Fabric Presents: RTRN II FABRIC

The UK duo Chase & Status have reached gigantic audiences – and collaborations with some of the biggest names in music – by always making everything bigger, slicker, sharper and shinier. In theory, applying that approach to classic 1994-95 jungle shouldn’t work: it seems antithetical to the raw, makeshift character of those original records. And making a 44-track 70-minute megamix into the bargain sounds like the stuff of ersatz, Hollywood CGI remake nightmares. And yet in this mix for legendary London club fabric – whose Friday nights have been a haven for bass music styles since 1999 – they made it work. With souped up versions of those classics, new guest vocals from dancehall, jungle and grime royalty, and the furious pace genuinely feeling like a wild party DJ set, it feels not only like a fitting tribute to the initial jungle explosion but a bold statement of the enduring futuristic potential of its mechanisms.