Grab the polish, the bleach, the cloths, the hoover and anything else you need to maintain cleanliness in both your house and your head… K Jah has arrived at 1 More Thing HQ and he’s packing some absolute filth: Dirty Melody.
It’s yours courtesy of 1 More Thing in return of a follow and an email address. It’s a proper walloper and it goes like this…
Raw, hooky and sharp enough to trim your whiskers from 20 paces, Dirty Melody is the freshest shot fired in an impressive salvo of releases from K Jah this year including dispatches on the likes of Dance Concept, Grand Theft Audio, Natty Dubs and Jungle Cakes. Plenty more is expected to land later this year, along with a variety of collabos he’s been working on.
But first, Dirty Melody. We found more and gave K Jah a little test to see how clean or dirty he really is.
How’ve you been man?
Very good actually. Been hard at work in the studio and enjoying life in general. You gotta have a life outside drum & bass, haven’t you?
Massively! How’s Bristol? Last time we spoke you’d just moved down there…
It’s brilliant. I love Bristol so much. It’s such a cool city. I regularly wake up and walk down to the shops and I genuinely feel like I’m on holiday! It’s such a nice vibe. But I didn’t realise how cloudy and windy it is here. Musically, socially and creatively it’s one of my favourite places on earth but can we have some sunshine please?
Ha! No chance. Welcome to the south west. Wales is the same. I find Bristol too pricey to be honest.
Yeah it’s extortionate. I read that it’s in one of the top 10 most expensive places in the country. But that aside it’s such an interesting city with so many quirky little places and roads and buildings. Lovely food here. Obviously the music scene is amazing.
Has that opened up to opportunities, collaborations and gigs?
It did last year but I do work full time so things don’t move as quickly as maybe I’d like them to. There’s a big list of people I’m due to collab with but finding time where both of our schedules will allow is difficult. Me and Aries have been trying to get in the studio, me and Dr Meaker have plans, Tracker, Slix, Ramp Up crew, Chronic Drop, Euphonique, Dazee.
Any conversation it’s like ‘yeah yeah yeah let’s get in the studio!’ But finding the time is tricky and it’s down to the expense thing you mentioned – everyone is working three times harder to pay for everything right now. It’s hard to find times to link up!
But you have linked up with Suv!
Yes! If you’d have told 14/15 year old me that I’d be working with Suv and consider him a friend then I’d have fallen over on the spot. We’ve done quite a few tunes together now. We just dropped Bubble Soup and Lavish on Natty Dub, we’ve got a few more bits ready to come out and a few more that we’re working on. We’re going out to Romania for a couple of shows too. I’ve never been there before and I’m really looking forward to it.
Sick! Your releases have been popping lately!
They’re like buses aren’t they? You go for a while without any releases and then all of a sudden loads come along at once. But yeah at the start of the year I had the Whodunnit EP which came out on Dance Concept. I’m really proud of that. There are two tunes on there which I consider to be two of the best tunes I’ve written so far; Whodunnit and Feel So Loved. Ironically the tune on there that everyone seems to like is 10 Years is my fourth most favour5ite of the four track EP!
Always the way!
Innit. I spoke to Hazard and he said he was playing it which I was gassed about but a bit blown away that he picked that tune. Everyone’s got their own tastes and sound as a DJ though haven’t they?
Indeed!
Anyway, following that release I had a release with Suv on Natty Dub, then I hooked up with Sola for the next release which I’m really happy about. A couple of years ago me, Mista X and Fearless recorded a track Party Over Here. I was never quite happy with my instrumental on that so it just stayed on the hard drive then I linked up with Sola and we rewrote the beats and it came together so well. That’s on the 10 years of Grand Theft Audio release and again it’s another pinch myself moment. If you’d have told the 14 year old me that I would be releasing music with Fearless than I’d have exploded! Come on man, going to school with my Dreamscape tapes listening to Fearless, I could never had imagine that!
And now Dirty Melody!
Yes! I’m really looking forward to it. I’m interested to see how you release the music and what message you put behind the music as a journalistic platform rather than a traditional record label.
I’m interested to see too to be honest! It’s very early days as a label and to add it to an already existing platform is a really interesting exercise this end too. I’ve been playing your tune a lot, I’ll tell you that. It’s got that raw, late 90s, quite rough but very hooky vibe to it. I’d compare it to Dillinja in that way. Is that a vibe you were going for?
Wow man. Thank you. I’m sure a lot of producers will agree with me that sometimes you write a tune and in your head you’ll make a comparison but then you’ll tell yourself to pipe down. But it’s always interesting in hearing what people say. I didn’t have a reference when I was making the tune but the sound made me think of Born On Road because it’s got that energy that they’re big on at the moment. But if you’re going to say Dillinja than I’ll take that compliment. Thank you!
