Activia Benz play Boiler Room London next Tuesday (03/03), featuring Slugabed, ELOQ, Toby Gale, Gunge and Silkersoft. Head here for more information.
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Activia Benz aren’t taking themselves too seriously. Their vinyl releases come with jokes on the back. The label’s co-founder Greg Feldwick (Slugabed) put out his second EP with a range of beach towels. His colourful artist roster is one that bears names like DJ DJ Booth, DJ Warlord and – their latest arrival – DJ Mastercard. It’s obvious Activia is a celebration of the silly: a team of goofball internet-obsessives whose MO reads pure and simple (“WE PUT OUT MUSIC WE LIKE AND HAVE A GREAT TIME DOING IT”). Call it post-internet, post-irony, or whatever you like – it’s unabashed fun that finds its home online first, then IRL later.
In fact, the Benz squad form part of a much larger wave of internet-native producers championing a certain kind of sound on the fizzling fringes of Bandcamp and Soundcloud. The label popped up almost exactly 12 months after Rustie’s debut album Glass Swords dropped on Warp – an album that raised a blinding sabre for young producers seeking ecstatic revolution from the dark and stark in dance music. It was an identifiable moment of flux when a clutch of artists somersaulted away from moody minimalism in favour of white-bright euphoria; chasing a mood that was always up, up, up. Activia Benz swan-dived into the space that digital maximalists like Rustie, Cashmere Cat and HudMo had opened up, exploring an exciting hybrid of club styles while growing a vibe that’s become distinctly their own.
Still, with an artist roster as eclectic as Activia’s, there’s always the risk of creative chaos – but I guess that’s all part of the fun. Much like the furiously metabolising online music world in which they live, Activia Benz is a protean beast, changing constantly. You could say its glossy soundworld is characterised by shining synths, Nintendo console cuteness and bright colours, but a signature sound still remains restlessly out of reach. It’s the product of a label whose producers all seem to share in the same compulsive drive to combine disparate forms in creative – and often bizarre – new ways. In Italian producer Miami Mais there are the bed-squeak hallmarks of Jersey Club blended with playful nods to B’more and even trance. Moscow-man DZA and recent recruit Toby Gale lean heavily on video-game music, but to different ends. Then there’s label-boss and Ninja Tune representative Slugabed, who manages to shoehorn samples from both T-Pain and Roger Sanchez in one EP. Every team member brings something different to the feast: it’s an all-you-can-eat joyride that’s brightly appealing to an online listening community who relish glutting on information excess.
The label’s personality has also grown due in no small part to a distinctive visual identity, largely overseen by visual artist and label co-founder Jake Slee. Each record out of the Activia Benz stable comes with its own custom-made sleeve, a collection that has grown into a delightfully batshit reserve of off-beam art since its inception. Add to this their freshly inaugurated Singles Club – a snazzily realised concept-site from which they release a new free download every two weeks – and it’s not hard to see why the Benz brand forms more coherently in eye before ear.
Between the sublime and the ridiculous, the sparking Activia product is always – always – fun. And it’s worthwhile to add at this point that all of their music is free to download. Go digging over here.
Ahead of Activia Benz’s Boiler Room label showcase on Tuesday, we had Greg Slugabed attempt to distil the label’s oddball aesthetic via six of their essential projects. It’s a catalogue that features the label’s early video dispatches, their newly-made Singles Club and a video exclusive from latest recruit Gunge. Dive in below.
1. HELLO FROM ACTIVIA BENZ
This was our official “launch” video thing. Me and Jake had to make moulds of our faces and it was gross. The music is 813 ft. Bobby Tank’s “Fantasmo” taken from our second release, 813’s Recolor. This EP has always been a good staple of the Activia Benz diet. It’s clubby and mental and fun.
2. ELOQ – N∆vi R∆vi
For me, this is an absolute classic from the early Activia days. Still one of my fav “bangers” out there. ELOQ really likes Zelda.
3. SLUGABED – COOLEST EP
I made a summery fun EP and yung Steve made a rly sexy promo vid for it. I also sold advance copies of the EP on really expensive towels and everyone complained about the price but I still sold a bunch and lost £8 on every sale #yolo
4. Toby Gale – 3 Up (Maxo Cuttermix)
2 of the funnest producers around rn on one track! We were very excited to get a Maxo remix when putting the Toby Gale EP together, and since then have been blessed with a full Maxo track for Singles Club! Aren’t we lucky!
We’re very proud to have some very clever and artistic people on our team and Steve is one of them. He kinda spearheaded this cool project to get hot new music out to people, one track every coupla weeks for free and it looks amazing and it is amazing.
Visit Activia Benz’s Singles Club here.
6. Gunge – SLF-ACTUA-SOCCER(NORMALMIX)
Our latest release came from Gunge and it’s maybe our most bananas EP yet. The video was done by Eno Swinnen and I like the mixture of pencil and gold and strobing. I think it is very now and very cool. He made it like a year ago I think but it is very now still and still very cool.
