Dekmantel Podcast 289 - Jamie 3:26

Jamie 3:26 (@jamie3too6) has been a pivotal part of the Chicago scene for decades. Hailing from the South Side, he has been immersed in the city’s musical culture since day one, and not long after started to help shape it with his own expressive DJ sets and edits. Many of them made it into A Taste of Chicago on BBE, a compilation he put together of his own early takes on Windy City mainstays like Chip E, Jungle Wonz and Braxton Holmes back in March. Over the years, he has held various residencies in the city and soon went on to break out onto the international circuit, where he continually represents his hometown sound with real authority. Opening up with what sounds like a snippet from a pastor’s sermon, there is plenty of real life spirituality in this mix from the off. The ensuing two hours are a real lesson in groove and emotion, a panoply of house, funk, soul and disco that is loose limbed and expressive but also masterfully sequenced so as to tell a real story. It is a wonderfully widescreen representation of a city from someone who knows it as well as anyone, and one that will have you cutting loose and shifting shapes in no time.