Haha. Yeah it’s the way it cuts through the mix, the sci-fi intro, it could go on Mampi’s Charge Recordings as well. It’s a bit of a nostalgic vibe combined with the ballsiness of it.
I think sometimes I rein myself in too much and I need to let go a bit and more and get that ballsiness you mention. Have that raw vibe that slaps like a wet fish and you’ve got to wang it out there; don’t spend too much time worrying about mixdowns or finessing details – just get it out there. I’m really gassed you like it.
I love it. Are you one of those type of people who has to finish a tune? No matter how you’re feeling about it, if you’ve got to a certain stage it has to be completed? Or do you have a whole load of WIPs on your hard drive?
Half and half. I’ve got a load of 16 bar ideas that I’ve sat on for a while and not really felt and just ended up deleting because I know they’re never going to make the grade. You’ve got to be brutal with yourself sometimes haven’t you? But other things I will finish, even if it’s like a mixdown element I’m not happy with. I obsess over mixdowns, I’m so picky. So with those tunes when the vibe is there, the samples are there and it’s almost all totally in place but I’m not 100% happy with it I’ll put them up as free downloads and they keep my Soundcloud ticking over.
Yeah it’s being efficient with your time isn’t it? So are you up for a test?
Maybe?
So you’ve given us a tune called Dirty Melody so I thought I’d do an online test with you called How Clean Are You Really?
Go on then!
It’s multiple choice and I’ve not actually taken the test myself but that’s a testament at my own cleanliness. So let’s go. Question 1: How often do you make your bed? Every day, once in a while, never, only if company is coming…
Oh every day!
What best describes your junk drawer? Complete mess, what’s a drunk drawer? Organised into piles?
I’d say it’s a bit of a mess because I have multiple junk drawers. A drawer full of wires, a drawer full of hard drives and a filing rack of papers and things like bank statements from years ago that I should probably shred.
That seems pretty organised to be fair! How often do you vacuum? Once a week, two times a month, only if family are coming over, I don’t even vacuum…
Oh once a week. I regularly vacuum, I even vacuumed this studio this morning.
Fair play! Okay how do you wash your dishes? Straight after using them? Once the sink is full? Only when absolutely necessary.
I’m gonna sound right posh here but we’ve moved into a house with a dish washer so I fill that up and then wash them. But we got these fancy pans you can’t wash in a dishwasher and I leave them until my girlfriend moans at me to wash them.
Haha. That leads nicely into this next question… Who does the cleaning in your house? You do, someone in your house does or a cleaning service…
Me for two reasons. I work from home so I’m home most of the day and my girlfriend has a busy stressful top boss type of job so I’m happy to do more of the cleaning because I’m in the house more and she earns more than me. But there are rooms I hate cleaning. Like the bathroom. The kitchen and living room are my favourite domains.
Nice. How would you describe your home? Perfectly clean? Liveable and organised? In desperate need of a deep clean? Complete Disaster?
Liveable and organised but it could do with a deep deep deep clean like a proper polish you know?
Not really. I live in absolute mess mate. So… How would you describe your cleaning routine? One room at a time? An entire day each week? Spot cleaning as necessary? Sw2eep it under the rug and call it a day?
Haha. Say if it’s my kitchen I’ll give it a proper deep clean and take everything out and clean and put it back once a month. But a lot of it is spot cleaning.
You’re a very clean and organised man. This quiz is rubbish I’m gonna be honest. You don’t fit in any of these categories! But tallying up the scores you fall into the ‘clean freak’ category. It says your idea of a rocking Friday night is getting your laundry ready for Saturday and if you get dragged to a party then you’ll probably end up cleaning up the house despite it’s not your house.
That’s funny because I am that person who helps tidy up at a party. It’s respect isn’t it? The least you can do is pick up some empty bottles and cans.
That’s a marker of a good person! The sign of someone who gives a shit!
Absolutely. Another test is how someone treats the waiter or waitress.
Respect and manners!
That’s it.
So you’ve had a bit of a morning haven’t you? You’ve hoovered, you’ve been awarded the title of ‘clean freak’, you’ve been compared to Dillinja now please share some word on forthcoming K Jah releases!
I’m sitting on a batch of tunes right now which I’m currently sending to a few labels. I’ve been working on a new EP with Benny V and I have done a remix of True Londoner coming out on Kartoonz at the end of September. I’m also planning on re-launching my own label – South Central – and I’m getting studio with all those people I mentioned. Crossy, Aries, Kelvin, Dr Meaker, more with Suv, Slix and Chronic Drop from Ramp Up, Dazee, Euphoique.
Sick! Please can you sign out with a dirty joke?
Oh wow. It’s less of a joke and more of a story… Every morning this week I’ve been waking up and looking at my garden and seeing that someone has added soil to it. The plot thickens….
Boooooooo. Hahah. Thank you!
K Jah – Dirty Melody is out now. Download it here!
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