Just Jack - Embers (acoustic)

Just Jack has been over at Maida Vale studios this morning doing the whole "here's my new single and a cover version we knocked together at the last minute" thing.

It's easy to be cynical about Radio One's Live Lounge concept now that it's been copied by every radio station under the sun - but those BBC engineers are the best in the business, which lifts these session tracks above the ordinary.

In this instance, Jack makes a decent fist of recreating Embers, his multi-tracked overdub symphony, in a live setting (they cheated a bit with a sequencer for the handclaps, though). The cover, of TI's Live Your Life, is also acceptable.

:: Just Jack - Embers (mp3)
:: Just Jack - Live Your Life (mp3)

The videos will no doubt be available on Radio One's Live Lounge page later today.

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Just Jack burns it up

Here's something a bit different and special. Just Jack (of Starz In Their Eyes fame) has got a new single, called Embers, which throws away all of his usual rap stylings and goes for a string-drenched, harmony-laden chill-out track.

It's immediately captivating, and absolutely fabulous. One of those moments where an artist throws a complete curveball and gets it just right. Can't wait for the new album - All Night Cinema - which is due in May 2009.

There's a lo-fi version of the song below. You can hear an edited version in full stereo on Just Jack's Myspace page.


Just Jack - Embers (low quality radio rip)

PS: Another rapper on the comeback trail is Ms Dynamite. Her new song, Bad Gyal, leans heavily on the Dancehall-inspired sounds of Santogold and MIA. You can hear it on Youtube.

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New Kylie material not so new after all

Earlier this year, Starz In Their Eyes rapper Just Jack scuppered rumours that he'd been writing songs with teensy tiny pop troubador Brave^TM Kylie Minogue.

"She heard my album, liked it and said it would be nice to do something," he told Popworld. "But I'm too busy to do any music. I get one day off every three weeks at the moment so there's nothing I can do about it."

So imagine our surprise to discover a Just Jack / Kylie collaboration fluttering around the internet like a little baby sparrow. It perched on Perez Hilton's sticky pink finger and tweeted a little song, which Hilton generously put up on his website.

Or, more accurately, Just Jack bundled Kylie onto the back of his BMX, pedalled her downhill - without a helmet! - to his studio / bedroom / tree house, where he forced her to sing over the top of a song he'd already released on his album.

Then he had the cheek to send it to Hilton and pretend it was a brand a new record for a bit of cheap publicity.

And it worked, didn't it? Because here I am writing about it, despite the fact it’s a ropey old remake of an above-average album track. That Just Jack is a crafty little fucker and no mistake. I bet he steals Mars Bars when the shop-keeper has his back turned.

If you're interested, the song is called I Talk To Much. You can stream it from Perez Hilton, or download it here.

No word on actual new Kylie material, though. But, as soon as there is, we'll read about it somewhere else and write about it here a couple of days later.

That's a guarantee.

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Just Jack's good tracks

Just Jack, as far as I can remember, was the name of Jack McFarland's stage show in Will & Grace.

I don't know whether he's a fan of the "aren't the gays hilarious" sitcom, but London producer / rapper Jack Allsopp has given the same name to his band. They broke out earlier this year with a cheeky little rap ditty called "Starz In Their Eyes" - a vaguely acceptable Streets-lite attack on Pop Idol.

I wasn't a big fan, but their subsequent singles have all been an improvement. The new one, Writer's Block, is particularly groovesome - with a chilled out, four-in-the-morning feel to it. The change in pace also highlights Allsopp's skills in the rap department, with lines like:

I'm living in the past / My clock's an hour fast
Should really go and make a coffee / but I can't be arsed

The video's got a quirky sense of humour, too...



But don't you think it would have been better with just a splash of this?

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