Send "jj " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 What better time than the thick of summer to re-release a frightfully successful album that got indie kids the world over going ga-ga over its fey innocence realized like a sweet apparition? Jj, the stripling boy-girl duo from Sweden responsible for this phenomenon, count themselves among achingly hip purveyors of hypnogogic, pop tones like Summer Camp, Beach House and fellow countrymen Air France; their media shyness (a website, anyone?) seemingly matched only by their productions’ blissful haziness. They can also count themselves among the smart set for relaunching their debut just over a year after its initial release to capitalize on the critical acclaim lavished earlier in 2010 on their sophomore effort, jj no 3. However much darlings of the reigning zeitgeist they are, though, there is much more to jj than a convection wave of hot air. Although their songs on jj no 2 are amalgamations of several strands of modishness—Balearic pop, afro-pop, ‘60s beat music—by sheer force of talent, they remain as pleasantly threadbare as a bikini. The entire album wafts along on Elin Kastlander’s diaphanous St Etienne/Enya-esque vocals and cantering Afro-rhythms without the unnecessary anchors of bass lines and kick drums; while everything shimmers like asphalt on a blistering day. It is lazily tempting to conclude that Kastlander’s vocals are as ice-princess-cool as the unimaginative preconceptions of her homeland by foreigners; but it’s probably fairer to suggest that their want of emotional dynamism are in likeness to the silky and uniform oral deliveries of young choruses. To which it is to be said that on jj no 2, the duo are near angelic despite the content of its cover art (a quality that very nearly dissolves in the beautiful bruise that is jj no 3). An undying optimism in words also permeates the album with the hit song “From Africa to Malaga” intoning: “It’s not easy to die/No matter how dumb you are, you will eventually rise”; and the very twee “Are You Still In Valda”, a childlike eternal hope to see a loved one again. Even when clouds creep in on the horizon, as in the slightly rueful “My Hopes and My Dreams” and “Things Will Never Be The Same Again”, you still feel like you’re being serenaded by violins on white sands in the middle of golden oblivion....full text |
| Wikipedia |
| jj n° 2 is the first full length album by jj. It was released on the Swedish record label Sincerely Yours on July 1, 2009. The album received a Best New Music inclusion from Pitchfork Media and a rating of 8.6.[1] A vinyl edition, titled jj n° 2.1, was released in late December 2009. At the end of 2009, Paste named jj n° 2 "The Year's Greatest Musical Obscurity",[2] and The Washington Post named the album the second best pop album of the year in front of Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion and behind Maxwell's BLACKsummers'night.[3] [edit] Track listingNo. Title Length 1. "Things Will Never Be the Same Again" 3:34 2. "From Africa to Málaga" 2:50 3. "Ecstasy" 3:33 4. "Are You Still in Vallda?" 2:34 5. "My Love" 3:12 6. "Intermezzo" 2:48 7. "My Hopes & Dreams" 2:43 8. "Masterplan" 2:48 9. "Me & Dean" 2:42 Note: The vinyl edition features the bonus track "Pure Shores". Note: "Ecstasy" contains samples from Lil Wayne's "Lollipop"....full text |
| Cokemachineglow |
| Being completely unknown is not a selling point; being completely unknown save for one’s connections to a prominent Swedish label that’s proven consistently excellent is another thing entirely. And save for their ties to Sincerely Yours—the Gothenburg-based label run by the Tough Alliance and responsible for Air France, the Honeydrips, Joel Alme, and several others—no one really knows anything about jj. The name can’t really be Googled but there’s nothing to find, really. All potential leads end at Sincerely Yours’ own website, which yields nothing more than a few cryptic sentences, download links, and blood-spattered album artwork. What we’re left with, then, is speculation—that jj is perhaps the Tough Alliance with a girl singer or two—and this debut LP, simply called jj n° 2, released digitally with no prior announcement earlier this month. In its remarkably brief 26 minutes, the album sounds more than anything else like the Tough Alliance gone partially acoustic, with that band’s (and its label’s) willingness to sample just about anything left intact but joined to a world of sunny guitars and vaguely African percussion. And, like everything else Sincerely Yours has released, it’s infinitely better than it has any right to be. jj n° 2 is a gorgeous and unexpected midsummer blissout, as content to pilfer ideas from decades of so-called world music and indie pop as it is Lil Wayne’s worst single (provided we assume that Rebirth will be shelved perpetually and pretend that none of its material was ever released). Opener “Things Will Never Be The Same Again” serves to establish these facts almost immediately: like almost everything here, it relies on obviously programmed percussion, blatantly artificial MIDI strings, and muted electric guitars. Single “From Africa to Málaga” is the immediate pleaser, and it could be the most inviting, celebratory thing Sincerely Yours has released yet. But the track that most immediately catches ears—and has been most polarizing—is “Ecstasy,” which references Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” by burying that damn ascending synth line in a druggy, sunny haze, and the vocals quote Wayne’s syrup-soaked chorus and turns it into something relentlessly pretty. I listen to it a lot but why the hell it exists I can only question rhetorically....full text |
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