Big round and juicy hype for London trio Jaded has come in from all directions since they first emerged on Black Butter’s Spread Love collection last summer with Gully Creeper. But who exactly are they? Paul McCartney knows them. So you should too…
Nari, Jordan and Teo may only have set up Jaded just over a year ago, but, as multi-instrumentalists, singers and songwriters, they’ve been writing and working together for over four years. Fed up with producing for other people the trio decided to get stuck in with their own project.
“We wanted something we could take full ownership of and make our own,” says Nari, the one with the cool moustache. “Jaded kinda came about through frustration. If you’re writing for yourself you set your own aims and objectives and your own rules. When you’re producing for other people you’ve got the opinion of so many other people… A&Rs, artists, managers. All these ‘shoulds’ and ‘shouldn’ts’ that we could tolerate any more. So it was like ‘why not do our own thing?’ We’re making the music we love. It’s great to see that people are enjoying it.”
With a sound that’s big, bassy and broad with references both rooted in UK house and garage and the likes of dirtybird boys in San Francisco, it’s hard not to enjoy what they do. Case in point: the Big Round & Juicy VIP that we uploaded last week and they’re giving away for free.
A heavier, four-to-the-floor-flattener, it’s the perfect complement to the radio-supported Scrufizzer-fronted original.
“We don’t play the original out because it’s not tough enough or bass heavy!” admits Nari. “The original’s had some great radio support, though. Ras Kwame described it as a song about oranges. It could be melons or even tomatoes. It’s definitely one of your five a day!”
When we were asked we were like ‘you mad? Paul McCartney asks for remixes? Yes!’
For more Jaded nutrition, the best story about the trio’s rapid rise involves that of the legendary Paul McCartney. Within less than half a year of operating as Jaded, they were approached by The Beatle’s management to remix Hope For The Future, a track that Paul wrote as the theme tune for first-person shooter Destiny.
“It’s still a huge shock for us even now! When we were asked we were like ‘you mad? Paul McCartney asks for remixes? Yes!’” laughs Nari. “We checked the stems and thought ‘right, we can’t go in half-arsed here… We flipped it on its head, messed around with the vocals, processed the hell out of it and went for an apocalyptic end of the world vibe. When we sent it over to his management we got a mad email back saying ‘thanks, Paul’s listened to it and loves it, he’s a big fan’ It was like ‘wow! You can’t even imagine him listening to something so hard and nasty. It goes to show he’s still relevant and knows what’s good about new music. He’s remained up to date. Can you imagine? Paul McCartney sitting in his mansion popping out hard bass tunes? Mad isn’t it!”
Closer to home, Jaded also run a fine line of electronic remixes, too. Case in point: their total demolition and rebuild on The Prototypes’ massive Pop It Off.
“The thing is about remixes is the challenge,” says Nari. “There’s the pressure. Especially when it’s a completely different genre/world to what you know. It’s all about making a whole new tune. Just take the elements you like and write a whole new beat around it. With The Prototypes remix there were so many great elements anyway, we knew we could do something really interesting with it. It’s mad, people don’t know what to describe it as… Some people are saying breaks, some people are saying trap, others are saying house. That’s the buzz, though! Being able to throw everything we love into one track… That’s the Jaded vibe: pushing boundaries with sound and ideas. The more fun you can have with it, go for it.”
Grab Big Round & Juicy VIP for free here. Watch out for a new EP on Black Butter very soon.
