Old Skool Jungle in a New Skool Era: Dillinja releases latest elusive deep jungle EP accolading the mid-nineties golden age
EP Review: Test /2/ by Dillinja
For people who like…jungle, drum and bass, electronic.
Aside from remixes and remasters, Dillinja hasn’t released a whole lot in the way of fully-distributed new singles since his mid nineties to early noughties heyday. Regardless of this the last 15 years have shown us that jungle can never truly die…Enter Dillinja’s newest EP, released in May 2024, Test /2/ – b-side smooth jungle rollers that take you straight back to the glory days.
Most jungle/DnB fans will be well aware of Dillinja’s former releases, with the likes of Nasty Ways, Sovereign Melody, The Angels Fell, and Hard Noise being key linchpins in the early formation of drum and bass as a genre at the end of the 20th century.
Then came Twist ‘Em Out, a hit with the late and great MC Skibadee that was used as the intro to ‘Ali G in Da USA’. But with Dillinja such a pioneer and figurehead in the scene, I’m wondering why his more recent original releases haven’t had as big an impact.
He’s been releasing original singles within a collection of ‘Deep Jungle’ EPs since 2018, having just released the latest edition in May of this year…the anonymously titled Test /2/.
Given the EP’s elusive titles, these seem like unfinished b-side jungle tracks that had likely been sitting on his hard drive since the mid-nineties – which he’s now eloquently decided to finish up and release. I suppose the only way I’ll truly know this, is if I interview him, so Dillinja hit me up and let’s get that arranged! With all three tracks on this EP named Untitled 1, 2 and 3…I’m intrigued.
Untitled 1 starts with a gentle jungle drum pad and classic soft but wholesome 808 bass in the background. Then in true Dillinja fashion a harder and more bold drum beat chimes in to bring the track up a notch. The rest of the track is peppered with familiar old skool high end synths and classic samples that take me right back to the sounds of jungle’s early days.
It’s testament to Dillinja’s high-level production skills and creativity that even when he’s made a track that’s so rooted in old skool sounds and structure, it still manages to come with more surprises than a lot of new drum and bass singles being released nowadays – but that’s just his style, arranging tracks with subtle intricacies and nuances that make them impactful and genuinely interesting to listen to. That was true way back when, and is not going to change now.
The rest of this EP consists of two more tracks (Untitled 2 and 3) bringing more of the same, albeit slightly softer and more closely matching songs like Sovereign Melody and The Angels Fell rather than Twist ‘Em Out and Grimey. Classic jungle rhythms are in abundance, complemented by Dillinja’s trademark of cleverly layered, progressive, bass heavy production we know and love.
Although it’s nothing we haven’t heard before, overall this is a quality EP which serves as a reminder that you can revive sounds from 30 years ago and still make them sound as fresh as ever. You can’t teach an old dawg new tricks, but if that old dawg is Dillinja, then you probably don’t need to…he invented the tricks in the first place.
