The House of Good Juju is my new album. It’s a summation of five years of my club oriented and electronic music. These are things I started out playing as James Whetzel and now spin primarily as DJ Baba James.

The CD is now available through Funketabla, exclusively:

www.funketabla.com/store.php

Here is a quick breakdown about the music. It has fifteen tracks!

1. “About Love” is a mix of Bollywood, and Bhangra vibes with Hip Hop and West African beats, and the words for love in Hindi, Urdu, Spanish, French and English. C’est a propos de l’amour bebe!

2. “Space Tekyuman” is a re-interpretation of American Swing via the Tekyuman rhythm of Ghana, West Africa. I love the unique rhythm in this track, also I am proud of the lyrics, which are:

Aliens send to me the mothership
I need to take a trans-galactic trip
My soul’s grown small living on oil and cash
I want to fly to the sun and use no gas

Nautilus, Captain Nemo, send her to me
I want to go ten thousand leagues under the sea
It’s time I made my life aquatic
Because living on land is not doing it for me

Solution for stopping the start of wars
Shift violence to reverse, take a new course
Builders of bombs no longer get paid in cash
Demolished by their products are weapons plants

Wars would work better if they were simplified
With musical competitions we could decide
Victory would not go to who can kill well
But to whoever makes the music that is most beautiful!

If there can’t be dance what purpose revolution?
We need some fresh grooves and we need evolution
And we sure could use another election
Because we need a reality-based correction

Oh Life is a free and a subtle phenomenon
Happening everywhere and in everyone
Infinite in number are the possibilities
Every moment possesses new opportunities

3. “Sympathy for the 4/4″ is an instrumental which has a four on the floor beat supplied by a tabla bayan tuned down low. I play funk beats on tabla and break out some talking drums, West African rumba box (for the super low chunky bass), chimta, and keyboards.

4.”Theme From Beat On!” is a track which was made in honor of the Beat On! artists collective that produces the monthly Beat Council nights at ToST in Seattle. This track starts off with a Nigerian fuji influenced intro and then changes into some break beat.

5. “Washington State.” Many already know this clever little break beat track that is made up of the names of cities of the Evergreen State from Auburn to Walla Walla. An essential track for WA state residents and also for those who are Washington residents of the spirit.

6. “Sympathy for the Sarod.” This is an uptempo remix of “Sympathy for the 4/4″ featuring sarod and throat singing parts.

7. “Capitol Hill” is an ode to the Capitol Hill area of Seattle, which is where I grew up. It references Sir Mixalot’s “My Posse’s on Broadway,” and is a break beat bhangra influenced track that was originally going to be called “my bhangra’s on broadway.”

8. “The Superstar Scene” is rocktronica track with a generous helping of tabla and sarod.

9. “From Freak to Freakshow,” based on a true story, this higlife-ified housey track song is about how it is OK to be freaky but how getting your freakiness in other people’s business can lead you to becoming a freak show. And should there be any doubt, it is always best to keep your clothes on at a dance party . . .

10. “Afro-Balkan House” is a track that mixes a snippet of the beautiful accordion playing of Erin Kurtz with a house beat made up of a mixture of acoustic and electronic sounds. A little bit of highlife and congolese music sneaks into the rhythm section and there is a clever bassline break down and also a pretty sarod solo.

11. “Kitten” is my own instrumental version of congolese electronica with sarod talking the place of the vocal part that appeared in the original version of this song

12. “Mr. Whetzel’s Extraordinary Intergalactic Fuji” is one of the more ambitious tracks on the album. Weighing in at Seven minutes and two seconds, it is an electronic version of Nigerian fuji music. The parts played by various drums and percussion such as bata, sakara, and shekere are all played as electronic drums and synthesizers. The parts interlock to create a very large melodic rhythmic composition (aka a delicious intelligent groove). Bringing in the western synth and electronic drum sounds makes the fuji ideas take on unexpected references. It begins with what may sound like polyrhythmic psytrance, and finishes up as 12/8 break beat.

13. “International Bossa” is brazilectro Whetzel style. This track began as music I made for Seattle Center for a video to promote the series of cultural festivals known as Festal. They specifically wanted a Brazlian style beat with sounds of music from around the world. So I started with the Brazilian beat on drums and mixed in North African/Middle percussion, playing the clave no less, and added touches of West African rumba box, South Asian dhol and sarod, and a little bit of retro flavored keyboards, bass and guitar. Definitely a fun one to chill out too!

14. “Hello (featuring Aaron Straight)” features the sounds and vocalizations of digeridoo player Aaron Straight. Aaron’s digeridoo is mixed with sarod, whale songs, and delayed out throat singing. The bass line is quite large and the beat is puncy with a suggestion of reggaeton.

15. “Goodbye” is a hip hopping instrumental with big strings, funky bass parts, and massively reverbed throat singing. I had wanted to end an album with this track for years and I am so glad I finally got to do it!

You can preview “The House of Good Juju” at Funketabla.

Here’s the link one more time:

www.funketabla.com/store.php

Alright, good juju to you! peace, respect, love, and cheers!

James