What’s in the DJ’s box: Ben Watt

What’s in the DJ’s box: Ben Watt

27 June, 2008 | 9.14AM

• Section: Music News Topics: Beatport Blog
• Written by: Ben Raven

Each week we find out what nuggets of musical wisdom lie hiding in our favourite DJ’s record boxes.

This week, London’s don of deep house lets you take a sneak peek at the tracks that are making his DJ sets jump.

It may be an institution in house music but it’s hard to get your head around the fact that Buzzin’ Fly is only five years old.

Ben Watt, the Londoner who, alongside Tracey Thorn, hit the pop big-time with Everything But The Girl, started the label in 2003 and since its inception it’s deftly kept itself at the forward-thinking end of deep house.

To celebrate, Buzzin Fly have just released ‘5 Golden Years in the Wilderness’, a double CD compilation featuring the label’s greatest tracks so far and a new CD of unmixed killer house cuts.

It’s a landmark release in a big year for Ben.

Earlier in June, influential Ibiza party We Love Sundays at Space announced him as one of their summer residents, and he’s also made a headline appearance at Sonar, to be shortly followed by playing Exit festival.

He’s also road testing a long-awaited new track of his own entitled ‘Guinea Pig’ to follow in the autumn.

Until then it’s time to find out what’s rocking his record box.

Favourite set opener?

Of course it depends on the time of night and the location, but recently I have been recording ambient pads of synths in a static minor key and overlaying snippets of spoken word vocals to create a moment of anticipation.

I found a recording of the actor Richard Burton reading Dylan Thomas’ ‘Under Milk Wood’ and the resonance in his voice makes for a great moment when he speaks ‘To begin at the beginning...’.

I use the moment to gauge the audience’s attention and then decide what to do next.

Secret weapon that only you have a copy of?

I do loads of re-edits these days on a simple 2-track editor I downloaded as a piece of freeware off the net.

A few weeks ago I also did a mash of a section of Radiohead’s ‘Street Spirit’ with Stimming and H.O.S.H.’s recent ‘Radar’ to create my very own ‘Radarhead’. It always works.

Trippiest record?

I love some of Francois K’s late ‘90s dubs which marry pulsing deep bass with cosmic synths all spattered with space echo.

I did another re-edit recently of his classic ‘Time And Space’ which removed the slightly ersatz jazz solo in the middle to create just seven minutes of pure trippiness.

Killer vocal track?

Carl Craig’s rework of ‘Sound Of Silver’ by LCD Soundsystem was a recent good one, but I usually prefer to take acapellas and trigger them from a third CDJ using filters and delays to create vocal dubs.

I love the vocal from Closer Musik’s ‘1, 2, 3 (No Gravity)’ on Kompakt.

And I still play Audiofly and Miss Jools’ Sleeperthief remix of ‘Haunting’ a lot.

Bassline weapon?

For me, there are bassline ‘drivers’ that get the hands in the air, and there are bassline ‘divers’ where the sub-bass enters through the knees and offers a full body experience.

I am just about to release a new track by Stimming called ‘Kleine Nachtmusik’ on Buzzin’ Fly which has some of lowest bass around, operating with a kind of half-time dub feel.

Super deep.

The record that will never leave your box as long as you live?

I don’t really think like that.

Some DJs point to a particular record and say ‘Oh, that one really defines me,’ as though they access their self-expression through an idea someone else recorded.

But for me, it is the COMBINATION of records that matters.

I can quite happily turf out a whole CD wallet of records and re-fill it with other stuff in an effort to try and find a new combination that night that inspires me.

The track you always get asked to play that you don’t mind playing?

‘Pop A Cap In Yo’ Ass’.

Even if I don’t want to play the full spoken word vocal, I will always happily play the dubstrumental. When the bassline comes in it always gets a great reaction.

Oldie that everyone else has probably forgotten?

Brooklyn Zoo’s ‘Wild Kingdom’ on Henry St.

It re-uses a very familiar Fender Rhodes refrain but with tough New York Beats, some killer kick-drum reverb and a simple alto sax lick.

Put together by Johnny D (not the modern Oslo Recordings Johnny D) but the original New Jersey Johnny ‘D’ DeMairo.

Get out of jail card?

Everything But the Girl vs. Soul Vision ‘Tracey In My Room’.

I don’t really play it that much these days but when I do, at a special occasion, I prefer to earn the right to play it by effortlessly building towards it rather than reaching for it to save the night!

Your “one more tune” end of night finisher?

I played at the opening of Sonar 2008 on Thursday night and finished with The Korgis’ ‘Everyone’s Gotta Learn Sometimes’.

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