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| Photo: missthaxton |
On a blisteringly cold Sunday night, Chicagoans ventured to Subterranean to warm up to the R&B sounds of JMSN and Rochelle Jordan. Opening acts and Chicago's own,
Different Sleep and
The GTW benefited from a very early crowd. With a line formed outside the venue more than an hour before doors, there was a mutual understanding that this tour and the performances ahead would be significant.
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| Photo: missthaxton |
ROJO
Rochelle Jordan's debut
1021 is an easy album to put on repeat. Representing Toronto, Jordan and her production counterpart
KLSH delivered a set of familiar and new tracks to an excited crowd. A remix of my personal favorite "Ease Your Mind" had the floor moving. Jordan's performance excelled on tracks "Day Ones" and "401", which showcase her range from airy to hard hitting.
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| Photo: iamjmsn.com |
JMSN
With a breadth of work, two full albums, an EP and a plethora of features, JMSN has built a steady cult like following. The singer/ songwriter/ producer has defined a genre, "hippy R&B", for his rich, dreamy contribution to the future of R&B. While touring in support of his latest self-titled album (The Blue Album) he made sure to balance his set with plenty of deep cuts for his avid and loyal fans.
With an unrelenting passion and pristine vocals, JMSN live is exhilarating. His free spirited fervor encompassed the entire energy in the room. I'm definitely going to borrow a few of those dance moves. A sense of camaraderie transcended from performance to the meet and greet, where no fan was slighted from a hug and a photo with the artist. The merriment continued backstage with bandmates recalling moments from the night.
Prior to the show, I had the opportunity to sit down with Christian Berishaj, the hard working man behind JMSN.
How is the tour going?
Real good, unexpectedly good you know. It's been surprising but it feels good. You hope for stuff and then when it happens, it's still surprising.
Has there been any city in particular that's been really responsive so far or stands out?
Yeah, there's been several. New York City was crazy. DC was crazy. Atlanta was crazy. There's been a lot of good ones.
How would you describe that feeling of walking on stage before your set?
It's different every time... I think that initial walkout is like when you first get a gauge of the energy of the room. And then sometimes it's wrong. Usually it's right on...
Sometimes it turns mid-set.
Yeah, sometimes it turns but you feel somethin or you feel nothing [laughs] you figure it out, right quick.
Do you have any travel rituals?
Hmm, that's a good question uhm... coffee, I gotta have my coffee. That's probably the only ritual, you know so we can stay up through the drive I guess [laughs] for sure.
There are a lot of great coffee breweries in Chicago.
Yeah I imagine, when you come to spots like this I get excited cuz I know there's going to be good coffee... not just Starbucks. I do not want Starbucks you know [laughs]... I will go to a gas station and get coffee.
You're from Detroit and you're living in LA, are there any cities or anywhere around the world that you're drawn to that you'd like to live eventually?
Yes, aww man... Coeur d'Alene in Idaho. It's such a beautiful place by the water. I would love to live there at one point. I just went cuz we were driving through to Washington, Seattle. It's kind of right by Spokane, which is like a college town in Washington. It is just the most beautiful place I've ever seen. I don't know how you could go through there and not want to live there [laughs].
"It's all in the eye of the beholder whether they like something or not but your surroundings are always going to influence you no matter what."
Do you feel like your music is being influenced by your time in LA?
Yeah definitely, for sure... positively and probably also negatively but you know there's different aspects of both. It's all in the eye of the beholder whether they like something or not but your surroundings are always going to influence you no matter what. I could live in Detroit still and it would affect me positively and negatively, there's gonna be some good things about living in Detroit but there's also going to be some bad things... I won't even go into it [laughs]. I don't want to talk Detroit [laughs].
Your Nirvana cover of "Rape Me" has been getting awesome reviews, do you have a favorite cover that you've done so far or any songs that you would really love to cover?
Well that's the only cover I've ever really done... it's probably cuz they (Pigeons & Planes) asked me to do the cover. I'm not going to do a cover on my own. I never feel the urge to do a cover song. They asked me to do that cover and I was like yeah, sounds cool. I'd love to try that... it's fun to not to have the pressure of writing a song. It was cool.
Who are you listening to right now?
Good question, hmm... trying to think the last time we listened to music in the car. I have a playlist I listen to that's just a bunch of stuff from Bee Gee's to Lauryn Hill to Minnie Riperton to you know, like everything. I usually just listen to the songs that I like. I mean I guess sometimes I listen to a particular artist, but I actually really gravitate toward songs. When it's a good album, that's great. There's plenty of good albums but right now I've just been listening to songs. I don't know why, not really albums.
Are there any collaborations, producing or otherwise, coming up that you're excited about?
Yeah, uh Ta-ku has a record coming out and I'll be on that. And uh Kaytranada has a record coming out that I did a song for. Sango, Dpat, Freddie Gibbs, Ab-Soul and I working on something, another thing. I just had one with Joey Fatts that came out. Tryin to think if there's anything else I'm missing. That's quite a few but working on it.
It's interesting your collaborations kind of pop up. I heard your collaboration with Devon Baldwin recently, that was awesome... it's always different types of artists.
Yeah it's fun to do everything cuz I don't want to be limited ever to anything. I want to do whatever. It's art, it's music you know I love all of it. So I just want to be involved in whatever. Make it the best that I can make it. And hope the other artist tries their best to make the best they can.
