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Video: Jacques Greene – For Love
Today, Jacques Greene releases the video for new single, “For Love,” from his forthcoming album, Dawn Chorus, out October 18th via LuckyMe. “For Love” follows lead single “Do It Without You” and early single “Night Service” (Feat. Cadence Weapon).
Greene approached the making of Dawn Chorus as if he were a band. He lived in the studio for five months this past winter – half the time at home in Toronto, the other half in Hudson Mohawke’s studio in L.A. – and wrote these songs in a sprint to capture this chapter in his life. While samples played a big part in his early output, his creative process for Dawn Chorus revolved around recording a stellar cast of musicians, arranging new parts. As a result, it’s his most collaborative project to date, featuring additional production and instrumentation from film composer Brian Reitzell (Lost In Translation), cello by London’s Oliver Coates, additional production from Clams Casino and original vocal contributions from ambient artist Julianna Barwick, rapper Cadence Weapon and singers Ebhoni and Rochelle Jordan, all sampled, processed and stitched back into the album.
To craft the sound of the record, he thought about the artists he held dear and researched the gear they used as a means of being in dialogue with their emotional tenor. Some of the gear he sourced included the delay that My Bloody Valentine was renowned for, as well as a compressor used by French Touch producers Alan Braxe and Fred Falke. Working with mix engineer Joel Ford (of Ford & Lopatin), he created a rule book for the album’s sonics that saw each part, from the drums to the pads, be processed in a specific way, through guitar pedals and outboard equipment.
Surrounding the release of Dawn Chorus, Greene will play select shows in Europe and the UK before returning to North America.
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Video: Jacques Greene – Do it Without You
LuckyMe anounced the release of Dawn Chorus last week, the new album from Jacques Greene (out October 18th.) It was unveiled alomngside sinfle “Do It Without You,” which premiered via Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC 6Music. Today he shares the tracks stunning visual which, a pretty 16mm new wave looking video with Japanese fashion styling and a pill made of light. It was directed by Mathieu Fortin.
If Greene’s 2017 debut album, Feel Infinite, was the soundtrack to a dream pregame – amping you up to lose yourself in the club – then Dawn Chorus resides in the post-rave reflective moment. A time of heightened sensuality and latent possibility.
Greene approached the making of Dawn Chorus as if he were a band. He lived in the studio for five months this past winter – half the time at home in Toronto, the other half in Hudson Mohawke’s studio in L.A. – and wrote these songs in a sprint to capture this chapter in his life. Ten years into the game and not yet in his thirties, his perspective on the value of dance music and where it rests with his daily life and inspiration bare out on this album. While samples played a big part in his early output, his creative process for Dawn Chorus revolved around recording a stellar cast of musicians, arranging new parts.
To craft the sound of the record, he thought about the artists he held dear and researched the gear they used as a means of being in dialogue with their emotional tenor. Some of the gear he sourced included the delay that My Bloody Valentine was renowned for, as well as a compressor used by French Touch producers Alan Braxe and Fred Falke. Working with mix engineer Joel Ford (of Ford & Lopatin), he created a rule book for the album’s sonics that saw each part, from the drums to the pads, be processed in a specific way, through guitar pedals and outboard equipment.
Now 29, Greene has been making music “about the club” for over a decade. His sound could be described as an emotional haze, in that its balance of sonic elements work to illuminate the overlapping feelings that lie between the familiar binaries. Outside of his own releases, Greene has explored his relationship with the club in a variety of contexts, from remixing Radiohead to producing for Katy B and Tinashe and touring with The xx.
He will tour Dawn Chorus in Europe and North America this October. An intimate first live show at the St Pancras Old Church is already sold out in London and another show has been added.
‘DAWN CHORUS’ IS OUT OCTOBER 18TH VIA LUCKYME
Jacques Greene Tour Dates:
Thu Oct 17 – Berlin, DE @ Burg Schnabel
Fri Oct 18 – London, UK @ St. Pancras Old Church (Sold Out)
Fri Oct 18 – Manchester, UK @ Warehouse Project (DJ set) (late show)
Sat Oct 19 – London, UK @ Five Miles (DJ Set)
Wed Oct 23 – Brooklyn, NY @ National Sawdust
Fri Oct 25 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
Sat Oct 26 – Montreal, QC @ Ausgang
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Video: Jacques Greene – True
Watch Jacques Greene “True” music video directed by Mauriès Matos.
