The latest addition to our Searching for the Omni-Dimensional blog is 19 year old producer and sound wizard Bwoy De Bhajan. With Bhajan refering to Hindu devotional songs, a slither of an idea is given about the music you will hear.
Bwoy was deservedly a nominee for ‘Newcomer Of The Year’ at Steppeulven Awards 2014 and this is definitely reflected in his music. Self-described as a maker of ‘mind-bending glitched out ethnic bouncy abstract whompy bass music… and downtempo stuff… mostly’, Bwoy De Bhajan is exactly the sort of music we like focusing on and hopefully this will resonate with you in this article.
The following will be a short Q&A we had with Bwoy De Bhajan, followed up with a review of his latest EP 2032, accompanied with some photos from his live event at CDR: London.
OUTTA. At Outtallectuals, our main focus is on fusion music and I was curious to why a guy from Copenhagen is interested in Eastern & Western fusion music?
BDB. “My interest in Eastern music and Middle Eastern music is … I don’t know it has very special sound to it, very unique sound, you can’t find it anywhere else… It’s right up my alley, that’s how I like it to sound… I try to include it in my stuff, I think it is fun to fuse music that isn’t supposed to be electronic and make it electronic.”
OUTTA. The balance of organic and electronic sounds…
BDB. Exactly
OUTTA. Nice, it sounds pretty spiritual to me but you are taking a fun and relaxed approach to it. Is it purposefully spiritual or do you just happen to be a spiritual person and that’s how you make music?
BDB. Actually I’m not a spiritual person; I am a very down to earth guy. I like this kind of music; I guess this sort of approach is very deep inside. I have come to get quite a gathering of spiritual people who listen to it, scattering around the USA… anywhere around the world… a lot of the good hippies, I like them a lot. It’s very cool with me if they like and find it spiritual and get something out of it. That’s fine by me as long as they enjoy it.
OUTTA. There’s another thing I wanted to ask you about the 2032 EP… it is almost futuristic and ancient at the same time. I know it’s quite a concept thing and I just have to listen to it to get the meaning but is there anything behind it… like a story or background or theme i.e. post-apocalyptic idea that you had.
BDB. If you listen to it, it tells the story from the beginning to the end. Ancient times we don’t know about, future times we don’t know about, …
OUTTA. And you are not spiritual? (Laughs all around)
BDB. Let’s keep it at that.
OUTTA. Have you been to Asia? Was it a physical experience you had that brought you to this or did you for example see Bollywood one day and thought this is pretty cool?
BDB. No man, its pure intimate. I haven’t been to Asia, I definitely want to, I hope one day I can do a tour around and get to see these places and play my music for people. It’s purely music that I found through the internet and I really, really enjoy it… the whole culture and everything about it. It’s something that I think everyone should experience some time.
OUTTA. The making of the music or…
BDB. Just in general, go to these countries and not be so afraid…
Unfortunately, our conversation was then cut short as Soren was due on stage in 7 minutes. The live experience of this music was nothing short of perfection or expectation; especially at a place such as Plastic People where the sound system is geared and perfected for this sort of crispy and detailed music. The experience we had was laid back, energizing, moving and fresh. We hope our following photos captured some of the emotions that we experienced.
Subsequently and post-event, I had a more detailed listen to the EP in order to understand the story behind it, here is the bulk of my findings:
2032 EP
It’s time to decipher this EP. Starting in ‘A Bwoy’s Mind’, the album is introduced with an orchestra of jungle birds and falling cyborg melodies. However, the tone is immediately brought back into some not-so-distant organic chillsteps of 2032: Global Aztec Civilization. The level of clarity on all sounds presented is incredible. Trickle sounds reminisce of walking on dry branches inside a digital matrix. As the song evolves it goes in and out of modern and tribal flavors and constantly keeps your chill-zone on edge.
Flying Gnomes Invading a French Village makes as much sense it does musically as it does as the concept. Regardless, the title deservedly explains the experience you are going to have. You could sit there for hours coming up with genres for this, taking it as far as spacefrog-hop or tribal martianstep.
Through the delicate sounds of a water pathway, the music is taken into the short brilliant ambiance of Temple Monkeys on The Run. Not an interlude, or quite yet a song, this minute and a half is further musical wizardry before going into 3083: Mysterious Moon Village. This is probably the closet we can get to labelling song genres as future music. The beat style is incredibly unique and undefinable and should only be heard to be described. Whatever it sounds like, it is luxuriously rich.
There are three remixes included in the EP as well. First up is Iller The Abstract Giraffe putting its ambient touch on 2032: Global Aztec Civilization, giving it a freestyle-jazz vibe. The Zach Christ remix of 3083: Mysterious Moon village will scare off anyone with hopes of achieving easy melodic satisfaction. And finally, the I Kicked A Cloud Once remix of Temple Monkeys on the Run is another topping of groove-laden bop-friendly laser-frenzy.
There is little or any fault that can be made from and by this music. It is absolutely timeless. At most times it is impossible to tell whether it sounds ancient or futuristic or current. Bwoy De Bhajan has not only got composition and innovation on lock down, but the mix-down, mastering, clarity of sound and live performance all indicate towards a bright star in the trip/hip-hop psychedelia crossover realm.
Find Bwoy De Bhajan on Soundcloud, Facebook, and name your price for the download of 2032 EP here.
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