Riffs: Japan's Music Market, "Green" Guitars, New Zealand's G-TARanaki

Khruangbin’s low-end chill merchant gets a signature instrument that plays like a Jazz Bass best-of.

Laura Lee Ochoa (you may know her by her alter ego, Leezy) is a founding member of the Grammy-nominated band Khruangbin, which is Thai for “airplane.” Khruangbin’s music is fresh and inspired, blurring genres including American soul, Iranian pop, surf, psychedelic, and dub, and creating infectious tunes within that stylistic range. The bass is a prominent part of the trio’s sound and groove. Laura Lee’s go-to 4-string for a number of years was an inexpensive SX-branded Jazz Bass copy. She admitted to playing the bass out of financial necessity. But like their namesake, Khruangbin and Laura Lee have been soaring in recent years. The same could be said of her new Fender signature Jazz Bass.