Music is all about heritage…
EG: if Nils Posse’s grandma hadn’t bought him a Bob Marley record when he was 8 years old. Or if Andreas Larsson hasn’t pinched his older sister’s copy of Burning Spear’s Hail H.I.M album, Jamtech wouldn’t exist.
Maybe it would… But it wouldn’t have half as much as an interesting story: three white Swedish guys armed with a passion for soundsystem culture and Caribbean sounds, Jamtech have taken their sound across the world in a way that most producers could only dream of.
First time I was there I recorded with Beenie Man, he loved the rhythm… That’s the only reason he worked with us.
Long before Jamtech existed, Nils and Andreas were known as KBC Music. Andreas on the riddim production, Nils on the soundsystem and networking construction. The moment they had something they were confident in, Nils booked himself a one-way flight to Kingston.
“There’s so much amazing talent artists in Kingston. It’s violent, there’s a lot of poverty and it’s stressful living there, but 90 per cent of the country’s music industry is in the city so that’s where you have to be,” says Nils. “So you have to go to the recording studios and hang out and make the right impression. You want to work with the big guys but they’re busy so you wait and wait and wait. I learnt so much about the music industry. If you can handle the music game in Kingston you can handle it anywhere!
“I had some really good music with me. That helped massively. Plus there weren’t many Europeans doing this over there at the time, so I stood out quite a lot. I was just running around with this two-inch tape trying to get anyone to hear it. Having good rhythms was crucial. First time I was there I recorded with Beenie Man, he loved the rhythm… That’s the only reason he worked with us.”
Since that debut daring venture Nils, Andreas and Linus have hopped from island to island, working with some of the biggest names in dancehall and reggae culture. From Bounty Killer (who they created two massive free downloads with last year) to RedOne (the man responsible for production on Lady Gaga’s first album) to Major Lazor who’s chance encounter in a Trinidad bar last year led to a beautiful (not to mention free!) remix of Reach For The Stars featuring Wyclef Jean.
“I love that remix,” says Andreas. “We picked that song because no one else remixed it. We also love the vibe of it and wanted to work on a track that didn’t have Jamaican artists or dancehall lyrics. It was more of a song and we loved the challenge of writing this type of remix.”
Their latest adventure sees them on another island. Destination Cuba for their latest track That Life…
“It’s a unique environment in Cuba,” explains Andreas. “The history of the country and everything. We thought it would be cool to bring in the street life of Havana instead of the street life of the UK or US, which is always what you’d expect with a house track like this. It’s nice to have the contrast.”
It turns out That Life has been several years in the making – thanks to the massive sample clearance – and it heralds a whole new chapter for the island loving crew.
“There’s an album coming up very soon,” grins Andreas. “We’ve been laying down different ideas and vibes and have some interesting stuff to put out!”
“We’ve got some great collaborations with UK, Jamaican and US artists,” continues Nils. “We’ve been working on this for a few years now and it’s our most varied work yet. We don’t have a problem mixing up the styles. We love making something like Street Life then giving away a trap song with Bounty Killer on the blogs. We just do what we like and the more people who like that approach, the better!”
They’ve certainly got our attention. Watch out for more genre-munching Jamtech UKF exclusives in the near future…
