Jahcoozi’s music is as original as the phonetic imagination of their name. Hailing from the Berlin club scene and its international cohorts in the pre-Internet era of the early noughties, this bass-heavy electronica trio is a creative alliance made up of London-born, Sri Lankan songwriter and front woman Sasha Perera and two beat-freak producers/multi-instrumentalists — Teuton Robot Koch and Tel-Aviv born Oren Gerlitz.
Together, Jahcoozi are a mash-up operation that have consistently managed to deliver their very own mongrel style of avant-garde, electronic pop music. They all met during a long, coal-fuelled winter in Berlin in 2002 and have been making music together ever since. The group built up a solid fan-base with their freaky underground shows in 2003. Songs such as Black Barbie and Fish (released as a debut single in 2003 on WMF Records) are what gained them early recognition. The latter earned them a spotlight on the cult BBC show of the late John Peel, who called it “Beautiful pop music from the future”. This description still applies today.
In 2005, they were snapped up by Kitty-Yo, the Berlin-based mother label of Peaches. Later in that busy year, they unleashed the strange and stunning Black Barbie picture disc vinyl and their long-awaited, full-length debut album entitled Pure Breed Mongrel. Both were received with critical acclaim.
Lead singer/MC Sasha Perera’s sports a yin-yang of skanking rhymes and beautifully sung melodies, partly abstract and partly socio-political or anthropological. Jahcoozi’s unique and ever-changing blend of futuristic dub-glitch-tech-step based sound succeeds in combining an element of pop with warm sub-basses. With a sound texture that is both organic yet crunchingly precise, they seem to have mastered their very own balancing act.
Bass! Bass! Bass! Jahcoozi’s live shows come armed with an arsenal of remixes/versions/bootlegs of their own songs as well as other unreleased material they’ve made purely for the love and fun of ripping up the dance floor.The versatility of their music and the sheer energy of their live performance has led the band on an unrelenting trail across 5 continents, playing everything from festivals to clubs, raves, squats, galleries, and even impromtu Boombox parties in a Berlin underpass. They can morph almost any situation into a people-power style happening. This explains why they’ve been booked to play shows as diverse as the televised opening of the IFFA Athletics World Cup at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate or the Expo in Shanghai. They have also played infamous club institutions like Fabric in London, Rex club in Paris, or Montreal’s prestigious Mutek Festival.
With 3 full-length albums (Pure Breed Mongrel, Blitz ‘n’ Ass, and Barefoot Wanderer) numerous EPs, Picture Discs, remixes, features and even an exclusive Japanese album to their name, Jahcoozi have released music on a numerous labels, including Kitty-Yo, Asound/K7, Playhouse, NinjaTune, Citizen Records, Crosstown Rebels, 1965, WMF Records, Hydra etc.
Jahcoozi’s darkest, slowest and most recent album to date Barefoot Wanderer came out in 2010 on Ellen Alien’s Berlin-based imprint Bpitch Control. Resident Advisor deemed it “one of the year’s most disturbingly beautiful creations…,” and rightly so.
Press reactions have been univocal: “Barefoot Wanderer is something you’d probably expect Martina & Tricky to be able to pull off,” “Jahcoozi is far closer to Kraftwerk than Skream,” “…it seems like the ‘D’ in IDM stands for dub,” “King Tubby meets James Blake,” “…Post-Step? Next-Step? These kids are confusing the journalists.” Although it is tempting to engage in a game of association, Jahcoozi appear to have created an unidentifiable flying genre of their very own. The true value of their music can only be gauged by numerous listenings; its strength lies in its depth and intimacy.
Over the years, Jahcoozi have collaborated with and been remixed by a highly-contrasting and refreshingly-wide range of artists, including Modeselektor, Siriusmo, M.Sayiid, Barbara Panther, Ramadanman, Ikonika, Stereotyp, Asian Dub Foundation, Guillermo.E.Brown, Oliver $, RQM, King Cannibal, Mochipet, Rustie, Buraka Sound Sistema, Missill, Stanton Warriors, Lexie Lee, D-Double, Tinchy Stryder, Lethal B, Kano, JME, Skepta, Ata + Sasse, Cassy, Luomo, New Flesh, Infinite Livez, Alhaca Soundsystem, Sukh Knight, Milanese and Kalbata.
Jahcoozi’s geniune love of experimentation has kept them busy and lead them to collaborate in many ways. This is evidenced in their side endeavors (BLNRB) and solo projects (Robot Koch, Mother Perera). Robot Koch recently released his stunning second solo album titled Songs For Cyborgs and Trees. He has also been busy working on productions for other artists such as Marteria and John Robinson.
In 2010, the band also spent a few weeks in a house in Nairobi, Kenya working on a Goethe-Institut funded Berlin-Nairobi music exchange project that involved 22 Kenyan musicians/mcs/singers, Jahcoozi, Modeselektor and Gebrueder Teichmann. A collaborative BLNRB album titled ‘Welcome To The Madhouse’ is due for release on Outhere Records in July 2011. The ‘BLNRB’ project premiered at the opening on the Worldtronics Festival at Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin in December 2010. Stay tuned….
