Having released the likes of Justin Martin, Ewan Pearson and Mike Monday, Buzzin' Fly Records launched by Ben Watt has been one of the best electronic labels around, fusing a pared down take on house and emotive tech with electronica. Often offering free mixes online from artists and guests such as latest addition to the label Loko plus this month's download from Tracey Thorn (who releases her new solo album, 'Love And Its Opposite', on their sister imprint Strange Feeling Records), the ever generous crew have hosted nights at London's Plastic People to the legendary now sadly defunct, The End. With Julia Biel on vocals and Stimming's trademark pitch-play, the two versions (Sunrise and Sunset) of their 50th single 'Bright Star' provides the perfect counterparts made up of a darker dancefloor track and an almost melancholic, melodic take. After speaking to Ben Watt and Martin Stimming about their 50th release on the label, Dazed Digital present an exclusive mix from Watt.

Dazed Digital: What pushed you to start your own label?
Ben Watt: I grew up as a teenager in the heyday of the first independent label explosion in the early 80s. I loved the artwork and the aesthetic as much as the music. I loved Peter Saville, Factory, the die-cut 7" sleeves of Postcard. In my heart I knew one day I would find time to start an imprint of some kind where the ethos was upfront and as visual as it was musical. Although I spent my early years on an indie - Cherry Red - I then saw success with Tracey Thorn in Everything But The Girl. We moved onto a major and stayed there for 15 years. But by the mid-90s I'd had enough. By this time I was fascinated by clubland and I started DJing and started a club night in 1998 (Lazy Dog). I made a track in 2002 solely for club play but it was bootlegged without my knowledge. When I managed to seize back control I knew the moment had arrived to start the label I had always had in the back of my mind. The track was 'Lone Cat'. The label was Buzzin' Fly. It was 2003. We almost spent as much time on the artwork, the website, and the notepaper as we did on the music.

DD: What do you think makes it different to all the others?
Ben Watt: It isn't really for me to say but we tried from the beginning to go the extra yard in attention to detail on the presentation for sure. I think this was quite rare for house music, which tended to just stick a cheap pressing in disco bag. Labels like Kompakt and MoWax had a high aesthetic, but it was rarer in house music. We were also quick out of the traps on web stuff like social networking and community building. As for the music itself I follow my instincts. Yes, I am always intrigued by the current beat-zeitgeist and I like fresh twists, but it must also chime with my own love of pathos and energy in equal measure. The end result is hopefully distinctive.

DD: What ties Buzzin' Fly artists together?
Ben Watt: Many of our artists come from different countries, different cities, but all of them seem to understand when they have made a track that might suit the label, so although we can release tracks from artists based in disparate parts of the world - Germany, Argentina, France, Detroit - there is a thread that links them. And then when we throw the parties I try and bring people together from different countries to play to together. For example, next month Michel Cleis from Switzerland is playing with Jay Shepheard from London at a Buzzin' Fly party in Belfast. They both appeared on the same Buzzin' Fly release last summer, and both are now working on new different stuff for us later this year.

DD: How did 'Bright Star' come about?
Ben Watt: Martin (Stimming) did a track for Buzzin' Fly in 2008. He then sent me a sketch last year for a new track inspired by the singing of Julia Biel who had just performed on my own track 'Guinea Pig'. I loved the music. I wrote some lyrics and sent them to Julia. She improvised the vocals using the words. I then edited the vocals and sent them back to Martin and he finished the music. The Sunset Mix was very much like the original rough. Martin was then struggling to come up with a darker clubbier mix until I suggested being less reverential with the vocal sound, which became the Sunrise Mix. It was an interesting chain of events, each moment inspiring the next.

DD: What is the ethos of the label?
Ben Watt: Never plan too far ahead, and eat more salad.

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Dazed Digital: Where did you first hear Julia Biel and why did you choose her to do vocals?
Martin Stimming: I heard her vocals on Ben's "Guinea Pig" and I completely fell in love with her voice! For me she's a more down to earth version of Roisin Murphy, which is a good mixture. So it was a natural decision to ask Ben if she could do the vocals.

DD: Was it a joint effort? Who wrote the music? The lyrics? The melody?
Martin Stimming: I made a snippet of music with some concise rhodes and strange percussion. I sent it to Ben just to see what he thinks and also asked if there would be a chance to do something with Julia. He liked the idea and in the end Ben wrote the lyrics and Julia sang on the rough version. So I got the files from her and it was my turn to finish it. First i did the Sunset Mix which was based on the rough version I first made. But Ben and me agreed that we needed a more uplifting one and that became the Sunrise Mix. I never worked so hard on any track I did before!

DD: Your tracks are often quite melancholic with warped and pitch-bent sounds. Do you prefer to play with electronic components and effects or are you more a fan of analogue instruments?
Martin Stimming: Well, I think the best way is to find a good mixture. I use everything from everywhere - for the vocals on the Sunrise Mix I rented a very special mic (the Copperphone) to get that interesting phone-alike sound. Just using some EQs and compression wouldn't be that satisfying - sound-wise. Mostly I record every percussion by myself but tweak and overdub it in the box. Also most of the synths I use are hardware but I'm not afraid of using a software plug. The glitches are mostly little freeware programs from Smartelectronix (thanks guys!)

DD: What inspires you?
Martin Stimming: Whoo, that is a question to think about. Inspiration is like my bank balance. I get it from feelings which are mostly influenced by what happens around me. But when they meet the reality in the studio it's always a compromise between my original idea and the sequencer. I never get exactly what i wanted but its coming closer and closer...

DD: Who are your favourite artists right now?
Martin Stimming: Haha, as always the answer is: as i'm not a DJ - only producing and playing live - I'm not really into what's going on in the dance scene. I don't listen to promos and don't write charts any more. But at home I like Thunderheist, Q-Tip's Renaissance album was a bomb, The Knife's "Tomorrow in a Year" is a very 2010 way of thinking about music and the songs from Portishead's "Third" are very often in my mind ... oh, and Christian Vogel's last two albums are a must!

DD: What is your impression of the German scene at the moment?
Martin Stimming:  The most difficult question at the end! As you might recognise I like to talk about me more than about others... However, the German scene still is very vital and we have a lot of very good producers at the moment, unfortunately not so many new ones. In general i think techno/house is at a point where we all should like a bit of variety - too many DJs just play the same stuff because of buying charts suggested by key DJs and mixing them digitally... I'm always very happy if I listen to someone who has a special style. And of course there are some - especially in Germany.

Tracklist
Downtown Party Network - Days Like These
Johnny Rock and Luke Solomon - Megamixx (Mr G's Movin' Remix)
Radiohead - Everything In It's Right Place (Ewan Pearson Unreleased Mix /Ben's Front Edit)
Roberto Bosco - Dub Piano
Sonic Youth - Stones (Ben's Unreleased Dubstrumental Edit)
Vincenzo - Kineo

Bright Star by Stimming, Ben Watt and Julia Biel is released on March 8th. Pre-order the super deluxe 12" limited edition of 'Bright Star' with gold-foil gatefold sleeve, heavy vinyl pressing, pull-out poster, lyrics and free download voucher.