This month sees the release of the ‘Intrigue 11’ compilation album. Released to coincide with the Intrigue club night’s 11th birthday, both the album and the party are a massive step for the Bristol-based label. Kmag spoke to Ben Soundscape all about what’s proving to be a busy time for all involved.
Ben, I wanted to ask you about both the album and the label. What would you say are the elements which unite the sound of Intrigue, and more specifically, the new album?
Intrigue is defined by forward thinking drum & bass from every angle. It can be the soulful, jazzy side of the music like the way Random Movement or Joakuim does it, or the harder, rolling sound like someone like Break or Survival. Depth, originality and most importantly, musicality, are the key elements that unite the Intrigue sound. The club night started out as a ‘liquid funk’ night back in 2003, but since then the sound has evolved to take in the whole drum & bass spectrum. On the album you’ve got a range of tracks reflecting that.
How does Intrigue 11 reflect ideas, and the ideals of the label?
I wanted ‘Intrigue 11’ to be a really special album that showed the listeners what the label and club night is about. Good quality, original drum & bass that I like to think will stand the test of time. You know, not throwaway, obvious tunes. At its heart, Intrigue Music is about bringing through new talent from all over the world, and we’ve done that with the album. You’ve got tracks on there from the USA, all over Europe and of course the UK. They have all been tried and tested at Intrigue in Bristol and on dancefloors worldwide. Through promoting the Intrigue night and DJing, I’ve been lucky enough to meet most of the artists on the compilation, see them at work and even collaborate with some of them on tunes. The pressure was really on with the album – I wanted it to represent the club too as much as the label. It’s taken over a year to get it right – to secure the right artists, tracks and commission the right remixes, but I firmly believe we’ve created a really strong and diverse compilation.
For the full interview please visit http://www.kmag.co.uk/editorial/features/ben-soundscape-interview.html