Big shout to Ben, furthering his mining of discogs and continuing his run of website dominance in sterling fashion with a mix for US site XLR8R and garnering deserved comments like: "one of the best DJ's in the world right now" from the braun behind Electronic Explorations Rob Booth.
Look out for Blawan's 12", 'Fram' b/w 'Iddy,' for Ben UFO's co-run Hessle Audio imprint dropping shortly in shops now.
The Bruk DJs, Elgato and Bilal, just linked up a mix ahead of their appearance at fabric for the 4th Hessle Audio takeover which features Ikonika, Ramadanman, Pangaea and Ben UFO - names you'll be no doubt familiar with if you've glanced our way over the past year.
Catch Bruk on Sub.fm - they've taken over the old Ruffage slot on Thursdays between 8-10pm.
The West District Allstars feat. Natasha Watts - Reach Up (Enzyme Black Stripped Dub) Kid Majesty - Desfile De Los Santos Tadow Productions - Rising Sun Stephanie Mills - Free (Domu Stripped Down Remix) Sony - Sugar Rush DVA - Nasty Nasty Nasty (Roska Remix) Xara - You Got Me Crazy Cousinz - Sonar Tonya Renee - About You (Karizma Boucha Remix) DJ 2face - I Love You Plastic Cash - Store Card Ultramarine - Hooter (Carl Craig / Ver. 1.1) Karizma - Necessary Madness Argy - The Storm Thommy Davis - Mars Needs Women
I was gonna tap this recording on to last week's piece on this very subject but I figured it deserved its own post; it's a bitter sweet honour for me to be able to present you with the audio from the final Ruffage Session on Sub.fm.
4 hours with Ben UFO, Ramadanman and Pangaea at the helm.
There’s something so vital about internet radio; something about it feels a lot more hidden from the mainstream. You can’t flick across it accidentally on your FM dial as you drive, you have to be there locked into your station, frantically asking for wheel ups in the chat room by bashing your fists on the keyboard, adding a bunch of exclamation marks and then pressing enter. For me there is yet to be a more instant and personally rewarding medium.
After 3 years of helming the cult radio show, The Ruffage Sessions on the longest running original pirate internet station, Sub.fm, the core trio behind the Hessle Audio label, Ben UFO, Ramadanman and Pangaea, are calling it a day. Tomorrow night’s 4 hour special - from 8pm right through to midnight - presented by and featuring the platter merging of all 3 of them (“for the first time in ages” according to Ben UFO) will be the send off; that special present given to the loyal listeners and message board frequenters.
So, to mark the passing of a big part of the trio’s lives they’ve selected 10 of their favourite sessions - some archived on Sub FM’s cavernous recesses and others re-upped especially for this occasion – to give you a great idea of the guests they’ve had along the way along with a vital insight of the multitude of styles you can expect to hear tomorrow night.
This is one of the first shows we ever did... it feels like a long time ago. We were all based in Leeds at this point, so we were doing a lot more shows together.
This was at the point when there was more hype around techno oriented dubstep than there'd ever been. At the same time there was a lot of music coming out of the house and techno scenes that sounded really exciting, and was unfamiliar to us. This show’s a good document of that.
Ben: One of the hypest and most enjoyable show’s I’ve done. A lot of fun was had piecing together house music from all over the place and trying to keep everything from falling apart.
The first half of our second birthday celebrations, broadcast from Lille. Ramadanman picked out some of his favourite tunes that got played regularly on the show through the two years it’d been running.
Ben: Some of the happiest memories of radio I have come from this show. It was a real privilege mixing with everyone all crammed into a tiny room with piles of records all over the place. We kept it going for nearly 4 hours. There are tunes in this show I've not heard since.
One of the first Ruffage Sessions focusing on a transition from lower tempo house through garage ending up at 140bpm.
Catch the last ever Ruffage Session on Sub.fm tomorrow night from 8pm. Oh and look out for Pangaea's double pack EP dropping on Hessle Audio imminently, 'Why?' is the one...
