NEW VOICES/WATCH NEW VIDEO! New York Duo The Jack Moves Releases New Single “Doublin’ Down”
“DOUBLIN’ DOWN”: NEW SINGLE & VIDEO FROM DUO THE JACK MOVES
VIDEO PREMIERES ON MASS APPEAL.COM; SONG DIGITALLY RELEASED TODAY THROUGH WAX POETICS RECORDS
Musicians influenced by classic soul and hip-hop; met through NYC skate scene.
New York-based duo The Jack Moves are “Doublin’ Down” with the simultaneous release of their debut single and video today on Wax Poetics Records. The smooth and soulful sound of “Doublin’ Down” is sure to attract listeners to the unique sound of these two rising stars.
The “Doublin’ Down” video was directed by Pete Stempen and shot in Newark, New Jersey. It intertwines the stories of broken individuals struggling to make their way in Newark’s criminal underground ruled by pornographers, voodoo priests, and cheap hoods.
The Jack Moves are singer and multi-instrumentalist Zee Desmondes and drummer Teddy Powell. The twosome met in New York’s legendary skate hangout Tompkins Square Park and bonded through a shared love of music. Although their initial connection came about largely due to a love of hip-hop (and skating), Desmondes developed an interest in the classic soul records Powell was composing beats with, and they decided to perform music in that vein.
After playing a few shows downtown, they recorded and self-released a 45 of the Ledgends classic “Fool for You,” backed with an original composition, “Kiss in the Dark.” After biking around NYC and pawning them off on a few local record haunts, the response generated enough buzz in the new-soul vinyl community to attract the attention of Wax Poetics Records and the confidence to take it more seriously and keep recording.
With this new knowledge in place and Newark as their cultural backdrop, they began writing their own material that would speak to the timeless nature of soul music, but a music that was of its time. Zee delivers a falsetto reminiscent of some of blue-eyed soul’s greats Daryl Hall and Bobby Caldwell, while Teddy-who has placed beats on G-Unit and U-God projects-provides a steady, aggressive hip-hop-inspired bottom that propels the music forward. It’s an amalgamation of many styles and influences, spanning ’60s and ’70s soul, ’90s skate culture, L.A.’s lowrider scene, and today’s millennial skate and streetwear communities. Zee concludes, “It started out very much about ‘Let’s try to replicate this old music.’ But I think where we’re at now, and where we’ve arrived at with this first album, is that we still want to do something new. We don’t want to just bow down at the temple of those who’ve come before us; we want to do our part to carry the torch further. To put the ‘now’ into it, to make something new. Because we don’t just love soul music; we love hip-hop, we like rock, lots of indie bands-so it’s about taking all of those influences and making something unique out of it.”
