Anyone who's talked to me for even the briefest of moments over the last six months will probably have had their ear bent into a variety of unnatural shapes about the masked mashup master that is Jaguar Skills.His 10-minute mini-mixes have been airing simultaneously on Radio 1 and 1Xtra at around 8pm every Saturday for the last few years and they display a rare sense of self-deprecating humour. Jag takes the classic elements of mashup [or bastard pop - generally the a cappella vocal from one song laid over the backing track of another] and combines them with a truly impatient progression from one track to the next - you never get more than about 30 seconds of a particular tune. This already frenetic mix is suffused with a veritable motorway pile-up of spoken and musical samples [witness Jamie Oliver's running commentary on the now legendary - in my car, at least - Jag's Drum and Bass Kitchen: "It's just/it's just/it's just...egg"], sly asides from his cheesy American 'voiceover guy' ["Welcome to Loser City - population: you"] and Jag's battle cry ["Jaguar Skills - HoooOOOOO!!!" - a nod to over-muscled mid-'80s cartoon ThunderCats], peppering his expert blend of musical styles with a continuous stream of throwaway gags and sound effects.
Much like Altern-8, Gorillaz and Deadmau5, Jag has sidestepped the default anonymity that accompanies the ostensibly aural artist [particularly the DJ] by establishing a strong visual brand, an instantly recognizable and appealing cartoon persona - the self-styled "funkiest ninja in the universe!" - that accompanies each of his minimixes and also features on promo posters, t-shirts and associated merchandise. To lend further weight to this fictional entity, when appearing in person he remains mute and always wears a full-head ninja mask, of which he appears to own a selection.
This faux-serious identity protection is all part of the pantomime, too, since a none-too-strenuous game of Connect the [Online] Dots
will reveal to anyone who's genuinely interested that Jag is actually one Matthew Carter, AKA Mat Ckillz. In his previous existence, he edited hip hop fanzine The Downlow out of his parents' garage while attending art college, before working as a PR agent for Profile Records, which had artists such as Afrika Bambaataa and Run DMC on their books at the time. He followed this with a four-year stint as hip hop editor for Blues and Soul Magazine and subsequently founded the more low-fi hip hop 'zine The Fatboss, during which tenure he was filmed as harrassed, deadline-phobic editor 'Mat C' for late '90s BBC fly-on-the-wall docudrama Paddington Green. The Fatboss folded shortly after that series finished and he's spent the intervening decade reinventing himself as a much sought-after party DJ. Having seen him live [once, at Hastings' somewhat shady Crypt club], I can attest to the unmitigated success of this logical career progression - he is, without doubt, the most impressive live DJ I've ever seen, his all-encompassing set generating a genuinely infectious sense of fun and abandon.Jag Skills has a comprehensive online presence that includes an official site, a blog [including download links to his most recent mixes], MySpace [which shows upcoming gig listings], Twitter and Facebook. There are also some nice remixes available for streaming on Soundcloud - check out his particularly frantic D'n'B treatment of Josh Wink's Higher State of Consciousness. Mat Ckillz is also credited as an additional voice on the Rise FM radio station from PSP/PS2 game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories [it's just gone on my shopping list], and apparently there's an upcoming album - Potential Super Violence - in the works at the moment [likewise].
If anyone knows any Brighton club promoters, please don't hesitate to put them in touch with Jag's management - I honestly can't wait to catch him live again.
