Jungle has never been the largest genre, with its heavy use of sampling and fast drum-filled beats, but the scene has always been dedicated. There has been a recent resurgence of the genre due to modern internet culture, with platforms like TikTok and many indie games frequently using breakbeats to tap into 90s nostalgia. But Jungle producers don’t need tons of analog equipment to recreate that sound; now, all you need is your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) of choice and a computer.
In 2026, Jungle is being led by the underground, with artists from the past few years growing on sites like Bandcamp and Soundcloud. Differing production styles and inspirations have led to artists like Pizzahotline, Tim Reaper, and Sawteeth building their own lane in the genre. That last one, Sawteeth, is the artist I chose to focus on, because of how he uses his following to further the genre of Jungle, and Drum-and-Bass.
Sawteeth, or Hong, is a producer from Seoul, South Korea, who has been making music for a couple of years now. On top of making music, he also runs a Jungle-specific music label called Jungle Fatigue. Through Jungle Fatigue, 5 volumes have been released, with multiple side projects. The purpose of these projects is to give smaller artists a platform to reach new listeners. Sawteeth also makes all of the art for each of these projects, making 3D renders, which emulate the style seen in older 3D art from the 90s.
Jungle Fatigue Vol. 4 cover
Where I discovered Sawteeth was the soundtrack to the indie game Straftat, a free arena shooter on Steam. The whole game’s soundtrack is full of smaller Jungle producers, and it inspired me to dive deeper into the genre.
On March 10th, Sawteeth released his first full-length album, 東風 (“East Wind”), his most refined and cohesive project to date. Built on intricate samples and strong breakbeats, 東風 stands as a huge step forward for him. Following the release, I caught up with Sawteeth to discuss himself, the album, and the future of his label!
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For Sawteeth, his gateway into Jungle was Remarc’s RIP, and he thought it was something completely different musically.
“I couldn’t really comprehend it at first but I kept coming back anyway, eventually I started to dig it.”
His appreciation of Jungle grew as he listened to more artists. These kinds of 90s tracks were very important for influencing his style of production. Classic jungle labels like Suburban Base, Moving Shadow, Good Looking, Urban Flavour, Metalheadz, and V Recordings were some of the biggest inspirations for Sawteeth.
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As genres, Jungle and Drum-and-Bass emerged out of the UK, and that’s where the culture is still at its biggest. Sawteeth says that in Korea, “It’s a very very niche genre, even in Seoul.” While his music has become more popular recently, Jungle still hasn’t grown as big as it could. “We don’t really have a ‘scene’ yet,” he says, “but more people are getting interested and I’m seeing hope 🙂.”
Early on, he struggled to find others within the scene, which is why he chose to make his own label. “It was around late 2021, I wanted to make my own label with focus on 90’s-esque atmospheric DnB, since nobody wanted to sign me up,” he laughs.
But slowly, with lots of effort on sites like Bandcamp, people started to join the label, and it became a community. Within each of the 5 volumes of Jungle Fatigue, producers work together to create a cohesive sound. To Sawteeth, this is just the start of the label, and when it comes to the future, he wants “More collabs with bigger artists and more frequent vinyl releases!”
In 2025, the game Straftat added many producers to its soundtrack. Sawteeth says that “the developer was a big fan of Jungle Fatigue,” and after the game grew a playerbase, many people tapped into the music outside of the game–myself included. For him, it was all “pretty surreal.”
The biggest wrench in Sawteeth’s plans was mandatory service in the Korean military. “Since I couldn’t bring my laptop to the base I practically had no way to make music the way I used to. So instead, I spent my time studying conventional music theory and notation on books, which has helped me immensely in taking my production to a higher level. I could get a leave every few months, and making music was basically all I did at home.” His passion for music is what kept him creating through that period and inspired him to produce at a higher level.
With his first full-length album coming out, many new people have listened to 東風, with even Bandcamp pushing the album on their Instagram. “The response has been amazing!!” Sawteeth says. “Honestly I didn’t expect much, but now I’m getting tons of messages every day from every region, and it feels pretty awesome!”
To produce this project, he uses a lot of older equipment to find the right sound, like the Amiga 1200, Akai S950, Roland SDE-1000, and his favorite piece, the Mackie CR-1604, because of its “distinct sound.”
Every day, Sawteeth is creating something new, and Jungle Fatigue shows no signs of slowing down. The future is bright and the release of 東風 is only the start with Sawteeth, who is hoping to have big collaborations with artists like Kid Lib. Jungle is thriving in 2026, and that’s all because of producers like him.
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