"I found this picture of an absurd technicolour utopia on a Jehova’s Witness pamphlet in a changing room in South London and it reflects this mix better than any picture of my face could. I’ve put together a varied mix of electro, techno, grime, and whatever you want to call this 130bpm uk bass music. Some old, some new, some unreleased, mixed with decks and Serato, clocking in at just over 35 minutes. It’s unlikely you’d see me play such a wide range of genres and tempos within half an hour in a club scenario, but that’s the beauty of studio mixes." - Steve Braiden
Aphex Twin – Windowlicker [Run Jeremy edit] Deadboy – Ifuwantme Japanese Telecom – Japanese Animation Little Jinder – Youth Blood [Bok Bok remix] Mark Henning – Sick Note Greena – Actual Pain Alden Tyrell – Disco Lunar Module Major Lazer – Pon De Floor Housemeister – Rambo Martin Kemp – No Charisma L-Vis 1990 – Untitled Pangaea – Sunset Yellow Dizzee – Stop Dat Crystal Fighters – I Love London [Brackles remix] Ruff Sqwad – RSMD
Templeton Peck - Down [Remix] Nu Klass A - The Rhythm [Steve Gurley Mix] M-Dubs - Killin' Me Martyn - Megadrive Generation Moreso - Take My Hand [Dem 2'S Over There Dub] Skream – Untitled Unknown – Unknown Ikonika - Space Ugly Kode 9 And Benny Ill - Tales From The Bass Side A Made Up Sound – Closer Untold - You Didn't Win The Holiday Pressure - Money Honey [Remix] Tubby - Tigerstyle Suad - Epileptic [Martyn No Strobe Remix] Mala -Changes Darkstar - Aidy's Girl Is A Computer
The second installment of Hessle Audio's Room 3 takeover at fabric has been announced with Punch Drunk Records boss, Peverelist, officially named as the guest headliner. He'll be joining Ramadanman, Ben UFO, Pangaea and Untold pon the night.
It's also our pleasure to announce that the Hessle camp have confirmed its now a residency and that they'll be taking the event quarterly as of 2010.
Following on from Untold's bizzarely futuristic 12" 'I Cant Stop This Feeling' b/w 'Anaconda' Hessle Audio are back, championing the percussion heavy stylistics on the second single (the first being on Soul Jazz) from Pearson Sound.
Floating Points aka Sam Shepherd just put together a tough mix for fabric's new blog. Including an in depth interview its one of the most revealing insights I've read about FP's music and musical lineage so far...
Various Production - Lost (Actress Remix) Falty DL - To London Marcellus Pittman - There's Somebody Out There Omar S - Psychotic Photosynthesis Brothers' Vibe - Step Into It Pangaea - Bear Witness Martyn - Vancouver (2562's Puur Natuur Dub)
This Friday: Ramadanman, Ben UFO, Pangaea, Untold and TRG takeover the most 'intimate' part of fabric for the night and after the fabric promo mix we posted on before (described by Curb Crawlers as "without a doubt one of the most incredible things heard in recent time") we've been offered the chance to hype up the night with a vinyl giveaway.
No word of a lie.
We have 3 copies of Ramadanman's re-working of Howie B vs. Casino Royale's 'Royale Sound' to give away.
To win just email us the answer to the following question.
Ramadanman's track 'Revenue' is forthcoming on which label?
A) Hessle Audio B) 2nd Drop 3) Soul Jazz
The winner(s) will be picked at random next Monday.
*Please note this interview was originally conducted for the fabricfirst newsletter and is being used here thanks to the kind co-operation of fabric.
The rise of the Hessle Audio label has been well documented with in depth feature pieces appearing, along side guest mixes, on Resident Advisor and to a lesser extent FACT magazine. But reading ‘words’ about the minimal strains of percussion fused dubstep the collective have released serves little justice for the wealth and seemingly extensive catalogue they’ve accumulated over 7 releases, to get a real feel for their output you have to listen to the music super loud, in a dark room, surrounded by bodies swaying rhythmically with the occasional enthusiastic whoop screaming out of somewhere in the void of bodies behind you.
Guided by Ramadanman, Pangaea and Ben UFO the collective formed up in Leeds (although none of them still reside there) and have so far released 7 records - including their own productions alongside works from Joe, TRG, Untold and remixes by Martyn - with the 8th set, Untold’s return to the label, to drop May 18th.
We spoke to Ben UFO ahead of the labels’ fabric Room 3 takeover on the 15th May where he will grace the booth alongside TRG, Untold and his fellow Hessle brethren core.
