Balearic Breakfast | Episode 254 | Meeting Jkriv (fm/ Razor-n-Tape) & Family Gatherings (Gina Lapsley)
- by The Lioncub
- 1 day ago
- 11 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 254th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on January 13th, 2026.
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
One of the joys of Balearic Breakfast is that even when our Captain is away, she always leaves us with a little something so that our Tuesday are not filled with silence! Despite a few streaming problems, Colleen was able to broadcast today's episode which definitely was a soothing one, and something we all needed as this new year starts with a lot of political and economical turmoil...
Just so you know, I'm presently working on a couple of interviews for the blog, so keep it locked, we're going to have some good times soon! I'll see you next week! Until then, remember, Just Be Balearic...
This morning’s Balearic Breakfast is now up on my Mixcloud and thank you to all who joined in on the live stream. I’m still away so today’s show features two guest mixes: a gorgeous downtempo Balearic Breakfast family mix from Gina Lapsley and a groovy mix from JKriv of Razor n Tape. We also had a short chat about his career and forthcoming projects and his drive and passion (and many talents) really shone through. A big thanks to both Gina and JKriv.
I’ll be back in the record room, streaming live on Tuesday the 20th January from 10am to 12pm GMT. Thanks for listening.
Listen back to the 254th episode of Balearic Breakfast:
THE PLAYLIST
Gina Lapsley Balearic Breakfast Family Mix:
(2004) Susumu Yokota – Song of the Sleeping Forest
(2021) Anna Phoebe – Horizons
(2025) Celine Dessberg – Chintamani
(1980) The Durutti Column – Sketch for Winter
(2007) Ahmed Fakroun – Nisyan (Les edits du Golem edit)
(1978) RAAW – Just a Little Different
(1997) Bob Marley – The Heathen (Dreams of Freedom Mix)
(2024) Hermanos Gutierrez – Low Sun
(1984) Zenamon – Oh Nandu, What We've Done!
(2016) Condor Gruppe – Frog Bog
(1987) Robbie Robertson – Somewhere Down The Crazy River
(2012) Blundetto feat. Courtney John – Warm My Soul
(2024) Public Service Broadcasting – Howland
JKriv of Razor-n-Tape Mix:
(1982) Chaka Khan – So Not To Worry
(NOL) Rene & Angela – I'll Be Good (JKriv's Deep&Disco Rework)
(2025) Brochure – Back Off (Jex Opolis Good Timin' Dub)
(2025) Takuya Matsumoto – Yamanashi
(2003) Camiel – Sintra (Osunlade Main Mix)
(2025) Deon Jamar x CTRLZora – Siren Song (Tall Black Guy Remix)
(2025) Patrick Gibin ft Kaidi Tatham – Let It Go (Joaquin's Sacred Rhythm Music Dance Version)
(2025) Tigerbalm feat. Andre Espeut – Pura Vida (JKriv Remix)
(2026) Alistair Colling vs. Tortured Soul feat. Sabina – When You Find Your Love...Hold On
(DJ Spinna Galactic Soul Remix)
(2019) Shinichiro Yokota, Soichi Terada, Nami Shimada – Sunshower
(2025) Tranquil Elephantizer – SFO
Jkriv's interview with Colleen
[Colleen]
Well, Balericans, I have Jkriv from Razor and Tape here in the studio with me. How you doing, Jason?
[Jkriv]
I'm good. A little cold, but hanging in there.
[Colleen]
Ah, New York, this time of year. It's pretty warm here in London, you know.
[Jkriv]
I'm sure, yeah.
[Colleen]
But they complain about it anyways.
[Jkriv]
Oh, of course. Yeah.
[Colleen]
But you do so many different things, and you really just amaze me. I just want to tell our listeners a few of the things that you do. Of course, you're a DJ. You're a producer. You're also a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, label owner. And, you just do so many things that are so prolific. And I just wanted to talk with you about a few of the projects you've been working on and what's coming up in the future.
Razor and Tape, you started that about 12 years ago, was it?
[Jkriv]
Yeah, 13. We started in 2012.
[Colleen]
And you had 150 releases, which is quite something. I mean, this is like a release almost every single month. When you started the label, was that your idea? To be a very prolific label as opposed to just kind of a vanity label of just putting out projects when you do them as you go?
