You hear that sound? Thumping 4×4 beat, heavy synth bass line, and a chopped and screwed hook repeating “I call it house work, cuz it’s light work, but Imma throw shade if I don’t get paid for this house work”? Yeah that’s the next big thing and “it” has a name: Jax Jones. One of the hottest tracks of the Summer is easily Jax Jones’ track “House Work”, featuring MNEK and Mike Dunn. It’s been played by guys like the Magician and Go Freek, and was recently named the MOST RATED track by one of my favorite radio shows: Defected In the House.
So I’ve been listening to “House Work” on repeat all week, but I took a break from that to listen to Metroplane‘s newest mix which featured some tasty treats. At one point during the mix, a remix of Missy Elliot’s “Where They From (WTF)” comes on but it’s not the Chris Lake remix I’m familiar with. Instead, Shazaam tells me it’s the Jax Jones remix. Wait what?! Here I am already completely in love with one of Jax Jones’ original tracks and then I learn this funky House remix of “WTF” is him too? This guy must be legit…
Well, turns out he is. You probably first heard of Jax Jones without realizing it, when Duke Dumont released “I Got U’ and featured Jax Jones on the track. “I Got U” was also nominated for a Grammy, so that means Jax Jones is a Grammy-nominated artist and you’re probably just getting to know him (guilty).
There isn’t a ton of biographical information on Jax Jones out there, but we do know he hails from the UK (surprise!) – London specifically – and his real name appears to be
Timucin Fabian Kwong Wah Aluo. This, of course, is based on a Wikipedia draft so I don’t know how reliable the information is. But the draft also says Jax Jones was big on a variety of musical influences growing up. The draft says: “After his Nigerian stepfather introduced him to afrobeat via Fela Kuti and rap with a tape of the Biggie Smalls album, Jax’s musical diet developed to consist of Hip Hop, R&B, Gospel and traditional African music[2]. Producers like The Neptunes, Timbalandand Rodney Jerkins shaped his musical horizons and his fascination with the anatomy of a rhythm section. Having initially studied classical guitar from a young age, Jax took up beat-making at 15 after discovering Cubase on his friend’s Atari.“
After that it goes on to say meeting Duke Dumont led Jax Jones to change directions and get into House music… and thank god he did. The tracks I’ve heard on Jax Jones’ SoundCloud page are funky and fun and have been getting a lot of attention. If I can pick one favorite song out of a 60-minute mix and find out it’s Jax Jones, that’s usually a good sign (this happened with that Metroplane mix above). And if “House Work” is any indication of what’s to come I’m going to be keeping a very close eye on Mr. Jones.
Show him some love!