Rafiq Bhatia

Guitarist extraordinaire Rafiq Bhatia works in his own distinct amalgamation of avant-garde, modern, jazz, and post-rock genres with an overtly experimental and boundary-pushing style. He was more on the jazz side when he first started, as was the case with his debut album Yes It Will (2012) which had a post-bop outline with an eye towards fusion. His experimental side came to the front soon after, around the time that he began to work with Ryan Lott on his electronic oriented experimental project Son Lux. Bhatia's style developed on a similar track, exploring musical forms and textures, and establishing a sound that is not readily definable in terms of genres. He creates edgy and adventurous music that regularly reaches into non-western rhythm and harmonies, pulling from the Middle East and Indian traditions with some regularity.