How would you describe hippy R&B?
hippy R&B, like that [laughs] that's how I would describe it. No I mean... that term kinda came from the look of us, we don't look like your average R&B people. So it kinda stemmed from that, let's just call it hippy R&B cuz we kinda look left of center. Kinda like hippies were back in the 60's, wearin their long hair, and bell bottom pants or whatever. [laughs] It's just kinda outcast R&B, outcasts of everybody doing it... well I wouldn't say everybody.
Most of your body of work, your albums are available for streaming, how important is it for you to have your music so accessible for your fans?
Well the streaming thing is kinda like putting it out there for new fans. Cuz really, the real fans and whoever really wants to listen to it, I would hope that they would buy it only because the way I make albums, they transition and flow. When you listen to it on Spotify or Soundcloud it's gonna cut in between tracks and put whatever in between it or YouTube, there's an ad there or whatever. So the only way to really get the full experience is to buy it on a record and play it like that, the way it was meant to be listened to and heard. That's the only way you're going to get that experience. But streaming is for... like try it before you buy it I guess [laughs]
I think a lot of people feel uncomfortable about taking that risk and it seems like you kind of know that your fans are going to invest in you, your true fans.
Yeah and there's interludes and stuff that are on the record that aren't on Soundcloud and shit like that. There's always going to be stuff, that's special for the record.
Do you think there will be space for any new signees on White Room Records soon?
Yeah, for sure, I'm working on this girl named
Alcordo. Trying to figure out how to get her record out and package it up. We did ten songs, so it's almost ready. I just need to get off tour and finish the production.
And she's from Canada?
Yeah, Toronto... she's great, she's real great. So we're trying to work on that and uhm and if something else comes along that'd be awesome. But I also have to focus on this [laughs].
"Being free is one the most intense feelings ever... it's joy."
How's the liberty of having that type of freedom, not being assigned to any label?
It's awesome. That's all I want in life is artistic freedom to do whatever I want. You know what I mean? Being free is the most important thing I think in my life. It's something I constantly try to strive for, is freedom. It's, I don't know... it's so... awesome. It doesn't just go for music. I think in general being free is one the most intense feelings ever... it's joy. Free to do whatever, even if it's nothing. Even if you want to do nothing, then do it. Just have the freedom to do whatever you want. So it might seem bohemian or whatever but that's the truth for me.
I feel you... I'm in a similar situation, exploring my blog, exploring what I want to do, taking the direction that I want and taking advantage of opportunities like this.
You gotta just do you. That's important.
Being that my blog is called Shower & Food... Do you have any food addictions?
I like avocados. I do like avocados. Anytime, any day [laughs].
With your longer hair, the man bun has become ever popular, do you have any recommendations for hair products or tools or anything?
Nah, I mean that's funny you're asking this cuz right before you came in I was talking about shaving my head. I was like I'm so "over it" yeah, change, I need a change. So it's funny that you ask that. I don't use any products or anything so I don't really know. I just hate combing it [laughs].
"I really like singing. That really nourishes my soul, for sure."
On a deeper level, for me Shower & Food represents nourishment for body & soul. You've spoken to freedoms, is there anything in particular that nourishes your music or nourishes your soul?
Ahh well... music kinda nourishes my soul. I mean that would probably be the cut and dry answer, music. And then singing. I really like singing. That really nourishes my soul, for sure. When I'm good at it I guess. When I'm not fucking up, [laughs] but sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's hard, depends on the day.
What drives your affinity for the retro influence in your videos and photos; using film vs digital?
I don't know, I'm not into digital so much. I kinda like the classic feel of film. There's something about it. Maybe it's cuz I grew up on that stuff so it seems more real to me. But there's some kind of depth within that, that I feel you don't get with digital stuff, you know and... it's probably why it's never gonna die. You're never going to get that depth with digital and there's something real about that depth that makes you feel somethin else. And I love that, I love that.
Right on yeah, I'm actually exploring modeling a little bit. I had one shoot where we used all digital and then the last shoot that I had we used mainly film. And after it was over I was like, I don't know how to feel about this. I didn't get to see anything. I didn't know how it turned out and I'm still practicing you know so I was feeling a little insecure about it but just hearing you say that... it's true, there's something really special, there's a special quality about it.
Yeah you have to catch those moments. It makes you appreciate the moments even more too cuz when you're developin 'em and you get 'em back, you're like, oh shit look at this, look at what we got, look at what happened. It's not contrived. With digital it's like, you know actually put your hand like this... c'mon man you know, it's like it's gotta be a moment. You can't recreate what you're seein. It's I don't know, gotta be magic. It's gotta happen. It can't be forced. So it's kind of similar to making music. There has to be this magic about it. This natural thing that happens. So that's probably why... long, long version [laughs].
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| Photo: iamjmsn.com |
How would you describe your personal style or fashion sense?
I don't know, I try to pick stuff that nobody else would wear cuz it's not in style and wear that, [laughs] ill fitting. It's fun to... I don't know, I guess it's like going back to the freedom thing. It's freedom to wear whatever the fuck you want, know what I mean? It doesn't have to be cool. It could be the most ridiculous stuff ever but it's what you're wearing. It's about you as a person.
This is one of my favorites of JMSN's gear but check out the rest
here. Pick up a tee or a record and if your city has an upcoming date on this tour do not hesitate to see him live. Support this dude!
