BUZZIN FLY 4: Mixed by Ben
Watt
Whilst 2006 was quite possibly the biggest year to date
for Ben Watt's Buzzin Fly label, spearheaded by the success of such
tracks as Rocco's 'Roots 4 Acid' and Jimpster's 'Square Up', the label's
direction has become more expansive, traversing the divide between big
dancefloor tracks and the label's deeper house roots with relative ease.
The quality of the music has been unparalleled, and with the release
of 'Buzzin Fly: Volume 4', Ben Watt is ready to showcase some of the
tracks that have defined his label over the past months, as well as
showcasing new material that we can look forward to as we progress through
the year
2006 will be looked back on as a vintage year for Buzzin'
Fly. Expanding the label sound from its deep melodic roots into the
new era of nu techno and electro inspired a clutch of releases that
eclipsed the successes of previous years and delivered underground club
hits on numerous and varied dance floors and a flush of compilation
licenses all over the world. So how does the label move on?
The answer lies in the fourth instalment of label boss
Ben Watt's popular and best-selling mix series. Renewing Buzzin' Fly's
commitment to nurturing new talent, the compilation is entirely made
up of home-grown tracks from the label's stable of feted artists and
brand new signings. The majority have yet to see the light of day and
there are several tracks from artists never heard of before. Every track
is either on Buzzin' Fly or its new sister imprint, Strange Feeling.
It is a bracingly fresh collection and marks out Buzzin' Fly as a trailblazing
label for deep electronic house and techno with a distinct and unique
sound.
Of the artists involved, debutants Moscow's Kimouts and
St Petersberg's BarBQ underline the growing importance of Eastern Europe
in the modern scene with their warm takes on deep techno and disco.
Deep house cult figures Pedro Madeira (PM Project) and Martin Brodin
(Deeplay) deliver up super-fresh future-facing tracks that mark forks
in the road for their respective recorded output. Paris' ultra-hip Pulp
and Rex resident Mlle Caro and Franck Garcia follow their gorgeous electronic
pop debut on Crosstown Rebels last year with a stunning future classic
of instrumental tech-pop, while Buzzin' Fly dark cornerstones Manoo
and François A return with the searing 'Magnètic'.
Jamie 'Jimpster' Odell follows his debut for the label
last year with a heart-thumping re-work of Justin Martin's classic 'The
Sad Piano', and with a nod to last year's highpoints, Abyss's deadly
'Mind Games' gets another outing, but morphs midway into another debut,
this time a rich organic dub-tech ride from The Green Men (a new partnership
between Berlin-via-Finland's Sasse (Moodmusic) and New York's Nick Chacona).
Head honcho Ben Watt caps it off with a thrumming box-fresh
unreleased slice of modern techno-house in 'Just A Blip' and his acclaimed
electro-disco re-work of 'Silver Ponds' by Strange Feeling's debut signings,
the alt-pop Danish band, Figurines.
The drive and propulsion of Watt's journey is a master-class
in modern harmonic mixing. Tracks glide seamlessly in and out of each
other, overlapping in long extended cross fades, tweaked by filters
and delays from Watt's enviable battery of analog outboard equipment
hooked up especially for the session.
The mix is book-ended by further spoken word extracts
from Watt's long-running Outspoken project, here featuring Oslo-based
Iowa narrator, Jennifer Valone. You won't hear anything like it from
anyone else. Melodically rewarding. Sonically vibrant. Buzz buzz.
Tracklisting:
01 BarBQ / Barbi In Love
01a Ben Watt and Jennifer Valone / Approaching Phantoms (Extract)
02 Pedro Madeira / Long Shadows
03 Ben Watt / Just A Blip
04 Abyss / Mind Games *
05 The Green Men / Blink
06 Manoo and François A / Magnètic
07 Martin Brodin / Freaky Bleepy
08 Mlle Caro and Franck Garcia / Lost
09 Figurines / Silver Ponds (Ben Watt Dub)
10 Kimouts / Down To Earth
11 Justin Martin / The Sad Piano (Jimpster Remix)
11a Ben Watt and Jennifer Valone / Approaching Phantoms (Extract) only
non-exclusive track
'Buzzin Fly Vol 4' is out now.