[Jkriv]
I mean, the label at its inception kind of had a very different focus than it does now. When we started, it was really an edits label. I had made a bunch of edits myself. My partner, Aaron Day, had collected a bunch from events that he had done. Artists had given them some of their personal edits given to him. And we had this sort of little cache of edits, and we were like, let's get these out there. And that was it. That was like the whole thing at the beginning. Just like, let's get some of this music out there. It's good. We're playing it. Be fun to have it on vinyl. Be fun for other people to play it.
But as the label progressed over the years, you know we got a very nice response from the early couple of years of releases. So from our origins as an edits label, we then moved into original music. And that has been really our focus. And that has been really the most exciting thing about running a label, is being able to put out the music and uplift, and help support new artists who are making original music.
[Colleen]
Well, you're a multi-instrumentalist yourself. As I look at you and your studio, I see all these guitars and keyboards and a bass guitar. When did you get your start, and how did you get your start as a musician?
[Jkriv]
So I kind of entered into the world of club music probably from an unconventional avenue. I started as an instrumentalist. I was into rock when I was a kid. And from like interest in classic rock, that kind of moved. I mean, I started playing bass when I was 12 years old. Bass and guitar. But bass is really my primary instrument. And I moved from like 70s rock to like 70s soul music, funk and stuff like that. And that kind of led me into disco and dance music. But I studied jazz pretty... I was very focused on jazz for about five, six years of my life. I went to school for jazz at Oberlin, and studied it pretty hardcore. And thought that that's what my career was going to be. And then when I returned to New York, pretty quickly I pivoted. And I started playing like acid jazz. And then I began playing with Tortured Soul, which was a live house band. And I played with Tortured Soul through the 2000s until 2010.
And in that range, somewhere around then I started doing some production as well. I wasn't DJing yet, but I started doing a bit of production. And, when I left Tortured Soul in 2010, that's kind of when my current music career, as it exists now, sort of began. I started DJing. I started being much more focused on production and writing and making original music and edits. Like the kind that came out on Razor-n-Tape originally. And yeah, from there, it's kind of just progressed to where it is now.
[Colleen]
You are so busy. I mean, also on top, Tortured Soul is amazing. I loved, loved, loved Tortured Soul. They were kind of to me like almost like a Blaze-esque kind of band. You know, the same kind of arrangements, classic arrangements.
But you also have another live band, a disco band in Escort. Can you tell us about that?
[Jkriv]
Yeah. So I started playing with Escort after I left Tortured Soul. That wasn't my project originally, but I joined and kind of became more involved in the production and writing of the band as the years went on. That band is kind of dormant right now. I'm not exactly sure what's going on with that. But I do have another live project that I'm focused on right now, which is called Joyful Noise.
We've been doing these residencies at Public Records for the past three years. It's a night that incorporates live music and DJs into a club dancing night. And we've recorded all of these nights. And I'm in the process right now. Actually, I was in the studio yesterday mixing down a live record for this band, which we're going to release in May next year.
[Colleen]
That's so fantastic. That's really great. I was just playing at Public Records. Such a great space. Great sound system. Great sounding room. It's fantastic. I love what they're doing over there. But you also have, I think you also do a summer residency in New York, which I think is worth mentioning. It's called Hot Honey or something.
[Jkriv]
[Colleen]
Hot Honey Sundays, yeah.
[Jkriv]
Yes. So that was an event that kind of grew out of post-lockdown New York. You know, when New York opened up again, we started this party. We had access to this big space on the Greenpoint waterfront. We would set up a sound system every Sunday. And it just built because it was like a free event open to the community. Everybody would come, old people, young people, kids, dogs, everything, you know. And it was a really exciting time. But that party has also kind of transitioned into something else. I'm not quite as involved anymore with that.
[Colleen]
Well, you also have a record shop as well. So I think you're keeping yourself pretty busy.
[Jkriv]
Yes, definitely busy.
[Colleen]
The most recent release I think that I have is a really great EP called Adaptation. It's a really beautiful record. And I wanted to ask you about how you feel your sound is evolving, because you had quite a big scare, a health scare recently. If you want to tell us a little bit about it...
[Jkriv]
Sure. So last year at this time, actually, I was in treatment for lymphoma. I was diagnosed at the end of September last year with stage 2 lymphoma. And I had to undergo chemotherapy. For... basically the last 3-4 months of the year into the beginning of last year. Fortunately, now I'm done with treatment and I'm all clear. And my doctor believes I'm cured. They can't officially say that until you've had a few years of clean scans. But I'm completely well and back to full health.
