“Luckily, the friends I made, many of whom I’m still close with today, were open-minded music lovers. We went everywhere: EBM nights at Urban Spree, jungle and dubstep sessions at Ohm, lazy afternoons at CDV, an array of mind-melting nights at Griessmuehle, early Ziegrastrasse days… the list goes on.”
When Jack wasn’t bouncing between venues with his crew, he was holed up in Berlin’s maze of record stores. On a student budget, the €3 bins became his sanctuary — the starting point of a lifelong romance with those physical discs we call vinyl. “I won’t spend time extolling vinyl as a medium, however, I do believe that playing records gives one a certain approach to digging, preparing and mixing that simply works well for me.”
You can practically hear the preparation at work. Jack’s recordings bloom steadily, each track giving the next a gentle lift, and then another, and another. It builds like standing in an open stretch of farmland, watching a tornado gather itself on the horizon.
By chance, when I connected with Jack a week or so ago, he’d been in my hometown of New York. Unsurprisingly, a trip littered with cultural hits. “Paul Klee at the Jewish Museum, an early visit to the Met to see the Raphael show (stunning). Saw friends, some music, more art and ate well. The usual.”
Beyond that, the past year has been about settling into Brussels, his new home base. By all accounts, it’s been a lovely change of pace for him and his girlfriend. With spring in the air and summer creeping closer, the Belgian capital is starting to open up, and there’s plenty to sink into in the months ahead.
For Jack, the priorities are simple:
