When you discuss basic drum & bass, there are few as legendary or enduring as Congo Natty. With a 5 decade deep discography spanning seminal and timeless releases like Junglist, Under Mi Sensei, Get Wild, Kunta Kinte, Jah Sunshin’, Original Ses and extra, Congo Natty has performed a founding and vastly influential function in some of the phenomenal, boundary breaking music actions the UK has ever identified.
Now, following the announcement of his greatest physique of labor but which teased jungle anthems all through the summer time, jungle pioneer Congo Natty lastly drops extremely anticipated album Ancestorz (Rootz Of Jungle), a gargantuan 32-track exploring jungle, D&B, reggae, jazz, hip-hop and past.
Already backed by 6Music, BBC Radio 1, Rinse FM, NTS and extra, Congo Natty unleashes Ancestorz (Rootz Of Jungle) for the world to cherish and a reminder of the style’s ongoing, influential and versatile legacy. Staying true to its title, the album is an ode to the origins of the style Congo Natty has revolutionized within the U.Ok. and past, dedicating every tune to ruminations on jungle’s intersection with identification and nationality. Reflecting on the family tree of the style, observe “Exodus 1: 7” (feat. Fallie Nioke, Kaya Fyah, Marque Gilmore, Reggie Stepper, Orphy Robinson) opens with the declaration “This is England style Reggae – jungle music” earlier than hypnotizing with masterful layers of overlapping vocals, percussion, and spoken reflections. The listener is effortlessly led on a journey to the stripped-down poetic woodwind musings of flute solo “Navaho Flute” (feat. Biscuit), a chic preliminary initiation right into a richly various tour de power.
Despite its 32-track size, Congo Natty’s most in depth undertaking up to now refuses waste time or lower corners, clocking in at simply over 2 hours of music (plus a 2-hour steady combine), fastidiously retaining beloved components of reggae and crisp wind devices current on tracks equivalent to “Zanziba,” an inventive soother that glows with the heat of funk temptations and warbling dub riffage. Meanwhile, “Jungle Starliner” takes it up a notch with thunderous bass traces ravenous for an enormous sound system. At its core, the complete album is hungry for expression, begging you to maneuver your physique with its formidable jungle callings.
Representing the worldwide diaspora and giving a voice to the folks on the brand new album, Congo Natty tells an important story jungle music can inform while documenting the rebellion and reflecting on the place mankind, tradition and the journey is at in 2022. He now appears to move the torch to the producers he’s championing within the current resurgence of jungle music.
Listen under.