- dJJ is half of Welsh duo ISLAND, whose Nokia EP mixed glossy panoramas and fractured aggression in the style of much current grime-related music. His first solo release, also for Bristol's Crazylegs label, is an extreme outlier to that world—and, indeed, to most others. A half-hour productions mix for Radar Radio outlined his style: loop-heavy and grounded in scuzzy techno and disco house, but with a "bash it together" British mentality that yields unusual results. "Just A Lil," which appears here as a single, was the mix's highlight, condensing its strange soup of ideas into a pop-dance shot with extremely addictive properties.
The track's soulful sample and Daft Punk-like bassline would lend themselves to Ibiza dance floors, were the former not reedy and thin and the latter contorted with timestretching effects. The effect is dysfunctional but extremely moreish. The original version is less than three minutes long (another of dJJ's strange decisions)—fortunately, the single comes with a double-length "Extended Mix." It's joined by remixes from Crazylegs affiliates and related artists, and each reworks the original in the image of modern hybrid club music. Gage can't seem to make his version quite as euphoric as he'd like to, and Finn's R&B Frankenstein technique, excellent in his solo productions, feels slightly unnecessary here. Sudanim's steroidal soca beat is more successful, so much so that he soon discards the original sample to let the drums do their thing. All three tracks show more technical flair than dJJ's original, but it's his weird and wonderful earworm that burrows "Just A Lil" into the brain.
Tracklist01. Just A Lil
02. Just A Lil (Extended Mix)
03. Just A Lil (Gage Remix)
04. Just A Lil (Suda Remix)
05. Just A Lil (Finn Remix)