Pitchfork

This year, Chicago's Metro-- the city's most famed indie rock club-- has often served as home to drum 'n' bass' old-timers circuit. It's telling, and even a little appropriate, that when artists such as Goldie, Grooverider, DJ SS, DJ Hype, Shy FX, and others have made appearances in Chicago, they've been booked into a venue best known for its ties to indie royalty than forward-looking dance music. After all, it wasn't until jungle had devolved from visceral hardcore and its forward-looking peak to its chin-stroking artcore dead-end that it finally began to play in Peoria. By the time drum 'n' bass crossed into indie consciousness, could newcomers be blamed for wondering what the fuss was about?

For most of the past 10 years, a "jungle night" in America has more likely been held in a hipster tavern or a dimly lit lounge than on a sweat-soaked dancefloor-- it's no wonder that most of the genre's devotees abandoned it for garage or hip-hop or a revitalized house. But perhaps more surprising is that it's making a comeback-- and not only turning the heads of hardened old-timers, but also providing a way in for those whom missed it the first time around.

One of the best ways to engage with contemporary drum 'n' bass is Troubled Waters, a DJ Clever mix culled from the 12-inch releases on his Offshore Recordings label. Clever's mix doesn't so much recover jungle's fumbled ball and run with it as it does survey the sound's peak. In that sense, Troubled Waters is a primer on the best of d'n'b circa 2004, which reflects the best of d'n'b circa 1996. With only a handful of releases in the Offshore recordbox, Clever doesn't have the luxury of choosing tracks based on compatibility or a shared sense of style, but the record is oddly better off for it: Clever's unusual transitions provide variety and personality, as he blends leftfield drum 'n' bass that lurches from crisp, microscopically chopped beats to more soul-jazz-style excursions.

Deep Blue (of "Helicopter Tune" fame) contributes two tracks and nicely represents the jungle vanguard, but most of the offers are from young, largely unknown producers. Appropriately absent, then, are many of the old cliches and templates-- "Amen" breaks, drug-heightened post-rave anxiety, pre-millennial tension. Indeed, many of these are no longer even applicable. In their place isn't, to the possible dismay of some, a baton-pass to some new tech-driven reemergence of the cult of progression or the hyperkinetic, playful "all killer, no filler" that has characterized the ragga-jungle revival. Instead, up-and-comers such as Sileni, Paradox, and Intex Systems seem trained on a balance between texture, intricate drum patterns, and noise in a way that recalls glitchy IDM and techno more than most of contemporary jungle's jazz-prog snorers.

Fairly abstract and scatterbrained, Offshore's output boasts lush washes of cinematic pleasure (Seba's "Make My Way Home") and ping-ponging excursions into sound (Sileni's "Twitchy Droid Leg"), and even has a pair of almost purely rhythmic tracks appropriately titled "Drum Track 1" and "Drum Track 2". Clever keeps things fresh and well-paced by skipping across a constantly shifting landscape rather than aiming to extract a mix's typical ebb and flow from a pool of tracks which don't seem to offer him that possibility.

In the early to mid-1990s, the sheer speed with which jungle progressed almost inherently kept all but its most dedicated devotees at arm's length. Its quick turnover in vocabulary, style, and sound-- particularly considering these were the dark pre-Internet days-- made it one of that era's more clique-y and obsessive genres. Each shift in style was so on the heels of the one before it that even largely uniform sets seemed thrilling to The In Crowd, even if they were monolithic to those peering through the windows. Troubled Waters acts as a something of a second chance for those window shoppers. Even Offshore's playful sleeves-- with Pete Fowler-esque characters which are reminiscent of the ghost, boy, and bird that serve as mascots for Ghostly International and Spectral Sound-- are warm and inviting. So while Troubled Waters is a lifeline to the contemporary underground for those set adrift on their blissful jungle memories, the record is also, more importantly, a lifejacket which finally allows toe-dippers to dive in at the deep end.