Jamback

From a South Holland village to the minimal circuit

Jamback is Jake Schensema, from Moordrecht, a small town in South Holland sitting between Gouda and Rotterdam. He did not arrive at dance music through it: he was a classically trained guitarist first, and the switch came from travelling out to venues in the surrounding towns and cities as a teenager and hearing what was being played in them. That order of events shows in the records — the parts are written rather than assembled, and the chords tend to do more work than the drops.

The first release under the name landed on 3 August 2020: the 'Sensimillia' EP on Whippin, a small house and techno imprint. What followed was the standard apprenticeship of the European minimal and deep-tech scene, which is to say a couple of years of twelve-inches on labels run by the DJs who were already playing his music. Toman, Chris Stussy, Archie Hamilton, Waff, Dimmish and East End Dubs were early supporters, and support in that world is the entire promotional apparatus — a record is worth what the people in the booth think of it.

The records that moved him up a tier

'Coin Drop' arrived on PUSH on 4 March 2022 and picked up plays from East End Dubs and Sidney Charles. Three weeks later came the release that actually changed his position: 'Roaring 20's', catalogue number PIV046 on the Amsterdam label PIV, out on 25 March 2022. Four tracks — the title cut running eight and a half minutes, then 'Motion' and 'Pickup', with a remix of the title track from the Irish producer Robbie Doherty. The label billed it as a debut EP from a homegrown talent; it went to number one on Beatport's deep house chart, which for a producer two years into releasing music is an unusually fast result.

From there the labels got bigger in steady increments rather than leaps. 'At The House' went out on East End Dubs's Eastenderz on 17 March 2023. 'FEEL THE MUSIC' followed on BOX RED on 1 March 2024. The step that mattered most came on 14 February 2025, when Hot Creations released the 'It's Time' EP — three tracks, 'Is That Okay?', 'It's Time' and 'Hello', the last of them a looser, organ-led closer built on shuffling percussion and vocal snippets.

Schensema's own description of that EP is the clearest statement of method he has given: rolling grooves, things kept stripped back, aimed at connecting with a broader crowd without losing the underground character of the music. Two more releases closed out the year — 'OG002' on OG Records on 22 May 2025 and the 'Can't Resist' EP on Three Six Zero Recordings on 5 September 2025.

'Positive', and what an ID can do

The track that made his name was not on any of those records for a long time. 'Positive' circulated as an unreleased ID, passed around and played out, and it accumulated the kind of momentum that only happens when DJs decide a record is theirs before the public can buy it. Chris Stussy opened his first Coachella set of 2025 with it and kept it in rotation afterwards. Marco Carola, Jamie Jones, East End Dubs, Sidney Charles and Toman all played it.

It was written after his mother died. Schensema has described the track as a journey through grief and rough edges, but also a release, and eventually joy — which is a fair account of how it is built, the production stripped down far enough that the emotional content has nowhere to hide. CircoLoco Records put it out as his debut for the label on 7 November 2025, and it went in at number one on Beatport.

The bookings moved immediately. Dates followed in Hong Kong and Bali, with an Australian run in late November 2025 — the point at which a producer with a European club following becomes a producer with a diary that crosses time zones.

2026: Solid Grooves, then his own name on the label

This year has been steadier and, in one respect, more interesting. Two records went to Solid Grooves — 'Freq The Frequency' on 13 March 2026 and 'For The Ladies' on 3 June 2026 — which puts him on the roster of one of the more reliably club-facing British houses of the moment. Then on 24 July 2026 he released 'Landslide' under his own name as the label, rather than handing it to anybody else.

That last move is the one worth watching. A producer who has just had a number one is at the point of maximum leverage with other people's imprints; choosing to keep a record instead is a bet on his own distribution and his own audience. It is a small catalogue so far — one release — but the pattern is familiar from the generation of house producers immediately ahead of him, most of whom ended up running the label that released their best-known work.

Where he stands in September 2026

He played ARC Music Festival in Chicago on 6 September 2026, part of the four-day run at Union Park from the 4th to the 7th. That is his current altitude in the United States: a festival slot at a house and techno event rather than a headline tour, with club dates filling the gaps around it.

The rest of the year is mostly British. He is at It'll Do in Dallas on 25 September, then Depot Mayfield in Manchester on 2 and 3 October, NX Newcastle on 16 October and Depot in Cardiff on 17 October. He returns to Depot Mayfield on 27 November for 20 Years of The Warehouse Project, billed in the main room back-to-back with Marsolo, alongside Enzo Siragusa b2b Saoirse, Luciano, Mella Dee playing a three-hour opening set, and Rossi. — an anniversary bill on which he is the newest name by some distance.