Results tagged “Ben”

British DJ/producer Jerome Hill runs Don't Recordings and frequently pops up on Fun in the Murky - not only because his label "has been fighting against the blandness and sheep mentality that pollutes the techno scene", but because it (and Hill) also happen to produce and play mighty fine tunes.

I read on Discogs that you first got your turntables "in 1990 after being inspired by the pirate radio sounds of London." How accurate is this, and could you add a wee bit more info into the mix?

"Sure, that was the year when I discovered 'electronic' music. Before that, thanks to my dad, I was a late '50s/early '60s rock and roll enthusiast (and still am)... but in 1990 me and my friends started listening to the London pirates, in particular Fantasy FM and in particular DJ Hype, who at the time was spinning everything from acid house and hip hop to Brooklyn breaks and Belgian techno; it was a really inspiring time and looking back you can hear the music gradually morphing into what people now generically call 'old skool'. Without a doubt my favourite years for electronic music are still 1990 and 1991."

Where exactly were you born, and what's it famous for?

"Exactly? pretty much on the corner of Shepherd's Bush and Hammersmith in West London, famous for... erm... difficult question, I suppose the BBC. Also the junkyard in Steptoe and Son was situated in Shepherd's Bush, and the Only Fools and Horses theme tune sings about buying dodgy tat [small, cheap, and usually tasteless items] 'from a mush in Shepherd's Bush'. The very embodiment of glamour!"

You worked with Rob Stow as Groove Asylum; is that project finished now?

"It's not 'finished', but it has been dormant for the last eight years or so - mainly due to both of us being busy with work and not living near each other anymore."

How do you draw the line between DJing and production, and which avenue gives you the most satisfaction?

"For me, DJing is playing records. Production is knocking around ideas on equipment and computers - a clear line and I'll always be a DJ first 'cos there's so much well made and inspiring music that's already been made that people don't get to hear enough of. For me it isn't just about mixing and scratching records, it's about searching for, obsessing about and digging around for different styles and weird little cuts or snippets. That little two-minute gem on an otherwise rubbish album that no one else is gonna own; that freaky rockabilly cover version with a massive drum break all the way through and bass so big that even the techno heads are gonna go for it..."

What keeps you most motivated?

"Discovering new and old music, and discovering artists who are making it well. I'm a terrible vinyl junkie and I'm also addicted to following evolutions and trails from many types of non-electronic music. Also of course the amount of noncommittal, wishy-washy tripe that gets passed off as music and forced down the throats of the spoon-fed majority... That's a big motivation 'cos the more of that that gets shat out into existence, the more it needs balancing out."

What do you foresee happening with the music we care about in 2010?

"The pessimist in me foresees less and less being released and even more genre nitpicking. It's like the ocean froze over and now the ice has cracked and all the bits are floating away from each other in different directions, so it's time to throw each other a line and start pulling it all together again - strength in numbers... or something like that! I'm not saying join the ice back together, but maybe realise that all the bits can co-exist next to each other and it's still 'ice' and you don't have to call one bit 'north-west ice', because it's happened to have floated two degrees north-west ...or something like that!!"

What gear/software are you making most use of?

"At the moment I'm using a Nord 2, Waldorf Pulse and a smug, temperamental and overpriced Macbook Pro!!"

Which part of your studio is the most vital?

"I do have an old horn style gramophone of which I'm very fond and my monitors give me lots of pleasure - but the decks and mixer get the most use."

Which artists and labels are grabbing your attention right now?

"It goes without saying that everyone whose music I release on the label always grabs my attention. Aside from that it's always hard to answer fairly whilst on the spot, as inevitably you forget loads of people, but I'll try... Here're a few off the top of my head: Subhead (still), Ghislain Poirier, North of Ping Pong, Grimjaw, The Bug, Ben Pest, Norman (Snork/HörspielMusik), Gruff Records, Edan, Imperial Leisure, Fedka the Irritant, Finders Keepers label, Mantrap Records out of Dublin, Quick and Smart continues to blow me away even after his sad passing... DJ-wise, it's eclectic locals like Onken, Lusinda, Controlled Weirdness, Warlock, NoyeahNo, Kriminal Mixes, Dexorcist and anyone who mixes it up!"

