Post by chibuku on Apr 27, 2007 14:08:48 GMT
Those who have heard (and who hasn’t by now?) Ben Westbeech’s ridiculously infectious, light-as-a-bubble debut single ‘Feel So Good,’ will already have the 25 year old Bristol-based vocalist-producer marked down as a serious sensualist.
No-one can write such a sublimely feel-good tune - all honeyed vocals, pin-sharp grooves, light, stuttering drums and catchy melodies - without knowing a thing or two about, well, indulgence.
Yet it wasn’t until he was already classically trained as a cellist, pianist and vocalist, that young Westbeech fell in love with the beat & basslines of late 80s pioneers like LTJ Bukem and NWA. It was by adding killer snares, throbbing low-end and syncopated jazz licks to his existing musical arsenal of strings, wood and voice that Ben secured his love of the lascivious, an obsession begun some years earlier.
“I was brought up on rock ‘n’ roll music by my dad and this is when I fell in love with breakbeats,” he explains. “Then, at age 12 I bought decks and started mixing and buying records. I was playing in orchestras and choirs by day, and by night mixing dance music. It was this juxtaposition of styles that has really shaped my musical ear.”
Upon leaving school, Ben attended University. He managed two years of a music and drama course, decided he hated it, and ditched it for some work experience with Shy FX and T-Power. This heady baptism of beats was a crucial turning point in Ben’s life. He emerged a brand new entity, suddenly as comfortable with a sampler as a with a spiccato. Then he did what every basshead does: he moved to Bristol.
“I started going out and meeting people like MCs Sirplus and Kelz, and [drum & bass producer] Clipz, who I had known before I moved. I started making hip hop with Sirplus and we got a tune called 'Big Ras Crew' picked up by Die and Roni , who put it out on Full Cycle. I ended up producing half of Sirplus' album, which sadly never came out. I then met Die during a classic Bristol three-day bender and a day’s skating at St George Park. We clicked and started making tunes together – a bit of drum and bass, hip hop and anything else we vibed off.”
Ben also at this time set to work on his debut album. ‘So Good Today’, his debut cut, was immediately picked up by Gilles Peterson, who made it the inaugural single for his brand new Brownswood label and subsequently rinsed it on his Worldwide show. Before its official release the record was voted fifth best single at the 2005 Worldwide Awards, and it has gone on to become one of this year’s slinkiest dancefloor anthems. Upon hearing more Westbeech grooves, Gilles snapped up the album too.
Light as an early morning samba drifting over the misty hilltops of Rio, fluid as the river Avon that trickles past Ben’s Bristolian home, Welcome To The Best Years Of My Life sees the singer play the role of velvet-voiced vocalist with sassy panache, melding sharp-eyed beats (never pompous, never obvious) to lyrics that brim with sensuality and indulgence: love, lust, drinking, partying, dancing, music…life.
It’s Sybaritic soul at its finest.
“It’s all a reflection of what was going on in my life at the time, and the cards that I had been dealt when I was younger,” states Ben. “I think music is a great diary of your life and these are my first experiences. It was recorded all over the shop. I moved house five times that year, so each room I was in produced a couple of tunes. I also did some tracks with Die and some with Clipz. Die has mixed most of the album with me and has been really important to the overall finished sound of the record.”
The document billows and sways with an easy-going charm that knocks you down and puts you back on your feet so often you’ll feel like a bobo doll. There’s the old-fashioned swing-time of ‘Stop What You’re Doing’, the overtly sexed-up ‘In/Out’, the Patife/XRS-Land d&b flutters of ‘Get Closer’. There’s folk, soul, hip hop, jazz, Latin…but one thing Ben doesn’t indulge in, is that old soul-boy trope of sadness.
“I remember the day I wrote ‘Feel So Good’, he says. “It was grey and I was feeling down. I was really frustrated with my situation at that time. I think being on the dole for so many years was getting to me. Life felt tough. But despite the inspiration I’ve always wanted to make music that made me happy.”
Even ominously titled tracks like ‘Grey Skies’ – an instrumental that sings for itself – are moving rather than mournful, and ‘Taken Away From’, with its nostalgic tang and plodding beat, is way more sensual than sad. Connecting this upbeat collection of jams together is Ben’s versatile and mellifluous voice - think Jamiroquai and Omar harmonizing with Timberlake and D’Angelo and you’re get close.
Hip pop sans fromage? Classic soul with a contemporary edge? An Epicurean gust of fresh air? Whichever way you like it, Ben Westbeech and his music aim to please.
