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We are back with a spotlight and track release with rising bass artist: Jabbs! From Las Vegas, Jabbs produces bass music of all sorts often with seamless hip-hop samples throughout. Anthony Jaber is behind the project and started producing music a few years ago after attending his first Electronic music festival in 2016. We came across the project by way of classic Busta Rhymes track “Put my Hands Where my Eyes can See”. Jabbs slowed down Busta’s infamous speedster rhymes and turned the track into a sauced-out dub roller that would get any club moving. Since then, Anthony has remained remarkably consistent with a gaang of gassed out follow-ups that are all worth checking out. With a steady stream of fire tracks, we are positive the Jabbs sound will be making us move at a festival in the near future. We linked up with Anthony to chat about his musical journey, who he thinks is killing the underground, and what’s ahead!
Where are you from, and how did your musical journey begin?
Yo! So I am from Las Vegas, love that city so much. My musical journey began as a kid starting in choirs, and eventually ending up at an Arts School in Vegas where I studied voice and music technology. All in high school I was playing guitar in a few different bands,and then afterwards I joined up with a reggae band called One Pin Short who I played with for about 8 years (shoutout the OPS fam). Those were some of the best times of my life for sure. Then in 2016 I met some amazing people (shoutout my Soul Squad ILY) that invited me to my first edm festival, Hard Summer. I immediately fell in love with the music and the entire culture. About a year or so afterward I purchased Ableton and started learning the program and exploring what I would want an electronic project to sound like. After a lot of time, and pressure from close friends lol, in 2020 the JABBS Project was born.
We dropped your track Dirty South today. Can you tell us about this track and how it came together?
I have always been a huge fan of hip hop from my younger days, so I tend to spend a lot of my spare time making acapellas, or scouring the internet for good ones of songs I love. Always good to have that kind of content in your arsenal to help with creativity. Since I started listening to Electronic Music, I really gravitated towards people like Smith. and Salty for their effortless use of hip-hop vocals within their flips and remixes. They are both definitely a huge inspiration for “Dirty South”.
Your sound-design often weaves creative and hard hitting bass through seamlessly laid hip-hop samples. What are the origins of Jabbs?
What can we expect from the Jabbs sound in the future?
Well to be honest, the origins of my sound are constantly evolving, and I hope to have that continue. I enjoy so many different styles of music, especially within Electronic music, so I look forward to expressing that further as this project continues. I will always be incorporating all the styles I love, especially Hip Hop. Anyone who has heard a mix or livestream knows I love to overlay different hip hop tracks over different tracks, and that will always be a style I will push. Both because I enjoy it, and also because I feel it captivates a completely different audience. I have a lot of friends who support me, that don’t listen to any sort of Electronic, but they can always vibe with a cool Kendrick or Mike Jones verse. As much as people like to dance, they like to sing along just as much!
What DAW do you use and do you have a certain goto format when you sit down and create? Any tips for beginners looking to learn a DAW?
I am an Ableton user currently, and I am a big fan of it. Sitting down in front of the DAW can lead to various things for me. Honestly, I try to be in there every single day. Some days that will lead to a sound design session, where I’ll try and create new sounds or just make fucked up noises and record them lol. Some days I will get lucky and can bust out a few tunes. And other days it will lead to absolutely nothing haha. I just feel I have the best chance to catch those lucky moments if I am in the daw every single day. My favorite VST’s right now are Tidal, Serum, Portal, the entire Kilohearts Suite, and Valhalla Supermassive. Also, Ableton has incredible stock effects that are very useful. As far as tips for beginners, I would first say don’t feel overwhelmed or expect a lot out of yourself at first. Take advantage of the number of free resources there are for learning music production. Spend time learning to make a clean mixdown, and MIX AS YOU WRITE. Also remember, less is more. Adding more elements to a song isn’t always the answer, and usually will hurt you more than not. But overall – just get in there and learn, create, and have fun!
How has COVID impacted you this past year and how are things going for you now?
Overall, fuck yes hahahaha. I’m sure most people have had COVID impact their lives in different ways. Personally I unfortunately lost my long time job back home, which I absolutely loved. I then moved up to the Bay Area with some old close friends/family to start a new chapter and get some new perspective. One positive I can take from it all though, is I don’t know that the Jabbs project would exist at all if I hadn’t been forced into my house for 3-4 months straight. I spent most of my time in the beginning of 2020 making music, which otherwise would have been spent working, or going out with friends.
What producers are pushing the boundaries at the moment/inspire you the most at the moment?
Fuck man my biggest inspirations are all over the place when it comes to Electronic Music. My biggest love is G Jones, although he doesn’t really influence my music all that much. I’m just a huge fan. The same goes for Eprom, Alix Perez, Shades, Bleep Bloop, Tsuruda, Mr. Carmack, Rusko, Griz, Big Wild, Liquid Stranger, Dmvu, Chee, Tiedye Ky, The Widdler, Ternion Sound, Bukez Finest, Ganja White Knight, etc (I could keep going all night haha). If I had to pick one larger artist that has been an influence for Jabbs, I would say Peekaboo. Not only for his production but also for his live show experience. My music is in no way that caliber yet, but I use his project as a guide for where I would want to be.
Any fellow upcoming producers we should know about or keep an eye on?
Fuck this will be a long list. Firstly, some larger artists in the underground that are absolutely murdering it right now, they’re also all great humans so please support them: Vibe Emissions (also a HUGE inspiration for my project), Notlo, Shatter, Sky Suite, Mythm, Vctre, Smokestax, Donny, Shwilly, Dredlok, Dalek One, The Entire DDD Roster, ect.
Upcoming artists you NEED to be listening to: Yoko, Skinny Limbs, Backleft, Knetica, Safire, Bcon, Wubiverse, Marshed, Dru1d, Ginseng, Mastuh, Dublink, Cphlo, Wuukz, Muted Diagram, Aberz, Yum Yum, Grgly, Hexxum, Cruzifix, Caryer, and I’m sure I am missing some people. There are just SO MANY incredible producers in the underground right now. I’m grateful and excited to be among this new class of underground bass music.
What’s next for Jabbs?
So I am very excited to announce I just signed a collab with one of my favorite producers on one of our dream labels. Big announcement for that coming soon. Coming up I have a livestream with Sweet Sounds Collective on March 7th. It will be a b2b with one of my favorite DJs, B!tchkraft (another amazing human/DJ people should be supporting). Super excited for this set as it will be only my second time doing visuals for a project. I plan on providing all my own visual content moving forward. We will be splitting the visual duties with Creepshow, so it’ll be a wild one no doubt.
I also have 4 releases dropping in March. Two self releases, a release with my friends in Recreational Space Odyssey, and a collab with the homie Mastuh (more info tba) April I have a collab dropping on High Vibration Audio with Wubiverse which we are super excited for.
And to be frank, I am sitting on a large pile of unreleased tunes. My latest productions are all over the place, both in bpm and style, and I’m so excited to share where this musical journey has taken me thus far.
Thanks for your time Anthony!
Thank you so much for having me! I also want to thank every single person who has supported me throughout this!! I have met some incredible people, and am so grateful to be a part of this community. Love you all!
