Jai Dee shares 'The Absolutely Massive EP' via Dance Trax

Scottish producer Jai Dee has shared his latest record, 'The Absolutely Massive EP' via Dance Trax, sublabel of Unknown To The Unknown.

With a tongue-in-cheek name, its tracks are heavily influenced by the sounds of the '90s; specifically, the Big Beat genre, and the project has been in the works since summer 2019 upon the burgeoning revival of old-school sounds including jungle and hardcore.

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“The idea to create a big beat-leaning EP came off the back of listening to a lot of Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy, two bands that never left my iPod when I was a kid,” he tells Mixmag. “The EP was very much in its infancy at this stage but I believed there would be a time and place for it at some point in the future. A lot of my productions have been heavily old school rave focused with a contemporary spin to them.

“A lot of the music that came out of the ‘90s rave scene was heavily sample based and I wanted to replicate that in my own way. I am a big advocate of sampling obscure vocals and creating a narrative with them throughout a track. I also feel it’s worth telling a story throughout the music, creating contrasting arrangements that keep the listener on their toes. I draw a lot of my inspiration from listening to old hardcore and jungle, where the artists created a sonically dynamic soundscape of noise that can bring out a series of emotions in you. Fast forward to 2023 where I’m at the pub with DJ Haus and I say: ‘I’ve made a big beat EP. Fancy releasing it?’. The stars aligned and next thing you know we’re planning it for release.

“I have titled the EP ‘The Absolutely Massive EP’ which is intentionally tongue-in-cheek, alluding to the ‘big’ in big beat and the ‘XL’ in XL Recordings, which played a pivotal role in shaping the early industry; what’s bigger than extra-large, something that is absolutely massive!”

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'The Absolutely Massive EP' by Jai Dee is available now, check it out here.

Niamh Ingram is Mixmag's Weekend Editor, follow her on Instagram