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| Jahcoozi |
(Kitty-yo)
Jahcoozi are a Berlin phenomenon producing bass heavy, abstract electronic beats mixed with ragga, dancehall and hip hop – illectronic blip hop with huge helpings of vocal attitude. The group is a multi-national trio made up of UK vocalist/lyricist Sasha Perera, German producer Robert (Robot) Koch and Oren Gerlitz, multi-instrumentalist from Tel Aviv. Jahcoozi built a reputation on their wild live shows, and went on to make a name for themselves with their debut Fish. After being signed to Kitty-yo in 2005, the band produced their first long-player, Pure Breed Mongrel.
The trio met and began working together in Berlin in 2002. Through a friend of a friend, Perera heard Koch's beats, Koch heard Perera’s voice and the two started meeting up sporadically in a Neukölln home studio to record. Gerlitz joined them later in the year. Their debut EP, Fish, was one of the last records released on the now defunct Berlin club label WMF Records in July 2003. De-Bug soon listed the track as one of its favorites, and it was featured on The Wire magazine’s Marke b compilation CD. In 2004, the late John Peel gave his stamp of approval to Fish on his BBC1 radio show.
In 2005, Jahcoozi got a deal with Kitty-yo and released Black Barbie as a picture 12”. Black Barbie was the first track recorded by Perera and Koch in their smokey home-studio. The lyrics are a pisstake of the cliché booty girl role model ever present in commercial ‘black’ music. Perera writes the lyrics for all the songs, and most of them launch into direct lyrical confrontation with mass culture, indicting sexism and racism (Asian Bride Magazine), technology driven capitalism (Dot Com Bust), and expressing vigorous scepticism of rich kids (Ali McBills).
Jahcoozi's Myspace site reached an astonishing 100 thousand plays in only a matter of months and they even became Artist of The Month on New York based MTV DESI in November 2006 after their video made it to Nr. 4 in the request charts. 2006 also saw an invitation to remix UnknownmiX’s The Siren for Ata’s Playhouse label, and in 2007 Ewan Pearson’s Fabric 35 mix CD featured Jahcoozi’s Ali McBills. New tracks followed, Double Barrel Name (Sugarcane Recordings) and Reworks (Careless), with an album rumoured to be in production.
Jahcoozi have played festivals in almost every capital in Europe, both coasts in the United States, and landed gigs in places as far fetched as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, St. Petersburg and even Istanbul.
Sasha Perera is a London-born Sri Lankan who moved to Berlin in 2000. Perera is known for GRIMETIME, the grime parties she started organizing back in 2004, to bring UK talent to Berlin. She also contributed vocals to Modeselektor’s 2005 album Hello Mom!, and to productions of Dakar & Grinser on Disko B Records. German beat producer Robert Koch moved to Berlin in 1999 and founded his label Hamton Recordings. He also works under the monikers Robot Koch (K-yo) and The Tape (K-yo), and is involved in two side projects, Autodrive (Tonkind) with Malte Beckenbach and My Man Dot Com (Bomb Boutique) with Moritz Micalef. Oren Gerlitz, aka Baba Massive, moved from Tel Aviv to Berlin in 2001. Gerlitz is a qualified sound engineer and plays bass and guitar. He co-produces Jahcoozi tracks with Koch and does the final mix.
> Website Jahcoozi
> Jahcoozi on Myspace
> Labelsite Kitty-yo
Appearances:
> CTM.08 > OPENING CLUB NIGHT - BUMPER TO BUMPER
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