You've released stuff yourself through Hydraulix, Yolk, Über and Stay Up Forever Collective Vaults. What's your relationship been like with these labels?

"They're an excellent bunch who love doing what they do and have been there pushing their thing since the day dot. Throughout the mid/late '90s and '00s we always played on the same soundsystems, squat parties and clubs and were privileged to witness the crazy good old days of squat parties... even though we play and release different stuff from each other there's still lots of common ground and we go back a long way."

You've run your own sensational label Don't since 2000, through which you've released some of the best current electronica by Paul Birken, TSR, Jason Leach, Luke's Anger, Grimjaw, and your own fine self. Why did you originally start the label?

"For the usual reason: A surplus of material and nowhere to release it. Rob had wound down his Gravitation label in '99 and we had this track in our Groove Asylum live set that was always a popular one - loads of chopped up Dancemania-style beats and I'd scratch in an old UK hip hop accapella (MC Duke's Riffin) over the top on 45 and it just always went down really well so we recorded it in Rob's studio and that became the first release on Don't. It goes for silly money on Discogs now and I'm always kicking myself that i didn't hold some copies back. Then it became just a question of inviting my favourite characters to record tracks for the label plus a bit of sniffing around for fresh material from fresh artists. A particular highlight for me was re-releasing and remixing one of my favourite all-time techno tracks 'Sit on the Bass' from Autonation, a track I've been playing in my sets for the last 20 years... scary!"

How do you feel about the course of Don't ten years later? Did you achieve what you set out to do with the imprint, and what direction would you like to take from here?

"Definitely achieved what I set out to, which was to release only really good music IMO by only really nice people, and for it to have its own identity which I believe it does, and be able to exist on vinyl without releasing lowest-common-denominator music or bowing to current trends."

What's next through Don't?

"Next up is the new Luke's Anger EP ['Zapp the P'Ram'] which is out about now through Veto distribution - big shouts to Harvey, Neil and Rich. I'm really happy with this EP, and you can check it out at swervingthecommunity.com

In the '90s, when you broke through, for me the real movers and shakers of innovative electronica were all British: Cristian Vogel, Si Begg, Dave Tarrida, Subhead, Jamie Liddell, Tube Jerk and Tobias Schmidt. Were you into any of these guys' work at the time?

"Yep. All of them. Begg, Subhead and Lidell used to make my jaw drop with every release while Vogel, Schmidt and Tarrida had particular tracks that would completely blow me away! Tube Jerk/Tim Wright has such a distinct style which I love although I only found him after he released on Sativae in 2000."

What do you think of the "newer" guys shaking things up these days like Luke's Anger, Ben Pest, Paul Birken (not really new at all!) and Donk Boys?

"Well, Paul is a hero of mine from his mid '90s releases and is bestowed with one of the best attitudes in the game. If only everyone in techno had his passion, humour, talent and way with words. Luke always impresses me which is why I'm so happy to host him again on the label! Ben is a good mate and also insanely talented and passionate about his music, the only reason i didn't get anything yet for Don't is that my better half snapped it all up for her label Victim... heh-heh. The Donk boys are great too... love that updated dbx/bleep'n'skip style.

What new Jerome Hill releases can we look out for?

"Well, there's my remix on Don't 017 and there's a new one on a new label that's just come out under a different name... there'll also be an EP a little later in the year on Don't as well as bits and bobs here and there - is that specific enough?" [laughs]

A fair amount of people in electronic/dance music circles are cutting back on vinyl these days because they say it just doesn't make back the money invested. Is vinyl dead - or just becoming more of a select option?

"It's been diagnosed with a serious illness but not going down without a fight!"

Lastly - how do you like your mushrooms cooked?

"I don't care as long as they're chunky quarters and not floppy slithers."

For me, over the past 18 months, one of the more inspiring label bosses and foresighted individuals working within the techno/tech-house realm of things has been Simon Nielsen, aka DJ Hi-Shock, who's based in Sydney, Australia.

He runs several labels including two I've worked with myself (Elektrax Music and Hypnotic Room) and two I haven't but which I really dig (Android Muziq and the newly-established Gynoid Audio imprint) - as do a lot of other people, if you check out their comments pages and the responses they're getting to their new releases.

