Boogie Time?

The difficulty of creating groove-oriented music that doesn't lapse into the "lifestyle" category -- where a soulful patina conveys only the trappings of cool -- is evident in the fact that one of J. Boogie's compilation tracks turned up on a commercial airline's chill-out channel. Boland was unaware of the deal until a friend brought him the in-flight magazine with the track listing. "I thought that was fucking hilarious," he says, noting that the money doesn't hurt, even though he hasn't mastered the art of getting paid. But it's worth wondering if creating make-out music necessarily means getting in bed with advertisers and multinational corporations.

In 2003, of course, soul is no longer the exclusive realm of the raised-fist brigade; soul is largely where you find it, and J. Boogie's productions have admittedly got it in spades. But the preponderance of branded cool in the Bay Area and beyond suggests that affect is replacing the sly, sullen, darker-than-blue emotional range of the soul and reggae originators. This isn't to charge J. Boogie with complacency; a tune like the instrumental "Do What You Love" comes off like a joyous response to being cut loose from the dot-com ranks. But dark days sometimes call for a feistier response than candle-lit, heavy-lidded funk.

Derek Snape

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More About

• Justin Boland
• J Boogie's Dubtronic Science
• Portland (Oregon)
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Underground Hip-Hop

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With five years of effort finally condensed into an hour of shrink-wrapped aluminum, Boland's already at work on another record, one that he suggests will reflect the good and bad aspects of the Bay Area. J. Boogie's Dubtronic Science proves that Boland's got a knack for fluffing the pillows of the drowsy and giving frustrated heads a soundtrack for getting their swerve on. But naptime's up. Here's hoping that on the next album, Boland steps up to ring the alarm.