CATCH BEN AT CHIBUKU MAY 5TH ALONGSIDE DAVE CLARKE/ROBERT HOOD/GILLES PETERSON/PHIL COOPER/PHIL CHARNOCK.
WWW.CHIBUKU.COM/SHOP
No-one can write such a sublimely feel-good tune - all honeyed vocals, pin-sharp grooves, light, stuttering drums and catchy melodies - without knowing a thing or two about, well, indulgence.
Yet it wasn’t until he was already classically trained as a cellist, pianist and vocalist, that young Westbeech fell in love with the beat & basslines of late 80s pioneers like LTJ Bukem and NWA. It was by adding killer snares, throbbing low-end and syncopated jazz licks to his existing musical arsenal of strings, wood and voice that Ben secured his love of the lascivious, an obsession begun some years earlier.
“I was brought up on rock ‘n’ roll music by my dad and this is when I fell in love with breakbeats,” he explains. “Then, at age 12 I bought decks and started mixing and buying records. I was playing in orchestras and choirs by day, and by night mixing dance music. It was this juxtaposition of styles that has really shaped my musical ear.”
Upon leaving school, Ben attended University. He managed two years of a music and drama course, decided he hated it, and ditched it for some work experience with Shy FX and T-Power. This heady baptism of beats was a crucial turning point in Ben’s life. He emerged a brand new entity, suddenly as comfortable with a sampler as a with a spiccato. Then he did what every basshead does: he moved to Bristol.
“I started going out and meeting people like MCs Sirplus and Kelz, and [drum & bass producer] Clipz, who I had known before I moved. I started making hip hop with Sirplus and we got a tune called 'Big Ras Crew' picked up by Die and Roni , who put it out on Full Cycle. I ended up producing half of Sirplus' album, which sadly never came out. I then met Die during a classic Bristol three-day bender and a day’s skating at St George Park. We clicked and started making tunes together – a bit of drum and bass, hip hop and anything else we vibed off.”
Ben also at this time set to work on his debut album. ‘So Good Today’, his debut cut, was immediately picked up by Gilles Peterson, who made it the inaugural single for his brand new Brownswood label and subsequently rinsed it on his Worldwide show. Before its official release the record was voted fifth best single at the 2005 Worldwide Awards, and it has gone on to become one of this year’s slinkiest dancefloor anthems. Upon hearing more Westbeech grooves, Gilles snapped up the album too.
Light as an early morning samba drifting over the misty hilltops of Rio, fluid as the river Avon that trickles past Ben’s Bristolian home, Welcome To The Best Years Of My Life sees the singer play the role of velvet-voiced vocalist with sassy panache, melding sharp-eyed beats (never pompous, never obvious) to lyrics that brim with sensuality and indulgence: love, lust, drinking, partying, dancing, music…life.
It’s Sybaritic soul at its finest.
“It’s all a reflection of what was going on in my life at the time, and the cards that I had been dealt when I was younger,” states Ben. “I think music is a great diary of your life and these are my first experiences. It was recorded all over the shop. I moved house five times that year, so each room I was in produced a couple of tunes. I also did some tracks with Die and some with Clipz. Die has mixed most of the album with me and has been really important to the overall finished sound of the record.”
The document billows and sways with an easy-going charm that knocks you down and puts you back on your feet so often you’ll feel like a bobo doll. There’s the old-fashioned swing-time of ‘Stop What You’re Doing’, the overtly sexed-up ‘In/Out’, the Patife/XRS-Land d&b flutters of ‘Get Closer’. There’s folk, soul, hip hop, jazz, Latin…but one thing Ben doesn’t indulge in, is that old soul-boy trope of sadness.
“I remember the day I wrote ‘Feel So Good’, he says. “It was grey and I was feeling down. I was really frustrated with my situation at that time. I think being on the dole for so many years was getting to me. Life felt tough. But despite the inspiration I’ve always wanted to make music that made me happy.”
Even ominously titled tracks like ‘Grey Skies’ – an instrumental that sings for itself – are moving rather than mournful, and ‘Taken Away From’, with its nostalgic tang and plodding beat, is way more sensual than sad. Connecting this upbeat collection of jams together is Ben’s versatile and mellifluous voice - think Jamiroquai and Omar harmonizing with Timberlake and D’Angelo and you’re get close.
Hip pop sans fromage? Classic soul with a contemporary edge? An Epicurean gust of fresh air? Whichever way you like it, Ben Westbeech and his music aim to please.
CATCH BEN AT CHIBUKU MAY 5TH ALONGSIDE DAVE CLARKE/ROBERT HOOD/GILLES PETERSON/PHIL COOPER/PHIL CHARNOCK.
WWW.CHIBUKU.COM/SHOP