and it soon led me to the love of my life:love adam (egorock)!!:) :kitty :cute :banana before that i was really into underground hip hop like roots manuva,mystic jorneymen,ect..

[RaRefact]

Originally posted by kid kryptic
my friend drop a snuggles and slak track down for me...grit, tons of bass and distrotion, heavy drums, insanity....end of story.


Yeah....Snuggles/Casper and their WNUR's Strictly Jungle shows introduced me to my affair for the dnb sounds. But I have to say it really all started w/ a mix tape featuring my main rude boy, JJ Jellybean back2back w/ Phantom 45. I used to kick myself in the ass for not knowing the sounds when all the real ragga biz trax were being produced. Instead I found myself submersed in the year of the intelligent, like Adam F's Lighter Style and Essence of Aura's So this is Love.

I am gettin the butterflies just thinkin of those tracks now. ah.

[KYFA]

I cant safely say what year it was.
Mabey 97 or 98 (those years blend so perfectly)
It was an RAW tape, I was Heavy into Breaks back then, I think the transition began from the DJ DAN oldskool hardcore 96. You know the shit that has like house and sped up breaks all mixed together at the same time.. Crazy shit. That was just before hardcore became HARDCORE !Mabey not just before but around that time..Then I dove in head fist, with the AZ HARDSTEP ALLIANCE. Big ups to my oldskool crew, stretchin from NY TO CALI

:king

[DjTizzer]

drum and bass came to me when I was sixteen. and I had bought a 411video magazine (don't know how many of you are familliar with 411 ) It had a dc shoes tour section in europe. the music for the whole section was goldie's jah the seventh seal :slayer from there I bought grips of drum and bass cds buying allthat I could. then when I found out about djing 2 years later I started buying evferything on wax, and started down the long dark road of vinyl addiction. :bounce

[squared]

So like.., I heard this jungle tune on this Nokia commercial in early '02 and I was like 'yeah man!' and like well all my friends were into it and stuff, so I was like 'okay.., this is cool.' so I was all about it, yaknow? then, like, I saw this DJ and this MC at this rave party, and everyone thought they were pretty cool, and I want to be cool too, so I was all like "Yeah, man! I can totally do that!" yaknow? And so like.., i got some records, and some turntables and whatever, and like I could mix and stuff, but yaknow there's already too many DJ's or whatever, so I thought.., I'll just rhyme about stuff and stuff.., yaknow? And so like.., I started rapping to myself in the corner at this party and these dudes were like "Dude! I can't really hear you, and stuff, but that shit's pretty cool that MCing stuff, I seen Skibbadoobeedoo do that shit, and it was off the hook, man, yaknow?" So I was like "Yeah, well., I know." and so like I started goin' to house parties and stuff, and whenever I saw someone on the mic I was like all "yo, I'm a dope MC, can I get in on that?" so they'd be like "uh no way ass, I'm the MC of this party." so I would just go into the corner and MC to myself anyways, because it's a free country and it's not like they could stop me from doing that, right? So like, then I decided to throw my own party, because then no one would be able to kick me off the mic or whatever, yaknow? and I like ran the show, or whatever, and everyone thought I was the best, because they had never seen skills like these before, so then I like started getting all these DJ's and promoters coming up to me and stuff, and they were all like "Dude! You totally need to come and MC and stuff, 'cuz you're superrad and whatnot!". So I was like, "ya, I know. I'm totally there, dude." and I just been rockin' shit since then. word.

[Ill.ek.tro.bot]

totally, FU*K YEAH dude!! Will you MC for my party?

ITS gonna be PHAT!!:up