Jega - Variance: Roughs

Jega is Dylan Nathan, an electronic musician who has released records on Skam and Planet Mu and is most often labeled a member of the drill'n'bass scene. It's a really unfair label, as his releases never focus solely on that subset of drum'n'bass, although when he did make tracks in that vein he did so rather well. If you haven't heard his works, I'd suggest you check out Spectrum and Geometry, his first two full length releases. You can check samples and purchase them at Bleep.

Prior to this year, Jega's last major release was 2000's Spectrum. Since then, he's left the UK for the US and has been working on his third full-length, Variance, ever since. It saw release earlier this year on Planet Mu, bringing a rather different style to his sound, with mellow, stoned vibes throughout and little of the hectic energy featured in his earlier works. This may not have been the original intention for Variance though, as evidenced by a leak sometime in 2003 or 2004 of early versions of songs recorded for the album.

Apart from the final song, Theme, none of the recordings from the leak, which I've labeled Variance: Roughs, have been released, at least not in the form they were originally presented. Aerodynamic, for instance, started as a hyper club workout with Kool Keith and LL Cool J samples littered throughout, whereas the final version may feature some of the samples but sounds more like an exercise in deconstruction, turn the rock hard breaks into bent, slow-motion holds. The original Aerodynamic, while exciting, went on a bit too long, making it's re-creation a far better edited track, but so many other great tracks didn't receive this opportunity. Acid, for instance, is a fast burner with odd-ball samples out of a sci-fi film. It would have sounded great on a 12" or compilation, but it seems that it and the rest of these early versions are set to gather dust on a hard-drive somewhere in obscurity. Luckily, these recordings are still circulating and able to be examined by fans.

If you want to learn more about Jega, you can always visit his official site, his wikipedia reference, Planet Mu, or hear samples at Bleep. Let's hope that he doesn't take another nine years to put another record out, although Variance was definitely worth the wait. Keep 'em comin' Mr. Nathan!


Jega - Variance: Roughs
Part One
Part Two

01 Aerodynamic
02 Bicubi
03 Haze
04 Whisperplane
05 Intron-X
06 Indica
07 Acid
08 Hydro
09 BMX
10 Caustic
11 Convolver
12 Fireball
13 Ghost
14 Mixdown Bass
15 Pass Arani
16 Pixel
17 Shaft
18 Theme