Portland, Maine-bred electronic outfit Jaw Gems has been steadily converting new fans entrancing experimental breakbeat grooves since their conception in 2009. With an ever-expanding and evolving sound, the group has been lauded by fellow Portland-er Lyle Divinsky of The Motet as “one of the upcoming un-fuck-withables.” Their second studio album, HEATWEAVER, was released to critical acclaim late last year, and the ensuing tour dates and national exposure have since netted them a brand new deal with top beat-music tastemakers Alpha Pup Records in Los Angeles.
Over the years, Jaw Gems has slowly adopted an intricate arsenal of instruments, including drums, bass, and dueling vintage synthesizers, a Roland sp404 and a Juno 106 analog synth, as well as more modern beat-repeating and sample-warping technologies. The versatility of the band’s tools, as well as the varying approaches of their members leads to a highly complex electro-hip-hop flavor on HEATWEAVER.
Jaw Gems Offer Smoking Beats On New Album, “HEATWEAVER” [Review]
Along with their new record deal, Jaw Gems recently released HEATWEAVER Remixes, a reimagined take on the group’s 2016 album. The original HEATWEAVER‘s warped sonics grooves have a distinctly modern feel, layered with color and soul, whereas HEATWEAVER Remixes brings a fresh new crop of music, reimagining each of the album’s songs launching an expansive new era for the group. Each song was remixed by a notable collaborator, from Break Science to The Russ Liquid Test to Milo to Brady Watt to T3, one of the founding members of pioneering hip-hop crew Slum Village.
Live For Live Music is excited to premiere the latest music video from the four breakbeat instrumentalists known as Jaw Gems. GOD.DAMN.CHAN., another recent addition to the Alpha Pup Family, flipped Jaw Gems’ “Sap Flow,” adding his syrupy style to the already electrifying Jaw Gems banger.
Director Jay Brown of ROVE has created a number of videos for the band, but this project was particularly fun as he’s a longtime friend of both Jaw Gems’ and GOD.DAMN.CHAN, giving him the freedom to experiment with this collaboration.
“Creating videos with JAW GEMS has gotten to the point where new ideas and outside-of-the-box thinking is welcomed and trusted, which is ideal,” says Brown. “Being that this was a video for a remix track, I thought it might be interesting to take some leftover footage we had of GOD.DAMN.CHAN (from another project), and try to make a whole new piece. Limiting the footage used was an intention in order to try and see how far the envelope could be pushed creatively, and explore new ideas.” Watch the video below:
For more information on Jaw Gems’ upcoming projects and tour dates, head to the band’s website.
See Jaw Gems Live:
Thu, Dec 28 – Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA (w/ Lettuce)
Sun, Dec 31 – Brooklyn Bowl – Brooklyn, NY (w/ Lettuce)