The Busiest Bee in all of Walthamstow

Yes, what better way to get the vein popping juices flowing right through to my temple - which at this point houses in its sockets cathode burned eyeballs - than a back scratching write up of my mate, Ben Spence and his label Fuzzbrain Music? I'm not normally one for plastering my friend's achievements all over the internet, usually because I'm of the firm belief that what you can wax lyrical about on a public forum regarding a private relationship could probably be done so (you guessed it) in private. Anyway, the work this man single-handedly devotes to his passion and building up a whole community on simply that, is by no lesser of the words astonishing and inspiring to all who have the pleasure of crossing his path.

I met Ben through my now wife, Alisha having rekindled her secondary school friendship via the music festival Ben was running at the time with his friend DeijuVHS, which would be the first of many Lamesfests. Alisha was exhibiting her photography and of course, like most friendships we end up valuing through thick and thin, I hated the idea of another Ben straight away. This was natural for my tiny 19-year-old mind as by no means could it process someone of the same age, similar background and interests in not all too different subcultures from my own being someone I'd actually like? No, he had long hair past his shoulders and was wearing tie die, so by the law of aesthetically diametrical music enthusiasts, we could not be friends.

Eating my words has kind of become a mantra of sorts the older I get which is probably normal for most people in how they choose to identify themselves through the development of their persona. I shudder to think at the supposition that I never would have began this friendship on such superficial preconceptions but one has to be honest with themselves and admit that I was of some superficial composition myself during those days. Of course, we hit it off straight away and to tell the truth, I was in complete dumbstruck awe that someone could have such ambitious vision about a whole world they wanted to create and it made me feel like a ride-along passenger more than ever. From that point on, I did take the wild ride consisting of the adversely non-dramatic bus journey, Jubilee line train and ANOTHER bus through the abnormal void filling the space between South East and East London, depositing me slap-bang on the border between Walthamstow and Leyton. All this so I could help the busy bee be even busier.


Fast forward five years and that inter dimensional realm just on the edge of a pink and green horizon doesn't seem like the frivolous dream I shared with Ben in the downward peak of our adolescence. All of the artists in the Fuzzbrain community, whether it's the chisel-jawed Essex stunners that are Getaway driving a finely fastened guitar lead through an impossibly complex but infectious rhythm all the way to stumbling in on the collateral damage left after Tuka has just soared an incredibly serenading psalm to tape, there is always a feeling of being members of Ben's world without any of the pouted-lip exclusivity that membership contracts usually present themselves with as an invisible clause.

Drawing to a close, the "Fuzzbrain 20/20Visions" compilation will be shipping out in the first week of May and I couldn't ensue more pride for my friend. All of his charm; the undecipherable rate at which he races to finish his sentences at and outrageously paradoxical arrogance has been channelled into his love for the culture with this compilation LP as a direct byproduct.

I also did a little bio for the compilation itself which I'll paste below but until some unstoppable life altering epiphany strikes me, I am indeed Fuzzbrain Family Forever!

Fuzzbrain Music has rapidly become the bubbling epicentre of all things underground in the nation’s capital, achieving this all through the diametric tenacity of the label’s founder, Ben Spence. To suggest the label harbours an eclectic taste would be more than a dramatic understatement evidenced by the debut release birthing itself in the form of a 13-song compilation showcasing just a microcosm of the talent surrounding the label but on an audacious macro stage. From the soaring highs of R’n’B renaissance maestros, Getaway to the crushingly guttural metallic hardcore precision mastered by Splitknuckle, the variation is unrelenting in exploration. From the deeply mellow but soulful hymns orated by West London born, Tuka to the opposingly discordant tones of DeijVHS and Bl£M found in their pioneering industrial hip-hop drenched duo, never a predictable selection is anticipated anywhere across the Fuzzbrain roster. What any genre abiding enthusiast will find upon uncovering the contents of this disc is a realisation of their greatest sonic fantasies whilst simultaneously peering into the greater psyche of the label’s vision: a melting pot simmering together a multifaceted concoction of cultural influences giving off a decidedly uncompromising but wholly unifying London flavour.

You can pre-order Fuzzbrain 20/20 Visions here. 

Listen to the compilation here.