Audiopile Review: Ultraääni Records issues two new records in the final stretch of 2024, marking a fairly prolific finale to one of the busier years for the Helsinki-based out-jazz imprint. First up is the misleadingly named Pascal & Baya Race, which is actually a quartet made up of life-long pals who currently play together across several outfits, most notably The Blassics (some may recall their LP of breezy instrumental soul-jazz and lite-funk issued only a few weeks backs on Funk Night Records). Pascal & Baya Race quietly debuted four years back with a pair of 7”s on Funk Night, remaining in the shadow of their prolific mothership, Blassics. Until now. The quartet deviate from the straightforward instrumental funk aesthetic of their parent group with two side-long trips into improvised jazz-funk minimalism. Propelled by a loose and languid breaks-based rhythm section, the hypnotic grooves leave a wide open space for a sublime interplay between the ascendent trumpet and warm keys that flit between Ethio-grooves and an astral shimmer. The atmosphere of Sonic Joy is thick with a sticky haze of echo and reverb that’s piled on to the extended jams, a heady immersion of dubby sonics and languid celestial funk that lands in some stoned interzone between King Tubby and Lonnie Liston Smith. Honestly, one of the best things we’ve ever heard come from Ultraääni. Silkscreened covers, numbered edition of 500.

***

“When foraging for mushrooms, you never know what the forest has to offer that day – who you will meet, what will make you stop in your tracks. But with an open attitude, you will always find something interesting.”

It was this mindset this album was recorded with. The Hämeenlinna-based band consists of Victor “Pascal” Tokpanou on percussion, Tuure “Baya” Tammi on keys and trumpet, Ville-Pekka “Ray” Järvinen on bass and, Juha “Murray” Sarkkola on drums. They have played together for a long time – in different ensembles, with different names, some already as teenagers, but all of them in the past ten years as part of their bigger funk band The Blassics. When The Blassics went on a break during the pandemic years, the new, smaller ensemble was born.

The name of the album, Sonic Joy, was inspired by the band’s creative process. At their weekly rehearsals, often tired after long working days, the four sit down and start playing pretty much straight away. Without deciding on a direction, the sessions are a sort of musical catching up – you can hear how someone is through their playing. A sonic conversation, a back and forth of expressing, listening and existing in the music, in the groove and vibrations. It conjures up images and ideas and the band always feels energised after rehearsals – “often we leave the studio feeling like it’s a new morning”.

The Odd Funk Records studio the band recorded at has been their rehearsal space for ten years and has provided them a space for analogue mixing experimentation. Often the band records while they play, listens back and mixes on the fly with an old reel-to-reel – enjoying the raw sound, adding tape effects, leaving in scratches and imperfections. The titles were found collaboratively as well, named in the four languages the members speak in their everyday lives, Finnish, French, Fon and English.

The spirit of openness and experimentation is extended to the listener – from Pascal & Baya Rays to you, an album of sonic joy and togetherness.