Benga: Exploding into 2008

2006 and 2007 saw dubstep reach omnipresence. Infecting other genres like a virus, and with a colossal international fanbase, its current renown verges on astronomic proportions. Just take a look at minimal techno producer Ricardo Villalobos, who has been getting his hands dirty, remixing and incorporating dubstep into his DJ sets. And anyone who saw Stanton Warriors at Exit festival '07 will remember the ecstatic moment when glorious sub-bass ruptured their breaks set. Closer to home, Distance, Pinch, Skream, Rusko, Slaughtermob, Boxcutter, Scuba and Benga have all paid homage to Scottish soil in the last year. So as 2008 dawns upon us, the question on everybody's lips is where can dubstep go from here?

Like its origins, the answer comes straight outta Croydon. The word is that Benga's latest 12", Night feat. Coki of DMZ, equates what Midnight Request Line is to his childhood compadre Skream - a definitive record. Night's up-tempo, playful dancefloor melody, and swooping, languorous bassline ("It's attractive, innit?" comments Benga, "It's like Eva Longoria for me.") has made it a hit with everyone from Laurent Garnier to Hot Chip over the summer. It's his third collaboration with Coki, but he's also released killer tracks with Walsh (Bingo on Hotflush and Spooksville on Immerse), so how do the two artists effect his work? "If I work with Walsh I get a darker sound," explains Benga, "if I work with Coki I work with him to get something fresh. We can both make bangers and we know that. When we get together we try to make something different."

It's not hard to see why Gilles Peterson would draw on Detroit techno as an allegory for dubstep. If the darker two-step garage productions of El-B, Zed Bias, Horsepower and co. are credited with the bones of the initial dubstep sound in the early 2000's, that makes Benga, Skream, Loefah and the second generation producers more like the Jeff Mills' of our day. Prolific. Forward thinking. Forcing the sound to progress, and fleshing it out. When you take a look at what Mills and his cohorts have done, and are still doing, for techno, citing Croydon as "England's Detroit" is no throwaway judgement for producers only just into their twenties. It implies they're shaping the future. Yet Benga is resolutely grounded, assuring us that he "never really stopped and thought about it... I wouldn't say it affects me in any way. I still look at myself in the same way - Benga, not prolific Benga." And do you feel young in terms of the music industry? "I do, but maybe that's because I'm constantly reminded of it. Let's not forget I've been making music for about eight years, releasing for six."

Although the hollow, subterranean bass is something which anchors the genre, dubstep encapsulates a myriad of differing stylistic choices, and every producer has their own trademark stamp. Tempa and Big Apple releases are worlds away from the more industrial, electronic sounds emanating from Planet Mu, but Benga is adamant that although the new album is "really electronic," he's not one to "follow fashion," or steal ideas. "It's more of a round album if you ask me," he says, "everything on that album is different." He volunteers a track called Pleasure as his favourite track which incorporates "that calm, repetitive, deep house sound... like older house... it's the synth stabs. But I'm not going to try and hum [it] down the phone!

"The inspiration is in my head, apart from the fact that I listen to music that's around me, like the radio, TV, or Internet. I like sitting down and seeing what my strange head will submit." But dubstep wise? "Nah, to be fair I try to stay away from as much dubstep as I can! I'm always out DJing so I hear enough of it then. But I think that if I only listened to dubstep my music would never progress cause it'd obviously just be cycling... Next year I wanna work with some other artists, something slightly different in dubstep land. Maybe work on some rockstep! I definitely wanna work with some lead singers."

He gives The Skinny a clue as to his future intentions, casually mentioning that "Magnetic Man is coming to a home near you," and then the subject snaps shut like a clam. What we do already know about Magnetic Man is that his frenetic up-tempo tunes manipulate the conventionally warmer dubstep sounds into highly-charged, rhythmic jabbing in tracks which crackle with electricity. And if Benga's remix of Soulz (on N-Type's Dubstep Allstars 5) is anything to go by, a potential collaboration is well worth keeping an eye out for.

So with the release of Diary of an Afro Warrior, and a busy tour
schedule including Australia, Berlin and a music conference in Miami, it looks like 2008 is going to be a hell of a year for Benga. He'll be making a return to Glasgow in January, and was pretty taken with the Scottish crowd: "This is the first time this has ever happened to me, right. After my set I was packing up my records; I got outside, and everyone was waiting for me and they gave me a round of applause! They were havin' it proper. My type of people."

So what differentiates Benga from the other prodigies of his generation? "Personality for one, but then we are all strange, so we do strange music." If Benga has a Bengaizm, it's apparently a pretty mellow one. "Skreamism's more like a progression innit. I haven't really sat down and tried to take note of my progression. I will just do an album every year and then we'll hear from that. I dunno, that's my Benga-izm!" Is he always this chilled? "Yeah, I'm chilled but I've got nothing to be stressed about. I've always done what I liked, always been creative, and creativity makes me happy." It makes us happy too!