East Bay native Jennifer Johns has spent a decade in the public eye, as a singer, lyricist, performer, music entrepreneur, voiceover artist, and self-proclaimed 'Artivist,' promoting awareness, educational and development initiatives in urban and underserved communities, such as sustainable living, after-school music programs, and food justice, locally, nationally, and globally. She is currently artist-in-residence at Oakland-based Food First, and co-founder of the non-profit Go:Liv,
Quite the busy woman! It's not surprising that the same boundless energy she brings to her many endeavors also oozes out of Johns' torrid genre-hopping groove workouts, spanning hip-hop, spoken word, electronica, soul, funk, R&B, and elements of world fusion.
I've chosen two Jennifer Johns tracks today. One of them, 'Do You Believe in Love,' from her 2004 debut solo album Heavyelectromagneticsoularpoeticjunglehop (initially released on her own Nayo Movement Music label), oozes sexuality, in a perfect union of breathy, spoken-word rapping, hypnotic bass and keyboard fills, and cascading drum breaks. And it all plays out brilliantly, integrated seamlessly in the form of a mock phone conversation!
1. Do You Believe in Love
The second cut, 'Together,' is actually a remix of a song she initially lent to the 2008 LP Soul Vibrations (Om Records), as a collaboration with San Francisco-based DJ/Producer/Bandleader J-Boogie and his group J-Boogie's Dubtronic Science. As we'll see in upcoming MusicVibe365 posts, J-Boogie is quite the collaborator.
While I generally like the original version of 'Together,' it's pretty much a straight-up funk/dance tune, kind of restrained in terms of both Johns' singing and J-Boogie's instrumentation, packed into an economical 3:47.
On the other hand, from its opening, The Crazy P Remix version of 'Together' (from the 2009 Compilation 'Om 15: Celebrating 15 Years of Om Records') percolates with a foreboding, percussive, staccato build of drums, bass, synth, and guitar, and launches into minimalist space-funk groovetronica, with Johns presiding as its High Priestess of Soular Vibrations.
From there, the track really takes flight, building to a frenetic, syncopated barrage of swirling synths, culminating in an extended dancefloor workout of pulsating percussion and electronic programming. Clocking in at 6:12, with an even longer 7:05 version available on Amazon and iTunes, it is an irresistible and inevitable clubmix Booty Quaker!
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