Somatiqi is the studio and live project of producer and drummer Mike Perry, exploring the grounding properties of bass music and the communal essence of dance cultures. Blending jazz improvisation with live electronics, synthesisers, sequencers and analogue effects chains, Somatiqi’s hybrid setup creates a live sound like no other.
Performed live as a collective, the project features jazz musicians from across the London music scene.
Following the release of the two track single: “Buckie I+II” Somatiqi’s debut album is penned for release in Summer 2026
“Somatiqi is a thrilling project bringing together various forms of dance music. Somatiqi combines live electronics and production with the feel and impact of a live band, with technology and human exchange well balanced and complementing each other. Drummer and producer Mike Perry has experience in West African music, jazz, experimental rock and gospel and draws from all of this to create Somatiqi’s intricate and creative rhythmic flow. Seeing and hearing the music live is a physical experience, as the drums and powerful bass propel the music (and celebrate sound system culture) but are also well balanced by harmony and electronic textures. With the addition of saxophonist Faye Thompson, the music’s melodic content and expressive quality is brought further to the foreground.” – Dan Paton
With a focus on experimental sound design, advanced synthesis, found sounds, live dubbing and improvisation, the project invites listeners into an immersive experience where music becomes both movement and reflection. Rooted firmly in the dance, Somatiqi delivers ground shaking sub bass in a high energy live show that draws influences from across the Nu Jazz and Live electronic scene.
Releases
Musicians
Mike Perry
Mike Perry is a London based drummer and producer who has worked and toured with a variety of artists and clients, performing regularly in London, across the UK and internationally. His playing is influenced by jazz, gospel, and modern electronic beat production, with a dynamic and versatile approach to the drum kit.
Mike has a deep interest in analogue and digital synthesis, sound design, experimental sampling and audio processing , and the overlap between electronic and live musical genres. Mike views electronics as an extension of his expression on the drums, posing a distinct counterpoint to the unplugged nature of percussion.
Mike has performed and toured with North African musician Nazim Ziryab, Joro Afrobeat, Jazz-rock outfit Counts, Greek neo-classical post rock band Daemonia Nymphe and London based contemporary brass band Das Brass. Mike has provided session work for a number of independent and major artists including large festival appearances and radio play.
Safiyya Babio
Safiyya Babio is a keyboardist and synthesizer player from Paris, now based in London, whose music flows with hypnotic melodies, lush harmonies, and infectious grooves through jazz, funk, electronica and a decent amount of AfroLatin inspiration.
They approach keys and synths with curiosity and playfulness, using effects to shape evolving soundscapes designed to make people move, dance, and lose themselves in the music.
Having played with Afrobeat band Joro and electro-rock jam band Sol Frequency, they bring flow, interplay, and a strong sense of groove to every performance, creating moments that are joyful, immersive, and impossible to sit still through.
Faye Thompson
Faye Thompson is a saxophone + electronics specialist from the North-East of England, now based in South-East London. As a devotee to interfacing her horn and her effects rig, she tends to have more in common with synthesists and sound designers than with other saxophonists, using her body and lungs as the oscillator at the heart of the whole system.
Through her, influences from folk, dub, electronica, and modern classical are all digested to culminate in a taste for performance prioritising colour and space – with her jazz credentials tucked away in her back pocket for when a bit of shredding is called for.
Her nonconformist approach has made her highly sought-after by artists across a range of genres, including folk-pop singer-songwriter Cassandra Jenkins, UK jazz quintet Neue Grafik Ensemble, art-pop singer-songwriter Shura, and all-female brass trailblazers She’s Got Brass. She is a member of live experimental ambient duo ATMOSS and also performs solo as Efti’s Project