Probably it helps that he's pushed through tracks, remixes and EPs by the likes of Dave Tarrida, Patrick Pulsinger, Luke's Anger, DJ Warp, Donk Boys, Steve Stoll, Wyndell Long, Ben Pest, Jammin' Unit, Si Begg, Shin Nishimura, Paul Birken, Orlando Voorn, DJ Wada, Captain Funk, Bill Youngman and V1NZ among others.

Hype, hyperbole and biased plaudits aside, you've got to hand it to Nielsen for his tireless perseverance in an industry that's pretty much flat-lined sales-wise over the past year, and in which he has to deal with Beatport on a day-to-day basis. Luckily for us he's currently branching out from digital download and back into the loving embrace of vinyl, with some killer wax out this year from Takashi Watanabe, Wada, Bitch Shift and Hi-Shock himself, and a lot more planned for 2010 - including some juicy mixes by Justin Berkovi and James Ruskin.

Nielsen is also a hard task-master to work with at times; he's not the kind of guy who lets inferior fodder appear in his catalog listings on Discogs, and if he thinks your latest demo is crap he'll let you know it - which means that some of my own inferior numbers were actually tweaked into far better shape than they would've been if I'd released 'em through IF?

Anyway, enough already. With the Naughties almost over and 2010 sitting on our lap, I decided to pitch a bunch of questions at this label head-honcho to find out things to come.

Over all, how was 2009 for you - for Elektrax Music and for its associated labels/artists?

"2009 was a really busy year for me and the labels - people think that running a digital label is easy, but believe me it's much harder and time consuming than it seems. The good thing is that 2009 was over all a positive experience and the labels and artists have started to receive recognition for pushing the sounds we believe in. Getting our tracks charted by guys like Luke Slater or Dave Clarke really means a lot and gives us the belief
that we are on the right path."

How many labels will you be running next year and how do you define each one?

"With 2010 you'll see five labels under the Elektrax Music umbrella, and we'll also continue to work together with the super-cool Tokyo label IF? Records." [nah, nah, I didn't bribe him to slot this in, honest.] "It's not always easy to put things into genres but I'll will try my best: Elektrax Recordings is hard-edged, funky, tribal, dark, heavy, acid techno with a typical BPM in the range of 130 to 140. Hypnotic Room deals with more tech-house, deep house, slower techno sounds, with a BPM averaging 118 to 128. Android Muziq focuses on deep, minimalistic, dark, futuristic, cyber, artistic, emotional and techno - typical BPM 120 to 128. Elektrax Progressive is progressive house, Goa, uplifting 'non-commercial' trance ranging around 120 to 135 BPM.

"Finally, Gynoid Audio will be dark, phat, dubby, dirty techno and electronica that ranges in BPM between 120 to 130. Yes, a new label is coming in 2010 - Gynoid Audio is the sister label of Android Muziq, but it's not as minimal as Android; instead it will be slightly fatter and dirtier in sound."

What would you most like to achieve in 2010?

"Continue on with where we left off in 2009, pushing the sounds we love and keep on supporting our supporters. 2010 will see the beginning of our artist agency Elektrax Bookings, so one of the big tasks will be to get this off the ground and get our artists some gigs! I also have a wish for 2010 - less music piracy!"

In which directions do you foresee techno, electronica and dance music in general taking itself over the next 12 months?

"Well, I don't see that much change and I'm sure the usual suspects will keep on appearing in the charts as they did throughout 2009. It is a bit disappointing that a lot of buyers and DJs don't spend enough time to search for their own unique sound, but just give in to whatever is right in front of them - and at the same time give up on being original. However, there's a vibe in the air that the serious, proper techno will be finally making a come back; the darker sounds are also being much more appreciated. This is
definitely something to look forward to in the next 12 months."

Who's lined-up for 2010?

"This year our labels did a lot of work with DJ Wada, Dave Tarrida, Roman Zawodny, Steve Stoll, Gayle San, Virgil Enzinger and Ree.K amongst others - so for 2010 we have a lot of fresh material lined up from the same guys, plus tracks and remixes from Chris Finke, Bas Mooy, James Ruskin, Go Hiyama, Glenn Wilson, Dave Angel, Ken Ishii, Space DJz, Commander Tom, Octave, Audio Injection, Pacou, Justin Berkovi, and... a few other surprises."

