IFLTS: 'Writer's Block,' Just Jack

Posted on Aug 6th 2007 2:00PM by Ames Friedman
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'Writer's Block,' Just Jack
From 2007's 'Overtones'

Is it 'Spiderman''s MJ or 'Harold and Kumar''s Mary Jane you're flying high with, Jack? With insider references to bullet trains and Lois Lane, 'Writer's Block' is enough to make a stoner ComiCon buff's day. Sorry, Spidey, but in this debut issue from North Londoner Just Jack, the bass line is the real superhero. Funkier than Superman's trunks after a busy day saving the planet, the bass is the driving force behind the tune, and a surprising counterpoint to Jack's Cockney patter. With such a disco-driven core and his call-outs to comic culture, it's easy to overlook the fact that his ruminations on impending fame and the music biz are the real thrust of the song.

Still, a big ol' 'Saturday Night Fever' dance routine is exactly what I want whenever I hear the strains of this roll-bouncing tune. With that slap bass paving the way, I'm lost in reveries of disco balls and gold lame-clad dancing queens in seven-footer fright wigs. It's impossible to sit still when this song hits the headphones, but a mere throwback it most certainly is not. As all the tunes on his debut album prove, Just Jack's greatest talent is his ability to take the foundation of funk history and update it for today's disco kids, with layers of heavily-accented vocals, samples, electro orchestrations and skittery beats. It's a thoroughly modern sound, where its retro underpinnings serve to connect with a sense of nostalgia aimed directly at our hips. And when it comes to our hips, we all want such sexy underpinnings. Care to boogie?

What song do you freakin' love? Write our next IFLTS. Send it to us at spinnereditor@aim.com

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