LennyTunes drops ‘Jaffa Cakes’ EP

Rising from decades of cross-cultural studio work, Lenny Ben Basat has spent years building bridges between musical traditions, connecting the energy of modern electronics with the enduring emotional language of Middle Eastern and North African sound. Working under the moniker LennyTunes, the Jaffa-based artist has shaped a musical identity that feels at once historical and futuristic, preserving the warmth of live instrumentation while allowing modern production to stretch those sounds into new forms.

His catalogue reflects an artist constantly moving between worlds, from producing for acclaimed artists and scoring films to constructing his own immersive projects, LennyTunes approaches music as something fluid and borderless. Collaborations with Riff Cohen on tracks like “MIŞ MIŞ,” “J’AIME,” and “A PARIS” revealed his ability to bring together global pop appeal with Mediterranean textures, while his production work on Avishai Cohen’s LP Sensitive Hours highlighted a more expansive and cinematic side to his musicianship.

His score for the French film Le Sens de la fête demonstrated the same knack for emotional movement and atmosphere that runs through all his work. Yet beyond those collaborations sits an artist truly invested in creating his own musical language and releases like The Bellydance Superstars and Hagar & LennyTunes have allowed him to fully explore the collision between heritage and experimentation.

Across his output, traditional maqam structures, North African percussion and folk influences from Georgian, Armenian and Kurdish music are folded into cutting edge production techniques with spectacular results. Now, that philosophy carries directly into his latest EP, Jaffa Cakes, a six-track release recorded almost entirely live in Jaffa, the ancient Mediterranean port city whose history seems embedded within the music itself.

The title may playfully nod toward the British biscuit, but the sound of the record reaches somewhere far deeper, pulling together organic house rhythms, analogue textures and live instrumentation into something warm, physical and human. Instrumentation becomes central to the EP’s identity; Bansuri and Bedouin ney flutes drift through hypnotic grooves while Turkish and Arabic qanun melodies float alongside analogue synths including the Prophet, Minimoog and Osmose. Vintage guitars soaked in phasers and delays add further texture, basing the project in a sound that feels simultaneously ancient and forward-thinking.

The opening title track balances African percussion with qanun and Prophet synths which site inside a groove that feels equally meditative and propulsive. Rolling with hypnotic rhythm, the pulse of synths and flicker of airy flute tones combine to craft a thoroughly transportive soundscape that sees contrasting musical worlds collide in engrossing musical form.

“Spring Tank” brings kalimba and Minimoog together with a live violin taqsim from Bashir al Asadi, introducing a cinematic aesthetic that threads through much of the EP. “Fata Organa” leans into trance-inducing repetition, building immersive momentum from Turkish qanun, guitars and vintage Roland synthesisers. “Tamtam” offers perhaps the clearest display of LennyTunes’ rhythmic vision, where Moroccan and West African percussion drive balafon, kalimba and flute lines while electronic textures swirl around them, creating something ecstatic yet based in live performance.

“Naima” offers one of the EP’s most cinematic moments, pairing Bedouin ney flute with analogue arpeggios and strings, before closer “Desert Dweller” descends into a dustier, psychedelic sphere led by a 1960 Fender Jazzmaster filtered through vintage modulation effects. With Jaffa Cakes, LennyTunes continues to shine in the space where organic house becomes a living conversation between tradition, movement and modern sound.

Listen to Jaffa Cakes below