Who're the 'resident' artists you work with most and are keen to develop?

"The list keeps on growing but across all our labels the resident artists who release most regularly are Takashi Watanabe and Dich on Hypnotic Room, DJ Warp and DJ Hi-Shock on Elektrax Recordings, Stereo Underground and Nicky C on Elektrax Progressive, Virgil Enzinger and V1NZ on Android Muziq - and then there's of course the local [Australian] crew with guys like Little Nobody, Bitch Shift, Koda, Enclave, Alkan, Son Of Zev and Zen Paradox."

What do you look for in fledgling artists hoping to sign up with you?

"Firstly, quality tracks and top production skills; a good fan base and web presence is also a must these days for any artist, but also an awareness of the current musical trends, how the scene operates, and of course the right attitude."

Who were the real movers-and-shakers, musically speaking, in 2009?

"Takashi Watanabe was stealing the show for us in 2009 - he can turn any track into gold; same goes for his alter ego DJ Warp. Other highlights on our labels were the amazing production skills of Stereo Underground, the emotions found in tracks by V1NZ, the funky grooves from Dich, our latest discovery Raditz Room is top quality, and I can never get enough of the darkness produced by Virgil Enzinger! Finally, our own Bitch Shift [Ben Mill] also deserves a mention as he's really found himself as a producer at the end of 2009. Expect big things coming up from Ben in 2010."

Digital download vs. CD vs. vinyl. You're now doing all 3 formats. How do you differentiate between them, decide which releases appear in which format, and which one is set to be Number 1 in 2010?

"Digital will still be the main format for our releases. Let's face it, digital is here to stay and - the piracy aside - more DJs are trying out the latest gear and are falling in love with that format. We will still continue to push vinyl, mainly out of respect for the format and people
who still haven't abandoned wax. CDs are not doing very well - not many distributors are interested in this format - but we might still do a couple of DJ mixes and few promotional projects with our label artists."

What DJ Hi-Shock releases, tracks and remixes can we look out for in the new year?

"We're getting the remixes of 'Asama Express' released on Elektrax, so I will be working on a new version of that. I have also started on a collab project with Gayle San for her Equator label. I'm also hoping to finally finish off my new EP, and there're a dozen or so remixes to finish off..."

What keeps you motivated?

"I really enjoy seeing our artists go up in places and getting noticed for their hard work, having them as part of the 'crew' and exchange ideas and demos also means a lot... Then there is the music, music and more music... honestly, that's my main motivation."

This is where I hang up one of those warning signs like the one in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy - you know, the the inscription at the entrance to Hell that says "Abandon hope all ye who enter here", or at least something superfluous along those lines.

Because this is where I get all self-indulgent, nostalgic, biased, and parochial.

Y'see, I'm from Melbourne. Sure, I may have lived in Tokyo these past eight and a half years, but Melbourne (Australia) is my hometown, and it's the city whose electronic musicians were so cool - and so unappreciated - 15 years ago that it inspired me and two mates, Mateusz Sikora and Brian Huber, to kick-start our own record label to help support these people.

At the time I had a penniless indie movie-making company called Industrial Form, so I dumped that idea, took the initials, added a question mark for quirk-factor, and we called the label IF? Records. A few months later we released Zeitgeist, a compilation CD of purely Melbourne-made sounds (including a lush remix from Thomas P. Heckmann), and licensed that baby to Nova Zembla in Belgium to get it on to vinyl as well.

Yeah, yeah, I know - "zeitgeist" was a bit of a corny name, but at the time it didn't sound quite so bad. Our hearts were in the right places.

After that over the next three years we did two more of those Zeitgeist compilations in 1996/97, focused always on the Melbourne crew, with guest remixes of local stuff by two more Germans, Biochip C and Jammin' Unit, along with the debut releases for Soulenoid (aka Adam Raisback from Sense) and Guyver 3 (Scott Armstrong, alias G3).

We also focused on a rather long string of live performance gigs in Melbourne and Sydney that lost more money than gained any returns, but were always aurally mesmerizing - usually featuring the likes of Voiteck, Zen Paradox, Honeysmack, Soulenoid, Guyver 3, Blimp, Son Of Zev, Isnod, Sonic Voyagers, Frontside, TR-Storm, Q-Kontrol, my own hack project Little Nobody, the LN Elektronische Ensemble, DJ Fodder, and others.