“The essence of the record is to draw emotions that above all feel human within the context of dance music. I want it to be celebratory of all that we feel and do and experience – the beautiful, the good, and the bad.” – Jacques Greene
The video for “True” comes ahead of this week’s appearance at Sonar By Night (Friday June 16) and this bittersweet single sees How To Dress Well reunited with Jacques Greene. ‘True’ was written in sessions together in London last Summer, and mixed in Atlanta by Alex Tumay – the engineer behind a raft of new hip hop including Young Thug, Travis Scott & Future.
The film, directed by long-standing collaborators Mauries Matos, sees every collaborator of the record meet for their own private release party in a karaoke room in Greene’s hometown of Montreal. The film sees a peer group drop their guard and enjoy this music: blurring boundaries of amateur performances and marketed performances of music promos. While his friends are notable artists, they have turned digital relationships into genuine friendship. And this beautifully evocative film opens up the world of the record with a healthy sense of humour. How to Dress Well and Jacques Greene both make this music but they are also fans, celebrating this music.
Feel Infinite’ is the debut LP by Jacques Greene out everywhere now on LuckyMe worldwide, and Arts & Crafts in Canada.
Tracklist:
1 Fall
2 Feel Infinite
3 To Say
4 True ft How To Dress Well
5 I Won’t Judge
6 Dundas Collapse
7 Real Time
8 Cycles
9 You Can’t Deny
10 Afterglow
11 You See All My Light
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Jacques Greene – Feel Infinite LP
“The essence of the record is to draw emotions and moments that above all, feel human within the context of dance music,” says Jacques Greene of his highly anticipated debut album, ‘Feel Infinite’. “I want it to be celebratory of all that we feel and do and experience – the beautiful, the good, and the bad.”
Leading with a bright and bombastic new musical statement, brand new single “Real Time” with its driving bass and almost French Touch-inspired sequenced samples is an elastic collision of human performance meets drum machine rigidity. “A track built from something with that human element and energy but with something else than a voice.”
Jacques Greene is the enigmatic, young artist who broke out of a generation of independent electronic labels Uno, 3024, Night Slugs and LuckyMe as a genre-defining producer and DJ (via 2011’s ’Another Girl’ – one of Pitchfork’s Songs of the Decade, 2013 favourite ’On Your Side’ ft. How To Dress Well and 2016’s club anthem ’You Can’t Deny’). Jacques Greene crafted a musical blueprint that inspired a generation who were raised at the intersection of contemporary music in the 90s: hip hop, RnB, house and techno.
At its heart, ‘Feel Infinite’ is a record about the utopian idea of club culture – music about the club, as well as for the club in and of itself. Written over the course of two years, this debut album is the purest, most personal expression of the Jacques Greene sound created by the born and raised Montrealer, renowned for collaborating and remixing Tinashe, Radiohead, Sampha and Shlohmo. Present on the record are Jacques Greene RnB vocal chops that he popularised in new club music – but here he returns to their original purpose: his own reference to Masters Of Work. Where they drew from their primary influence in disco, JG draws upon his own formative chart music.
“I really try to make music that connects people and speaks to the things that bring us together – true club culture was born out of oppression and worked hard to create spaces for its marginalized members,” says Jacques Greene. “The record is more aspirational than escapist – ‘feeling infinite’ is not about forgetting your identity or escaping those things, but rather finding a deeper meaning and truth in them by their unbreakable link to everything else in the world.”
As a debut album ‘Feel Infinite’ is the culmination of the world of Jacques Greene in that it feels like a closing of a loop that includes a close team of collaborators who are all personal friends and accomplices, the majority of whose roots stem from Montreal’s fiercely independent art and music scenes. The creative spirit of Montreal is imbued within the record so deeply. “I kept the collaborations really limited and to people I have real relationships with – an appreciation and respect for the world around me,” says Jacques Greene of the one vocal collaboration with How To Dress Well and artistic collaborations with visual artist and designer Hassan Rahim, director Melissa Matos (of Trusst) and photographer Mathieu Fortin. “I never want to forget my place within the world – my city, my identity. The record is a very deliberate exercise in kind of consolidating the Jacques Greene world while also throwing nods at influences and the context of my music.”
In 2016, Jacques Greene released the surprise single ‘You Can’t Deny’ to acclaim – a beautifully undeniable, soulful techno record, followed up with ‘Afterglow’, a euphoric club record – both of which are included on the album alongside a further nine tracks. “Music has always been a personal therapeutic experience for me,” says Jacques Greene. “When things either in my personal life or the world at large feel more chaotic or out of control and ominous – closing it all out and creating something at home is something to hold on to while the room spins.”
