Ben UFO, Mexico City and the art of relevancy
The month in music, January
January 24, 2024
Sounds of a city: Frankfurt
February 19, 2024
It’s circa 2am in the smoking area of Fünk, a Funktion-One wielding club in Mexico City. Despite a borderline snobby preference for stripped back House & Techno, I've leapt at the chance to see Ben UFO in the capital.
With a tipsy, almost patriotic passion, I've found myself acclaiming Hessle Audio’s de-facto leader as one of the most relevant and important in UK dance music. Two punters nod politely but probably with disinterest.
Ben Thomson (Ben UFO) met David Kennedy (Pearson Sound) and Kevin McAuley (Pangaea) on Dubstep forums in the mid 2000s before linking up in the physical form at university. Pub meets, organised through Facebook and dedicated to Dubstep fanfare, slowly morphed into Hessle Audio. The nature of these meetings would set a tone maintained right up to the present day - an unwavering passion for the underground, actioned through a precise and professional approach.
Ben cut his teeth at Leeds University, hosting his first party at Wire club (pictured)
Despite an infatuation with Dubstep, it’s not a leap to conclude the label has benefited from its decline. The genre's extreme commercialisation and fracturing in the mid-to-late 2000s left many soul searching: Hessle embraced the mess and diversified. No better is this demonstrated than in their 2011 VA compilation, with more style tags than a decent record store’s genre offering - a stark contrast to their first releases, which rarely ventured outside of dark and atmospheric Dubstep (exampled below). Featured tracks on this 2011 record by the likes of Randomer, James Blake & Blawan evidence a real knack for ‘finger on the pulse’ A&R. This has been a fixed feature of Hessle Audio ever since, highlighted more recently by Anz and tasteful but fashionable fast house, courtesy of Shanti Celeste.
Relevancy feels like a dirty word sometimes, especially in underground dance music where emphasis is often placed on authenticity above all else - and rightly so. Hessle Audio oozes with both, but their relevancy is nothing short of astounding.
Their broad tent sound, which encapsulates everything between House and Dubstep, helps. Talking to Crack Magazine back in 2020, Ben acknowledged this himself, “We’ve existed through a series of genre revivals, but I do feel we’ve skirted around those as a label.” I think that only goes so far in explaining such consistent success.
Their hard work, professionalism and unwavering passion perhaps provides a better explanation. Despite touring internationally, their show on Rinse FM has barely missed a beat since its inception in 2011. The back and forth regarding production with artists that release on the label can take years and the ‘Hessle Trio’ are never far away from a conversation around label ethics, as shown here.
Credit: Select Magazine
This passion was on full show in Mexico City last month. Following a set that traversed up, down and round, weaving seamlessly between Dubstep, UKG, UKfunky and even Tech-House, Ben hung around for a seemingly ad-hoc B2B with Dj Fucci, a young CDMX “rising star” who opened the night.
To see a DJ, who has been at the top of his craft for at least 10 years, still have an absolute ball whilst exuding love and support for an up and coming talent is nothing short of heartwarming. This attitude very much ties in to the founding purpose of Hessle Audio, a project set up as a vehicle for Pangaea and Pearson Sound’s productions : a conduit of Ben’s plain passion for Dubstep. This raw love for dancefloor culture probably goes much further in explaining the continued success and relevancy of the trio than anything I have written here does.
Ben and DJ Fucci share the booth in Mexico City
My electronic music tastes have evolved in a fairly linear way. The first Dubstep scene, of which Hessle Audio rose from, was before my time. I realised at a relatively young age ‘bass music’ and its many derivatives weren’t my cup of tea. Nevertheless, I'll always give Ben UFO and the Hessle Audio crew my time - forward thinking music forever pushing boundaries and always throwing my pretentious tastes into doubt.
