J Majik

Jamie Spratling, best known as J Majik, has remained one of the most innovative drum'n'bass producers since the genre's infancy. Actively producing music and running the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Infrared+Records%22">Infrared Records</a> label since his early teens, Spratling debuted the J Majik moniker with a series of 12" singles for <a href="spotify:artist:2SYqJ3uDLLXZNyZdLKBy4M">Goldie</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Metalheadz%22">Metalheadz</a> label, including the 1995 classic "Your Sound," which blended harsh, complex breakbeats with lush, tranquil textures. After releasing a full-length, 1997's Slow Motion, which also included several downtempo tracks (including material previously released on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mo+Wax%22">Mo Wax</a> under the name <a href="spotify:artist:2b3M5BUML5nnEJyPyjTzxW">Innervisions</a>), J Majik went in a more club-driven direction with his subsequent tracks, often produced in collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:3uUmHbRpblPtDIM0Dc4GqE">Wickaman</a>. He scored U.K. Top 40 hits with two singles featuring American house diva <a href="spotify:artist:1dYwUvGX41uwyOuabIEJUq">Kathy Brown</a>, "Love Is Not a Game" (2000) and "Crazy World" (2008). Following 2013's Out of Sight, a full-length with <a href="spotify:artist:3uUmHbRpblPtDIM0Dc4GqE">Wickaman</a> that ventured into dubstep, J Majik took a break for a few years before returning to his early sound with 2019's aptly titled Full Circle. Always Be followed in 2020, and he continued issuing EPs like 2023's In the City.

Spratling initially produced tracks under the name Dexxtrous, releasing a breakbeat hardcore EP titled Hysteria, Pt. 1 on <a href="spotify:artist:4K5Dosv1aTGnVJzfv6QilI">Lemon D</a>'s Planet Earth Records in 1993 before founding his own <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Infrared%22">Infrared</a> label. In order to avoid confusion with jungle producer <a href="spotify:artist:1LAyK2qWIRLMkdgxJBCmNQ">DJ Dextrous</a>, Spratling changed his stage name to J Majik and released a trio of 12"s on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Metalheadz%22">Metalheadz</a> in 1995, including "Your Sound" and "Arabian Nights." He debuted another moniker, <a href="spotify:artist:2b3M5BUML5nnEJyPyjTzxW">Innervisions</a>, in 1996, releasing drum'n'bass as well as downtempo tracks (including "Mermaids" on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mo+Wax%22">Mo Wax</a>). Both styles were represented on J Majik's debut full-length, Slow Motion, issued by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Infrared%22">Infrared</a> in 1997. While he largely left the <a href="spotify:artist:2b3M5BUML5nnEJyPyjTzxW">Innervisions</a> project behind, J Majik continued a strong run of singles on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Metalheadz%22">Metalheadz</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Infrared%22">Infrared</a>, in addition to collaborations with producers like <a href="spotify:artist:2SYqJ3uDLLXZNyZdLKBy4M">Goldie</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3m38ZSwkLdeBDUhdGnFPrn">Adam F</a>, as well as remixes for <a href="spotify:artist:3hXDMlrPegHRO0zUvBsRSI">Photek</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:13ccXrK7AmXb4TddMkE7jy">Everything But the Girl</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:77zrvBORXcnTyysjjKRfBU">the Art of Noise</a>, and others. The 1999 release Nightvision, including mixed and unmixed discs, compiled Spratling productions as well as tracks by friends such as <a href="spotify:artist:20X39VOcF5zEpkOx6WrXlY">Total Science</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2Vqj1e2oloOKNqAT2gpoa5">Futurebound</a>.

In 2000, J Majik released vicious underground tracks like "The Lizard" as well as more accessible material such as "Love Is Not a Game" (with <a href="spotify:artist:1dYwUvGX41uwyOuabIEJUq">Kathy Brown</a>), which became his first U.K. Top 40 hit, reaching number 34. In 2001, he issued a successful remix of <a href="spotify:artist:7DQ8fX4Fbi43HaesfrVYpO">Hatiras</a>' filter-heavy disco-house hit "Spaced Invader." The track was included on another compilation/mix CD, Infrastructure, that year. Additional mix discs came in quick succession, including FabricLive.13 (2003) and Red Alert (2005). By the middle of the decade, he was regularly releasing dancefloor stormers with <a href="spotify:artist:3uUmHbRpblPtDIM0Dc4GqE">Wickaman</a>. The 2007 full-length Crazy World was a vocal-heavy mixture of ragga, house, and Brazilian influences; its title track, another collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:1dYwUvGX41uwyOuabIEJUq">Brown</a>, peaked at number 37 on the U.K. singles chart. The duo continued to issue singles, including a return to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Metalheadz%22">Metalheadz</a> (2011's "The Ritual"), as well as remixes for the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:2CIMQHirSU0MQqyYHq0eOx">Deadmau5</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2McLd7klWE4UjkPLqqMwLv">the Qemists</a>. A second collaborative full-length, Out of Sight, was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Infrared%22">Infrared</a> in 2013.

J Majik dropped out of the music scene for a few years after that, but after playing a <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Metalheadz%22">Metalheadz</a> reunion gig in late 2016, as well as a set at junglist revival club Rupture in 2017, he felt inspired to revisit his earlier sound. In 2018, he relaunched <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Infrared%22">Infrared</a> and began releasing 12"s by himself as well as <a href="spotify:artist:3m38ZSwkLdeBDUhdGnFPrn">Adam F</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:07ogfrunSUmnsEsPQdRQUB">Peshay</a>, including new as well as previously unreleased material. Another reactivated label, Deep Jungle, released J Majik's "Telepathic"/"Hard Distance," two unearthed productions from 1995. "First Contact"/"Originate," co-produced by Sense, appeared at the end of 2018, and Full Circle, J Majik's first solo album in 22 years, arrived in 2019. A year later, he released Always Be, a mixture of jungle and Detroit techno-inspired tracks. He continued releasing remixes and additional EPs like 2022's Burning Light and 2023's In the City. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi