It’s hard to believe jj no.2 came out one year to the day today. Back then, it was a gorgeous, unexpected midsummer blissout, but also that rare summer thing that survived the post-August comedown and re-emerged in heavy rotation in late fall. Happily pilfering ideas from decades of world music, the ‘now’ of r’n’b and some kind of retro, alternate version of music history where St Etienne were pop superstars, no.2 dropped deliciousness at every turn, but with no clues about its creators.
Take no heroes, only inspiration, right?
So what a year it’s been for the eccentric, unfathomable, Lil-Wayne sampling oddity that is jj. Now with jj no.3 under their belt, a Rough Trade Album of the Month, and a tour with the xx, they’re maybe not such an oddity anymore.
But of course they are. Behind the ambient, lyrically warm pop, they are still very much Sincerely Yours alums; the record label that gives us everything, and paradoxically, nothing. No matter how much we know about them, Joakim Benon and Elin Kastlander are still unknowable. In an age where you can know anything about anyone, this is infinitely comforting. They give interviews, play shows and yet they stay hidden and remain unseen. When they speak, it’s in dreams and sharp incisions, a reaction against the way things are.
So how has it been for them in the crazy past year? I asked them. They, being the star pupils of the *Sincerely Yours School of Cryptic Answers*, were only too obliging in not giving me the answers I wanted. Instead, I got quoted some Smiths lyrics and some point blank walls.
But maybe that’s the point: let go. Every step towards jj takes you a step further away. Sometimes the aim for reality feels too unrealistic. Sometimes you just have to indulge in distractions, escapes, and illusions to be able to stand this excuse for an existence, and that’s just what they do.
Where in the world are you now?
Madagascar.
How is your release schedule working out? Will we see jj no4 by next year?
I hope so, for my own wellbeing. I long for that record. It’s beautiful.
What is the ‘feeling’ of jj no3 vs. jj no2? How has the experience or situation of making each record been different for you?
It hasn’t.
From the beginning, jj has been a relatively anonymous entity. Now we know your names and where you’re from, but that still doesn’t answer any real questions. Tell us a bit about why you think mystery is helpful, both for jj and your listeners?
Helpful in what way?
You’ve (Joakim) said in a previous interview: “Whatever we do I hope people will understand that being on stage is a fucked up situation in the first place.” It seems inevitable in these fast and furious days of music to have to play live as another ‘dimension’ of a band’s sound and existence. What are your thoughts on that?
I agree. I’m in it for all the dimensions. I got my goggles on.
The problem of playing live seems to have dogged other artists who make music about escapism (Memory Tapes, Air France, for example). How do you foresee having to bridge the gaps between ‘fantasy’ and ‘representation’ in your live shows?
I don’t see a bridge between me and myself, we’re all there, every time. On records, and in person. People shouldn’t expect anything. That is a boring habit many have though. We represent ourselves and no escapism, we have nothing we want to create, there is no fantasy.
You recently played a live show at SXSW in Austin. What did you think of it?
I think it was like Sodom and Gomorrah, real dicks everywhere, yumma yumma yumma!
How did it influence your future directions for live shows?
It didn’t.
Music coming out from the west coast has a feeling of escapism and ‘tropicalism’. But you’re from Vallentuna near Stockholm. How does that I influence your sound in a way that might be similar/different to those other Gothenburg bands?
I don’t know, i can’t relate to a certain place, i live in the world, life influences me. I do not understand at all why so many people are trying to find something out about things they can’t understand. The thing we have in common is we’re human, and that we’re alive, and that we want to stay alive.
Like The Tough Alliance, jj also has an aesthetic of cutting and pasting together cultural references from rap, hip hop and europop, both past and present. Tell us a bit about pop culture in Sweden, and how it inspires you creatively?
It doesn’t. I don’t even know what pop culture is to be honest. It sounds boring though.
Well, inevitably, we’ll have to talk about it. How did you connect with Sincerely Yours, and how does their overall philosophy fit yours?
We knew each other from our past lives so we thought we would meet up in this life as well. The mission continues. It fits like hand in glove. The sun shines out of our behinds.
Your new song ‘ceo birthday’ seems to have popped up at the same time Eric Berglund from TTA announced his ceo project. What’s the relationship with ceo?
It’s beyond words. No, it’s not like any other love. This one is different – because it’s us. We can go wherever we please and everything depends upon how near you stand to me. And if the people stare then the people stare. Oh, I really don’t know and I really don’t care.
What does the blood splatter on your releases and t-shirts mean?
It means fuck all you hoes, get a grip.
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after loving them like crazy because of the hype for the last 2 years…the verdict is super simple: rich kids with small imagination and good photographers.
I like their music but they are so full of shit, same with Eric from TTA.
skyfire I LOVE YOU!
The thing thats more sad than anything I know of is that jj and ceo seem to feed bullshit off of eachother. One part does a megacheezy interview so the other part has to outdo that by being even more cheezy. This is a pattern thats very obvious when you put all interviews together.
Infact, I am sure that when they do e-mail interviews, they sit for hours on each question trying to come up with the “coolest” answer.
There is no honesty in any of their interviews, only trying to be something they're not.
skyfire I LOVE YOU AGAIN! :) <3
I think there's a huge difference between ceo and JJ. If you read eric berglunds answers both as ceo and when he was a part of TTA it's really obvious he's trying to answer as honestly as possible and that includes not answering questions you can't answer. I totally agree about JJ though.
Karl, ofcourse there is a difference between jj and ceo but I still can't believe any of them. And it's not _obvious_ to me that Eric is honest, maybe I've missed something you could enlighten me on.
In my spare time I like to write shortstories and moviescripts with similar 'storytelling' as you can see in these interviews. When I write in that 'language' I laugh at myself, and when I show it to my friends they laugh aswell- but I NEVER act on it (where funny becomes sad). Writing/coming up with that kind of stuff is a lenghty process which explains why their written interviews are so 'epic', and the very few videointerviews are extremly embarrassing to watch. Had they been 4real this wouldn't be the case, they would be dropping oneliners here and there.
Don't get me wrong, I love them for being assholes since appearantly that allows them to create music that I deeply care for, (TTA is probably the foundation of my personality today) . However, I would never want to 'hang out' with them, not even while high- ok maybe while high.
Also, I didn't mind Eric in the TTA days. I have to admit back then I didn't read that many interviews (were there many?) and I don't recall having a grudge against him. Those were the good times.
They shouldn't be doing interviews at all, it just ruins the beauty of it.
This post is lightly refering to the latest Pitchfork interview with ceo. All of it can be related to Joakim from JJ though.
yep
Skyfire simply speaks with my voice.
I would imagine this is simply a case of being presented with a massive list of email questionnaires and getting “creative”/silly to cope with the boredom. Also, reading between the lines here, it seems that JJ can't really cope with the scrutiny of the music press. These are intelligent, thoughtful questions and perhaps they're feeling exposed but the examination? I don't know – maybe the SXSW live reviews have bruised them somewhat. And the relatively lukwarm reception to JJ No3….
I do take issue with the CEO bashing though – that Pitchfork interview is an incredible representation of one man's vision for his music. And he articulates that vision in words that attempt to paint a picture rather than describe a process. There's nothing wrong with that although a lot of people will inevitably see him as talking out of his arse. But that's always been a reoccurring conflict in music – the artistic versus the workmanlike, the protestant/puritan versus the iconoclastic/divine imagery, the dole versus the art school.
I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. I wrote these questions as a way to pry a little bit into their feelings and what they think, not about their work (mostly) but about their reaction to its aftermath (public reception/questions of influences/live performances). All those things that are an inescapable by-product of hype and love in the modern music cycle.
On the one hand I can see how difficult it would be to answer questions like these: you don't exist outside of your work, and maybe like its consumers, jj might not be so tuned into the cycle they're a part of. But on the other hand, humour me? Tell me something I haven't seen before, even if its made-up and wildly untrue or scandalous or whatever. Truth isn't really the point here.
Paul Bridgewater, the voice of reason, makes a few really valid points above. Vlad and Skyfire, you do too. I guess what the truth is in the middle of, is how much are they expected to play 'the game'? If you haaaave to play 'the game' might it not be fun to just have some, well, fun? You know it's magic, and we know it's magic but that doesn't mean there's no room for some sleight of hand, some throwing of spanners. Just fuck things up a little, you know?
I get that I'm sounding very hateful but I'm only a little. I really like the Pitchfork interview, mostly because Eric respects the questions asked unlike jj does in this interview (and others). To be completely honest I don't even know why I mentioned ceo at all, maybe I'm just trying to blame someone for jj's stupidity and he happened to be first in the line of fire, I'll have to think about that one for a while.
I hate myself for hating but I guess it's good to vent sometimes, which is probably what happened here.