The latest installment in the ‘Ekspozicija’ mix-CD series is very special: we at Explicit/Matrix Music are especially proud to be able to work with one of the greatest UK techno DJs – BEN SIMS.

The new CD, subtitled ‘Escapism Pt. 2 is the long-awaited follow up to Ben’s first ever proper mix CD from 2002 and was scheduled for release on Carl Cox’s Intec imprint but due to the label’s closure we’re lucky enough to have it ourselves along with an updated tracklisting. It’s a finely cut-up blend of no less than 41 tracks, more than a quarter of which are Ben’s own, some of them as yet unreleased, or from his own labels. Some tracks have also been re-edited or re-mastered especially for this CD.

Ben is a DJ in the true sense of the word: using the (modern and traditional) DJ tools he took ready-made bits and pieces of the greatest tracks he could find and created something completely new, a new epic piece made of funk power, acid basslines, dub effects, raw ghetto-tech, the purest techno and various other tweaky ingredients. He threw everything into his grinder and worked his magic: the result is as fantastic as it can be. It just doesn’t let go or allow to drift away, just relentless in-your-face beats and sweaty fun on the dancefloor. A fast, furious and super-funky set that is definitely not suitable for the faint-hearted and the one that you will want to play over and over.

Could Ben Sims be the saviour of techno? Check it out and decide for yourself…

BEN SIMS – SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Ben Sims had his first decks at age ten. Schooled on mix tapes by the likes of Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Cheese and Froggy, and with his musical roots in reggae, funk, disco, electro, rare groove and hip-hop, by his mid teens he was spinning at after-hours ‘blues’ houses and a few years later came the acid house explosion with pirate radio and clubs. Skip forward fifteen years and you’ll find he’s one of the UK’s biggest techno exports and a much in demand producer.

and even Ben runs five labels (KB Records Inc. / Ingoma / Hardgroove / Symbolism / Theory), each one with a distinctive sound, ranging from hardgroovin’ and funk driven techno and house that is the trademark of his DJ sets, via tribal, to melodic electronica. In a genre that propagates sound-a-likes, Ben Sims productions have gained widespread attention and feature regularly in the boxes of his own personal heroes like Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Jeff Mills and Rolando, whilst also attracting crossover appeal that has seen Carl Cox, Fergie, Judge JulesTiesto drop the odd Sims cut. He has remixed Jeff Mills, Green Velvet, Blake Baxter, Marco Bailey, Chris Liebing and Adam Beyer to mention but a few.

The past 6 years have seen Ben constantly touring and tearing up dancefloors at legendary clubs & parties such as Liquid Room/Tokyo, Sonar/Barcelona, Limelight/NYC, Rex/Paris, Zouk/Singapore, I Love Techno/Belguim and Tresor/Berlin, Awakenings/Amsterdam and Atomic Jam/UK plus hundreds of others with his tight, energetic and skilful brand of three-deck wizardry. Add this to his recent ventures into promoting with both the Retro_vert and Split parties causing a storm in London, a monthly internet radio show with Split resident Alex Downey and much more, there’s certainly no sign of things slowing down anytime soon for Mr Sims.