Open My Eyes

After music from Jonny Faith's broken beat/hip hop EP Night Lights was featured in Grand Theft Auto and best of 2020 lists including Gilles Peterson's, the beatmaker has made a surprising turn, using Melbourne's extended lockdown to complete a new EP of jungle and drum & bass, On Lock.

Lead single 'Open My Eyes' is a big one, with chopped funk and high speed breakbeats sounding like the chipmunk soul of Just Blaze (Jay-Z producer) reimagined for the 174 BPM crew. If Rich Harrison had spent his formative years hanging out at London clubs Rage, Speed and Metalheadz as well as the go go parties in Washington DC, Amerie's '1 Thing' may have turned out more like this.

Actually, the hip hop connection is not so coincidental. As Jonny explains:

'I was trying to make a hip hop beat for a new live routine on my MPC, but the beats didn't sound right. So I kept the soul chops but swapped out the headnod beat for some jungle rhythms and it brought the track to life. The rest of the EP flowed really quickly from there.'

While this will be Jonny's first full jungle/D&B EP, it doesn't sound like the tentative attempts of a newcomer. He's been releasing music since the mid-00s, starting out in the experimental beat scene around the same time as Flying Lotus and Hudson Mohawke. Jonny's continuing output revealed an ever-expanding sonic palette, with elements of dub, jazz, funk, electronica and broken beat all evident, and the likes of Radio Nova Paris, KCRW, Vice and Clash Magazine in support. On closer inspection, traces of D&B could often be found, whether in the form of production techniques, rhythms or sounds. Over the years his releases have shared labels with the likes of Peshay, Om Unit, Drumagick, Reso, Kid Drama and Danny Scrilla.

As a DJ and fan, Jonny's love of jungle and D&B goes back to the mid-90s, when he was also getting into hip hop. This wasn't in London or Melbourne, but Jonny's original hometown of Edinburgh. There he would hang out at cult club night Manga, listening to residents G-Mac and DJ Kid and guest DJs like Marky, Grooverider and J Majik. Or visit nearby Newcastle to hear DJ Hype, or check out the Roni Size/Reprazent tour with full band including two drummers.

This is the music Jonny Faith has been waiting to make since those days, when he was prevented from using the Akai S900 sampler in his electronic music production course.

Early support for Jonny Faith's take on jungle/D&B has been coming in from Hospital Records, Rupture (Rinse FM) and Fanu (Metalheadz). The On Lock EP is out via Heard and Felt on 9 April 2021, with 150 copies pressed on vinyl including an exclusive bonus track.