BUZZIN’ FLY ARTISTS: Ben Watt, Mlle Caro and Franck Garcia, Rodamaal, Darkmountaingroup, Justin Martin, Manoo & Francois A, Rocco, Stimming, Alex Santos, Abyss, Kayot, Automagic, Lephtee, Alexander Maier, Kimouts, BarBQ, Pedro Madeira, The Green Men, Chris Woodward (Resident DJ), Moreno, Unity, Spencer Parker, Gavin Herlihy, Here Today, Lovebirds.
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STRANGE FEELING RECORDS ARTISTS: Figurines, The Unbending Trees
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OFFICE TEAM: Ben (Direction), Marianne (Label Manager), Lizzi (Press ’n’ Promotions), Kim (International / Licensing), Samantha (Accounts), Jo (IT), John G (Art & Design).
LOVE: My kids, Tracey, Lunatron, Geoff Travis, the London regulars, our friends at The End, and anyone who has ever been to one of our parties, bought one of our records, or done us a favour, and everyone who finds no problem adoring modern clubland and Leonard Cohen at the same time.
Influences
... Coltrane's ballads, Stan Tracey's Under Milk Wood, Rough Trade 1978-1983, early Factory Records, Neu's Hallogallo, Au Revoir Simone, Francois K, Bill Evans, Arthur Russell, Los Hermanos, John Martyn's guitar playing, Eno, Leonard Cohen, Metro Area, Philip Larkin, Hal Hartley, The Return of The Durutti Column, Sinatra's 'In The Wee Small Hours', Francis Ford Coppola, Drum 'n' Bass 1995-1997, The Modern Lovers, Hull, early Guidance Records, Carl Craig, 1970's Bob Rafelson movies, marmite sandwiches, Ibadan, Dan Flavin light installations, Martin Margiela, the Dorset coast, the flat cold blue Humberside skyline, Bruce Chatwin's 'The Songlines', Martin Amis' 'Experience', Robert Wyatt, the Centre 42 Big Band, late 70's New York, the new Berlin, Michael Holding, fountain pens, retractable pencils, beach-combing, Adnams beer, white cloud mountain minnows, Roland Kirk, Lenny Kaye, home cooking, fire shrimps, banana bread, Joni Mitchell guitar tunings, Juno 106, Guild F50, Gibson Dove, Nord G2, Mr Benn, Joy Division live at ULU, The Smiths live at Leicester Poly, Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers live at Hammersmith Odeon, Doc Scott live at Speed, Maltesers, John Tejada, Boars Hill, The Beano, Tim Buckley's Buzzin' Fly, Tim Buckley's Strange Feelin', gin and tonic with lime, Funktion 1, Tommy Cooper, Renault 5, Good Vibrations Festival, Cortney Tidwell, flip flops, near-death experience, Martin Hannett, Peter Saville, Kensington Market 1979, Berthold Brecht, Jacobean Tragedy, DJ Gregory 2000 - 2003, pre-Defected Sandy Rivera, Red House Painters, 'Mephisto', Daniel Day Lewis, Derek Jarman, Sandy Denny, Fabio and Grooverider on Kiss in 1996, Match Of The Day, Dancing Brave, English piers, duetting with Jeff Buckley, Humphrey Spender, Gianfranco Zola, Geoff Travis, Andrew Smith's 'Moondust', Barnes Common, the river reaches from Putney to Chiswick, Scarboro Castle, Polkerris, cold Alsace, Ibiza, Hellman's Lite Mayo, Cote D'Azur ...
Hello, and welcome to myspzzzzz. Unlike many pages up here, this one is actually genuine and you are reading content actually posted by me. First let's get a few things out of the way. Yes, I am/was that bloke in Everything But The Girl. Yes, I recorded 'North Marine Drive' in my youth. Yes, I have been a DJ for over 10 years. Yes, I wrote a book in 1996 called 'Patient' about surviving an extremely rare life-threatening illness. Yes, I now run two independent record labels called Buzzin' Fly (House and Techno flavours) and Strange Feeling (Alt-Indie). OK, that's that cleared up. Meanwhile, check out the official Twitter feed here ...
And if you missed it, this was THE classic dance comp of 2008, although I say it unashamedly myself. 27 unmixed tracks! What's not to like!
