Before I knew who Junior Jack was, I was already diggin’ this new song I had heard on XM Radio, a heavy house, breakbeat track that had the signature vocalist Robert Smith of The Cure. I went looking for “Da Hype,” and as luck would have it, Nettwerk Records had already sent us this prime piece of musical real estate for our listening pleasure. Bless their hearts.
There always seems to be soundtracks for summer, those songs or albums that celebrate the sun and the free and easy feeling of the season. Going on holiday, heading to the mountains, dancing till the sun rises in the warm sky are all given an added piece of vibrancy through tunes that capture all those experiences.
Trust me, Trust It by this Italian lad Junior Jack, or as his parents know him, Vito Lucente, has given us a piece of European culture where they work to live, not work to live as we do here in the states. With a hint of disco and new wave synth, deep breakbeat and space adventure swirls, “Da Hype” has to be at the top of the list for the dancefloor crowd. But along with “make you sweat” hyper drive speedways are various interludes of fluid downtempo sophistication, perfect for that twilight Sunday evening when you’re sitting around with friends, taking in a champagne cocktail or umbrella drink to lessen the affects of the other concoctions you took in earlier in the weekend.
Samples, when used wisely, can add those injections of ingenuity and intrigue, and Junior Jack’s sprinkle of jazz men talking about the good ol’e days of music making, to a sultry Latina diva as the intro to “Hola,” a samba heavy ride down the salsa highway, give his piece of work an added level of personal connection. He’s also got a way of taking a familiar and classic house rhythm and give it a whole new body, like on “Samba,” where you can see the Brazilian dancers in the streets with wild costumes and shaking hips and tits.
Junior Jack has been all over the world and back, spreading goodtime cheer, and as rumour would have it, he may just be headed this way in October. Right in time to still give us a taste of summer before we have to bundle up for the winter ahead.
