Busy Curious Thirsty cover

Busy Curious Thirsty

Released

Spring Heel Jack (not to be confused with the ska band Spring Heeled Jack) were innovators of what I’d call avant-junglism. Early on (Busy, Curious, Thirsty was originally issued in 1996) the duo realized that jungle’s conventions allowed plenty of room for experimentation, and they went there with a vengeance. Check out the way jazz horns and awkward side effects get together and dance on “Bells,” for example, or the frantically fragmented orchestral samples on “Happy Baby.” This is jungle as art music, not as dance music.

Rick Anderson

Recommended by

Suggestions
Jazz at Massey Hall cover

Jazz at Massey Hall

Bud Powell, Max Roach, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie
Lunz 3 cover

Lunz 3

Tim Story, Hans-Joachim Roedelius
Echo cover

Echo

Chris Russell
Mercurial Balm cover

Mercurial Balm

Iain Ballamy, Thomas Strønen, Food
Joys And Solitudes cover

Joys And Solitudes

Yonathan Avishai
The Soft Machine cover

The Soft Machine

The Soft Machine
Standards cover

Standards

Tortoise