Justin Jay loves his homies. If you couldn’t already tell, the guy exudes positive energy in any way he can—whether it’s through the music he makes and plays, the hype he gives his friends, or just his nerdy demeanor. In any case, Justin’s stage presence is always accompanied in high spirits to a gang of sailor capped friends and a locked-in-groove dance floor in tow.
Justin Jay’s label, Fantastic Voyage is a new platform ultimately created to put out playful releases and edits from his mates and himself. Already, Justin has dropped a handful of his edits of timeless classics like ’Whoomp’ by Tag Team and ‘Dance to The Music’ by Sly and The Family Stone, as well as an edit of contemporary hip hop track ‘Antidote’ by Travis Scott.
And now, he turns to upcoming producer and dear friend Ulf Bonde for the label’s next release. In accompaniment to the 3 track EP, Fantastic Voyage is including Ulf’s edit of Come Together by The Beatles. It’s a jackin’, bass slappin’, hell of a foot tappin’ edit that’s sure to get any floor moving with enthusiastic and nostalgic sway. In what couldn’t have been better timing the edit also illuminates an undertone of political opinion. Let us know if you catch it by checking the entire EP below, and don’t forget support the dudes by buying the release via Bandcamp.
Read a heartfelt anecdote from Justin Jay about his friend Ulf and why he decided to start Fantastic Voyage:
“I met Ulf Bonde in college on my first day of school. He was this cool but slightly nerdy and awkward dude from Sweden and happened to have similar tastes in music as me. Since we lived down the hall from each other in the freshman dorms, we became almost instant friends.
“Ulf had made this EP, Brother Pina, nearly 2 years ago while we were living together during our Junior year. It was at a time where he was working in an unfortunate music industry job where he felt really pressured and restricted creatively. Shortly after leaving the job, Ulf decided he wasn’t going to pursue a career in music anymore and it honestly really bummed me out.
“But following some encouragement from his friends, something magical happened. Ulf recalls, ‘I started making music again, purely for the joy of making music. I made these songs for myself. I didn’t think they were gonna be heard by anyone else. I wouldn’t have used the sample in ‘Brother Pina’. I wouldn’t have written the silly lyrics or sang in falsetto on ‘Done.’’
“I think if you take a listen you can tell that this EP comes straight from the heart. It’s about fun and joy in their purest forms. Ulf is one of the brainiest, most talented and hard working dudes I know — his double major in computer science and & physics should say enough — and I couldn’t be happier that he’s still pumping out tunes.
“For me, the title track, ‘Brother Pina’ in many ways has been my inspiration for starting Fantastic Voyage the label. Over the years, I tried sending the song out to many of my favorite DJs on Ulf’s behalf and many felt that it wasn’t serious enough for them to release. I don’t believe that a song needs to be serious for it to be cool and substantive. Ulf is a big fan of making serious music as well (he’s making lots of really cool minimal stuff), but we agree that no matter what kind of music you’re working on, having fun is key!”
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