Sonic Router: Can you provide those who may not know you with a bit of background info?
Ben UFO: My name is Ben UFO, I’m a DJ and I run Hessle Audio with Ramadanman and Pangaea. We founded the label in Leeds, but none of us currently live there. So far we’ve released seven dubstep records and we’re about to release our eighth.
Outside of music who are you? What do you do on the daily?
Outside of music I’m just Ben... I finished my degree at Leeds University and am now floating around trying to pick a direction. Hessle Audio and music is my real focal point at the moment.
How did you get into DJing/dubstep/etc?
I got into DJing through listening to music and buying vinyl. I was buying vinyl for about a year before I got turntables, just because it was the only format around for the music I was listening to. I’d listen to the tunes on my Dad’s gramophone. As I was building up this collection it seemed like a logical step to learn to mix so I got some cheap turntables and tried to teach myself.
I was into old jungle and left of centre drum and bass primarily, but got into dubstep through hearing people like Toasty. The breaks driven side of dubstep was my access point.
Your sets are so scattered across genres, what do you think it is that unites the music in your sets? Do you look for tracks that weave well together or is it more of a challenge to MAKE them work?
It’s a bit of both. I think generally speaking UK dance music is a lot more flexible than people assume, and the way music has become so accessible recently makes it easier to establish sonic connections between scenes that are socially removed from each other.
I think dubstep progressed so quickly partially because so many of the DJs who’ve been in it from the beginning were really focused and single minded in their vision for music, and after hearing those kind of sets for so long it’s natural for people to think of the music as this totally separate, single entity. That’s a cool approach but I’m glad there are newer DJs pushing through linking different sounds and experimenting with different kinds of blends, it feels like the right time.
You got any aspirations to produce yourself?
I would like to one day. I’m not in a massive rush though.
What’s next for the label?
We try not to plan too far ahead. We have ideas but we take it one release at a time. Our next 12” is due out on May 18th; it’s Untold’s second release for us. The tunes are called ‘I Can’t Stop This Feeling’ and ‘Anaconda.’
You’re taking over Room 3 at fabric on the 15th, what can people expect from the evening?
Yeah it’s going to be great; we’re really looking forward to it! It’s the first time we’ve had the opportunity to take over that kind of space for a whole night, so it’ll be interesting to see how things shape up. We’ll be approaching it differently to how we would approach our sets at a normal club night, just because we have so much more time at our disposal. It’ll give us a chance to play a lot of new material, and also to break outside of dubstep for a bit.
Untold and TRG have been writing a lot recently, so expect to hear a lot of exclusive material from them.
Got any tips for upcoming producers we should be keeping an eye on?
Watch out for James Blake. He’s done the next Hemlock 12”, it’s amazing. One of the tunes is in this mix. I’m looking forward to Greena’s first release on Applepips as well, I’ve been playing it out for a while now.
Any wisdom you’d like to inflict on the interweb?
I’ve inflicted enough for a lifetime on forums already.
The Leeds conglomerate, Hessle Audio, is back with its first wax platter of the year and after making all the steppas cry with the success of the truly sublime Pangaea tracks on HES006, ‘You & I’ and ‘Router’, the debut 12” from the unassumingly monikered Joe is anything but a disappointment.
‘Grimelight’ with its clicky, clipped wood block drums, claves and bells sends feet moving on the floor as Arabian flute melodies, sublime chords and his waves of warm, deep bass really hypnotise. Resting on the percussion is the key for this track and seemingly for Joe’s production in general as he works his sparse melody around the minimal patter of his congas.
The flipside ‘Rut’ is the killer here with yet more skipping drums, soulful piano stabs and organic building chords that work around a note or two, rolling out the enlightening effect of the synthesizer tones. There are hints of the Antisocial Entertainment sound of Silkie in this one with the free flowing funk coursing throughout the production, but Joe definitely has his own style and gives it all a super minimal, swung techno/future garage vibe.
To be fair it was always going to be a tough ask to follow Pangaea’s ‘Router’ but the Hessle camp have taken the challenge, picking up the gauntlet and running headlong into the fray with it. Joe’s first release is an expertly executed, skeletal slice of minimal programming that manages to retain that heavyweight skip that Hessle are so quickly becoming renowned for.
