Mumdance

Mumdance is the name used by Jack Adams, a London producer and DJ associated with grime and related electronic styles. His work draws on grime and UK funky, and the wider range of influences named around his productions includes Brazilian baile funk, Caribbean calypso, Baltimore club, Afrobeat, highlife, Latin ghetto music and tribal guarachero.

Career

Adams first draws attention in early 2008 with a bootleg remix of Diplo’s version of Black Lips, which is supported by Diplo, Annie Mac, Sinden and Switch. Diplo later takes an interest in his work and asks him to remix Santigold’s Creator for the Top Ranking mixtape. Mad Decent also plans an Mumdance EP.

He builds a profile through a run of official remixes, including work for The Whip, Gucci Mane, Radioclit and Maxïmo Park. These remixes are made available to download from his website. He also works as Events Manager at Vice magazine while at university, where he programmes line-ups for the Tales Of The Jackalope festivals.

Original productions and collaborations

Mumdance then focuses more on original productions and collaborations. Transatlantic Riddim pairs Brit-bashment MC Badness and US MC 77 Klash over a calypso- and Eastern-tinged instrumental produced with New York bass artist AC Slater, and it appears on Trouble & Bass, the imprint run by Drop The Lime.

Another major project is the Different Circles mixtape, which presents 17 original productions. It includes work built around breakbeat, strings, 8-bit sounds, synth-led film-score textures, grime, electro, cumbia, techno and Afro house. The set features contributions from Trim, Esser, Wookie and Jammer, including a cover of Wookie’s Battle with Esser on vocals and Mumdance’s instrumental for Jammer’s 10 Man Roll, which appears as a lead single from Jammer’s Jahmanji album on Big Dada.

Style and later direction

His music is described through shifting rhythms, tempo changes and frequent changes in direction, with an approach that tries to connect different sounds and cultures. He is also noted for working across both electronic and guitar-based scenes. Later plans mentioned around his career include work with Bondo Do Role, Egyptian Hip Hop and Cerebal Ballzy.

Associations

Adams is said to come from the same Sussex village as L Vis 1990 and High Rankin, and he performs internationally across Australia, Mexico, North America, Europe and the UK.