Jaguar B’s (@dj_jaguar.b) “Feel So…” lands on WAVES Vol. 2, the second installment of Glasgow label Lava Lava’s compilation series. Released August 14, the project moves across deep grooves, peak-time club tools, house, acid-leaning pressure, and dubby low-end material, giving each artist a different role inside the wider release.
Jaguar B’s contribution sits in the old-school Chicago house lane. “Feel So…” is built around driving drums, rounded basslines, and retro clave hits that develop into a groove with enough lift to keep the floor moving without overcomplicating the idea.
It is direct, physical, and warm in the right places, which lines up neatly with how Jaguar talks about DJing in the interview below.
Her answers center on energy: how it moves between DJ and crowd, what happens when a technical issue breaks the flow, and why restraint can be more powerful than pushing for a bigger reaction. Jaguar is clear that great DJing is not only track selection, technique, or a stacked USB.
It is awareness, presence, and the ability to sense when a room needs patience, warmth, or a sharper nudge.
Interview With Jaguar B
Beyond track selection, how do you see your role in guiding the energy of a room?
Well aside from the music, energy is felt and exchanged between people, so I must have my own inner vibe in check.
If I was playing music that I personally don’t connect with and just going through the motions, most likely the energy would feel a bit flat.
I’m also not going to be scrolling through my phone or chatting endlessly to people behind the decks. If I’m authentically resonating with the flow and selection of music I’m playing and present within the moment and venue, exchanging smiles with people as they catch my eye, that’s surely going to ripple out and have a positive effect.
When unexpected moments arise, how do you keep a dancefloor grounded without the whole vibe in the room you’ve created falling apart?
Eeek I’ve had that happen to me, things definitely can happen! I was mid set, dancefloor flowing and the music suddenly stopped. There was an initial shock where my face must have looked like I’d seen a ghost, but I looked up and laughed, put my arms up and did a little “whoot,” which seemingly connected the floor. Some clapped and cheered, it was a moment lol. Turned out one of the cables was loose and had unplugged, so it wasn’t too long till we were back in action. I started up a new track kind of like a reset, but the vibe didn’t fall apart thankfully, everyone was happy to continue dancing.
What signals tell you a room feels slightly off or the energy is changing, and how do you respond?
When people start leaving the dancefloor, that’s a sure sign the energy is shifting haha. And personally, I start to feel a bit off if there is a bunch of guys standing nearby watching my every move and chatting amongst themselves. I find in those moments if I select a midrange, deep, infectious, sexy groove with a bit of vocals, that often warms people up.
In your experience, how much awareness and intuition does great DJing actually require compared to technical skills or just the quality of what’s on your USB?
Hmm for me personally, what I resonate with from other DJs and how I like to play myself, is the overall vibe, and that can’t be created from technical skills or just good tracks alone. Yes, it’s the track selection and style of music, but it’s got to flow for me.
Personally I feel jarred if the DJ is playing one sound then suddenly throws in something completely opposite to the mix. I’ve spent cough decades on the dancefloor as a dancer getting lost in an emotive flow of rhythms and energies that keeps me locked in and builds energy till I’m feeling somewhat transcended.
That might sound weird or wanky to some but that literally is what a great flow of a set does to me. So yes, that’s intuitive and connected DJing.
How do you read the difference between a room that needs patience and a room that needs a sharper push from the DJ?
I think if it’s a quieter night to begin with yet people are tapping feet and bopping heads scattered around the venue, it’s a patience game, but if the edges of the dancefloor are pretty busy with people looking on the verge of “getting in there,” they may need more of an energetic nudge.
What have you learned about restraint in a set, especially when the right move is holding back rather than forcing a bigger reaction?
Interesting question. When you’ve reached a point where the room becomes one with the groove, that’s when restraint can be powerful. You don’t always need to throw a risqué track into the mix. Sometimes the most confident move is to trust what you’ve built, stay with it and let the energy carry itself.
Closing Thoughts From The Editor
Jaguar B’s answers work because they treat room control as something more subtle than “play bigger records.”
She is talking about attention, body language, warmth, restraint, and the small decisions that keep a floor from slipping away. That is a much better way to understand “Feel So…” as well. The track does not need to announce itself with excessive drama. It carries its energy by trusting the groove.
Her emphasis on flow also fits beside Doc Martin and Homero Espinosa’s discussion of West Coast house and dancefloor intuition. Doc’s world has always valued the long emotional read of a room, and Jaguar’s answer about decades spent on the dancefloor as a dancer points in the same direction. A DJ who has spent enough time moving in the crowd often understands the floor differently from someone who only thinks from the booth outward.
The restraint section links well to my interview with Robin Thurston around “Equinox”, where the best movement came from patience rather than constant escalation. Jaguar B makes the same point in more direct club language. Once the room is with the groove, the confident move may be to leave it alone. Forcing a bigger reaction can break the very thing the DJ just built.
That is why “Feel So…” fits WAVES Vol. 2 in a useful way.
The compilation moves across moods and club functions, and Jaguar’s track gives it a house cut with an old-school pulse: driving drums, rounded basslines, and clave-led movement. It sounds like music made by someone who knows that groove is not passive. Groove is pressure, communication, and patience working at the same time.
The strongest takeaway from Jaguar B’s interview is that energy management starts before the next track is selected. It starts with whether the DJ is actually present. It starts with the record feeling real to the person playing it. It starts with eye contact, timing, restraint, and knowing when the room needs warmth before it needs force.
“Feel So…” carries that lesson cleanly: keep the floor moving, trust the pocket, and do not overplay the hand.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
