JUNGLE

Village Underground | 4 March

The last 9 months have been good to Jungle. Following a string of infectious singles on Chess Club Records and an assortment of viral videos (a healthy mixture of breakdancing and roller skating), the mysterious neo-soul troupe were ultimately selected as one of the 15 acts for the enviable ‘BBC Sound of 2013’ shortlist, and now they’ve signed to XL Recordings in a further statement of their impending diffusion of the wider musical scene. Tonight Jungle made their much-awaited London debut at a Village Underground show that sold out in just 24 hours back in November, so Crack duly invited itself along to find out just exactly what all the fuss is about.

The stone arches are a mainstay of this country’s vibrant clubbing scene, but it’s a Tuesday night – a small beer costs £4 and a bottle of water costs £400 (probably) and everyone’s got work tomorrow so the fever to dance tonight comes solely from the bodacious rhythms of the music. This lopsided atmosphere, though, is but a testament to what Jungle will surely become: a marauder of trailblazing dance line-ups in titanic warehouse spaces, but with the crossover appeal to also attract an audience who do actually have to get up in the morning.

And with a performance as complete as this, it could be safe to say that Jungle are one above the laptop DJs and techno physicians that share that same stage. Everything is down to a tee. Flashing blue and red lights partner whirring police sirens in tracks like colossal hip-mover The Heat, relentless percussions from wooden blocks to shimmering Coke bottles supply sprawling rhythms to every funk-ridden breakdown, and a duo of gospel singers complete a multitude of animated players on stage. With full denial of any stage-facing lights, then, each member is visually anonymous – little more than a black shadow of wiggling shapes on a backdrop of spectral sonic synthesis.

The music is untameable. It’s as wild as the animal calls that soundtrack their entrance to the stage. A compendium of George Clinton grooves, disco licks and convoluted beats pounced upon with rabid hunger. As-yet-unreleased track Crime is as instantly memorable as all previous singles, whilst their latest, Busy Earnin, full of the same uplifting horns and textures that dominated The Go! Team’s Mercury Award nominated debut, goes off like a house party on fire. Only an endlessly looping finale of jammed Platoon can justify farewell, and it does in but the sexiest of fashion. It could have gone on for hours.

With the news of a full tour arriving this week including dates such as Berlin’s infamous Berghain, Jungle have made a statement, and it’s one that they’ve truly fortified tonight: they’ve arrived.

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Words: James Balmont

Photo: Abi Dainton