New Music: Baja, Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra, Watchers

Baja - Anatomy and Variation - Maps (Stilll 2007)

Baja - Nona's Theme - Systemalheur (Stilll 2007)

Baja - Maps/Systemalheur / Stilll

After spending the majority of the week reviewing records from pretty substantial names, probably the most obscure band of the bunch easily takes my vote for "Best Album I’ve Heard in a While" (a coveted prize). German composer, musician and sound artist, Daniel Vujanic, and his loose collective known as Baja conjure an amazing array of subtly moving music with their two-part debut on Stilll Records. The first 40 minutes of the record consists of the cut-and-paste experimental prog-folk of Maps, a striking combination of minimalist pioneer Terry Riley, the style-bending finger-picking of John Fahey and the genre-mashing collages of Four Tet stripped away of the electronic beats. The music moves smoothly but it’s clearly the product of a sound artist, a musician that pieces varying samples in an unconventional manner. Through one song you’ll hear quiet piano melodies, fusion-leaning electronics, flourishes of clarinet, outbursts of free-jazz saxophone, sprays of white noise and jazzy, Szabo-like guitar riffs. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, ‘Droma Waves’ kicks off the second half of the album, Systemalheur. It begins in the same manner as Maps, but before long your ears are being captivated by lush Tortoise-like compositions of jazzy post-rock (brought up in a world of European electroacoustica rather than Chicago house) that get increasingly catchier as the disc continues on. The latter theme-based 30 minutes even drift toward inventive indie acts like The Books and Psapp on frequent occasions. This genius piece of music is hard to describe with words and impossible to categorize, so if you are a big fan of any of the aforementioned artists, blended genres that especially included folktronica, electroacoustica or jazz-anything, and/or challenging yet laid-back music please, please, please do yourself a favor and pick up this disc; because you know as well as I do, you deserve it.






Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra - Song for David - Voices and Choices (Ubiquity 2007)

Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra – Voices and Choices / Ubiquity

While David Axelrod graces many an influences list, very few contemporary musicians can actually recreate the unparalleled vibe of his classic albums from the late 60s and 70s, but I’ll be damned if Shawn Lee doesn’t get incredibly close with his latest recordings as the Ping Pong Orchestra. Besides the pop orchestra instrumentation over funky breakbeats template, the most impressive resemblance is the room sound. Nearly played and produced completely by the multi-instrumentalist himself, Voices and Choices has that almost impossible warm reverberation of the classic studios and analog recording boards of the late 60s. I have no idea whether this is the result of actually recreating these environments or just a masterful control over digital reverb plates, but either way it’s incredibly well done. You are probably more familiar with Lee than you think. The Kansas native began his musical career in LA jamming with the late Jeff Buckley, and then relocated to London in 1995 to begin his prolific music production as a solo artist. In the last decade, Lee has contributed his talents to the likes of the Dust Brothers, Gorillaz, Zero 7, Coldcut, St. Etienne, the Spice Girls and many more, had his instrumental beds featured on Lost, Desperate Housewives, Good Morning America, The Break Up, Oceans 13 and many, many more, produced the heralded free-to-sample Ape Break series, produced many a record and remixed many friends… not a bad résumé (the entirety of which would fill this entire page). The latest notch in his instrumental Ping Pong Orchestra series is a very rewarding 50 minutes of mellow, orchestrated funk-derided cuts that owe as much to the aforementioned Axelrod as they do Charles Stepney, classic European pop, underground soul and Latin groove-based genres. His songs ride bilaterally classic and modern vibes, background music and attention-hungry hooks, warm production and stone cold breaks, mellow baked moods and a get-on-your-feet attitude. Joining the fun are fellow Ubiquity artists Nino Moschella, who soulfully belts on Kiss the Sky, and Omega Watts who gives an Illogic-like verse on The Hour Glass Effect, both of which in top form. This is an excellent album that regular Ubiquity fans should drop everything and immediately pick-up and should please many other music fans especially if you are into some groovy funk or worldly jams.






Watchers - Union (Electrical Audio Mix) - Rabble EP (Gern Blandsten 2006)

Watchers – Rabble EP / Gern Blandsten

Released in mid-06, the Rabble EP further continues Watchers’ do-I-dance-or-do-I-mosh tyranny over confused audience members everywhere. The Chicago quintet made up of members from 90s bands Assembly Line People and Hex play a raw blend of avant-funk and Dischordian punk that will make you move, just not any particular style. Featuring three new tracks, a remix of ‘Union’ and two live cuts, Rabble is abrasive, aggressive, funky and a whole fuckload of fun compacted into a brief 20-minute outburst. Fittingly enough, their most notable influence, James Chance (who basically invented the avant-funk genre not to mention no wave with his late 70s band the Contortions), joins the band on stage for a lively rendition of James Brown’s ‘Super Bad’ and the creepy New Orleans drawl of ‘No Pity (in the Naked City)’. Rabble is a quality EP featuring a style that is somewhat out of style these days, but still so very wonderful to revisit on frequent occasions.