In this instance #itchysilk writer, Jacklyn Janeksela takes us into the world of the Paris based outfit Jamika & The Argonauts. Their name evidently a play on the famous Greek mythological tale speaks volumes for thier rock inspired blusterings headed up by their charismatic lead singer.
Jamika & the Argonaunts started at some point in time and while there might be a solid date, it doesn’t seem to matter for it feels like they’ve been around for much longer. The music crosses lifetimes, it’s an exercise in time travel and conjuring spirits from yesterday to do the work of today.
This is no ordinary journey once the tracks start rolling. Prepare your brain waves –Jamika & the Argonauts will pull you into a wormhole where lyrics alter perception and sound vibrates bodies into new shapes. Shit will get hectic. Like both, bury and unearth your soul for some real talk. Later it will slow down enough for listeners to reflect and to catch a breath. You will need one, too, for it gets as serious as a reflection of self you didn’t expect or one you aren’t willing to accept.
This is a mixture of your favorite drug and drink combination, full of ups and downs that will eventually lead to the best blackout of your life. The Jamika hangover is heavy and she’ll stick with you all day to get you through whatever it is that’s got your soul hanging like that.
Who’s For Real, Zenzile, Living in a Monochrome soothes a body that’s just been bombarded with capitalism. It’s removing the soul and letting it explore other planes –planes that ignore flesh suit desires. This is a lesson that pushes the body past concepts and hopes to rewire the brain. Listen close, we’re all victims and our zombie selves won’t stop chewing on our souls until we claim them for ourselves. The only thing authentic is the soul –Jamika is on a soul-survival mission, armed with enough poetry to wake us all up after eons of sleeping.
This is a mixture of your favorite drug and drink combination, full of ups and downs
She flies. She floats. And if you keep plugged into her tunes, soon enough you will, too. See if a little Bikini Kill doesn’t come to mind when you watch how Jamika catches air. Only an Aquarius spirit would know about how to soar that high. The punk rock scene surfaces through electronic, trippy slips of sound.
Want to travel into other galaxies, head over to Histoire de Papier/(I am the Man from Mars)- Pawnshop album Zenzile. There’s something about the vulnerability in a voice that embraces aggressive forces of a Mars persona. Mars is the fire that sparks action –whether it be of a mental charge or sexual dimension. There is no other planet that embodies passive-aggressive behavior like Mars does –it reveals our human dichotomy and doesn’t let us hide from source. It’s this fire that burns us all the way down to ash and lets us start again as a seed with hopes of becoming a tree that will become a notebook for future Jamika lyrics.
Expand all the way out, shoot for the moon and imagine that any light source could get you there – Liquid Nico will carry you on its fumes. Witchy vibes that muster spell and spike, death and life, Jamika goes in deep and pulls out the age-old “as above, so below” mantra that is the spine of this song.
Hellium Balloon Illusions comes strong with Travel Bag Blues, Shanti Lift, and Fast Train. Travel Bag Blues is what you think it should be –bluesy af and with a tinge of hooch. Howling Wolf collides with modern cowboy riffs. It’s a love song taken on the road, one that’ll have us strolling down some abandoned desert road, kicking rocks, and waxing poetic on tumbleweeds. Shanti Lift and Fast Train blend image and word that pendulums between insanity and altered states. There is no mincing words –drugs get us through some of the toughest times and if combined with music, we can truly transcend these flesh suits. Jamika & the argonaunts invite us to their party –one complete with the best party favors consisting of both dreams and nightmares.
Crash and Fall of an Empire are part of the Hellium Balloon Illusions boxset. Conjuring Saul Williams and Poly Styrene in musical vibration, her lyrics scream with Kathy Acker notes. Jamika & the Argonauts prance around the fire in tribal jubilation, burning incense and microphone wires, unplugging machines to connect to forgotten concepts –ones that will have us laughing and crying, saying something like, Yeah, I’ve been there before, I know how that feels. And that’s the essence of this music, to bring the body back the common source, to a light that’s also full of darkness –so dark, it breaks into shards of blinding glass straight from a bottle of the best bourbon, a comfort when it all cuts too damn much.
Featured image by Nicolas Doubre