Jacques Greene brings his dance-floor record 'jg' to Monarch this Friday

The Montreal producer's first solo album in seven years gets an early live test in a 300-capacity San Francisco room on Nov. 13.

Some records are made for headphones on a night bus. Jacques Greene says his new one was made for the room, and on Friday he'll test that in one of the smallest rooms he's likely to play this year.

Jacques Greene plays Monarch on Friday, Nov. 13, with music starting at 10 p.m. Tickets are $20–$30 through Eventbrite. Monarch holds about 300 people, so this is a close-up set rather than a festival one. San Francisco also gets him first: it's the earliest of three dates we have listed for him, with Nashville on Jan. 28 and Washington, D.C. on Jan. 29 to follow.

The timing matters. Greene released jg, his third solo studio album, on LuckyMe on Oct. 16, so Friday comes less than a month after it dropped. It's his first solo full-length in seven years, and the announcement coverage in DJ Mag, Resident Advisor and Stereogum all made the same point: this is the first record he has made unapologetically for the dance floor.

That's a real shift for him. The Montreal producer built his name on club music that worked just as well at home: R&B vocal chops pitched into melancholy, house rhythms that sounded like they were thinking about something else. The new record is billed as more direct, and the lead single, "Presence," was introduced as a dance-floor track first.

His first album made unapologetically for the dance floor, in a room built for exactly that.

jg runs 11 tracks, and the collaborator list shows who he has been listening to: UMRU, SØLV, DJ BORING and SEES00000, according to Beatportal. Those are producers and vocalists working in the hazy, emotional corner of club music Greene helped shape. Greene has also had a side project in recent years: Verses GT, his duo with Nosaj Thing, per Rolling Stone Canada.

So what should you expect? A billing like this, an EDM headliner in a 300-cap room starting at 10 p.m., points to a long set aimed at people who came to dance rather than watch. If the album is anything to go by, expect the new material to sit alongside the older, moodier records that made his name, with a heavier tilt toward the floor than in years past.

A few practical notes. A 10 p.m. start in a small room makes this a late Friday, so plan your ride home ahead. With capacity this tight, don't count on walking up at the door. Buy through the Eventbrite link above rather than a resale site.

San Francisco has always been good to producers who treat dance music as something you can feel rather than just move to, and Greene has been making that kind of record for over a decade. This one is the most openly about the dance floor he has made. Friday is a chance to hear it where it was meant to be played, before the room gets any bigger.

Sources: Jacques Greene announces new album, shares 'Presence' — DJ Mag (djmag.com); Jacques Greene shares new album jg (LuckyMe) — DJ Mag (djmag.com); Jacques Greene announces new album, jg — Resident Advisor (ra.co); Jacques Greene announces new album jg, hear 'Presence' — Stereogum (stereogum.com); Jacques Greene 'Presence' / jg — Rolling Stone Canada (ca.rollingstone.com); Jacques Greene Announces New Album 'jg' With Lead Single 'Presence' — Beatportal (beatportal.com); Tickets — Eventbrite (eventbrite.com)