There’s really no introduction neccessary for Ben Watt: one half of the duo ‘Everything But The Girl’ and the creative loci for tracks like ‘Missing’ (remixed by Todd Terry) as well as for work with Deep Dish and Massive Attack; worlds apart from his humble beginnings in Hull and as spokesman for the band’s inoffensive brand of jazzy, acoustic pop music that was Ben and Tracy’s staple.
Cut to 2002, and a raw underground House track by Ben Watt intended only for casual Sunday nightclub play was bootlegged off a test pressing and quickly sold an estimated 2,000 copies. The track was called ‘Lone Cat’, and its success unintentionally kick-started Watt’s fantasy of one day starting a record label. In April 2003 Watt released ‘Lone Cat’ as the debut single on his brand new Buzzin’ Fly Records, and the track has now sold close to 10,000 copies on vinyl.
Three-years old and two volumes in, Buzzin’ Fly Records has become one of House music’s leading imprints and international seedbed for the likes of San Francisco’s Justin Martin, Lyon’s Manoo and Francois A, Detroit’s Lephtee, Moscow’s Kayot and Lisbon’s Darkmountaingroup. Not that this should come as any surprise to fans of Everything But The Girl as later albums like ‘Walking Wounded’ and ‘Temperamental’, built authoritatively on the pair’s introduction to electronica, established Ben as a forward spirit with a natural grasp of musical filtering.
And here’s why he’s still around after all these years; he keeps his outlook shockingly current. Buzzin Fly Volume 3 shows frequent dashes of the minimalist and electro that keeps ‘Buzzin Fly’ vital and yet it’s still the emotional tug of Watt’s own writing and production that threads the seventy minutes together so successfully. Segueing the record’s intro loop with the skittish, two-stepping mannerisms of ‘Gazebo’ by Fairmont is Ben’s new composition, ‘Old Soul’ featuring Baby Blak and pulling the whole respectable enterprise into his characteristic languid, lush and chill direction. Almost like a painter, always like a novelist.
Melodic, honest and at times painfully melancholic, yet thoroughly crisp and modern, this is surely the work of a DJ and producer at the top of his game.