Chicago born and bred Melvin Oliphant aka Traxx is known for constructing the "jakbeat" sound -- "a turbo-charged take on old school acid and Chicago house for the '00s put together with the unmistakeable tones of classic analogue gear such as the TR-909, TR-808, and, of course, the TB-303". Traxx himself talking about this phenomenon: "It's a truly separate genre in its own right... the reason is because jakbeat is influenced from not just by techno and house, it derives from elektronic body music, freestyle, disco not disco, punk-goth, synth pop music, minimal wave (meaning rare tapes) and italo... our sound cannot be created at random... it's a state of mind and different level of musical consciousness: hypnotic patterns and melodies to push the envelope of comprehensible dance music." Everything that he did is somehow connected to the growth of his life over the experiences of what he's seen and witnessed in Chicago. Lots of what he does either by himself or as an alias when he works with his partners is relevant to the beginnings of house and tracks in the '80s. His label is called Nation (formerly Nation of Jak). The material is only analogue, limited edition of 500 pressings each time with No-Repress, No Mp3s and its style concept is said to be very deep, hypnotic, dreamy and conceptual. Epic, descriptive, carefully arranged, attention to details, a bit hidden, not very blatant. In your face! From February 2007 until March 2008, there has been a project with the head of Crème Organization called "Creme Jak"... this was a joint effort between his family of Nation and The Creme Crew.