First single “Real Time” is out now. Jacques Greene’s debut album “Feel Infinite” is out March 10 (digital) / March 25 (vinyl) on LuckyMe.
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Jacques Greene – Afterglow
Montreal producer Jacques Greene has shared new song “Afterglow”. The 12″ is out on October 28 on LuckyMe Records with exclusive extended versions of Afterglow and You Can’t Deny.
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Bwana – Akira’s Light
LuckyMe are proud to present “Akira’s Light” by the Berlin-based producer Bwana, the first track from “Capsule’s Pride”, the forthcoming EP that reimagines and pays homage to Katsuhiro Otomo’s iconic 1988 masterpiece, Akira.
First published in 1982 as a manga series, Akira went on to be one of the mercurial writer and director’s most celebrated works, alongside the epic science fiction anthology, Memories.
“Akira’s Light” is available for free at www.luckyme.net/bwana and is the first music from the EP out March 25.
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Jacques Greene – After Life After Party EP
LuckyMe are proud to present ‘After Life After Party’, a brand new 4 track EP by Jacques Greene in association with a forthcoming headline show at The Roundhouse in London this Halloween (tickets here).
Since his move from Montreal to Manhattan this year – Jacques Greene hasn’t stood still. From the release of the stellar “Phantom Vibrate” EP in April he has undertaken worldwide DJ touring with his downtime ensconced in his Greenpoint studio working on his debut full length.
On ‘After Life After Party’ – in contrast to an identity he’s built by use of traditional analogue synthesiers and drum machines – here Greene employs the digital to high effect – still present are the signature, layered 707 rim shots and techno homages, but this record is born entirely out of cheap Trance presets. The outcome is a more synthetic, dryer Jacques Greene than we’re used to – but in that half time counterpoint and bitter-sweet lead-poly melody we still find that intangible euphoria and echoes of R&B that most identify Greene.
The B-side, 1 4 Me, brings a punching slab of modern house, driven but short decay filtered stabs and thick ghostly vocal samples above a 909 kick. Below, you can stream the official video, a film about consumer fetishism and Nike TN dipping, directed by Melissa Matos (Trusst).
Also included are two exemplary remixes of ‘After Life After Party’ – minimalist southern rap producer Suicideyear follows up his recent EP on Software with a more playful fusion of smoked-out Louisiana rap and SoSoDef booty electro. Scottish house producer Sei A continues an exemplary run of releases with his flip on our A-side – an anthem for after hours.
Tracklist:
1. After Life, After Party
2. 1 4 Me
3. After Life, After Party (Suicideyear Remix)
4. After Life, After Party (Sei A Remix)
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Jacques Greene – Phantom Vibrate Remixes EP
Jacques Greene released his 3 track “Phantom Vibrate” EP on April 28th 2014 to a pretty astounding reception. A club 12” that challenged new technology culminated in three consecutive headline events in his three most important cities: Montreal, New York & London. The run of shows felt like a landmark celebration for a young artist born of dance music by presenting rich and varied bills with likeminded artists to play alongside his own acclaimed hardware live shows. Now LuckyMe are very proud to present “Phantom Vibrate – Remixes” featuring four producers cherry picked by JG: Fort Romeau, Yung Gud, Area Forty One and Kit Grill.
London based producer/DJ Fort Romeau has released tracks on Ghostly/Spectral as well as last years excellent “Kingdoms” on 100% Silk with a style that references the classic Chicago house sound whilst still feeling dynamic and off the moment. His edit can be streamed in the player above.
Yung Gud is best known as the go-to producer (alongside Yung Sherman) for Swedish rap phenomenon Yung Lean. His remix sees a rare abandon of the Sad Boys aesthetic to go more uptempo than ever before. The emotive touches aren’t lost though, around behind Gud’s hard drum programming.
Kit Grill is a name to watch due his beautiful minimalist-referencing Get Me release in 2013, to his current NTS radio show. Jacques Greene was one of the biggest supporters of his early work, often drawing for Kit Grill to open his sets. Here he returns the gesture our way.
Last but not least – Area Forty One is the alias of Dutch producer Dennis Van Germent who has already released critically acclaimed records on both Delsin and it’s offshoot Ann Aimee.
Four remixes to reflect Jacques Greene’s taste, three launch events in the cities he considers home – The Phantom Vibrate has been a rare personal expression for the once enigmatic Jacques Greene as he slowly reconciled his introduction to the world as a faceless studio producer to become a fully fledged recording artist with his own skin. It’s going to be interesting to see where he heads next.
Out on May 30th 2014 on LuckyMe. Pre-order here.
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