Various - Suspect Package

It seems that these days everyone’s harping on the jungle, Drum ‘n Bass music bandwagon. What first started out as a British underground dance phenomenon has now hit the charts. Of course, I don’t need to remind you that there is a queue of well known artists waiting to churn out this new commercial material, particularly David Bowie, U2 and Depeche Mode.

But what of the real the real Jungle crews? And this is where Suspect Package slips in. You are unlikely to have heard of many if any of these artists unless you are a true afficionado of the genre. Although not entirely underground, with Lemon D, Dillinja and Decoder, who’s scathing track Fog is tipped for big things, there is a slightly alternate feel to the D&B produced.

The album may be entitled Hard Leaders 01 but this is more to do with the name of the record label rather than the contents of the record. The beats are nowhere near as hard and hectic as the Drill and Bass sound being formed currently by the likes of Aphex Twin, with the soft synth piano melodies floating through several of the tracks. All the essential Drum ‘n Bass factors are present, it’s just that some of the tracks seem to be ambient noises layered over the top of these typical hard beats, Juniper by Regulate has a loop that sounds like warped tribal chants with Decoder seeming to have accidentally recorded a coffee percolator in the background.

This all makes for an appealingly pleasant Drum ‘n Bass sound and a very good album. Jungle is massive, rewind selecta’.(8) Ramzi