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Pearsall presents Rolled In Sunshine (Summer-ready Jungle Mix)

25 tracks of rolling, summery jungle music, mixed on vinyl by Pearsall with tracks from Dillinja, Goldie, Adam F, Tom & Jerry, Roni Size, Foul Play and more

Rolled In Sunshine

Pearsall presents Rolled In Sunshine

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Mixed in Berlin, June 2018
100% Vinyl
(75:58, 174 MB, 320 kbps MP3)

Cue file
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Style: Jungle

Direct link to the mix:
http://sonicrampage.org/mixes/summer/Pearsall-RolledInSunshine.mp3

Tracklisting:

Tracklisting:
01. Tom & Jerry – Say Goodbye (Broke My Heart) (Tom & Jerry)
02. Foul Play – Beats Track (Moving Shadow)
03. DJ Krust – Poison (V Recordings)
04. Origin Unknown – Mission Control (Ram)
05. JMJ & Richie – Deep Bass 9 (Moving Shadow)
06. Parallel World – Contagious (Good Looking)
07. Babylon Timewarp – Searching (Keeping Vinyl Alive)
08. Goldie – Still Life (ffRR)
09. Oaysis – Outcry (Moving Shadow)
10. Cold Mission – For Da Ladies (Reinforced)
11. Joint Venture – Take Away (Liftin’ Spirit)
12. DJ Rap – Switch (Proper Talent)
13. Safari Sounds – Droppin’ Science Vol. 4 (Side A) (Droppin’ Science)
14. VIP Crew – Special Request (Mike James Mix) (Strictly Underground)
15. Shimon – Within Reason (Ram)
16. Adam F – Future Sound (Infrared)
17. Dillinja – Another Dimension (Deep Jungle)
18. Unit 1 – Atlantic Drama (Creative Wax)
19. Andy C – Roll On (Ram)
20. Dillinja – Sovereign Melody (Deadly Vinyl)
21. Tom & Jerry – On & On (Tom & Jerry)
22. DJ Stretch & DJ Ride – Selector (Jungle) (Rinsin’)
23. Run Tings – Ruff Revival (Suburban Base)
24. Roni Size – It’s A Jazz Thing (Ladies Mix) (V Recordings)
25. Foul Play – Being With You (Moving Shadow)

It’s summer, so why not some jungle? This has already been a hot summer in Berlin so I figured what better way to enjoy it than to dig into my jungle collection and put together a mix of some quality tunes? As usual, I’ve tried to mix up big tunes with b-sides and obscurities, and in this specific case I also wanted to keep it a purely rolling selection, meaning no Amen breaks. I love the Amen, but sometimes it is a bit like eating cake over and over and over – you want to have something different. Hence this mix, a totally Amen-free zone!

What’s nice about this mix, for me at least, is that it points at a direction for jungle music that wasn’t so well explored in the end – jungle as a rugged form of soul music, with sweet melodies and vocals rubbing up against tough breaks – the sounds of rare groove and jazz funk reimagined in a rave context. In the endlessly bifurcating river of breakbeat music, the ‘deeper’ side of this music, as represented in this mix, ended up evolving by 1996 into a very smooth sound, with well-mannered beats matched to tasteful samples from jazz and funk. I like that stuff too (see here), but I still feel like something vital was missed in the transition, and making this mix (and listening to it over and over and over) has just reinforced that for me. I much prefer this tougher sound to what came later, which sometimes sounded a bit like it was designed to soundtrack shampoo commercials.

As drum n’ bass evolved from jungle in 1995/1996, it split into roughly three directions: populist jump-up party rave music with a big hip-hop flavor (example), the smoother / deeper tunes as played by Fabio and LTJ Bukem (example), and dark and menacing techstep (example). Along the way, music either went very musical and mellow or it went very hard, but the sound represented on this mix, of soulful melodies set to slamming beats, sort of went by the wayside. Which is a shame!

This year has been a bit challenging from a musical perspective, as I just don’t have much free time any more now that my kids are getting bigger. So it was very nice to get the opportunity to do this mix. I hope you enjoy it! It’s certainly taken me long enough to write this little blurb for the mix. 😉