Rinse 20 - Mixed By Uncle Dugs

It is hard to overstate the importance of Rinse FM in contemporary UK dance culture. The station has been at the vanguard of the UK club scene for 18 years since its inception as a pirate station in London in 1994. The latest in the station’s hugely popular mix series goes back to its roots and celebrates old-skool jungle, charting its evolution from primitive beginnings to massive cross over success before morphing into drum and bass.

‘Rinse 20’ covers the halcyon period of jungle from 1991-1997, curated by Uncle Dugs, who has been intrinsically linked from the beginning having managed Rinse from 1995 - 2011 and regularly presenting a purely jungle-based show on the station. There is no better candidate to helm this mix. Beginning with the incendiary sounds of Lennie De Ice’s ‘We Are I.E’, considered by many to be first jungle record, through to the pulverising break beats of ‘Burial’ by Leviticus, and closing with Zinc’s stunning future bass reworking of ‘Ready Or Not’ by The Fugees, this compilation encompasses all that is thrilling about the genre.

The one thing that comes across throughout the mix is how intense the sounds are. It is an intensity born out of a restless ambition to take dance music forward and do something genuinely fresh and exciting; there are also numerous subtleties and nuances. The highly prominent ragga influence provides a link back to the rousing, very London-influenced tradition of dub reggae. There is a strange kind of soul here, for example on 1995‘s slinky and sultry ‘Pulp Fiction’ by Alex Reece. This is music that sounds like it is from an entirely different planet - a common feeling when listening to these records; the majority still sound extremely fresh today.

‘Rinse 20’ will work equally as well for jungle aficionado’s seeking nostalgic reverence or for the uninitiated who will find much to enthral. It serves as a striking document of a hugely important period in UK dance culture.