Ben Balafonic - DJ, Writer, Producer, Engineer and all round music lover...
Rewind more than a decade to the days of queueing for up to 2 days at a time to get the chance to play his own inimitable brand of techno (his then music of choice) at the legendary “free†parties at the start of the 90s, alongside the scene’s legends such as Liberator DJs, D.A.V.E. Drummer and co, Ben has gone on to regularly play at clubs, festivals and parties everywhere.
Around 97, he started and ran two record labels; Highwire Recordings (bassline / dub infused techno) which put out over 20 releases shifting in total over 30,000 units..and later Double 7 (with Chris Liberator) for the breaks and beats tracks that were fast becoming Balafonic Studio’s regular sound..
With his brother (and mentor) Dom, Ben started the band Bi-Polar, landing early on a great ally in the publisher Plangent Visions, and together Ben and Dom went on to mix, remix and write/produce music for a multitude of artists including Rolling Stones (really!), Sinead O’Connor, Afro-Celts, Earl 16, Sly and Robbie, Gregory Isaacs...They played wherever they could as a 9 piece unit, counting Jamaican legend Earl 16 and MC Cheshire Cat (Leftfield) as their vocalists, as well as the choicest 3 piece horn section around (a.k.a. Love Grocer) and gained many fans along the way..
In 2001 Ben moved accross town to West London and joined Dreadzone to co-write, engineer, mix and DJ with the band. It was a period which saw the release of an artist album (2005) Once Upon a Time, a Sound System style DJ mix album (Beats&Bobz vol 4 - which Ben mixed) for Functional and between many Live Band and DJ tours, remix a host of acts such as Mobb Deep, Girls Aloud, Ms Dynamite, Prince Allah, Rogue Element.. to name but a few. Ben and Dreadzone parted company last summer (2006) after 5 happy and fruitful years working together.
Onwards and upwards..and now finally Ben is entering a chapter in his musical production life where he is most comfortable, regaining the hunger to write and mix at the highest level once more. Current and recent collaborations include tracks with Freestylers, Ed 209, Control Z, Breakfastaz, Ken Mac et al....i.e. THE leading lights of an ever growing Breakbeat fraternity which musically knows no bounds or prejudice...News on releases soon come...
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