The first thing you should know is: jungle is massive. It is defined by fast cuts, carefully arranged breaks, sharp percussion, and occasional piercing vocals. These blend perfectly with the genre’s deep yet soulful basslines and emotional harmonies, creating a unique mix of sounds, influences, and cultures. Thus, it is no surprise that this movement has given birth to some of underground music’s most listened to and appreciated genres while humbly staying in the shadows.

As this week's Album of the Week, Steve Rickinson looks at the long-awaited sophomore LP As Above, So Below from Zambian-born, Botswana-raised poet and rapper Sampa the Great; out now via Loma Vista Recordings.

Kicking off our Albums of the Week series, Steve Rickinson looks at the claustrophobic post-grime of Southeast London's Coby Sey. His debut album, Conduit, is now available via AD 93.

On the 6th of May, with the occasion of the final instalment of Bandcamp Friday, leading contemporary jungle label Future Retro London put out a triple release – two 12’’ records and one 10’’ vinyl, all in limited edition and accompanied by their respective digital versions.

To celebrate 8 years and more than 45 releases since its conception, UK’s contemporary electronic music label Apron Records has teamed up with Patta Soundsystem for an 8-track-long Various Artist release.

Adrian Sherwood called Mark Stewart, his frequent collaborator, intimidating, but now, two years after we connected, I have a special relationship with the artist/ philosopher and poet.

Warren Walker holds the torch high when it comes to innovation in jazz. His first electronic jazz LP, (N)Traverse, has a very intimate process behind it. Each song is a collab with one of his jazz and fusion artist friends during the 2020 pandemic. Having met on the jazz stages of the world, they now approached working within the realm of sound collage and sound synthesis, from home, safely and unrushed.

Cali P's family musical background has transformed him into a fearless deejay and rapper with a strong, enthusiastic vocal delivery. Starting 2005, he released five albums and 24 vinyl singles and EP's on labels such as Nation Music, Hemp Higher Productions, One Love Records, and others. TEKA is a lover of analog vibes. You sense that in his productions, riddims, and collaborations. What kicked off his collab with Cali P was a Migos Remix.

Romanian jazz, mythology, spirituality, and science fiction have had a strong relationship since the seventies. And so you can find a thin red dotted line between Electrecord LP’s like Marius Popp’s Nodul Gordian, Ramon Tavernier and Cătălin Târcolea’s Panpipe In Jazz, Zoltan Boroș’s Pași spre Infinit and Harry Tavitian and Corneliu Stroe’s Creation Suite and present days independent jazz artists like Adi Stoenescu and his group, plus his collaborations with Alexandru Arcuș, Krisper band, and Iordache.

Fire comes, same as London Zoo did, with a city of sounds. The album has a natural tectonic evolution texture. Loose your mind in the dancehall, but feel the dread of the times we are living. The music is catchy but also spine-breaking, ready to shatter and break.

The latest release of Tenor Youthman is signed for Dub Universe Records, an imprint of the Big Roba Sound System duo, Pavel and Sergey. These guys have crafted some envy-attracting riddims for this 2021 release. Without a doubt, Tenor Youthman can be called the inexhaustible bard of the East.

Released on the 12th of March by On the Corner Records, the debut album of Guedra Guedra is massive. Concept and music blend in spiritual polyrhythms that take over the dancefloor.

Released on 26 of February on Bind Colour, Ink Project's new album explores a wide range of tempos and genres. Producer Jez Lloyd sails on complex rhythms, introducing, one by one, the story chapters with the help of versatile voices of Coreysan, Fifi Rong, and Yazmyn Hendrix.

Positive Thursdays in Dub debut LP, Landing on Planet Dub, has received a great remix treatment. As I see it, it is more like Landing on the Dark Star, filled with challenging and authentic deconstructions by Vibronics, Chazbo, Suns of Dub, Uncle Fester on Acid, Død, Jabbadub, and Alien Levi.

Giacomo Pellegrino, head honcho of the Italian label Detroit Side, explores the depth of the dub-techno realm with his latest release, 'Dub Experience'.

