Ben Sowton, the creator of the Seamless Recordings label, can rightly lay claim to kick starting the trend for bar/cocktail inspired compilation albums that is sweeping across continents. Ben created the bargrooves series (beware of imitations!) as a consequence of being involved in the club scene through underground house party, Come Dancing and setting up one of London’s most successful late night DJ bars, The White House. Having been Djing for many years and tired of the formulaic trance scene at the end of 1999 Ben created bargrooves…a soundtrack that combined both soulful house with edgier techy sounds…funky yet eminently danceable. His live sound is a combination of what you would expect towards the later half of a bargrooves album and bargrooves black.
Ben is also the founder of The White House in Clapham, one of the countries most succesful hybrid late night bar clubs, combining all the level of comfort and style, cocktails, food and service you expect from a late night bar with state of the art sound systems, lighting and the worlds finest DJs you expect from a club. Ben hosts the hugely popular bargrooves parties every last Saturday with over 1,000 people throughout the night…check out www.thewhitehouselondon.co.uk
Ben also hosts the bargrooves radio show which is syndicated to a number of stations. Ben also guests on many other radio shows through out the world….more details and an archive of previous shows can be found on the website at http://www.seamlessrecordings.co.uk/seamless/default.aspx?Pa ge=Radio
Bargrooves with Ben at the helm now hosts many events through out the UK and abroad. Internationally bargrooves has taken off, in the last 12 months Ben has played to crowds in Indonesia, Philippines, China, Ibiza, Majorca, Marbella, France, Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE and Malaysia and there are tours being planned in Asia, UAE and South America in the next few months. For bookings for either Ben or bargrooves please contact [email protected]
SEAMLESS RECORDINGS
Seamless Recordings are widely recognised for the highly respected series – bargrooves. Bargrooves can rightly lay claim to kick starting a new trend and coining a term now widely used to describe a musical genre. Borne out of a love of deep house that creator Ben Sowton had quietly nurtured; the label has grown from the initial bargrooves compilation back in 2002 to many album series’ – bargrooves, City Life, later, Puro and Mr & Mrs Smith, Rock the Disco, Vintage Grooves etc… 5 singles labels (bargrooves, Seamless Twelves, Kinky Vinyl, Whoop and Seamless Black Label), a plethora of UK and international parties as well as a global following of dedicated fans!
The bargrooves series remains central to the label with each release featuring two DJ mixes of rich, textured music, cherry-picked from the finest independent labels. Bargrooves remains the only compilation series that can claim overwhelming success without the help of chart topping dance hits.…this is the connoisseur’s compilation that easily pleases all lovers of good music from trainspotting house headz to first timer dance converts!
Now onto the 22nd release in the bargrooves series, a cross section of well respected DJs have jumped at the chance to be associated with and mix a bargrooves compilation including Soul Avengerz, Oliver Lang, Richard Earnshaw, Matthias Heilbronn, Jay Hannan, Mateo & Matos, Vincent Kwok, Lele Sacchi and The Groove Junkies. Each DJ takes the reins for a mix alongside Ben Sowton to push this constantly evolving series to new heights. The latest album is a slight change with tradition as both CDS have been compiled and mixed by DJ and producer Andy Caldwell from San Francisco, which has received fantastic reviews. For more information about the albums and to buy logon to www.bargrooves.com
Two exciting album brands are also being nurtured in the “City Life†and “Later†titles. The ‘City Life’ series invites world renowned labels to compile their top tracks and showcase their sound as well as profiling a key city associated with dance music; labels include King Street, Gossip, Kinky Vinyl, Ocean Traxx and Press lab from Italy. While “Later†invites successful left of centre artists to compile eclectic mixes with previous guest compilers including Bent and Faze Action.
Seamless Recordings blossoming singles labels: bargrooves, Seamless Twelves and Seamless Black are the imprints that drive the creativity behind the tracks featured on their albums and champion the sound Ben Sowton has created. Recently Seamless joined forces with Whoop and Kinky Vinyl which gives the label a well rounded portfolio ensuring the label has access to some of the best producers and up and coming artists around.
For more information on any of the aspects of Seamless Recordings, please visit our website. www.seamlessrecordings.com
