Re naphta etc: isn't it all mostly revivalist though, without the prevailing wind of a cultural junglist movement behind it? Recreating the music wont recreate the magic...
Good observation - that a bunch of tracks alone won't necessarily impact in any broader sense if the context is absent... I agree. I'm not under any illusions about that.
A few years back, I argued this issue out at length with the prevailing opinion on
www.subvertcentral.com - and was essentially out-voted. I argued for a definitive split from 'drum n bass' (name change n all) - much like 'jungle' / 'drum n bass' split from 'happy hardcore' back in '94.
To my mind, now that the rock bottom lowest-common denominator had been reached in dnb proper, there was unlikely to ever be any significant turning back, and thus further attempts to regain a serious foothold in the scene were not looking promising...
A few years on, not much has changed IMO. Bassbin, Inperspective, Offshore and a few other labels get name-checked from time to time by the likes of Bailey, and Paradox/Seba & Amit's partial acceptance by the scene has allowed a little window of difference to survive. But ultimately, it seems unable to compete with the max'd-out trace-rock angst-anthems that rule the mainstream dnb floors, and unsurprisingly so, cos that's the sound that the new, young punters dig first: the biggest, loudest, crudest, most inyoface sound there is. And so that's the sound the career DJs play.
So slivers of quality persist in dnb on the margins, but in recent years I came to find that I had little in common with them on a musical level. Don't get me wrong - I have tremendous admiration for people like Paradox, Rohan, Macc, Amit, Fanu etc. etc. - who continue to insist that drum n bass can pack an oomph without trying desperately to emulate hard house or Linkin Park - but my breakbeat experiences date back to 92... and 93-95 was where my heart always really lay.
Hence I returned to production after a year's hiatus from the studio in 2003 with the intent of deliberately drawing upon that period (93-95) for inspiration - it seemed to me to represent the time that was not only the most musically inventive and energised in the history of drum n bass music, but also the period which had most potently connected with dancefloors in an emotional sense - even more than even the best of the Blue Note-inspired 'proper dnb' that came after. It ceartainly had for me...
re: 'dnb': beat-twisting 'science', or 'musical' progressions on their own leave me cold: I admire them from a distance but don't feel involved. Instead I prefer the melting-pot of the sample stew... So hence, what I call 'Jungle' these days offers not just an overall aesthetic (particularly in relation to the use of samples), but also an attitude (one which, incidentally, has fuck-all to do with pretending you're a rasta or a gangsta).
Jungle for me is about suss: treating the floor with some respect, pre-supposing that your audience has some musical sophistication... and chasing their imagination (instead of bludgeoning them) through the billion different possibilities offered by energised, up-front sample-manipulation... and in doing so, creating a raw collage of sub-bass and cut-up beats, with vibes that draw heavily from rave, reggae and hiphop. To that end, in my production, I stay away from any samples that I know have been used in the music before (bar breakbeats, which I consider the vocabulary of the music).... Jungle needs new DNA, new genes in the form of 'new' samples and I always try to offer that.
re: 'Jungle': I'm not interested in making the hardest or craziest Amen track ever... in fact, I'm interested in slowing the tempo down, and in finding the space that gave Hardcore Jungle its dynamic and imaginative power. Had Jungle evolved in its own right (instead of being cast aside in favour of 'dnb' in '95), I like to imagine that it would have come to incorporate tempo-changes in the dance as readily as on reggae dancefloors
and I've allowed this little fantasy to influence my approach to making 'Jungle' in the last year or so... as I hope my album 'Long Time Burning' will make clear to anyone who listens. And no, I don't mean 'slow Jungle' or 'breaks' or some-such...
In short, at this stage, after DJing 'drum n bass' music for 13 years, and producing it for 7, I do my own thing. Whether others choose to get on board the Jungle train is up to them.
Peace
BTW, UFO's comments on this subject are all spot-on
http://www.virb.com/djnaphta
http://www.myspace.com/djnaphta
