JAQL - retourne (2026/1/6 - 6)

JAQL - retourne

those not from the future will be very aware of the fact that this is not being posted on january sixth. in fact, it's not even being written on january sixth. i'm almost ten days late to this, but i'm going to give up on this project – certainly not so soon, anyway – and i've always allowed myself to make up missed days in order to stay on schedule. it defeats the purpose of this project a bit, but shit certainly does happen.

i'll get into the "why" for my absence in later entries, but for this entry and the next two, i'm just here to talk music. this track is "retourne" from JAQL's release retourne, which i recently experienced for the first time.

for context, JAQL, at least to my knowledge, is a bit of a rebooting of jackal queenston. nothing huge like azrael to azrael-ii; more like mayhem's reboot for washed out. for the most part, jackal queenston has become JAQL, or just JQ. this album is the beginning of that transition.

it extends beyond names, though. until now, i've always listened to jackal queenston and thought of his stuff as very jungle-y or drum and bass-y. this album really threw me for a loop, though, as it's very much a divergence to my expectation.

"retourne," the first of three tracks, is what i'd probably describe as trap. i'm not too familiar with trap, but i believe that this is an accurate term to use? overall, this release has a lot of footwork happening (and i mean the genre), as well as a general heap of lows and bass and nasty shit. "retourne" has this specific horn-like stab/lead that especially sounds spooky.

i'm going to write about "crap slap" and "spit on your rave" as well, hence why i'm writing so much about retourne itself. "retourne" is also my least favorite out of the three (though not bad by any means), hence why i'm filling this entry with yaps, because i don't have a lot to say about this song. lol

- toffee