VARIOUS ARTISTS
'BUZZIN' FLY - 5 GOLDEN YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, UNMIXED AND SELECTED BY BEN WATT'
OUT NOW
DJ / 'Comp Of The Month * * * * * ' iDJ / 'Comp Of The Month ... One of the finest compilations of recent times and a sure fire collectors edition. * * * * *' M8 / 'Album Of The Month * * * * * ' RADIO 1 / 'Recommended Album Of The Week (In New Music We Trust)' MIXMAG / 'Not only do their classics still sound great but the seven new tracks suggest that Watt's ear for a great melody remains undiminished.' BMM / 'A treasure trove of fiery dancefloor nugggets' TOUCH / 'A great label and here's to the next 5 years .* * * * *'
YES, YOU COULD DOWNLOAD IT, BUY WHY NOT GET YOUR LAVISHLY PACKAGED TRIPLE CD BOX SET WITH FOLDOUT POSTER FROM ANY OF THESE FINE ONLINE STORES. IT IS A LOVELY THING.
So ... what else is new? All the latest upcoming dates are posted here if you want to come to a party. Also, don't forget the weekly Buzzin' Fly Radio Show on Kiss FM in the UK (Wed 02h00 GMT). If you can't tune in live we do a worldwide LISTEN AGAIN re-stream for 7 days at the Buzzin' Fly website.
On the Strange Feeling front, all out bands are hidden away trying to write some new songs, and I'm still waiting to find another one I can afford to put some more money into.
Meanwhile, here are some more tender portraits. Above - contemplative and mysterious in front of the Albanian nose-flute house section of my esteemed vinyl archive. Below - hotel room, San Francisco, including high-brow Richard Ford novel (unread) and ostentatious slogan t-shirt
Incidentally, you can buy all of the Buzzin' Fly and Strange Feeling catalogue at the Buzzin' Fly Online Shop including 320kbps MP3 downloads.
As for the back story, I'm sure many of you know I have been in a band with Tracey Thorn for 25 years called Everything But The Girl. We made nine studio albums, and travelled all over the world. Some of the records were good, some not so good, some were hits, some were flops, but that's life. If you're new to this information, our biggest records were Missing (1995) and the Walking Wounded album (1996). There is a nice collection we assembled called 'Like The Deserts Miss The Rain' in 2002 if you wanna start somewhere. In 1998 I moved away from the mainstream and set up an underground club night playing deep house with Jay Hannan. It was called Lazy Dog. It happened every other Sunday in London for five years. We released a couple of compilation albums and made lots of people very happy. Lazy Dog folded in 2003. I set up my own independent label called Buzzin' Fly Records the same year. We put out mainly underground house and techno records and compilations. The label is basically a vehicle for my own dance-oriented productions eg 'Lone Cat' (2003), 'A Stronger Man' (2003), 'Outspoken Vol 1' (2005), but more importantly a place for new talent and DJ-producers on their first record, people like Justin Martin, Rodamaal, Manoo and Francois A, Kayot, Darkmountaingroup. There is a cool Buzzin' Fly Forum too with hundreds of people chatting about deep house, music, tunes they love, recommended stuff. I DJ all over the world and we throw regular Buzzin' Fly parties in London. You can buy Buzzin' Fly stuff like records, tees and badges at the Buzzin' Fly Online Shop. People ask if I will record with Tracey again. Of course this is a possibility but not right now. Tracey put out a wonderful solo album in early 2007 (her first stuff for ages) called 'Out Of The Woods' but apart from offering moral support (yes, we are a couple and have been for 25 years) I was not involved. That's about it. Here's a pic of somewhere I love - Mudeford beach huts. Best buzzin' ... Ben
Hi Ben, I gave up with Twitter. I was constantly being followed by young ladies from the Far East and although I deleted them, they kept coming back. Enjoyed reading your Hull blog. It has changed a lot since I lived there. All the best. Malcolm
Hi How r u Ben! Wish u all the best! i like ur music,ur tunes is really great!! Any plan to visting China?:-) Keep Rock! Greeting from Shanghai. Steven
Music is great. But I have to say I am sorry, not even Whispering death would be able to save this England team from defeat in the Ashes. Maybe in another 16 years ;)
Thanks for the add. "North Marine Drive" is still one of my favourite records for rainy springs (it is a compliment, of course). I remember too listening to "Eden" and "Walking wounded" during sunny days of summer. Hey but I listen to your music six months a year !
Hi How r u Ben Wish u all the best! i like ur music very much,ur tunes is nice!! Any Plan to visting China?:-) Keep Rock! Greeting from Shanghai. Steven
hello BEN! greetings and blessings from Brazil. thanks for the friendship and specially for sharing your interesting music with me. it's great to have you as a friend. might and light. Z.A. Feitosa (www.feitosa.net)
Hey Ben ... its early in Colorado and I was buzzin around your spizz! You think you could make an appearance this year at Beta? Those Funktion One Staks are calling your name and so are WE! oh yeah .. I promise to bring some banana bread for all :-) Hugs!
