jj – jj No. 2 Review
JJ or “jj” is band from Sweden that makes electronic/dance/pop music. That’s as much as I can tell you and I won’t have anything to share really. No myspace or official artist website just the catalogue on their record label, Sincerely Yours’ website. In a way it’s cool and novel but at the same time – without other music publications, I wouldn’t have run into this decent album. It’s cool to see something spread by word of the mouth exclusively.
Vocals are provided by a female (at least I’m pretty sure they are) while musically you have some pretty good electronica. While I’m not sure I dig the content of the track “Ecstasy” but it’s damn addictive to hear the beat. The album is really strong musically not just with the electronica but the mixing of various instruments is actually very well done. It’s end up being good pop music and perhaps my only qualms is the length. It’s on the short side at 9 tracks and just 26 minutes. JJ doesn’t overplay their hand but I guess you’d like to see more in terms of length.
The album is a very good listen, perhaps it requires a certain mood to be in, it works as great background music if you don’t need your music to be the centre of your attention. I will admit that it’s just outside of the “GREAT” category but it’s still really good and I’m having less and less bad things to say once I keep trying to listen to the album.
Solidly strong throughout with favorites being Things Will Never Be The Same Again, Ecstasy and My Hopes and Dreams. I’m a bit lukewarm on the other tracks but they aren’t bad, but again we’ll see how much I like this album a few months down the road.
Rating: 4.4 out of 5
You don’t need drugs to enjoy this album. Though to be honest I thought I’d get a totally different style of music due to the marijuana-leafed cover. Oops.
Ecstasy by JJ
Things Will Never Be The Same Again by JJ
My Hopes And Dreams by JJ
[...] was a sudden rush of solo records by ethereal females (Milla — we remember you). Key Track: “Things Will Never Be the Same Again,” where the anonymous vocalist’s aching alto bemoans loss over synths that burble like a [...]