Baba Ki - Instruments, Production & Mix
Phil Joannides - Mastering (www.pushthefrequency.com)
Released on Nutek Chill

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Magic:
Magic was a project that had been sitting on the shelf. I had the intro and the main groove, and then just kind of forgot about it until I started work on the Whistlebaps EP two years later. I always loved the vibe of the intense, pulsing synth chords that set you up for something epic to happen in the intro, and the heavy bass and drums that follow it. I wanted this track to have a sense of floating to it, a lightness that is carried by the chords. This is contrasted with the next track..

Voodoo:
Voodoo was originally connected to the preceding track (Magic), and they made one long journey. What I wanted to do was provide a contrast to the lightness of Magic; to make something dark and murky, tribal and disjointed. Voodoo starts off with a piano improvisation, which I wanted to feel as if you’re sitting in a dimly lit living-room, listening to someone play on an old upright piano, someone who is not great at the piano but has an idea. The improvisation is searching.. searching for what to play while other sounds start growing around it, slowly taking you out of that living-room before crashing into the darkness. The main section is built around a constantly growing, sustaining bass note. This gives both a dark atmosphere and the meditative vibe to the track. I wanted the beat to be very disjointed, with just enough there to keep you grounded, nothing more. After the main section we travel back to the light and float through some dreamy ambient atmospheres. As you can see Magic and Voodoo are no longer connected, as I thought it’d highlight the individual character of each piece more, however they’re still connected in concept, listening to them back to back will give you the full experience.

Whistlebaps:
The title track of the EP, purely because it was the funkiest song title, and I’m a sucker for funky song titles. Especially when no one knows what they mean. You can figure out what kind of baps whistle by yourself, it’s part of the journey.
This is actually the last track I completed, and it’s ‘the guitar one’. I’ve been playing guitar for a long time. It’s where I started my musical journey, and it’s still very close to my heart. Playing the guitar is like catharsis, exploration and growing at the same time. Needless to say, I had to have a guitar track on the EP, and I always enjoy the challenge of trying to bring my guitar and electronic sensibilities together. The tune is in a weird time signature, since it started with the main guitar riff (which is in 7/8). My aim was to make this fairly uncommon rhythmic structure feel more natural, so that even if you’re not familiar with this kind of feel you can still dance to it without falling over. The only way to find out if I succeeded is by putting on the track and busting some moves..

Bubbleworld:
For a long time I’ve wanted to compose some longer pieces, but I always reached some kind of outro around or before the 6 minute mark. I know that’s already long for some, however I really enjoy the possibilities for exploration and transformation in a longer composition. When you’re not trapped in a timeframe of a few minutes all of a sudden you can take your musical ideas and kind of smear them out over time, giving more space for intricate details, or development of themes and sections. As much as I’m a huge fan of eclectic and angular music (Zappa, Battles and The Mars Volta come to mind) I also really enjoy the idea of metamorphosis in music. Taking a small idea and allowing it to grow and change itself, or change the environment it lives in. I’d like to incorporate the eclecticism a bit more into the Baba Ki soundscapes, and also develop this idea of musical perspective and slow metamorphosis. We’ll see how that goes in the next EP..

Buy on Beatport

Whistlebaps EP

Bubbleworld

Whistlebaps

Voodoo

Magic

Baba Ki is the alias of London-based chillout and psychedelic music producer Niels Bakx. My second EP 'Whistlebaps' is out now on Nutek Chill.