Somewhere along the line 15 years passed continuing to do very much the same - weird, I know; I think the only thing we really changed was the logo. And although more than half of that time I've been based here in Japan, while Brian is in San Francisco and Mateusz in Kraków, we've continued to stay in touch and to work with and be inspired by our brethren back in Melbourne - a city and scene that's unlike any other in the world, even if half the time the people themselves in Melbourne don't appreciate that fact.

Which brings me, after a less-than-satisfactory opening disclaimer and a lot of subsequent hullabaloo, to the reason for this particular entry: IF100, our latest IF? release, which is also the 100th release by the label - at precisely the 15 year mark since the label was conjured up.

Count yourselves lucky... with one-and-a-half decades under the belt, I could've rambled on a hell of a lot more here, waxing insensible about experiences no one else can relate to and channeling insanely confused memories that make no sense in print, let alone in my own headspace.

Instead I'll just desist, leaving it at the first couple of years (as mentioned above), then pretend the subsequent decade has been a blur of motion and activity.

IF100 came out this week and for the compilation we went back to our roots, bringing together a collection of 30 tracks produced entirely by Melbourne artists, with some bonus remixes of their work by international producers thrown into the mix.

On top of this we wanted to toss around a selection of Melbourne that reflected the history - getting hold of new tracks from pioneers Zen Paradox, G3, Son Of Zev, Isnod, TR-Storm and a new DJ Fodder remix from Sydney's Dsico - along with the new(er) kids on the black like Ben Mill, Craig McWhinney, Kultrun, Alkan, Enclave, Koda and Rysh Paprota.

Then we lobbed into the fray some juicy remixes by Bill Youngman, Patrick Pulsinger, Shin Nishimura, DJ Warp, Secret Surfer, and a Little Nobody remix of E383, just for fun.

Anyway, enough rambling and innate navel-gazing. If you have time, trundle on over to the release itself, which we're running exclusively through Juno Download here, and check out some sample sounds of a city I still rate as one of the best in the world, even after having lived in Tokyo and London.

Let's hope that one day Melbourne itself realizes the cultural nuggets it has in its own backyard.

Justin Robertson shouldn't really require any introduction in these parts, but just in case here's a brief wrap-up tucked into a quaint little nutshell:

Robertson is the British DJ/producer also known as Lionrock and, more recently, Deadstock 33's, who started out spinning records during the Madchester period and himself impacted upon the Chemical Brothers before they dreamed up Exit Planet Dust.

This is the man who since released as much music through indie conventional labels (One Little Indian/Rough Trade) as he has via dance music outlets (Bugged Out/Nuphonic/Southern Fried Records) - and has also remixed Roy Budd, Bjork, The Sugarcubes, The Shamen, Inspiral Carpets, Erasure, Fortran 5, Talk Talk, Happy Mondays, Fatboy Slim, Luke Slater, and Felix Da Housecat.

More personally, his was the deft hand behind a remix set that I consider to be one of the best CD mix compilations. Period.

With this unshelled background guff over, in return Robertson kindly took the time out for 20 unreasonable queries.

1. Yawn question. How did you get inspired to start making music?

"Well, I have been writing songs and music since i was at school, I was in a couple of bands and we were pretty awful! But i got a real taste for it. I actually got my break by accident really, I was working in Eastern Bloc Records in Manchester; they had a band called the Mad Jacks, who needed a remix, and I volunteered even though I had never been in a studio in my life! It turned out rather well, so i was hooked!"

2. Where were you born, and what's the place most famous for?

"I was actually born in Walton Upon Thames, famous for being the birthplace of Julie Andrews."

3. You've been producing music and interacting within the music industry for quite a time now - how long exactly? What keeps you motivated, and what integral changes have you noticed over that time period?

"Been at it for about 18 years! It's just such a joy to be paid for what you love doing. I remain motivated because it's what i love; I'd do it even it wasn't my job - music is quite central to my being, not to be cosmic or anything. The biggest change, I guess, is the democratisation of music, facilitated by technology. It's a proper revolution, more so than punk."

4. Here's the mandatory inane question: If you were pressed into a corner and forced to confess under great duress, how would you define the sounds/styles you're currently making?