Sites: SoundCloud, Twitter and Jahcoozi.com (official)
Style
Jahcoozi Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Upwardly mobile
Which of you wankers stole my nail file
Work at CNN, read the news at ten
ironed out my afro just to work for them.
Girls with designer handbags, wearing them padded bras
Girls who play their poker by showing off all their cards
Girls who are flaunting money
Girls young girls started
Coming in the same muster.
Girls getting screwed much younger little wanna be porno stars
Girls getting screwed up younger with prozac leaving scars
Girls you can mold like putty
Girls who can do it dirty
Girls young girls whose minds contain jack shit
I got style
Upwardly mobile
Which of you wankers stole my nail file
Work at CNN, read the news at ten
ironed out my afro just to work for them.
Girls whose youths are wasted on their sagas with their men
Girls whose desperate housewife role begin when they were ten
Girls neglecting their own
Girls obsessed with their phones
Girls young girls just waiting for their man to call
Girl don't pick your nose
You just aint supposed,
You gotta stand their looking pretty girl strike a pose
Girl go wax your toes
Perfume all your holes
You gotta keep your man happy smell like a rose
The song "Style" by Jahcoozi takes aim at the societal pressures and expectations placed on young women. The opening lines, "I got style, upwardly mobile, which of you wankers stole my nail file," immediately set the tone for the song's sarcastic, confrontational lyrics. The artist addresses various types of young women, from those who flaunt their wealth to those who sacrifice their individuality to fit into the mold of what is considered attractive or desirable.
One of the most powerful lines in the song is "Girls getting screwed up younger with prozac leaving scars," which speaks to the prevalence of mental health issues among young women and how they are sometimes medicated instead of being provided with the support and resources they need to heal. The song suggests that many young women are molded into objects for the pleasure and satisfaction of men, encouraged to prioritize their appearance and submission over their own aspirations and personal growth.
Line by Line Meaning
I got style
I possess a quality of elegance and sophistication in my personality and appearance.
Upwardly mobile
I belong to a social class that is moving up in economic status and striving for better opportunities.
Which of you wankers stole my nail file
Addressing an unknown person(s) who stole a personal item, expressing annoyance and frustration.
Work at CNN, read the news at ten
Employment at a news network, presenting news to the audience during the evening time slot.
ironed out my afro just to work for them.
Changing one's natural hair texture to fit in with the professional expectations of a work environment.
Girls with designer handbags, wearing them padded bras
Young women who purchase expensive brand-name handbags, and use padded bras to enhance their physical appearance.
Girls who play their poker by showing off all their cards
Young women who reveal too much personal information, thus making themselves vulnerable in a game of poker.
Girls who are flaunting money
Young women who openly display their wealth and material possessions.
Girls who wannabe honeys
Young women who strive to be attractive and desirable to men.
Girls young girls started
Addressing the younger generation of females.
Coming in the same muster.
All conforming to the same patterns of behavior and lifestyle choices.
Girls getting screwed much younger little wanna be porno stars
Young females engaging in sexual activities at a young age, with aspirations of becoming pornographic actresses.
Girls getting screwed up younger with prozac leaving scars
Young females being prescribed antidepressant medication and experiencing negative psychological effects.
Girls you can mold like putty
Young women who are easily influenced and can be manipulated like soft clay.
Girls who can do it dirty
Young women who engage in unscrupulous or immoral behavior.
Girls young girls whose minds contain jack shit
Young females that lack knowledge, intelligence, or substance in their thoughts and beliefs.
Girls whose youths are wasted on their sagas with their men
Young women who spend their youth on dramatic and tumultuous relationships with men.
Girls whose desperate housewife role begin when they were ten
Young females who assume a stereotypical housewife role at a young age, experiencing a loss of childhood.
Girls neglecting their own
Young women who fail to take care of themselves and their own needs.
Girls obsessed with their phones
Young women who are excessively fixated on their mobile devices at the expense of other aspects of life.
Girls young girls just waiting for their man to call
Young females investing too much emotional energy and time into waiting for attention from their romantic partner.
Girl don't pick your nose
Friendly advice to a young woman not to engage in unappealing or socially unacceptable behavior.
You just aint supposed,
The behavior is inappropriate and not expected of a young woman.
You gotta stand their looking pretty girl strike a pose
Encouragement for a young woman to present herself in a physically attractive manner by posing for a camera or in person.
Girl go wax your toes
Suggestion for a young woman to groom her body hair to conform to societal expectations.
Perfume all your holes
Encouragement for a young woman to apply fragrance to all possible areas of the body to attract a man's attention.
You gotta keep your man happy smell like a rose
Emphasis on the importance for a young woman to maintain her partner's approval and affection through her physical appearance and behavior.
Contributed by Miles D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.