Steve Woodward Top Ten

This weeks Top Ten is from man like DJ Steve Woodward! Some have said he is Folkestones answer to DJ Hype, and I can only agree. Playing anything from Soul to Jazz to Jungle (and everything in-between) he is regularly seen playing in and around town. As Steve has a new Jungle night coming up I asked him to do a Jungle Top Ten.

Here are my Top 10 Jungle tracks from my record collection.

1 – Leviticus – Burial
Big, bad and heavy! To me this record epitomises the whole Jungle sound and was rinsed
everywhere in 94/95. It’s the perfect combination fat bassline, Ragga vocal taken from ‘My sound a
murder’ by Jigsy King and Tony Curtis and a drum break sampled from Lyn Collins’ “Think”. I first
heard this tune at a night on Hastings pier and it stuck with me ever since. It never leaves my record
box and regardless of where I’m playing, it never fails to win the crowd. I especially love when the
lyrics are mistaken for “Big, Fat and Hairy”.

2 – DJ Mayhem – Inesse (Ray Keith remix)
This track was huge but never really had a mainstream presence, which is a good thing but meant
that it took me an age find out what it was called. The original track was great but Ray Keith took it
to another level and in my opinion is one of his finest remixes. Inesse has it all, choppy Amen drums,
dark and moody synths, huge amounts of bass and euphoric vocals. Spine tingling stuff!

3 – Tayla – Bang The Drums
It took me a long time to really get into the “intelligent” side of jungle/DnB and I’m glad in a way, as I
now have this brand new genre and an entire back catalogue of amazing music to sink my teeth into.
Aside from Apollo two’s “Atlantis”, Good Looking Records was pretty much unchartered territory for
me and seemed like good starting point. What can I say? Ground-breaking stuff! The production of
these tracks was so far ahead of its time. It’s really hard to pick a top track but I think, for me, Tayla’s
“Bang the Drums” just pips it. This is often on loop in the car and makes even the most mundane
journey a joy. I do regret shunning Bukem playing in room 2 for the main room back in 95’ though.

4 – Dillinja – Sovereign Melody
This track has everything – A stone cold classic! This is not just one of my favourite Jungle records
but one of my favourite records, period!

5 – Oaysis – Open Secrets
The Guinness track!!! I first heard this around 93/94 on a mix-tape by a local DJ which was doing the
rounds at the time. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow it through a friend and run off a copy for
myself, it remains today one of my favourite mixes ever. The standout track for me was this dark,
moody and atmospheric track, which sampled a Guinness advert from around the same time and
had the line “If you keep an open mind, you’ll discover dark secrets” voiced by the late Rutger Hauer

– RIP, spoken over haunting whale song. I had no idea what the track was called and didn’t find out
until many years later. I only managed to bag myself a decent copy this year!

6 – Origin Unknown – Valley of the shadows (Long dark mix)
31 Seconds. Guaranteed carnage on the dancefloor! I first bought this in ’96 when the Awake 96 mix
came out, with the original on the flip. This was it for me, the ultimate tune! A masterpiece! I’d been
searching for over the few years previous and now I had it. A fairly simple roller, that samples an old
BBC documentary on out of body experiences and space launch audio, to perfection. I now several
different versions of this but I think my favourite has no be the Long Dark Mix, with the additional
vocal samples and stretched out bells. Timeless!

7 – DJ Solo – Darkage
Ultimate Hardcore/Jungle crossover track from ’93. This has it all going on. The track starts out with
a dark hardcore vibe with sped up vocals and synths, and then steps it up a notch with a more ragga
jungle sound, sampling Tristan Palmer’s ‘Joker Smoker’ and vocal from MC Conrad. This is one of my
favourite records to DJ with and is great for chopping in and out of the mix.

8 – Danny Breaks – Droppin Science Vol.1
For me this record is all about ‘For the thinking positive Crew’- Huge Amen breaks crash through you
and keep you moving until the vocals and slowed down synth from Patti Day’s ‘Right before my eyes’
hit you like a good pill and a blast from a Vicks Inhaler on the breakdown….Oooh babyyy!

9 – Deep Blue – The Helicopter tune
One of the first Jungle tracks I ever bought and still one of the best. I picked it up during my first ever
trip to the legendary Blackmarket records, which as a 15 year old from the Kent coast, was equally as
terrifying and it was thrilling. I remember standing in the basement next to the huge JBL speakers
and hearing the intro propellers…then boom! A simple, steady bubbler that has influenced the
whole genre and sounds incredible when played very loud. Classic!

10 – Trip – Special Toke (The 'erb remix 3)
Absolute Jungle madness! This is Ragga Jungle/hardcore, with Topcat vocals and samples galore,
everything a good jungle record should be. It’s bonkers but it’s so much fun and pure dancefloor fire!