- Retrofuturustic jungle that mixes rhythmic flair and soulful hooks.
- dazexgd and gum.mp3 are living proof that opposites attract. On the surface, the two young producers run in the same circles (both are a part of EldiaNYC, an internet collective at the forefront of UK garage in North America), but their individual styles are completely different. Brooklyn-bred dazegxd has been making music from his bedroom for over ten years, initially toying with techno and drum & bass before pivoting to hip-hop and trap beats at 15 years old. He's gone on to work with internet-sphere artists like Jane Remover, ericdoa and midwxst. His 2022 release vKiss blended trance, jungle and house with digicore—one of his strongest records yet.
Virginia's gum.mp3 has a much more streamlined trajectory. Inspired by his friends at NYU, the visual artist began producing ambient and experimental music in 2019. By 2021, he would go onto drop six full-length projects. The frequent collaborators have likened their kinship to uncle and nephew, with gum.mp3 acting as the older relative who injects his jazz and blues-influenced rhythms into house music and dazegxd's fresh-faced focus on jungle. On Girls Love Jungle, the duo explore the genre through contrasting approaches, feeling out where it's been and where it can go next: the rawness of classic jungle mixed with the more multi-genre method of the new wave, which takes elements of breakbeat hardcore and liquid drum & bass.
Historically, jungle is where dazegxd really shines. With a childhood love of Jet Set Radio and jungle tracks that date back to the prehistoric era of B.P.—Before PinkPantheress—it feels like he was predestined to release an album of original jungle tunes. And on Girls Love Jungle, gum.mp3's lush soul samples lay over top dazegxd's frenzied drum cadences so effortlessly, it's as if the pair was always meant to make it together. (The duo actually released "Bad For Us" in August 2021, with "Thinking About U" coming a few months later.)
Their styles work together best on the album's more tender tracks. gum.mp3's sleeker sound flourishes on songs like "Imitator," which has a smooth jazz appeal only heightened by the feverish percussion—an energetic backdrop for horns that weave in and out of the beat. His addition of echoing vocal samples in "Step Up" seamlessly seeps into dazegxd's swiftly chopped drum patterns. That's not to say that the more upbeat songs aren't as pleasing. "Mania" and "don't you see" showcase dazegxd's knack for distinct, unpredictable beats: he makes listener guess whether they're going to hear a quintessential jungle beat or if he'll turn our heads to something wacky and less traditional.
With gum.mp3 inspired by the timelessness of Sun Ra and Moodymann, alongside dazegxd's influences from video game and anime soundtracks, Girls Love Jungle is a lesson in how creative differences can be channeled into authentic teamwork, and into something greater than the sum of the parts. Both employing their own Afrofuturist approaches to production, the duo uses jungle as a vehicle to investigate dance music history as well as design its future. gum.mp3 and dazegxd—among names like Tim Reaper, Nia Archives and Anz—are examples of producers who are reclaiming the Blackness of the genre's origins and making some of the best jungle around while they do it.
Tracklist01. Mania
02. Bad 4 Us
03. Imitator
04. Thinking About U
05. Many Things
06. Step Up
07. dazedgxd - Don't You See
08. gum.mp3 - MInd Reader