Estonian jungle pioneer LU:K makes UK debut

Virko Veskoja, a founding figure of Estonia's jungle and drum & bass scene, will make his UK debut as LU:K on Friday, 9 October. The show takes place at the Radial club in Tottenham, north London.

Inspired by Finnish radio

In the early 1990s, Veskoja listened to late-night Finnish radio broadcasts carrying frantic breakbeats and sampled voices from Britain's fast-changing underground. The sound struck him as entirely new, like machines trying to communicate with people.

He formed LU:K with Tõnis Valk in 1994, three years after Estonia restored its independence. Imported records and professional studio equipment were hard to come by, so the pair worked with entry-level music software, self-built computers and homemade soundcards.

A warmer take on jungle

While British jungle was growing harder, LU:K combined intricate breakbeats with warm synthesiser pads, orchestral textures and fragments of soulful vocals. Among its best-known tracks are "La:v", "Lovin U" and "010". Estonian critic Tõnis Kahu described "La:v" as "softly totalitarian".

Between 1994 and 1997 the project produced a small but influential body of work, mostly distributed on cassette. It then faded from view, though its reputation kept growing and original tapes and CDs became collectors' items. In May 2025, the Tallinn label Memme Vaev released an eight-track compilation on vinyl and digitally, including material recovered from obsolete hard drives.

Event details

LU:K is due on at 11.45pm. The line-up also includes Dwarde, Abby Daze, Ac1d Vicious, Josie Bee, An3, Freya Algiz, Sunden, Medallion Man and Joel Kane. Radial is a new independent 250-capacity venue near Seven Sisters station. The event runs from 8pm to 3am, is for over-18s, and tickets are sold through Resident Advisor.