Ghost Note - Holy Jungle

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  • It would be difficult to imagine a track more "beardo" than "Holy Jungle." It's a relentless, dubby clang that sounds like rainforest natives shaking scrap metal in a yage ceremony and features multiple samples from Alejandro Jodorowsky's cult surreal-mystical film Holy Mountain, in which a mysterious guru demands that the mountain be ascended and the secret to eternal life be forced from the nine immortal men who clandestinely rule the world of human affairs. The track is set up as an extended ambient vision quest that would do The Orb proud: all manner of effected, agitated animal cries and unholy choirs swoop over a lurching drum-circle stomp. So why in the holy dance party does "jungle" get subbed in for "mountain"? Maybe the "holy jungle" is another name for the nightclub—a place for cathartic trance in a dense thicket of moving bodies, lacking the transcendent clarity one associates with reaching the peak. "Holy Jungle" is spacious and ominous, percussive hippie disco as imaginary soundtrack, recalling not only Jodorowsky but the sublime portent of Werner Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God. It's a terrific release for Golf Channel, but ultimately, the song's cinematic intensity is as much a limitation as it is a selling-point: it's gone far enough in the direction of evocative atmosphere that it almost feels incomplete without a compelling visual complement. While the Jodorowsky samples are highly effective, they're also a misdirection away from the track's stripped skeletal frame, which occasionally seems to be asking for further hypnotic decoration—somebody call the good Dr. Paterson. As a result, Mark E's reworking is a scene-stealer, and aptly titled "Pressure Dub": it builds its steam slowly and steadily, sweeping the wobble and lurch of the original into a sweaty piston churn. "Pissed and Passed Out" is literally the flip side: the realm of wild Gnostic adventure is left behind for more urban concerns. Rhythmic analog swish and organic tribal bonk keep the trance-out going, but instead of communion with semi-divine entities, it's you sauced and face-down on your friend's couch. While the density of the tribal percussion threatens to take things into trip-hop territory (an occupational hazard for many downtempo productions), some hairy rock kit fills and lead synth fire surface to pull the track back from the Euro-lounge abyss.
  • Tracklist
      A Holy Jungle B1 Holy Jungle (Mark E Pressure Dub) B2 Pissed And Passed Out
RA