Wajatta

Vocalist and comedian Reggie Watts joins forces with renowned electronic musician and DJ John Tejada under the name Wajatta to produce playful house and techno laced with funk elements. Performances by the pair stay loose and improvisatory in a manner that echoes Watts' well-known absurdist beatbox comedy, as each feeds off the other's momentum while Watts crafts vocal melodies and hooks spontaneously above Tejada's lively beat patterns. The project's studio work, such as the 2020 release Don't Let Get You Down, channels that same vitality into tightly structured tracks.

Both artists have maintained active music careers dating back to the 1990s. Classically trained Tejada has issued dozens of well-received recordings through imprints including Kompakt, Plug Research, and his own Palette Recordings. Watts, for his part, fronted the eclectic soul band Maktub, contributed keyboards to Wayne Horvitz's 4+1 Ensemble, and put out a solo debut in 2003 before shifting focus toward comedy. He gained widespread recognition through loop pedal-enhanced beatbox improvisations, with regular spots on late-night talk shows and Adult Swim programs, plus the release of his two acclaimed Comedy Central specials in CD/DVD formats. Long interested in techno and house, Watts had long sought to create authentic dance music; after encountering Tejada during one of the latter's club performances, the pair of Los Angeles-based musicians started collaborating. They formed Wajatta by blending their surnames, issuing their first album, Casual High Technology, via Comedy Dynamics in 2018. The duo maintained an active touring schedule across 2019, after which Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder label put out their second full-length, Don't Let Get You Down, in 2020.