The Face #75

THE FACE INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR No 75 DECEMBER 1994 £1.80 • US $5.50 LIRE 7900 • 11.90 DM • 166 BFR • 500 PTAS • ¥1300 • 28 FR CAN $5.95 • 9.50 HFL • 1.28LM AMBER THE FACE OF 95 HAIR & NOW Amber Valletta photographed by David Sims M People What next for Jungle? The man who made Ecstasy Woody Harrelson makes a killing THE STONE ROSES • LEGAL HIGHS • ORGASM THERAPY • GREEN DAY • ANNA FRIEL

JUNGLE TEXT Celia Duncan/Lee Harpin PHOTOGRAPHY Mark Alesky Expanding into the mainstream and exploring countless new directions underground, jungle is the most vibrant and exciting sound to emerge from Britain's clubs for years. From one-off dub plates to K-Tel chart compilations, from a derided London scene to events at clubs like Berlin's Tresor, the music has come a long, long way — further and ORIGINAL perhaps faster than many of its fans would want. Can it stay true to its roots? Can it even be called jungle any more? We asked an almost random sampling for their views on what comes next. The people here represent various strands of jungle, but they certainly aren't all the scene has to offer: this is just a taste of the flavours to come 94/THE FACE

GOLDIE MAJOR PLAYER FLAVOUR "What we've created is a new urban blues for the Nineties. A music that has soul, reggae and R&B, but within the breakbeat framework we've created. It's a music that stands up on its own" Goldie's work inherits the breakbeat-based, B-boy aesthetic of hardcore and takes it to its deepest, furthest conclusions. Is it jungle? Does it really matter? Seminal tracks like "Terminator" and "Angel" (recorded under the alias Metalheads) have consistently confounded outside preconceptions of a once-patronised musical force. Long admiring the creative genius of DJs Fabio and Grooverider, Stussy-collecting Goldie was recently one of the first to sign to a major label – ffrr, the dance division of London Records. The first fruit of a two-album deal is the single "Inner City Life" – a mind-shattering sonic excursion supplemented by the jazz-tinged vocal of Diane Charlemagne. As a prelude to "Timeless" – the full-length 22-minute version of the single, included on next year's debut LP – "Inner City Life" reaffirms Goldie's status as a pioneering force within a progressive, musical avant-garde. "I'm only one part of this," he stresses THE FACE / 95

"The sea world and space – I'm madly into both of them" LTJ Bukem (right) is one of those redefining the contours of drum and bass, setting breaks in electronic soundscapes until the seemingly impossible happens: jungle collides with ambient. A big fan of Lonnie Liston Smith, he began playing keyboards and drums in a four-piece soul band, progressed to DJing reggae and jazz before graduating to breakbeats in the summer of '89. And it shows, be it in the string, jazz and 808 fusion of "Demons" or the head-nodding ambience of his forthcoming track "Horizons", produced on his own label, Good Looking. "Where's the real depth or meaning in music?" he asks. "For me, good sounds are never ending." With a possible US licensing deal and DJ work that takes him all over Europe, Bukem is brazenly immodest. And rightly so UK APACHI BOMBAY JUNGLE "In the jungle rave you've got so many different nationalities that nobody really cares where you're from. The music's British and it's everyone's – that's all that really matters" South London's UK Apachi (below) is a bona fide exponent of jungle's ragga variant. Eight years a reggae MC – releasing tracks like "No Poll Tax" and "Bogle Rock" – he was "brought in" to the jungle scene by Potential Bad Boy of the Ibiza Records stable. Apachi's first foray into the world of the breakbeat, "Every Man Has A Right", caused a rumpus on the underground, before "Original Nuttah", his awesome combination with beat supremo Shy FX took the national pop chart by storm. With his African/Asian/Arabian background, Apachi's live performances at raves and clubs like Bombay Jungle (Tuesdays at The Wag) have made him a firm favourite with jungle's huge Asian following. An entire ragga/jungle LP will follow in the new year