"Outer space thump and inner space disco."

5. You also run your own label, Neverwork. What's the story there?

"The label is asleep presently, but may awaken very soon."

6. Biggest influences on your own music?

"Reggae is massive, dub techniques from masters like King Tubby and Lee Perry; spacey cosmic disco from the likes of Arthur Russell, Alexander Robotnik Italo stuff, the irreverence of Balearic beat, and acid house of course. Raw, edgy music with a lo-fi swagger. The Fall and film music - I'm thinking of Ennio Morricone, John Barry, John Carpenter. The Mods and the '60s beat thing, psychedelic music... and that's just the for my dancefloor stuff!"

7. What new Justin Robertson releases can we look out for?

"I'm fully immersed in my Deadstock 33's project: it's all about spacey Balearic. The album is gonna be Underneath the Pines - it's Nick Cave meets Elkin and Nelson; murder ballads with a disco beat! Deadstock releases also on Paper Recordings, and I also have an EP with Guy Williams out on Arcobaleno next year called World Keeps Turning. New little dancefloor projects keep popping up all over..."

8. Thirteen years ago you released CD Scape, your entry in the esteemed Journeys By DJ series. Personally, that double-CD blew me out of the water at the time, and I still play it even now - I loved the way you (somehow) blended together such diverse sounds by T Power, the Green Velvet mix of Dajae, Cristian Vogel, Dan Curtin, and DJ Shadow. How do you feel about that mix selection now, and is breaking the mold and playing different styles important to you?

"I don't think about it too much really, I think I'm just restless, so I find my ideas mutating constantly. I also take energy from the massive amount of music that's out there to discover. It makes you want to absorb new influences and keep re-inventing your sound."

9. You've also remixed pretty much everybody - from Roy Budd, Bjork, The Sugarcubes, The Shamen, Inspiral Carpets, Erasure, Fortran 5, Talk Talk, Happy Mondays, and Gary Clail On-U Sound System, to Fatboy Slim, Luke Slater, Felix Da Housecat, and the Luke Solomon outfit, Freaks. What's the attraction of remixing for you?

"I've always said remixing should be about adding your own take on something - it's a chance to take that something in a new direction and give it a personal stamp. It's also a top laugh; being able to work with some very talented people's material is a dream come true."

10. How has the remixing technique you apply changed over the years?

"Technology has advanced so massively. I used to spend a day just time-stretching vocals and chopping up samples. That takes minutes now. When I first started I was synching-up to tape, midi was in its infancy, and everything was much more hands-on - all of which has its plus points, but I love the speed and possibility that digital allows. Plug-ins have come a long way, and now have a much more genuine sound, so I'm pretty much a laptop guy these days."

11. How would you describe the two recent remix undertakings you did for Australian producer Ben Mill as well as my own project Little Nobody? ...Sorry, just gotta ask! ;)

"Epic wonkiness. Love both tunes so was hard to improve on them, thus I decided to take them in another direction. Both tracks were so full of great ideas, and there was so much to use! I tried to keep the mixes close to the spirit of the originals but give them a J.R. slant."

12. CDs seem to be a disappearing facet of the electronic music industry, and a fair amount of people are cutting back on vinyl production these days because they say it just doesn't make back the money invested. How do you feel about this?

"Vinyl still has the best sonic integrity, though i DJ mainly with CDs now. I don't think vinyl will die as there are still plenty off people who appreciate its warmth and beauty.The electronic scene has always been forward-looking so it's no suprise its distribution has been largely digital, which has made a rod for its own back, with file sharing so rampant that being an electronic music producer is now a bit like being a busker."

13. Is vinyl dead? Or just becoming more of a select option?

"Is this question an important one? Or it simply doesn't matter? Like I say, the romance and sound of vinyl is impossible to recreate, but I think if a new generation is not turned onto vinyl it has a danger of becoming a museum piece - which would be sad, because we are loosing not only the sound, but all the other good stuff like sleeve-notes, great artwork, etc. This digital revolution has opened up the world of music, making it accessible - there's no need to deal with grumpy record shop staff! But it also means we lose the expertise of the nice record staff, and the sheer fetishism of vinyl which is priceless."

14. When we decided to switch some of the IF? Records back-catalogue to digital download, I got an anonymous email saying "You've sold you're [sic] soul to the devil!!!". So... have we...?

