JEMS!

As JEMS!, Oakland’s Elujay and Baltimore’s J.Robb stretch outside the expectations of their respective projects, prioritizing looseness and immediacy, the jam above all. Their chemistry comes from years of collaborating, performing, refining ideas and tastes shared, contrasting, and complimenting, from old-school R&B and hip-hop to Lovers Rock and dancehall to contemporary indie, ambient, and the many innovative styles they’ve encountered in the UK. While J.Robb’s pedigree for future beats anchors their sound and Elujay writes and handles the mic, the two musicians come together on the production. As songs formed, they embraced a Caribbean influence, listening to old dancehall mixtapes on YouTube, and mapped out a stable of collaborators and players that skew UK-based. “We have a strong affinity for the UK scene, they have the best artists. We’ve been able to test songs out there live, getting a reaction from people in London was huge,” Elujay adds. “Not everyone has a platform to do different stuff, they might be locked into one sound as a solo artist. But with this project, we see it as a platform to reach out to our friends, people who are fans of what we do, and people we’re fans of, here we can showcase collaboration.” With all the voices, modes, and colors of GEMS IN THE CORNERSTORE II, the show remains distinctly Elujay and J.Robb’s, two artists casually making great music — “It’s not that deep,” jokes J.Robb. When it comes to jams, they don’t overthink it.