Montreal producer has been at the cutting edge of club culture for well over a decade now. A perennial CLASH favourite – his album ‘Dawn Chorus’, amongst others, is simply sublime – he’s always sought to draw inspiration from multiple sources.
New album ‘jg’ is out on October 16th, and it could be his broadest and most in-depth work yet. Jacques Greene is joined by some incredible guests, and the music moves from the spectral UKG inflections of new single ‘EVERYONE’ ft SEES0000 to something more widescreen, and cinematic.
Indeed, the producer’s debut film score – made in collaboration with as – premieres at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. The Color of the Sun (Japanese: 太陽ぬ色) is written and directed by Xavier Tera, and won the FIPRESCI International Critics Award at this year’s festival.
Ahead of the release of ‘jg’ CLASH sat down with Jacques Greene to explore some of his sonic inspirations, drawing on multiple film scores in the process.
Film that changed the way he understands or thinks about music…
‘Ghost Dog: the Way of the Samurai’ (dir Jim Jarmusch 1999). We watched this movie a lot as teens and the RZA soundtrack kind of opened up a whole dimension not only for how film composers could approach a score, but the very thought of what kind of music could be truly ‘cinematic’. Jarmusch is one of the undisputed Kings Of Vibe and he really nailed it on this one. Special mention to his brilliant use of Mulatu Astatke’s work in his movie ‘Broken Flowers’ from a few years later.
Somewhat related was buying a few film score LPs when I was about 15 to sample with my red and blue MPC 1000. Bernard Herrmann’s Taxi Driver score stood out to me back then, and still does. There’s probably a Zip disk somewhere in my mom’s storage with the absolute worst beat you’ve ever heard sampling my favourite cue from the movie, ‘Thank God For The Rain’.
A score he wishes he’d written…
(dir Pablo Larrain 2016).
I’ve been in awe of a few musicians I look up to from somewhat similar corners of music/ culture as mine transitioning so gracefully into excellent score work. Bobby Krylic, Daniel Lopatin obviously come to mind, but Mica Levi has just had me slack jawed from the jump. Their score for ‘Jackie’ was by no means slept on, it rightfully stands up there with some of the best this century so far.
Subsequent work on ‘Monos’, ‘Zola’ and of course ‘The Zone Of Interest’ are also amongst my favourites.
A film he always returns to while travelling…
Honestly I love a star-studded romp on a plane. Air Canada in-flight entertainment more often than not will have The Departed or Ocean’s Eleven. I’m definitely well into the double-digits on both. I know every beat of each scene and each performance (and that hilariously Suave And Cool Guy score in Ocean’s) and can’t wait to watch them again.
Just on a flight yesterday I was watching some recent mid on my system and drifted off to follow the Departed on someone’s screen two rows ahead of me instead.
Something that influenced his visual language…
work with s. It’s gone thru generations of Tumblr and Instagram ‘inspo’ accounts. We might be four levels deep of a copy of a copy in the zeitgeist at this point, but it still all comes back into focus when you flip thru the pages of the enigmatic, sprawling Redux (2005). Great photography, stark, evocative text and graphics. Still feel a deep love for it.
A teenage favourite that has stayed with him…
(dir David Lynch 1997).
Like many teens into ‘alternative culture’ in the 2000s, I was completely obsessed with David Lynch. Friends and I watched and rewatched Mulholland Drive with those ‘ten clues to unlock Mulholland drive’, keeping an eye out for red lamps. But as a diehard Marilyn Manson and Trent Reznor fan, Lost Highway firmly planted its creepy hooks in me. Their original contributions to the score (alongside Smashing Pumpkins’) remain two of my favourite songs of theirs. The Angelo Badalamenti score is him at his most cold and austere which is a really interesting new angle on his romantic leanings. ‘Fred’s World’ is a great cue. Went to see Nine Inch Nails live last year and hearing ‘Perfect Drug’ live was everything I ever needed from this life.
A particular scene or soundtrack moment that has never left him…
(dir Denis Villeneuve 2016).
There’s an episode of the Song Exploder podcast from around the film’s release in which discusses the writing of ‘Heptapod B’. What a monumental piece of music. The way it takes inspiration from the themes of the story and culminates into this massive, unknowable thing. It just feels so perfectly in sync with what’s happening yet elevates it way past what you’d expect in a sci-fi. Shame about that god awful Max Richter cue used in the first and last scenes, which not only cheapen the entire movie, but apparently disqualified Jóhannsonn from being nominated for an academy award he would have deserved winning.
A film connected to a specific period of his life…
(dir Steven Soderbergh 2002).
In 2018-2019 working on my second album ‘Dawn Chorus’, I wanted to simultaneously bring a shoegaze energy to my production, as well as expand the sonic palette slightly toward something more cinematic. I had the honour and privilege to work with Brian Reitzell for two days, where we ran some of my melodies thru his instruments and equipment. Most worthwhile of all were long conversations about process and intent and career advice. Anyways, he put me onto the colossal score for Steven Soderbergh’s Solaris remake. I’ve watched this movie well upwards of 20 times since and this score accompanies me on flights, thru insomnia, talking me off anxiety ledges. Consisting mostly of bass marimba, a string quartet and a mono synth, it’s another score that kind of plays with your expectations of what a sci-fi score can be. One of my favourite underrated movies and by far my favourite score.
Something unexpected that people might not associate with his music…
Coming from a beat-maker scene in my teens before finding my voice in the world of dance music, my favourite mainstream producer was d, and pretty much all the drum sounds that aren’t classic Roland drum machines on all the early JG stuff is from Timbaland and Neptunes drum samples packs. Even the tambourine shaker on some early stuff would have been from the instrumental side of my ‘Mr Me Too’ Clipse 12”.
‘jg’ will be released on October 16th via LuckyMe.