But yeah, an experience like that where you're really forced to slow down. And take a look at different aspects of your life. It gives you a moment to reflect, uum for sure. And I think it was... At that time, I was in the process of finishing the EP that came out before Adaptation. It's called Intuition. Which is a kind of heavier, clubbier record than Adaptation is. I really wanted to get it done, you know. I didn't want to let what was going on with me just completely put everything in my life on hold.
Fortunately, I was able to work a bit when I was in treatment. I wasn't able to DJ and travel, of course. But I was able to do work in my little studio where I'm sitting right now. I just wanted to try to not let this be a thing that just completely disconnected everything that I was doing. And I was able to finish that EP. But Adaptation is maybe a bit more reflective. A bit more melancholic, I guess, than Intuition is. And I think that's music that I had started a long time ago. And it just felt like now is the moment to finish it.
And, it's amazing how sometimes things can sit unfinished. And you just don't have the thing that you need to complete it. And then one day you wake up and you're like, Ah, I know what it is. I know what needs to be done here. And that's kind of what happened with that EP. And with, in some ways, a lot of other things in my life as a result of going through the experience that I did.
[Colleen]
Well, I met you, I think, when you were in treatment because I was playing at Razor and Tape. And you look fantastic, by the way. But one thing that was really interesting is that your output didn't seem to slow down. You are incredibly prolific and driven with everything that you do, all the work that you do. You've done sessions for other people as well, like Dimitri and Kathy Sledge and Horsemeat. You have a whole thing with Brazilian music.
So many things we're not even going to get to into this interview. So I wanted to ask, what keeps you going? What drives you?
[Jkriv]
You know, it's just I feel very fortunate to do what I do. And I just wake up every morning with energy for it. And some days, you know, one thing gets more attention than others. But I kind of just wake up and go. And it doesn't feel like work to me. I mean, sometimes it gets overwhelming and stressful, for sure, when you balance all these different things. But just in general, I just kind of feel very driven and motivated and excited about what I'm doing. So whether it's focusing on the shop, and even buying records for our small little curated section of new music, or production stuff, or label specific stuff, A&R or, you know, any of the different things that I do. I also am the kind of person that I'm not like just one thing, you know, stylistically or in my tastes.
I sometimes I want to listen to rock music of my childhood. Some days I want to listen to jazz. Some days I want to listen to funk. You know, it's like it just be anything. So having a lot of different things is good. I think they might call that ADHD. I'm not sure. But...
[Colleen]
I think I think I'm the same. Exactly. I have a lot of friends with ADHD. I think you have it, Colleen. I think it's my superpower. I don't want to be diagnosed.
[Jkriv]
I feel the same. I'm a highly functioning ADHD, you know, but it's good for me.
[Colleen]
I get up before six. I'm like, yeah, I'm ready to go. You know, it's like, what can I do today? And people are like, gosh, do you play till this time in the morning and you could just get up like that? I'm like, I don't sleep that much. I just don't need them. I'm really into life, you know, so. Yeah, so I understand. Yeah, I understand.
So what's coming up in the future in 2026 for you?
[Jkriv]
Yeah. So I have a remix that just came out in December. I have a new one that's about to come out for Anorak, a French producer. I have an edit that's coming out on a make a dance comp at the end of January and this month. And then I have some original music. I have an EP that I completed with my friend Jason Lindner, who's a really great keyboard player. That's some kind of like heavier, clubbier stuff with a lot of like synth elements in it. That's going to come out on Razor and Tape. And then I have the Joyful Noise band live album that I was talking about.
What eslse?... I also have a track with The Illustrious Blacks that's going to come out on Seamus Hodgey's label. And a bunch of other remixes that I need to finish, but I haven't yet.
[Colleen]
Well, it sounds like you have a full calendar of releases already. And I'm sure Razor and Tape has Loads coming out as well. So this is great. And I'm so happy for you. And congratulations, you know, on conquering cancer...
[Jkriv]
Thank you...
[Colleen]
I'm really, really happy for you. And, you know, I wish you all the best with your future projects. And we'll still be listening to you here on Balearic Breakfast this whole year. So thanks for the mix as well.
[Jkriv]
My pleasure. Thanks so much for having me, Colleen.