Derwin Dicker—Gold Panda—has today released a new album, Jag Trax, as DJ Jenifa, a new music project.  

The release is comprised of nine hip-hop- and house-influenced cuts, all largely based around single looped samples, kick drums, and an MPC. The tracks initially came to be during the productive writing spell that also produced his third album, 2015’s Good Luck And Do Your Best. 

“When I did the last record in 2015, I made a track for a laugh,” says Dicker. “I make lots of tracks just for me, I suppose. I made a track about Chelmsford, where I was living at the time. It was about going out there in a white shirt, blue jeans, brown shoes which is like a dress code you need to get into clubs ‘cos you can’t go in with a hoody. I say clubs, I mean like, an O’Neils or some kind of Wetherspoons-style nightspot which is open till 3am. Those kind of places that exist in suburbia.

“So I made a tune called ‘Dresscode’. It appeared at the end of the ‘In My Car’ video [from Good Luck And Do Your Best] and then I realised I had loads of these tunes just lying around and put them together.”

The record garners its name from Dicker’s mode of transport at the time, also featured in the video for ‘In My Car.’ “It’s called Jag Trax because I bought an old 2003 S-Type Jaguar. It’s kind of like driving a luxury armchair. I bought it from my neighbour. I would make these tracks that I could just play loud in the Jag, like when I was driving to Luke Abbott’s studio to mix Good Luck And Do Your Best. They were songs that I could just bang out on the motorway and make the journey go quicker.” 

As for DJ Jenifa, the  name is from a De La Soul track from 3 Feet High and Rising called “Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin’s revenge).” “I’ve always been into that album. It’s a sample-heavy record, and this too is done in a hip-hop spirit, I suppose,” Dicker explains. 

The album follows Dicker’s debut collaboration with Jas Shaw of Simian Mobile Disco. 

Tracklisting

01. Dresscode

02. Tuesday 

03. Trainfilters2

04. MLL

05. Whocares808_7B

06. ES1A31Flora

07. Whyileft122

08. TuesdaySTRINGSMIX

09. Neverlearn

Jag Trax is out now as a free download via Bandcamp and also available on all other streaming platforms.