ARTIST FOCUS: BEN WESTBEECH

His career in music might’ve started off in the genre of classical music, but Westbeech quickly fell in love with hip hop and dance music. At 11 years old he got his hands on some early bootleg rave tapes, that he jammed to all day and night, and his obsession with dance music began. His love for the drum patterns and bass-lines, propelled him into dj-ing just a year later (he got on the decks WAY early!) and just like that he was hooked for life. The same thing happened, when Ben first listened to Hip-hop music – it blew him away and got him vibing. The tracks that trapped him were ‘LTJ Bukem – Atlantis’ and ‘NWA – Straight Outta Compton’ (we can relate).

Although his influences include house, soul, jazz and hip hop, Ben Westbeech explores a broader spectrum of genres through his bi-weekly ‘Red Light Radio’ show. Which dives into the realms of Jazz, Psych-rock, Soul, Folk, Disco and everything in between – making him a multi-faceted Dj, Producer and Musician. 

Westbeech big-break manifested back in 2006, when his CD containing his first single ‘So Good Today’ changed hands with Gilles Peterson – thanks to a friend in London. Peterson snapped it up and two months later, Ben’s signed to Peterson’s new label, Brownswood Recordings. The following year in March, Ben releases his debut album ‘Welcome to the Best Years of Your Life’, which lands him an appearance on ‘Later… with Jools Holland’ alongside Paul McCartney and Björk. We’re not done yet – in April 2008, he appears on the track ‘Squeeze Me’ on Kraak & Smaak’s album ‘Plastic People’ (pretty much the b-boy’s anthem!)

When 2009 hit, so did Ben Westbeech (and he hit hard). Making a pop-up on the main single ‘I Can See’ for Jazzanova’s album ‘Of All The Things’ and also providing his vocal skills to the song ‘Shame’ for DJ Marky and Artificial Intelligence. Let us also drop some names here – Westbeech also worked with Professor Green to produce to his new record, Kutz of Soul Jazz, Redlight of Lobster Boy and Rusko of Mad Decent.

Ben also produces and Djs under the alias Breach, where he produced the track ‘Featherless’ on PTN in 2010 and released music on Claude Vonstroke’s Dirtybird label and Pet’s ‘Catz n Dogz’ Label.’ Being as multi-talented as he is, Westbeech also wrote the vocal for Redlight’s Breakthrough hit ‘Get Out My Head’ featuring Nicole Jackson. Did we also mention that Ben owns his own record label? Yeah, he owns the record label “Naked Naked” which has released tracks like, Midland, Dusky and Dark Sky, from his own alias Breach

Rolling into 2011, Westbeech releases his second album ‘There’s More To Life Than This’ on Strictly Rhythm, which he described as “House inspired, rather than straight up House Music.” He had some powerhouse collaborators on the record like Soul Clap, Henrik Schwarz, MJ Cole, Motor City Drum Ensemble and Georg Levin. Flashforward 2 years later, he drops his own remix of Maya Jane Cole’s ‘Everything’ featuring Karin Park through I/AM/ME. In the same year, as Breach, he releases his first successful single ‘Jack’ on the ‘UK Singles Chat’, peaking at #9. His follow-up single, ‘Everything You Never had (We Had it All) featuring Andreya Triana also peaked at #9.

Let’s kick it in the present (2019). Where Ben Westbeech and KON present ‘The Vision’, a newly joint project with their debut single ‘Heaven/Home’ featuring Andreya Triana. The Vision is described as “a mix of soul, funk and disco, with a focus on live instrumentation, obscure sampling and a collective of featured vocalists” and with their captivating remixes of Mike Dunn’s house standard ‘God Made Me Phunky’ and some early 00s r’n’b, we can see why the duo got on the radar as quickly as they did. Ben has also been part of the club culture phenomenon that is, Glitterbox, with Defected – the complete hemisphere of house and disco. 

Beyond ALL this, he has also toured at some of the world’s greatest venues with names such as Ben Sims, Boddika, Erol Alkan, Matthew Dear, Josh Wink and more, for parties like Space Ibiza, Fabriclive and AUS. As one of the most knowledgeable, versatile and practiced musicians around, Ben Westbeech’s next move is always highly anticipated and we’ve keep tabs on his movements.

So we’re stoked that Ben Westbeech will be playing at W Bali Seminyak on November 24th. Before he takes W by storm, let’s go through a ‘Ben Westbeech Music Journey’ together – a playlist of his most recent track, biggest selling track, breakout track and more. So sit down, put on those dancing shoes, then get up again and bust out your best dance moves to his tracks. Click play kids!

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Most Recent Track
The Vision featuring Andreya Triana – Heaven

Most played track on Youtube
BREACH – JACK (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

Most played track on Spotify
Ben Westbeech – Something For The Weekend [OFFICIAL VIDEO HD]

On the charts at #8
Kraak & Smaak – Squeeze Me (feat. Ben Westbeech) (Official Video)

Breakout Track
Ben Westbeech – So Good Today

Hell yes! – That got us pumped up for his set this Sunday, we are ready to get down on the dance floor! Don’t catch FOMO and come kick it at W Bali Seminyak THIS SUNDAY (November 24th) and catch the legend himself serve up some bangers behind the decks! He won’t be alone, as he’ll have Kristina Dolgova with him – W hotel Europe’s Resident DJ and Music Director.