Roundhouse, London
Could Jay Kay and co’s party grooves, laser-beam energy and daft headgear have any relevance in 2017? Well, if the hat still fits …
It’s a decade since Jay Kay told the press he was going to quit music to focus on flying helicopters and looking for “the right lady to have children with”. In the intervening time (and notwithstanding 201o’s stodgy disco album Rock Dust Light Star, their worst performing album to date) the sonic qualities that first made the group popular have slunk back into fashion. Forward-facing young US artists have cited Jamiroquai as an influence: you can hear it in the hazy grooves of Syd tha Kyd, Tyler the Creator, Chance the Rapper and Anderson Paak, while jazz-inflected chillout and easy listening form the ever-growing underbelly of most streaming services.
There have been some sizeable shifts for the band in the past 10 years, however. The problematic Native American headdress Kay used to wear has been swapped for an LED helmet, its spikes flaring open a bit like the hissing dilophosaurus in Jurassic Park. Or an alien sea creature. Or a niche, glow-in-the-dark sex toy.
Continue reading...by Harriet Gibsone via Electronic music | The Guardian
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