Jam City

Jack Latham's recordings under the alias Jam City range from post-dubstep club tracks to left-field pop songs, drawing inspiration from other electronic music styles such as early-'80s R&B, Chicago house, and U.K. grime. The South London native started on the Night Slugs label with an assortment of EPs and two albums, Classical Curves (2012) and Dream a Garden (2015), shifting from heavy bass frequencies and heady atmospheres on the debut to emotive songwriting showcased -- if partially obscured by scuffed surfaces and reverb -- on the follow-up. Since parting from Night Slugs with the Trouble mixtape (2016), he has issued projects such as the hallucinatory full-length Pillowland (self-released, 2020) and the ecstatic Jam City Presents EFM (Mad Decent, 2023). In demand as a songwriter and producer, Latham has collaborated with the likes of Kelela, Troye Sivan, Olivia Rodrigo, and Lil Yachty. A self-taught musician, producer, and DJ, Latham had an isolated suburban upbringing but immersed himself in underground club culture while studying fine art in South London. He attended distinct nights such as DMZ, Horse Meat Disco, and Night Slugs and made a particularly strong connection with the latter, finding a platform on Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990's label of the same name. After a pair of Jam City EPs in 2010 and 2011, Latham expanded his scope for the full-length Classical Curves, issued in 2012. Dream a Garden, his more guitar-oriented second album, articulated his dissatisfaction with the effects of capitalism and other negative conditions of modern living. Released in 2015, it was quickly followed the next year by the mixtape Trouble. By that point, Latham had started producing and/or co-writing material for other artists, such as Kelela and Rosie Lowe, and in 2017, working in Los Angeles, he was a key factor in Take Me Apart, the former's Warp label debut. These moves led to contributions to Bad Gyal's Worldwide Angel, Troye Sivan's The Good Side, and Joji's Ballads 1, all of which were issued in 2018. Latham returned as Jam City in 2020 with Pillowland, on which he processed a maelstrom of emotions he felt while living in L.A. Instead of issuing it through Night Slugs, he opted to release it himself, launching Earthly Records, named after his parties and mixtapes of the same name. His profile as a producer was raised the following year when he and Nigro co-produced "jealousy, jealousy" for Olivia Rodrigo's global chart-topper SOUR. Over the course of 2022 and 2023, Latham co-produced Kali Uchis' "No Hay Ley" and three songs for Lil Yachty's Let's Start Here. Mere months after Yachty's neo-psych makeover hit the Top Ten of the Billboard 200, Latham, through a new affiliation with Diplo's Mad Decent label, released the fourth Jam City album. Jam City Presents EFM offered colorful and askew pop with vocal and writing assistance from Empress Of, Aidan, Clara La San, and Wet.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo