Low Jack
Market
Bambe
Some tracks just sound like they were made to be deployed on a 7-inch, and Philippe Hallais has plenty of experience delivering short, sharp statements with bullet-like precision. As Low Jack he’s been swerving around the underground with a subversive string of noise-caked techno since 2014, but some of his most memorable work has been an assortment of small but deadly dancehall riddims, such as those on 2017’s Glacial Dancehall 2 tape for Bokeh Versions. Hallais doesn’t tend to flood the zone with productions, but when they land, they make a dent in the tarmac.
His impact remains high on Market, his first appearance on Bambounou’s Bambe imprint. The “Radio Edit” of “Market” presented here clocks in with just over three minutes of pressure-cooker atmospherics and bludgeoning clank, and it truthfully doesn’t need any longer to make its point. Aimed squarely at a rude moment in a sweaty dance under the slow flicker of a strobe light, this bass-first production doesn’t need any overthinking—it’s raw, physical and utterly effective.
Bambounou offers up a similarly succinct remix on the flip. Jacking up the energy with a satisfying arc into body-popping electro, he crafts a natural framework around Hallais’ original shards of helium vocal chants and deathly reverb impulses. It’s not easy to pack this much flow and structure into a rework without bloating the runtime, but the Bambe bossman impressively stays true to the pithy spirit of the original track.
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