Over the past two decades Ben Rau has developed into one of the most inspiring talents to come out of the London scene. He started to make an impact on the electronic music scene as a resident at London's prolific Fuse Sunday rave , having been part of this iconic party since day one and with his debut release “The City” released on the Fuse London imprint, and the Golden Dawn EP on Paul Bowen’s Luna Records Ben is set for imminent propulsion into the limelight.
Ben's career in music star...
Over the past two decades Ben Rau has developed into one of the most inspiring talents to come out of the London scene. He started to make an impact on the electronic music scene as a resident at London's prolific Fuse Sunday rave , having been part of this iconic party since day one and with his debut release “The City” released on the Fuse London imprint, and the Golden Dawn EP on Paul Bowen’s Luna Records Ben is set for imminent propulsion into the limelight.
Ben's career in music started unlike most behind the scenes of 90's UK mega rave The Tribal Gathering , aged just 18 he found himself working as a stage hand at Tribal Gathering at a rave with 40000 revelers in Munich's abandoned Airport Riem , just hours before the event he was spontaneously promoted to stage manager and subsequently ran a stage for 6000 people looking after mega-timers such as Carl Cox, Laurent Garnier , Underworld and the Prodigy.
Seeing these stars of the 90's rave scene perform to crowds of thousands ignited a flame that drives him to this day.
This then led to Rites of Passage' trips to Sven Vath's legendary Omen and Berlin's unforgettable Tresor Club where he got some idea of how deep the rabbit hole would go.
Being Berlin born certainly has its advantages when you are into underground electronic music , and surely the whole host of early experiences where instrumental in molding his outlook on music & experiencing life in general, but Ben took quite the alternate route , as everyone & their techno-loving dog were moving to the German city Ben decided he wanted to broaden his horizons and a move to the UK was up next.
Having lived in the UK for some time it was strangely someone back in Germany that gave Ben his first real residency, it meant flying out fortnightly to play in Hamburg which has always been a center for electronic music and deep techno sounds in its own right , for a few years it was House music all night long for the host of colorful characters that would turn up to hear him play.
Soon after Ben started to develop a natural flair for FX filled, marathon House sets Ben was recognized by IDJ magazine when he entered and promptly won their coveted DJ competition and was subsequently invited to play at their event at the legendary End club (RIP) run by legendary UK House heads Mr C and Layo.
His set blew the crowd away, and his technical ability was deemed so impressive that IDJ magazine referred to him as "the next James Zabiela".
With 2005 coming to an end something changed in Ben's tastes, he left FX heavy sets behind and now used them sparingly to accentuate the deeper end of House and Techno with a less is more approach , still based in London he preempted the coming minimal wave while everyone in the UK was still scratching their heads trying to integrate the new sounds coming out of Germany.
Whereas before his music certainly wasn't light he now developed the moody and emotive sound based on Detroit Techno and House that he is now known for.
FUSE, the now legendary weekly at 93 Feet East in London's Brick Lane is a party that is built around its residents.
Solid and consistent Fuse has ruled over London in the 4 years since its birth. It is now the by- word for quality in London electronic music scene music and Ben has been there since day one. Naturally now having returned to Berlin after 11 years he may only visit London a few times a year, but rest assured his London fans will always be able to see him back behind the decks at Fuse when he does.
Ben's debut releases "The City" on the Fusic Vol.1 compilation and The Golden Dawn EP LR012 on Luna Records have already picked up support from Seth Troxler , Sasha , Raresh , Gorge , DJ T , System of Survival , Audiofly , Chris Lattner , Afrilounge , Alain Ho , Anthony Collins , Tim Green , Laura Jones , the Timewriter , Hector , Kevin Griffiths , DJ Wild , Arnaud Le Texier , Pol_On , Leon , Phil Asher , Ethyl , Brothers Vibe, Sam Russo , Stojche , Jay Tripwire , Koljah , Mirco Violi , Moody Manc , Daniel Sanchez , Luna City Express, Terence (Freak n Chic) and Oliver Deutschmann
https://soundcloud.com/ben-rau