LTJ BUKEM AMBIENCE ROB PLAYFORD SHADOW BOXING DJ, producer, engineer and label manager – is there anything Rob Playford hasn't done? Five years ago he wanted to produce a breakbeat track and ended up starting the now immaculate Moving Shadow label, one of the many independents who kicked the scene into touch and who are now making sure it continues to develop and change. He wanted to spread the word further than his hometown Stevenage so promoted Moving Shadow events showcasing signings Foul Play, Omni Trio and Deep Blue among others. And now that he's finally achieved recognition – remixing Ice Cube and Scarface's "Hand Of The Dead Body" and working on Goldie's Metalheads album – he accepts it as if it's all part of jungle's big plan. "You just have to hold on to the reins as it goes up and down in the fashion stakes and try not to fall off" "Junglists have taken the technological side of hip hop and just kept reinventing it, changing it and bringing it up to date. Jungle is modern day hip hop" THE FACE/97

Rose, 16, hairdresser (furthest left): "Sampling isn't going to stop jungle. It's a form of renewing a tune. It makes it sound better than what it used to be"; Shina, 19, hairdresser: "I'd like to see more PAs in the future but on the whole I just see jungle growing bigger and bigger"; Anita, 20, student: "Jungle is here to stay and >>

"it's good that it's got all different people and different colours"; Natalie, 18, student: "At the moment it's limited to England but it's going to go all over the world, everywhere"; Noreen, 17, medic: "I don't know where it's heading. All I know is that it's heading there fast" Junglists at London club night Thunder And Joy

FOUL PLAY BAND APART RANDALL JAZZ FUSIONIST "No one can predict where this music's going next. It's changing so fast. But it's important that the real artists and engineers – not just the DJs – get the credit they deserve" With his eclectic, experimental approach to drum and bass, DJ/producer Randall has pioneered a melodic, fusion-based strand of jazzy jungle. Amongst his influences he cites the likes of Bristol's Roni Size, whose "Music Box" single is perhaps the best fusion of jazz samples and breaks so far. Randall's own free-form offerings have been included on "Sound Control", a brilliant collaboration with Andy C. As well as a DJ residency at London's AWOL club, Randall and partner Mike founded influential east London record shop The Underground. After Mike released Lenny Dee's "We Are E" – one of the earliest jungle-based recordings – the stable has since proved to be a hotbed of talent introducing MC's GQ, FATS and highly-rated engineer Flex on to the jungle scene 100/THE FACE

Northampton doesn't proffer many musicians, let alone junglists. Drum and bass doesn't encourage PA-friendly bands. And live soul vocals should be at odds with the frantic excitement of a breakbeat. All of which renders Foul Play – a drum and bass PA from the area – all the more remarkable, and proof, if any more were needed, of the music's nationwide appeal. "Being in Northampton forces us to be objective," says Steve Bradshaw, the dominant half of the production duo. "We aren't influenced by what's going on in London." Judging by their current single "Music Is The Key", which uses the live vocals of Denise Gordon, Steve and his 21-year-old partner John Morrow have set themselves an anti-sampling, anti-ragga creed. "Real instruments and real musicians. That's the way we want to go" "If I had to sum up our style in three words I'd say: definitely not ragga" "It's a male domain. The whole thing is run by men. That's why there's so much rubbish going on!" In a scene that reminds "lovely ladies" to dress "above the knee", Kemistry and Storm (wearing long skirts and full-length trousers respectively) have had to work hard to be taken seriously. For the past three years, people have booked them as a novelty, but as Storm asserts, "At the end of the day we're DJs regardless of sex." As well known in Stoke-on-Trent as they are in Aldershot, they have succeeded, perhaps more by necessity than choice, in moving drum and bass away from London. Like DJs Rap and Tamsin or promoters like Lee (Thunder And Joy) and Lisa (Jungle Soundclash), they're blazing a trail for female junglists. Their next quest, says Storm, will be a record label. To promote women? "To promote anyone coming up. And if they're women – great" KEMISTRY AND STORM AMAZON JUNGLISTS