053 For the Record || Ben James

For the Record is a conversation series where we speak with all manner of music heads — DJs, music journos, indie label captains, record shop owners, listening bar kingpins, et al — about their stories + the music that makes them.

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Benjamin James is a contributor at Oscillator and Factory. He’s also the founder of Ziggy Ziggy, a music brand that celebrates on-chain music culture – named after one Ziggy Stardust. He’s also a writer for Billboard and a former artist and producer. He used to run a small record label in the north of the UK, where he joined forces with a brother-sister combo of vocalists and started a group called Mausi. Together they built a career as artists, touring with big names like Charli XCX and Rudimental before succumbing to the suppressive power of a major label.

MUSIC MENTIONS

• David Bowie
• The Cure
• Talking Heads
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• The Strokes
• “Meet Me in the Bathroom” by Lizzy Goodman
• LCD Soundsystem
• Interpol
• Faithless
• The Clooney (Newcastle)
• Polarsets
• SoundCloud
• Hype Machine
• Mausi
• Charli XCX
• RAC
• Future Tape
• Neon Gold Records
• Water & Music
• Catalog
• Factory.fm
• Oscillator
• Spotify
• Arcade Fire

Q&A

• Little Simz
• XL Records
• Jamie xx
• Boards of Canada
• Black Dave

Discovering music today (34:20):

• Soulection
• COLORS
• Factory.fm

First album ever purchased (35:45):

• “Marshall Mathers LP” by Eminem

Most recent album purchased (35:55):

• “Wet Leg” by Wet Leg

Artists discovered in the past year (37:45):

• Samara Cyn
• Flying Lotus
• King Hannah

Desert island discs (48:28):

• “Disintegration” by The Cure
• “XX” by The XX
• “In Rainbows” by Radiohead