Random Track Review: ‘Don’t Mess With Me’ by AJ & The Jiggawatts

AJ and The Jiggawatts Don't Mess With Me

Alright viewers, this is a new section of Turn The Right Corner where I’ll randomly find a track online and review it. There is no rhyme or reason, it’s just me either taking the latest track uploaded to hypem.com or a reader’s suggestion. (Bring on the suggestions!)

With the inaugural post of Random Track Review, we have a hot, funky one. What popped up was a great funk/soul track called “Don’t Mess With Me” by AJ & The Jiggawatts (yes, a reference to Doc Brown and Marty McFly). Who are the Jiggawatts? Find out more after the jump!

This Nashville based group is the newest member on the G.E.D. Soul Records roster and the members are all part of G.E.D. Soul bands. Taken from the band’s Facebook:

“This eclectic combination of players capture a sound that lives comfortably in the space between funk and soul, but shares a bathroom with rock n roll.“

I think that summed it up pretty well and this song is an audio representation of it. The call and response is classic James Brown and the overall work should be studied for ANYONE trying to do the old school, retro-funk style. AJ & The Jiggawatts has the whole package: an eccentric, funky fresh lead man, a steady, soulful drummer, a twangy guitar player – who is not afford to sprinkle the wah-wah pedal all over tracks – and an organ player that lets his chords ring until God is swaying back and forth.

This style has not come back into the mainstream for quite some time, except for a few exceptions. A way for this style has crept into listeners ear drums is by licensing. The immediate example that comes to mind is a track that The Heavy did for a Kia commercial, “How You Like Me Now?”

The Heavy went on to have some success being featured at SXSW and different publications. They also recently recorded a cover of Blood, Sweat & Tears’s “And When I Die” for the fourth season finale of True Blood.

For AJ & The Jiggawatts to find commercial success, they’re going to have to find a music supervisor working on a project that can pitch to an ad agency using the synchronization license to promote their product. This seems to be the most viable option, considering mainstream radio will be dominated by mediocre dance tracks featuring current singers and rappers, teen singer/songwriters backed by Disney fanatics and Adele.

The sky is the limit for this throwback, and I think this sound is refreshingly classic compared to all the electronic backed tracks that we hear everyday. AJ & The Jiggawatts felt the same and are releasing their new album “45RPM” on April 10th.