DOMi & JD Beck

To date, if you wanted to learn about DOMi & JD BECK—the internet’s most hyped jazz duo—you had to visit their website, click a rat playing saxophone, and read a story about a 12-year-old physicist (DOMi Louna) and a 6-year-old sheep investigator (JD Beck). Let’s fix that. “My philosophy of life is don’t take shit too seriously,” says DOMi Louna, born Domitille Degalle. And that’s fair. But the vibrant world she and her collaborator have given us demands exploration. Their long-awaited debut album—which will be released by Anderson .Paak’s new label APESHIT in partnership with the legendary jazz label Blue Note Records—is an attempt to bottle their goofy, very virtuosic magic. Their music finds both humor and greatness in harmonic complexity and rhythmic shiftiness, abruptly adopting and ditching tempos, toying with time signatures, and sneaking extra beats into bridges. The collaboration began under silly circumstances. DOMi Louna was a teen protegé at Berklee by way of the Paris Conservatory; JD, three years her junior, had gigged since grade school around his hometown, Dallas—first in producer Jah-Born’s band where he duetted with MPC beatmakers and DJs spinning Dilla. In 2018, they were both invited to join an ensemble performing at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) trade show and played in a room full of blaring instrumental demos, surrounded by a chaotic din. They bonded over gauche keyboard effects and mom jokes, and a more audible jam that night sparked interest in working more. Along the ride, DOMi & JD BECK have sat in with Herbie Hancock and backed Thundercat, Ariana Grande, Mac DeMarco, Eric André, and more. They also co-wrote “Skate” on .Paak’s GRAMMY-winning album with Bruno Mars as Silk Sonic.