Continuing our tour of Silver Lake venues, you might want to stop by the Silverlake Lounge on Monday nights this month. That’s when you’ll get a taste of some truly cutting-edge music, as Ninja Academy holds down a Monday residency all month long.
Ninja Academy takes the term “minimalist” and stabs, beats and bends it into something even the dictionary wouldn’t recognize. This duo is pulling off a pretty gutsy feat: They perform with nothing more in their instrumental arsenal than bass and drums.
“It can never work,” you say. Ah, but it can, and it does, and Ninja Academy has the track record to prove it.
Ninja Academy consists of Indo-Ninja (aka Joey Maramba) on bass and effects, and Outdo-Ninja (Robert Shaffer) on drums, samples and sequences.
The pair met up a few years back, and after a stint playing rock, switched to jazz to form the band bra’ka dOm. Now back firmly in the saddle of alt rock, the two put on a hell of a show. The music flows frenetically back and forth between rock and metal; Maramba provides the words and pounds his bass while Shaffer exercises percussive gymnastics and triggers samples, all without the help of a lead instrument.
The formula has worked, since the duo has toured up and down the West Coast, playing clubs like the Viper Room, The Echo, Mr. T’s and others, plus festivals along the way.
The music has been featured on MTV’s “The Real World” and “Real World/Road Rules Challenge,” as plus radio stations around the state.
If you’re sick of the same old stuff, this should provide the antidote.
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