Ben Horton aka Benny Tones

Selected Works is a weekly (usually) newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell, aka Yours Truly. Most weeks, Selected Works consists of a recap of what I’ve been doing lately and some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken + some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes it takes completely different forms.

Over the last 17 years, Ben Horton, aka Benny Tones, has established himself as one of the best recording, mix and mastering engineers in New Zealand.

Working from his Organik Muzik Workz studio in Wellington, he’s loaned his attentive ears to works from Electric Wire Hustle, Pacific Heights, Graeme James, Rob Ruha, Iva Lamkum and literally hundreds of other bands and solo artists. Alongside his studio practice, Horton has also worked as a live sound engineer, DJed outdoor raves and nightclubs, and recorded and produced his own well-regarded solo albums, Earth Tones and Chrysalis.

Earlier in the year, I spent some time interviewing Horton for Audio Culture – The Noisy Library of New Zealand Music. The story I wrote is live over on their site now here.

While we’re on the topic of Benny Tones, you can also check out his 2011 album Chrysalis below via Bandcamp.

For my money, across this album, Horton managed to successfully capture some of the best early vocal recordings from former Electric Wire Hustle frontman Mara TK. Of the three they put together at the time, the standout for me is ‘Nevermind’. Over the course of five minute long synth hip-hop beat delivered with a Dilla time shuffle, TK sings about wandering through the streets looking for conversation. It really captures a very specific moment in the history of Wellington’s mixed-up modern beats, soul, hip-hop, dub, and techno scene during the late 2000s and early 2010s.

I also enjoy this abstract, ambient rap track Horton recorded with the Rwandan New Zealand rapper Raiza Biza a few years later. To my ears, Raiza has always been at his best when he gets lost in wordplay born from philosophical and existential concerns, and this track does all of that and more. Maybe in the stars, there’s a little bit of us.

I actually profiled Biza for Audio Culture last year. You can read that story here.

On a more personal note, whenever I need to get some rare vinyl digitised for archival purposes or have some sort of audio engineering work I need done, Horton has long been my first port of call. He’s amazing at what he does. Check out his business website over here.

Last week on Test Pressing, I wrote about a couple of recent dance/downtempo releases on Munich’s excellent Public Possession record label. If you’re interested, you can check them out here.

YOUNG GHO$T & UNWELL, UP ALL EVENING

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a press release for the latest single/video from two upcoming Wellington music-makers, Young Gho$t and Unwell. Watch the video above, read the text below.

Three months after dropping the Jamma EP in April, Unwell and Young Gho$t reconnect for a new 90s jungle/drum & bass meets trip-hop slanted single, ‘Up All Evening’. Propelled by a shuffling breakbeat, weighty subs, electric piano, murky vocal samples and an effortless, introspective rap from Gho$t, it’s a fast-paced homage to a golden moment when futuristic machine beats with a sleek, cyborg soul made their way into the UK mainstream in the mid-1990s. 

“We’re both huge fans of Good Looking Records and Metalheadz, and ‘Up All Evening’ was partly intended as a tribute towards this era, where it was more about the vibes and soul than anything else. We were trying to create something that pays homage to the old school but still explores the style in a fresh way.” – Unwell and Young Ghost

Fittingly accompanied by a throwback music video directed by Jason Park and starring the striking model Maia Wood, the visual treatment takes the sounds and styles that bubbled up across England during the final decade of the 20th century and relocates them within the modern, antipodean context of Wellington, New Zealand, where the two electronic music producers, DJs, and in Gho$t’s case, MC, reside. Dressed up in time-lapse sequences, playfully illustrated animations and a bevy of neo-gothic or techno-noir moments, the music video depicts Wood – and later on Unwell and Gho$t – making their way through the city before arriving at a vibrant warehouse rave. 

“Emotionally, the ‘Up All Evening’ video is ambiguous—it covers a range of simultaneous emotions and doesn’t tell you how you’re meant to feel about it any one way. Maia’s performance is meant to reflect that. We can see that she’s heading out to the rave, but we don’t know why or what she is escaping from. All we see is action, not the intent—and the uncertainty is part of the beauty.” – Unwell and Young Gho$t

Born in London and raised in Bristol, Young Gho$t arrived in New Zealand with his family in his mid-teens. Over the last five years, he has become a crucial player in Wellington’s underground jungle/drum & bass, dubstep, and hip-hop scenes through his work as an MC, DJ, producer, and promoter. Outside of running his Ghost Media production company, which has recently hosted Sully, Truant, Mystic State and Plastician in the capital, Gho$t is one-half of the celebrated industrial hip-hop duo Bad Taste with DJ Alphabethead.

Originally from the Wairarapa, Unwell is a jungle/drum & bass, dubstep, techno, and breaks producer and DJ who has previously released a rich range of atmosphere and driving bass music through Overview, Taipan Trax, Norman Foreman, and Borderline’s Enrichment Audio label. Also based in Wellington, alongside Gho$t, he has collaborated with Paige Julia and Hound while winning international and local support from Noisia, Club Glow, and George FM.

FIN.