"Not at all, there's a reality to trying to run a label these days: It's a labour of love, but it's also important to try and pay the bills, or everything will be Warners/EMI/Sony/etc... Do what you have to do to get the music to the people! I think digital is a graet way to spread the word to the casual dabbler, who doesn't mind spending a single $ but wouldn't buy your your five dollar 12-inch."

15. What do you think of historically (and musically) iconic fellow British producers like Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, et al, from 30 years back?

"I love all that Sheffield stuff, it sounds suprisingly organic now, with great sense of possibilities of machine funk."

16. Which '80s British outfit was your stand-out favorite from choices like New Order, Joy Division, The Shamen, Inspiral Carpets, Erasure, Happy Mondays, Gary Clail On-U Sound System, etc, etc?

"The Fall, Joy Division and New Order were my faves; I was also hypnotized by Durutti Column and that whole Factory thing was so sexy. One of the best gigs I went to was a festival with New Order and A Certain Ratio and The Fall on the same bill - I was in heaven! I loved the look of Echo and the Bunnymen and I loved Julian Cope, The Nightingales, Orange Juice, David Sylvian and Japan. Ryuchi Sakamoto continues to be a massive influence on me."

17. What gear/software are you making most use of in the studio at the moment? Compared with 15 years ago, how has your gear changed?

"I do everything at home now on my laptop plus one or two synths; this allows me to record on the road also. I use Logic 9 and a bunch of plug-ins; it's so fast and easy to use, compared to 15 years ago when I would spend two days chopping up vocals or fiddling with samples! The Lionrock studio was like an Aladdin's cave of synths and a lot of cables - now it's far more minimal! It's just another world now, and I truly dig it... just so many possibilities."

18. Which part of your studio is the most vital facet (this doesn't have to be technological - it could be a toy robot or a furry dice)?

"My Gibson Chet Atkins - it's therapeutic!"

19. What food/drinks keep you fueled throughout production time?

"Just water, lots of water - not very rock and roll."

20. How do you like your mushrooms cooked?

"Grilled, with a sprinkling of grated parmesan."

So sue me for plagiarism - I nicked this nice little piece of Ben Pest hyperbole off the No-Future chat-boards here. The link (from last year) also has a couple of nice audio links you should check out, but here's what they had to say:

"As a solo artist, Ben recently swaggered his way onto the scene with the excellent Flood Damage (Agresa EP, Victim Recs) and stellar appearances at the likes of Uglyfunk in London.

"He's perhaps better known however as a member of the band Pest, a brilliantly original collective who epitomize the Ninja Tune label on which they have released: 'A multi-talented bunch of varied stock musicians, who come together and produce a cultural crucible of music which happily defies any succinct pigeon-holes'.

"In addition, Ben forms one half of the Black E with the highly respected Cristian Vogel, who together impressed at this year's BLOC festival with their live performance of full-on electronic improvisation."

Anyway, Trevor and I both love the man's musical inroads and have been after a quick chat with the good sir Benjamin Mallott, and Ben was kind enough to give the quickie e-mail Q&A thing a go just prior to organizing a tour of Japan....

Yawn question... How did you get inspired to start making music?

"My school had an Atari with Cubase, and a Roland sampler with about §2 seconds' sample time! I wasn't any good at sport, so I spent a lot of lunchtimes in the music cupboard."

With the band Pest, you've been prolific through Ninja Tune since around 2001. What's happening in the band department?

"We are nearing completion of our third album, and we're doing a mini-tour of Japan in August!"

How is Ben Pest most different from Pest, the band? (aside from the rather obvious fact it's only you)

"Completely different style - Ben Pest is acid house/techno, whereas Pest is live electronic funk.

What's the story behind your activities with Cristian Vogel as Black E?

"We made a 4-track EP in as many days in Cristian's studio in Barcelona, and we've played a few live shows in London and one in Berlin."

Where were you born, and what's that place most famous for?

"Rush Green - not famous for an awful lot, really!"

You've been producing music and interacting within the music industry for quite a time now - how long exactly? And what integral changes have you noticed over that time period?

"I've been releasing music properly since 2001 - its getting harder and harder to sell underground music."

What gear/software are you making most use of in the studio at the moment?

