People are far more accepting of the sound now with the likes of Sigma and Fresh getting into the charts and helping that particular variety of drum & bass become more familiar for the masses.
Bladerunner is renowned for churning out bass-driven dancefloor stompers. With the likes of Ray Keith and Roni Size featuring amongst his main inspirations, the heralded producer has been carrying the jungle flag for over ten years with releases on Dread, Creative Source and Critical.
We caught up with one of the finest purveyors of jungle drum & bass to get his views on the how the genre is currently looking and to see what he’s got in the pipeline.
“The future of jungle is very bright, in my opinion”, he explains. “It’s never been better, in fact. Guys like myself and a few others have pushed the sound forward and given a new edge to it where it can crossover to the drum & bass market as well, thanks mainly to the inclusion of vocals on tracks.”
Bladerunner first got into the genre after seeing General Levy perform Incredible live on Top Of The Pops when he was younger. A UK broadcasting first, it was the first time jungle had ever been witnessed by the mainstream TV watching masses in 1994. A bona fide piece of UK bass history, we found the very broadcast (excuse the poor quality)…
Back to the future and Bladerunner thinks it’s more than healthy that drum & bass is starting to creep into – and even hit the very top – of the charts.
“People are far more accepting of the sound now with the likes of Sigma and Fresh getting into the charts and helping that particular variety of drum & bass become more familiar for the masses.”
“They see guys like them in the charts and then begin to dig a little deeper to find me and all the other guys pushing the jungle sound, so it’s a really good way for more people to become fans of drum & bass.”
Drum & bass has never been more diverse, according to Bladerunner. “Music as a whole is more open than it ever has been before at the moment”, he says. “Kids are buying everything these days ranging from dub to house to breaks, which is really great. It’s so hard to pigeonhole genres in this day in age, even drum & bass albums will come with a few slow ones on. I think it’s really fresh.”
There’s a lot of depth in the genre which some people perhaps don’t realise.
He also states that the strength of jungle is epitomised by the talents of some of the genre’s newcomers. Here are Bladerunner’s own personal hot-tips…
“Mr. Explicit is really killing it at the moment, he’s got some crazy, dark tunes. There’s also the likes of Saxxon, Dawn Raid and Aries pushing the sound forward. There’s a lot of depth in the genre which some people perhaps don’t realise.”
Naturally the man himself has got plenty lined-up for the rest of the year…
“I’m working on a few remixes at the moment, some are just for myself to play out and some are for other people. I’ve also got a few remixes of old classics on the horizon and also an album coming out on Dread Recordings lined up, which I’m finishing off now. I’ve also been working with Ray Keith and BCee quite a bit, they’re both producers I really like working with so I’m excited to see what we come up with. So yeah, lots coming up for me!”
If there’s one person you can trust when it comes to jungle, that person is Bladerunner. We’re excited to see what he, and others pushing the sound, have got lined up. Watch this space!
Bladerunner – I Need You is out now.