EVA808's 'Sultry Venom', released on the 18th of December on Innamind Recordings, comes after the hype the artist has raised in the last years with tracks like Prrr (2017), Pink Uzi Gang (2018), and Exchange (2020). Not a stranger to other tempos, Eva delivers not a concept record, but a collection of tracks and emotions.

'Ain't About Me' is one pure uncut spoken-word masterpiece, a 360 degrees cultural project that benefits from a physical release on cassette and on a book with typography and illustrations by Rrrumburak. On this record, the spoken words have liquid tactile properties.

Launched at the beginning of 2020, DNO Records announces its 4th vinyl release, signing five tracks from the Belgian duo, The Untouchables. Kate and Ajit don’t need much of an introduction as they are producers with strong releases to show their versatility. Part of the Samurai Music family, The Untouchables constructed their unique sound where elements of jungle and dub are forming a bridge under 170 BPM productions.

Beyond, the latest release of Egopusher comes with an eerie approach to synth and drums. Beyond, the title track of the album invites the listener to a meditative state and, slowly, starts to unveil the different layers of electronic sensations.

'In Blue' is The Bug comeback after this year's ambient textural alien transmission LP Frequencies for Leaving Earth Volume 1 to 5. Through this comeback, he presents a brand new batch of riddims, carefully complemented by eerie vocals courtesy of miss Chen, sounding closer to ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) earworms than traditional chanteuse singing melodies.

Fast, on target, meaningful, the modern UK hip hop is a pledge to consistency. With the commercial focus on grime, hip hop artists were able to play and explore without the pressure of 1 mill copies. In the UK hip-hop, there is no fight for who’s the king. There is no king. There is only the oppression of Babylon and the fight against it.

The fifth edition of DokStation takes place between September 17th and 20th, and the following lines are a review for Punk the Capital – A Sound Movement, one of the films featured in the festival.

The fifth edition of DokStation, the only music documentary film festival in Bucharest, takes place between September 17 and 20. The following review explores the documentary Gorillaz – Reject False Icons, one of the films featured in the festival.

Already sold out for the second press, the latest release of Gaudi, '100 Years of Theremin', is stuck in space and time, perfectly encapsulating the philosophy of dub.

Launched as the first release of the new label Cinemaude, cinematic and experimental sounds oriented, Ghostophonia is a real gem of experimental electronic music. Heavily based on the modified samples of Bela Bartók's folklore music from the Banat area, recorded on phonograph cylinders about a century ago, the album is the result of a collaborative live show between Silent Strike and Makunouchi Bento.

Released by the Netherlander label Ongehoord, "Driftmachine plays Marien van Oers" album playfully circles around the notion of trance-inducing repetition, following Marien van Oers's (1955-2013) concept presented in 1983: "The basic idea of the performance is experiencing a constant repetition of sound (=rhythm), which can result in the spectator taking action through movement or getting into a form of trance".

Following the “Anthology of contemporary music from the African continent”, this new collection released by Unexplained Sounds Group focuses on experimental and alternative music from the Middle East. The compilation aims to draw a picture of the current experimental music in different territories which are not always mapped by mainstream culture operators."

The second album by Cop Funeral comes after five years of waiting. Due to be released this week, on the 13th of September, by Josh Tabbia on his Already Dead Tapes, a cassette and vinyl oriented label active since 2009, the album has a gloomy atmosphere where Josh is deconstructing every sample he touches.

The last days of summer have become more and more a trend in the festival world. There are some festivals that brag with entertaining you in this time frame. Electric Picnic in Ireland has become a good example of such a festival. But hey, the Romanian festival market is beginning a counterpart with the first edition of Fall in Love festival.

Once I have past the festival gates, 20 meters from the camp site, the bucolic grounds unfurl to reveal a playground for both grownups and children. Between people playing with frisbees, children running in all directions and dogs roaming free, the only gripe you could have is that you will not have the time to discover all that Smida has to offer.