lowdown
written and produced by michal mirecki
jeff bennett from malmö, sweden really needs no further introduction after 30+ releases on labels like treibstoff, pokerflat, morris audio, episode, his own imprints kung fu dub, maskros and many more. reknown for his unique blending between tribal dub with pumping techhouse elements, jeff bennett’s sound is full of influences by the plastic city/pokerflat definition and reggae/dub artists like king tubby, lee perry or mad professor - indeed jeff bennett is an artist with more than a remarkable biography and one of the sureplayers in the dubhouse genre. to emphasize his open minded future thinking, jeff did his mp3 debut with the canadians from epsilonlab, bringing on their first release. just 3 months later, jeff pumps out 3 new bringers on thinner accompanied by a remarkable remix of berlin’s finest dennis desantis. the ep rolls off with the slow-mo dubhouse of “messages”, a slowly evolving track with a rooty bassline and widely halled claps, that reminds of earlier c*rock aesthetics. the title track “lowdown” takes off the pace with an offset voice put within a chilly dubbed-out lounge environment, whose laidback beats are perfectly relaxing and bar-filling. “contortion” is a classy bennett track with familiar dub-chords and punctuated percussion drops, to remind the aesthetics of earlier days. the dennis desantis remix of “messages” is undoubtley another damn nice desantis remix, with it’s detroit strings, fat claps and synthesized melodic chords building up an advanced beautiful scenery.
talking about jeff bennetts future thinking, he is one of the first labelowners turning his former vinyllabel “kung fu dub” into a digital one for now and the next time. he thinks digital labels will continue to establish themselves in the near future, thanks to the growing support both sides from the technology as the growing community of digital djs. jeff hopes that the digital label will ultimately become a valuable business model one day, however he plans to continue a vinyl pressing from time to time.
jeff continues: “mp3 shops like nufonix, beatport and bleep are only in the early stages – just like mp3 shops will be sort of a reinvention of vinyl. however the detailed development will take a natural process of maturing until they get a wider acceptance.” bennett compares the current situation of arising mp3 shops with the birth of the online recordstores 5-6 years ago. therefore he actively works on new ways of distributing his own labels releases, same as he wants to start using digital devices such as traktor and final scratch for the future. jeff recently became daddy, so he is placed within an environment that gives him the inner peace and strength to model his own future from his place in malmö. due to his tireless work and efforts, we can be sure that jeff bennett will continue to be at the front of the dubhouse movement from both his creative output same as his ideologic positions.
text written by sebastian redenz
reviews
a.i. | croatia | 09/2005
one of the malmö`s finest, he does not need special introduction, strikes again! it seems that jeff is turning to a digital distribution of his music lately. after his release on epsilonlab, earlier this year, here he comes with the new ep on thinner; and he is even thinking about turning his label kung fu dub in to a digital one... about the release. very calm one it is, but with some catchy dancefloor elements. i especially like "messages", original version and dennis desantis remix. what can i say? jeff is definitely on the right track!