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Indie Outing: Javelin

Indie-Jam Connection: The Rhode Island-bred, Brooklyn-based duo Javelin is currently one of the most buzzed about electronic duos working the hipster dance circuit. The musicians play underground house parties and a range of indie festivals. But before he started focusing on Javelin’s current high-energy “channel surfing music,” the band’s percussionist George Langford studied jazz guitar and was heavily into the many jambands that worked the Northeast club circuit in the ‘90s and early ‘00s. He also frequently sat in on percussion with his old high school classmates Addison Groove Project—and at a number of college jam sessions with other jazz students (as well as this blogger’s 21st birthday party—before it was shut down by the cops a few songs into the jam).

Notable Jam Moments: Langford made numerous appearances with the members of Addison Groove Project throughout high school and college. He also played with the former jambands.com New Groove of the Month at Boston’s Paradise Rock Club a few times and joined the group on guitar for a set of memorable covers in Northhampton, MA before AGP parted ways.

Lot Talk: “I learned a lot about listening and nuance but, mostly, immersion in that music (plus a deep Joao Gilberto phase a little later) ruined my ability to not play jazzy chords. I’ve been in a rut with a handful of these guitar voicings for a decade now! So now I mess with drum machines and have a preoccupation with brevity…” George Langford, Jambands.com