ruff in da jungle business - only the strong survive!

I've been playing records for more years than I care to remember, however I only got into the whole idea of beat mixing in the early nineties. Even then i was hard pushed to find records that i wanted to mix. It was a period in my life where a lot of time was spent getting up to no good in places like the Temple of Sound and The Olympic Ballroom etc. I must admit that it was the sheer buzz of those evenings that I liked moreso than the music that was being played at the nights themselves. There were very few DJ's playing tunes that I really liked. I can count on two hands the amount of techno tunes that I still enjoy. However I do remember getting very excited when I first heard 'Way in My Brain' and 'On a Ragga Tip' by SL2 around 1992. Now here was something that I liked. There's something about the combination of ragga samples and breakbeats that enthuses me. An inspired combination! Not all of it though. It really wasn't until about 1995 that I first had a proper introduction to the musical world of Jungle. It was the music that made most sense. I'd arrived. It's funny that an urban, predominantly black, British based music scene could be so appealing to a white, unemployed Dublin DJ but that's the beauty of life. Things don't have to make sense!

Back in late 95 or early 96 I was lucky enough to hook up with the early stalwarts of the Dublin Jungle scene when I was playing on Power FM and with the Bassbin crew. These guys had been pushing the sound on Dublin's pirate airwaves and clubs since 94 and were true pioneers of the scene over here. All of a sudden the music took hold of my life and for a couple of years things pretty much centred around buying records and asking for gigs. It was a great buzz but I'm a bit fairweather when it comes to committing to most things. Some people, thankfully, are different! One such person is Naphta. The godfather of Irish Jungle is still doing his thing and flying the flag and he's just released an album. It's called 'Long Time Burning' and is available from all good record shops around Dublin and should also be available through the fabulous Blogariddims. If, like me, you might have a penchant for reggae, soul and hip-hop samples played over rumbling basslines and Amen breaks, then this is a must have purchase for you. Forget the pretenders and get yourself a taste of the real deal. Naphta continues to inspire. He's the Original Nuttah!