by Marisa Brown
Los Angeles producer Nobody had already established himself as a mainstay in the left-field hip-hop scene by the time he decided he wanted to follow up his 2003 Ubiquity release, Pacific Drift: Western Water Music, Vol. 1, with one that featured one singer. Soon he approached Niki Randa, with whom he had worked in the same Long Beach record store since 2001, asking her to add her vocals to some of his possible beats. The result, titled "Sonic What?!," pleased both of them so much they decided to go ahead with the full project, utilizing the help of their many acquaintances to fill out and develop their sound, and also performing at Nobody's Low End Theory night at the Airliner club. Calling themselves Blank Blue, the duo released Western Water Music, Vol. II (whose title was based on jazzman Gary Bartz's Harlem Bush Music), a concept album that dealt with an Armageddon-type earthquake that sank the state of California, on Ubiquity in May of 2008.