Comedian and musician Reggie Watts and producer John Tejada have joined forces to form a new electronic/dance music group to be called Wajatta.
Wajatta, as the name suggests (a mash-up of Watts and Tejada), represents the collaboration of Reggie Watts and John Tejada’s inherent musical abilities. Having grown up with similar musical influences, the two draw from their love of urban electronic music. Best described as electronic dance, the new music has roots in Detroit techno, Chicago house, ’70s funk and New York hip hop. Tejada’s deep and melodic productions make a perfect backing for Watt’s wide vocal-range and live looping skills.
To the uninitiated, Reggie Watts is an internationally renowned musician/comedian/writer/actor who currently stars as the bandleader on CBS’s The Late Late Show with James Corden. Using his formidable voice, looping pedals, and his vast imagination, Watts blends and blurs the lines between music and comedy, wowing audiences with performances that are 100% improvised. Watts’ first Netflix special, Spatial, was released to massive critical acclaim last year, with the New York Times calling it “a giddy rush of escapist nonsense,” and dubbing Watts, “the most influential absurdist in comedy today.”
On the other hand, John Tejada is a Vienna-born, Los Angeles-based electronic music composer whose portfolio includes three albums for the revered label Kompakt, plus releases on Pokerflat, Cocoon, Plug Research, Seventh City, Playhouse, Defected, and his own label of 21 years, Palette Recordings. He has performed in various clubs, festivals and esteemed venues across the globe such as Decibel Festival, Dekmantel Festival, Sonar Festival , Berghain, Fabric, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and even the Walt Disney Concert Hall,in Los Angeles. Also in high demand as a remixer, he has remixed well over 100 songs for the likes of Bomb the Bass, Télépopmusic, Kevin Saunderson, Way Out West, The Field, Darren Emerson, and many more.
With regards to the collaboration, Watts explains,
“Having been a longtime fan of John’s I was completely taken aback when we had the opportunity to meet a while back at one of his LA shows. We exchanged information and kept in touch. Eventually we decided to try something in the studio together. I explained that I love to work improvisationally and quickly in the moment. John fortunately has a fast mind and also works in this way so as soon as we started recording it just worked immediately; me being able to just flow what was in my head in response to his music and him locking onto that and crafting something great around/with it. It’s been such a fun experience brief and yet prolific as the partnership continues. I’m so excited to finally release music that I think will inspire people to move and expand on the dance floor or groove in their headphones. I believe Wajatta is that culminative experience!!”
Tejada also discusses the collaboration:
“Reggie and I met at one of my shows last winter and we began work on our collaborations soon after. “Runnin” was a work that was actually started by Reggie live on The Lot Radio Brooklyn. Reggie gave me access to all his looper files and I added my own synth and drums to it, layered some more Reggie and away we went.”
The newly-formed group is also set to release their first single this December 1st. But even now, you can check out this single online via Soundcloud:
The song will be available digitally everywhere and is available right now for pre-order on iTunes here!
