JUNGLE レコード& CD

Review: Londoners Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland mix up funk, set soul, dance and nu-disco for a fourth album here in Volcano. They draw on some top-notch collaborators along the way - Erick the Architect, Channel Tres, Roots Manuva, Mood Talk and Bas - and wrote most of it while on tour to support their last album. They say it is the most honest album of their career to date and it is indeed a little more song-based and soulful. The sounds are free and the energy is still explosive so the tracks are sure to work just as well in the live area as at home.

Review: Acclaimed UK duo Jungle bring to Volcano the same sense of free-spirited energy that made their previous album Loving In Stereo such a hit. Much of this one was written while the duo was on tour, staying in an airbnb in Los Angeles, before they head to record it back in London at their favourite Studio B in Metropolis Studios. There is a wider variety of voices on this record with Erick the Architect as well as a reunion with Bas for 'Pretty Little Thing' who was last heard on the single 'Romeo.' As well as that, Roots Manuva, Channel Tres and Jnr Wiilliams also feature.

Review: Former Mercury Music Prize nominees Jungle (AKA Tom McFarland and Joshua Llloyd-Watson) are in a pleasingly positive mood on their latest full-length, Loving in Stereo. Beginning with a wide-eyed slab of string-laden, beat-free pop, the album sees the pair confidently strut through groovy, often lusciously orchestrated numbers that giddily join the dots between blue-eyed soul, celebratory disco, hip-hop, laidback 1970s funk rock, 1960s beat music, cheery synth-pop, fuzzy indie-pop and much more besides. It's an undeniably sunny and accessible sound that somehow manages to sound utterly dancefloor-friendly despite largely not being aimed at clubs. It's the kind of album we'll no doubt see place highly in the end of year lists of broadsheet journalists and young NME scribes.
Loving in Stereo

Review: Dance pair Tom McFarland and Joshua Lloyd-Watson aka Jungle cut loose on this, their third and most evocative album to date. It is a record packed with the sort of good time grooves and wall to wall party tunes we all want to hear after such a dark 18 months or so. There are plenty of heart on sleeve tunes, hooky top lines and warm, soaring summer chords that are designed to be heard outdoors, on a massive festival sound system with thousands of people singing along next to you. Some slower, dubbed out rhythms provide a nice counter to stop things growing too saccharine, and overall it add up to a great listen.

Review: Pop duo Josh Lloyd-Watson & Tom McFarland, or simply J & T as they are known, realise their second album for pioneering independent label, XL. Since the pair's debut self-titled release back in 2013 the group has expanded to something around seven members and following a slew of singles and EPs (inclusive of a Soulwax remix) the band are now bursting with fresh life and colour. Take "Heavy, California" for example, a sing-a-long pop number that's bright and cheery enough to make you want to skip through the streets with a dandelion in your hair regardless of the season. "Cherry", the other track thrown around online, sees Jungle live up to their Neo Soul genre tag, and with 11 more tracks to explore, maybe they'll even find hit that second Mercury Prize nomination.

Review: Following the runaway success of their Mercury Music Prize nominated 2014 debut album, Jungle moved to Los Angeles to record the follow-up. It didn't work out for a variety of musical and personal reasons, so they headed back to London and recorded "For Ever" instead. While some of the lyrics reflect on their musical and personal issues during that time, the resultant songs are as soulful, polished and jaunty as you'd expect. Check, for example, the sun-kissed disco-pop of "Heavy California", the sumptuous lo-fi soul shuffle of "Cherry", the head-nodding grooves and lyrical melancholy of "Happy Man" and the grandiose, bittersweet brilliance of "House In LA".

Review: Dave Lee's Z Records hits the milestone 20th edition of this Attack The Dance floor series. It has always been a reliable outlet for glossy, disco tinged and floor friendly house tunes from some of the genre's most accomplished names. This time out, Dave Lee appears ac couple of times, firstly with the feel good and soul-licked remix of Mike Lindup's 'Atlantia' and then with a boogie mix of Jungle's 'Keep Moving' which comes with a nice dotted funk bassline and big shiny strings. Lazywax and and Emmaculate Afrodisia remix further boost this useful 12".