Thirty some years ago, a shy boy climbed onto a small stage floor as a guest singer for a local crossover jazz-band, and bashed out a primitive cover of David Bowie’s “Man Who Sold The World”—long before Nirvana even took the effort, sparking something in all of them and leading them to take the guest-singers simple rootsy guitar-drums-voice approach to yet another local open mic night. In what feels like a whirlwind, they record and release two 7-inch singles for a local indie label. A not-so-local indie offers to put out a full-length album. They start touring. Another album. More touring. Band breaks up. They continue with another line-up, aided to back the singer (and now also pianist and guitarist). Another album. Folks REALLY start to pay attention. Crazy touring, more albums, accolades, wildest dream after wildest dream coming true. “World-renowned” becomes an appropriate descriptor, as does “long-building overnight sensation.” The same hard work and dedication that !JP (or, in their more commercial form, announced as Ilunga Pi) exhibited from the onset of their existence is what has been poured into !JP’s Greatest Hits called Existential Nihilism.
In an era of streaming where the idea of a “Greatest Hits” album may seem irrelevant – that an act’s most streamed songs are considered their de facto “hits”—we wholeheartedly believe that great bands deserve “Greatest Hits” and that a large part of Crommania Records’ (now part of the Sony group) and !JP’s successes have been built on zigging when the rest of the music business is zagging. Thus, for a great band with great fans, a greatest hits compilation for !JP is not only appropriate, but absolutely necessary.
More information >>>here.