After a year and a half delay, new house/garage/techno night Fam Jam finally gets a long-overdue launch party at Jacob’s Market in Cardiff with headliner Truly Madly. Fam Jam was formed just before the pandemic hit, by a group of south-Wales-based DJs dedicated to finding and sharing the music they love. Self-confessed crate diggers, the guys behind Fam Jam want to showcase DJs and artists from across the globe who share the same passion for record collecting and whose sets have inspired them over the years.
Fam Jam’s first booking is Truly Madly, who was meant to headline their original launch event back in April 2020. Truly Madly is an elusive artist: you’ll struggle to find much about him in the public sphere. However, he’s forged an impressive following and reputation over the years for sourcing rare, obscure house and techno tracks and curating these into his effortless, expertly mixed sets.
Truly Madly has been around since the 90s, bringing stand-out mixes and coveted tracklists to the UK and, more recently, the wider world. He founded his own imprint, MindHelmet, during lockdown and launched the label in September of last year, with releases from Gene On Earth, Sweely, Nathan Pinder, and some other names worth checking out. This summer, he’s returned to parties and festivals at home and overseas – his impeccable Dimensions Festival mix is one to listen to if you want to relive the warmer, hazy days of a few months back. A resident for The Pickle Factory, Truly Madly makes regular appearances in London, so it’s exciting to see him on a line-up in the Welsh capital for Fam Jam’s launch event.
Fam Jam have waited a long time to share their love for great music and records with a crowd. The sheer joy of finding a killer track at the back of a dusty pile in a record shop, or after falling down a Discogs rabbithole, is hard to put across in a live set. However, Truly Madly manages it every time – and expect the Fam Jam guys to nail it too.
Jacob’s Market, Cardiff, Fri 26 Nov. Tickets: from £14. Info: here
words FRANCESCA GARDNER