Artist: Jackmaster
Album: DJ Kicks
Label: !K7
Release date: 08/07/2016
Jack Revill (a.k.a. Jackmaster) bounced into my booth vision a while back and has bashed out some of the most exciting and standout sets I've laid down my dancefloor clogs to. The Glaswegian's USP is that he sticks to the fine art of DJing, which is one of the reasons why !K7 dialled his digits to front the latest instalment of the DJ Kicks series. An avid music collector since he was 14 years old, working his first job at Glasgow's institutionalised Rubadub record shop, you can readily say that with such an immense volume of music knowledge, listeners bank on hearing a collection spun around rare gems.
He had a month to weave together a selection of tracks and there would become four or five versions before it got his final stamp of approval. The journey to that ultimate point was plagued by disaster after the untimely death of three laptops – one stolen, one lost and one crushed under the weight of a couch surfing mate. With all that in mind, it feels like an extra privilege to be able to settle into his latest craft on full alert. His geographic dive into the cities that have formulated him as a DJ - namely Detroit, Chicago and Glasgow – begins on a strong footing with LNRDCROY's 2016 release 'Freedom for Antboy II'. On tuning into its wheezing robotic breaths, you'd agree that it matches up to his goal of building the mix up from nothing and from here, you might also believe that he would appease !K7's preference of the series not running full pelt into dancefloor territory. Its next legs wind seamlessly into an exclusive from fellow Glaswegian, Denis Sulta, titled 'My Soul Needs Justice', which burrows into the highest echelons of euphoria and affirms his profile as one that is rightfully soaring. While Glasgow, Chicago and Detroit are given as his inspirations for the mix, Phil Moffa's shrieking tribal bleed, 'Centre Of The World', is far removed from any concrete slabbed industrial city, and instead places you right in the earthy grounds of an indigenous civilisation.
Old school house orbits land from nostalgic vantage points with Massimiliano Pagliara's 'I Am Running All My Drum Machines At Once and Dancing' before reaching back to the formative years with Mike Dunn's 1990 Chicago house weapon 'The Groove'. From here, he locks in a dusting of driving dancefloor fodder from seasoned tastemakers, including Mr. G, Robert Hood, Ricardo Villalobos and Basic Channel.
As a DJ, Jackmaster's sole product is creditable mix CDs. He's already ticked Fabric's live compilation series off the list and here we have another mission accomplished. He entered the mix arena with the aim of playing good tunes from the past and present, and telling his own story. Audibly, he's put the work in and as one of DJ Kicks' most dancefloor steady mixes to date, would we appreciate this chucked on at his beloved Ibiza beatfest, Circoloco? Aye, absolutely.
Tracklist
1. LNRDCROY - Freedom for Antboy II
2. Denis Sulta - My Soul Needs Justice
3. Phil Moffa - Centre Of The World
4. X_1 - Happy Hippie Hifi
5. Eliphino - Isabella Road
6. Massimiliano Pagliara - I Am Running All My Drum Machines At Once and Dancing
7. Mike Dunn - The Groove
8. Playground Productionz - Orgy XXX
9. Eli Escobar - Tension (Vinyl Mix)
10. Alcatraz Harry - Ode To Frankfurt
11. Lory D - Deep Acustic
12. Tomahawk - Forever Free
13. Anno Stamm - A Night Out With Therese
14. Denis Sulta - Dubelle Oh XX (Jack's VIP)
15. Konakov - Clnki Part 2
16. Mr. G - Transient
17. Basic Channel - Q1.1
18. Fango - Vena Cava
19. Tessela - Yeah That Lush (Demo Version)
20. Ricardo Villalobos - Logohitz
21. Dean & Deluca - Chapter One
22. Robert Hood - The Pace
23. Overmow - Convultions
24. Pom Pom - Untitled