"My Korg ESX1 and Yamaha DX200, and Cubase, mostly."

What food/drinks keep you fueled throughout production time?

"Coffee, coffee, coffee."

Which current crop of artists and labels are grabbing your attention, and why so?

"I really like Rafferty's stuff right now."

You've released stuff through Ninja Tune, Bonus Round, Sleep Debt and Victim. What's your relationship like with these labels?

"Well, both Victim and Bonus Round are active and run by good friends of mine; unfortunately, I don't think Cristian [Vogel] is doing much with Sleep Debt anymore, and although Pest has a good relationship with Ninja, I don't think we really fit in with what they do these days."

Biggest influences on your own music?

"Top of my head - Sly Stone, Pantera, Miles Davis, Aphex Twin, Frank Zappa."

What new Ben Pest releases can we look out for?

"Just released Off Piste on Victim."

A fair amount of people are cutting back on vinyl production these days because they say it just doesn't make back the money invested. How do you feel about this?

"Well, yeah, it's really, really hard to release vinyl without loosing money nowadays - I have utmost respect for anyone hanging in there."

Is vinyl dead? Or just becoming more of a select option?

"It's not dead! People were saying that 15 years ago, and its still around - just not that much of it, sadly."

Do DJs really need to continue to use vinyl?

"I always DJ with vinyl, and have to say i feel a bit cheated if i see a DJ using purely Serrato or Albeton, or whatever."

What do you think of veteran British producers like Neil Landstrumm, Tobias Schmidt, Dave Tarrida, Cristian Vogel, Subhead, Tubejerk and Si Begg? Do any of these people stand out for you, and which labels do you currently dig cutting tunes in the UK?

"Well, they all stand out, really. Don't Records is a wicked label, and so is Coin Operated."

You're coming to Japan in August, right? Any dates/cities set in concrete yet? Just you, or your band Pest?

"How do you know about that? ...we only just booked the flights! Its the whole band - but I'd like to get some solo shows too."

Luke's Anger is hitting Japan in July. What's the attraction of this country for musicians like your own fine selves?

"I can't wait to find out - I think we'll go down really well!"

How do you like your mushrooms cooked?

"Sunny side up."

Care to add anything else? (about your own new releases/remixes/ideas/ideals/grievances/philosophies/quips/earth-shattering announcements/etc)?

"Only dead fish follow the stream!"

Who the heck doesn't like pirates, deep down inside?

I'm not singing the praises of the contemporary types raiding oil tankers off Somalia (man, oil tankers are just plain yawn-inspiring), but the older-skool literary creations, like Long John Silver in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, Arthur Conan Doyle's scary bucaneer, Captain Sharkey, and some of the real ones made by history into brooding, smoking beard types (Blackbeard) or debonair Hollywood gay blades played by Errol Flynn (Captain Blood).

My daughter, Cocoa, who's just turned three, is also a sucker for pirates.

She loves Captain Hook from Peter Pan, and constantly creates yarns in which her helpless Cinderella and Licca-chan dolls are kidnapped or terrorized by dastardly types with hooks and eye-patches and a penchant for Jolly Rogers.

So, when it came to conjuring up the somewhat shoddy iconography for our new IF? project (suitably enough, catalogue number #IF069), the pirate theme popped up, rammed home, and it suited it down pat--'cos pirate imagery sits pretty in almost any known occasion, of course.

The new release is called Split 12-inch, Minus Vinyl--well, hell, it's a digital download-only offering, so don't go figure--and it's by Little Bitches.

Little Bitches is the recent, footloose and fancy-free collaborative pairing of the Chairman of the Board himself, Ben Mill (aka Bitch Shift), in Melbourne, and me (Little Nobody) in Tokyo--hence, obviously, our silly project title--we both had a fondness for cutlasses and parrots, and here we started out acting like hack privateers, stealing each other's aural doubloons and attempting to carve out new maps.

Anyway, the pirate theme somehow (don't ask how) binds it all together, and suitably enough this release marks our IF? label's first online collaboration with those wunderbar digital download types at Input-Output Inc., who're doing some way cool stuff with a growing bunch of like-minded labels.

Great to be on board, shipmates! And with that, I promise--no more tired pirate quips. That ship has, indeed, already sailed.