No 728: Jakwob

Hometown: Leicester, Lincoln, London. The lineup: James Jacob (music, production). The background: There was a period, just around the time the Brits began in 1977, when all the biggest rock stars, trying desperately to interface with a medium that they didn't quite understand, suddenly began demanding disco remixes of their work because they believed it would help their careers and confer on them hipness and subcultural cachet. They wouldn't be the last: there were undoubtedly similar occasions later on when rockers were, variously, techno-fied, drum'n'bassed and garaged to within an inch of their lives in an attempt to seem with-it and up-to-date. These days, of course, it's the dubstep treatment that is de rigueur, especially since La Roux's success with the In for the Kill single (following the remix by dubstep producer Skream) proved the commercial potency of the form. Jakwob is one of the current go-to guys in this realm, having remixed Little Boots, Empire of the Sun, Frankmusik, Lily Allen, Coco Sumner, Temper Trap and Ellie Goulding – who's already worked with Burial and Starsmith – not once but twice, for her Starry Eyed and Under the Sheets. And why not? In some cases, notably his remix of Alan Pownall's Life Worth Living, he has made a tedious troubadour seem vaguely interesting, and last time we remember Temper Trap were a boring rock band – in Jakwob's hands, their song Fader has suddenly and mysteriously become a subwoofer-quaking bass monster. But Jakwob – 20 years old, Midlands boy, still at Uni – doesn't just want to be a shadowy figure hiding behind other musicians' work. Like Starsmith, Jakwob is a producer with ambitions to be a star in his own right. His self-penned, self-performed and produced material reflects his background as a multi-instrumentalist who played in bands in his teens, including jazz, death metal and folk ones. According to his press release, this "goes a long way to explaining his style which transcends genres, combining elements of dubstep, electro, ghetto-tech and breakbeat ... This eclecticism also manifests itself in Jakwob's DJ sets, which take in dub, hip-hop, drum'n'bass, dubstep and beyond." Now, we haven't read it anywhere yet, but we'd like to bet that Jakwob is going to be touted at some stage as the accessible face of dubstep, the one destined to take it into the mainstream. Nice idea, as long as "accessible" isn't synonymous with "soft". Remember MJ Cole? He was the one who was supposed to take 2step into the charts – but he was over-skilled instrumentally (he was classically trained), there were too many frills in his music, and it ended up fussy and bland. We wouldn't want the same fate to befall Jakwob. Hint: the general British public isn't averse to a bit of noise. Of Jakwob's own compositions, the single Here With Me features sax over a MOR melody – cheese-step, anyone? Untitled is better and wouldn't have sounded out of place on last year's brilliant Hyperdub compilation – our own entry point, we'll admit, into the world of dubstep. There's even a poignant piano figure on Song 4 while Distance is elegant and elegiacal. These are tracks from his forthcoming album, but we prefer stuff like Skutta on his MySpace, which are more minimalist and menacingly reggaetronic. It seems as though Jakwob is taking great pains to be regarded as unpigeonholeable and eclectic, not necessarily a good thing. That sort of diversification and non-specialisation can lead to a musician being satisfactorily skilled in a variety of areas rather than super-proficient in one. It could mean the music will lack focus and sheer force. He talks of his music featuring simultaneously "chilled-out, melodic dub" as well as "freaky modulation patterns, always a weird bass hook and some sort of random instrument in the background that you would never hear in a conventional house or dance track". He adds: "I guess you could say [it's] as chilled-out as possible with the occasional kick in the balls." We'd suggest less of the chill-out, more of the boots in the nuts. The buzz: "He's redefining the experimental, dubstep, double-step, and electronic scenes." The truth: He needs to not worry about pandering, and start punishing, aurally speaking. Most likely to: Be eclectic. Least likely to: Become an electrician. What to buy: Here With Me is released by Boom Ting on 26 April, to be followed by his debut album this summer. File next to: Darkstar, Joy Orbison, Joker, Fantastic Mr Fox. Links: myspace.com/jakwob Tomorrow's new band: Ronika.