Goldie - Jungle Daze (feat. Natalie Williams)

Just a few weeks ago a mailer landed in my inbox from London Records. Goldie was putting together a music video and wanted fans to send in memorabilia from jungle's formative years - flyers, photos, tickets, posters, anything that captured the scene through the '90s, the early days. So I dug in a drawer, retrieved what I've kept for almost 30 years, snapped a quick pic, and uploaded a photo of my Metalheadz Sunday Sessions VIP card, for the infamous sessions held at the Blue Note in Hoxton Square in the mid '90s.

I had received the card as a gift from Kemistry & Storm from whom I was buying records and shipping them to South Africa. I went to the Sunday Sessions a few times, but not nearly as often as I wished. When I lived in London for a short while after school, I still couldn't afford the night out, despite having the free entrance to the club. A bit of a rubbish situation. Anyway, from the nights I remember at the Blue Note, it was a cracker.

It was not glamorous. Dark, packed tight with people in and out of the shadows. Loud, the bass rattling your chest, holding you tight. It was hot and sweaty and always smelled like the sweetest of sweet sensimila. In the middle of it all, the man himself, Goldie, climbing over DJs, hanging off people in the crowd, jumping around, hand in the air, and generally being exactly how you hoped Goldie would be. Memories.

And then the other day, the music video for the track was released: Goldie - Jungle Daze (featuring Natalie Williams). Both the tune and the video gave me goosebumps. I got emotional listening to it. The breaks. The breaks. And the beautiful voice and lyrics of Natalie Williams. I'd say it's a pretty perfect tune. Slightly less polished than the usual modern DnB, and ever so slightly less underground, poppy, even, for Goldie. But it is definitely the sound of Goldie, of Rufige Cru, and it took me back.

The video is clever. It's the first time I've seen this sort of concept, but have since noticed Bonobo also asking fans for their footage, so watch a few video copycats come out in the next short while. It's a compilation of photos and videos from the past. AI breathes life into old photos, setting them in motion. Add in some amazing, grainy video footage of people, of clubs, including from inside the Sunday Sessions, and the video is a complete trip back in time. Beautiful.

The whole project is excellent stuff from Goldie, no doubt with the superb musical co-production skills of Submotive, and visual production by Katia Schulz.

And did my VIP card feature in the music video? Yes indeed it did. Many times, composited into the hands of different characters in the video. It's easy enough to spot - it is the VIP card #90. And there you have it, the smallest of roles in the history of jungle/drum 'n bass. Hardly a main character, but for a few short moments, a tiny piece of my own history became a part of jungle's history too. My laminated card that has spent decades tucked away in a drawer found its way back into the culture that created it.

That's magic.