House icon to play Leeside
Legendary British deep house producer and DJ Jimpster, aka Jamie Odell, wears many hats and wears them well.
Co-founder of labels Freerange and Delusions Of Grandeur, he is one of the most revered producers/DJs on the scene today and has played sets all over the globe, regularly doing the business at renowned hotspots like New York city’s Output, Womb in Tokyo, and Watergate in Berlin.
Well, you can add Cork city to that impressive list, with Jimpster set to play The Pav this coming Saturday night, presented by EndUp. Doors are at 9.30pm on the night with the set running right up until 2.30am.
Jimpster’s seminal LP ‘Messages From The Hub’ established him as an artist of note back in the late '90s and the music has flowed steadily and consistently since then, mostly on Freerange, with the 2006 excursion ‘Square Up’ on Ben Watt’s seminal Buzzin Fly label proving to be a temporary transfer of one London-based deep house icon to another.
“House music has been my first love and passion since hearing ‘Strings Of Life’ for the first time at The Essex Barn in 1988,” recalls Jimpster.
“I'm still inspired by the memories I have of that period when the whole electronic music scene was so fresh and exciting, as well as being really broad and eclectic.
“One minute we were listening to Lil Louis’ ‘The Story Continues’, and the next, freaking out to ‘Radio Babylon’ by Meat Beat Manifesto. Every track seemed to have its own strong identity and unique sound, and I guess that ethos is something I try and carry through to my A&R for the labels as well as my DJ sets.”
As a producer, Jimpster is still striving to produce that perfect house track which will stand the test of time in the same way that those early classics have.
“The blueprint is simple,” he explains, “to inject life, depth, soul, sincerity, and attitude. This is what sets the major players apart from the pretenders. That challenge is what keeps me focused and inspired 25 years on and I'm sure it will keep me on my toes for many years to come.”
Releases of his, such as ‘English Rose’, ‘Dangly Panther’, ‘A Love Like This’, and ‘Can't Stop Loving’, continue to be choice cuts for many DJs, whilst ‘These Times’ and ‘Porchlight And Rocking Chairs’, two more recent deep house anthems, were remixed by Dixon and KiNK to serious effect.
Jimpster’s current stat count as a remixer is touching a century and the acts to receive his Midas touch includes everyone from Osunlade, Solomun, Kollektiv Turmstrasse, and Josh Wink, through to Bob Marley, Seal, and Terrence Parker. Further remixes for Detroit Swindle, Thatmanmonkz, Till Von Sein, and Da Posse all show that the inspiration is still flowing thick and fast. So, for house fans on Leedise, it really doesn’t get much better than this, and the amazing Generic People on visuals for the set, this one’s going to be special!