Introducing: WBEEZA

If you’ve read anything online about South Londoner Wbeeza (pronounced double-u-beezer) it probably centred around the fact that he makes music, that he lives in Peckham or that his debut album ‘Void’ for the Third Ear label played out like a sonic sketchpad of short ideas. What you won’t necessarily be aware of is Warren Brown’s thinking behind the record, the meticulous levels of energy that he puts into his live show and the fact that his kick drums often have a pitch perfect resonance – an ideal talent necessary to making great groove based music. “I did have a broad musical upbringing,” Brown tells us, using his words carefully to deliver his answer. “I’m the youngest in a big family... [and in that situation there’s] lots of people getting exciting about different kinds of music, and that leaves an impression. Crucially though, it was all good music.” He continues, “I didn’t know that then, but when you start making music and your benchmark is this music made by giants, then that’s what you strive for. You don’t know that they are giants but you feel what they’re laying down and that stays with you. Only later when you get older do you know how heavy the cats are you were getting off on.” “So, to answer the question, it must have been groove based music that grabbed me!” Brown offers, snapping back from his tangent. “All music has a pulse; so basically it all has a groove. The music that comes out of me is simply the music that is inside of me. I’m not thinking about making it sound a particular way. I don’t consciously work within any genre. I haven’t settled on any sound, house or techno. Hip hop and slower grooves are as much my thing. That’s why I’m making albums. EPs are for dancing, so that falls under the house or techno label but I don’t think of my music as house or techno particularly.” This sentiment is definitely reflected in his output to date. Astoundingly varied, ‘Void’ is seventeen tracks long and yet it runs at just 47 minutes. There are beat less electronic soundscapes like ‘Manual Mode’ and the early part of ‘Beyond Question’ that float effortlessly into jacking 4x4 that rolls purposefully over the heavy middle frequency range of his synth drones. Presenting a warped take on boogie with a track like ‘Let Me Know,’ Brown backs up the idea that there are no artistic boundaries with his music making straight hip hop on ‘The World Is Yourz’ and thin, static-soaked vagrant drum loops on ‘Take Em Out.’ Impossible to pin down to one idea, Brown often wants to present three or four phrases in the same song structure, seemingly cutting it short just as it takes a new light. “If you listen to my first album ‘Void,’ what you hear there are the untouched results of sessions in the lab,” he informs us, acknowledging our question on the difficulty of DJing with such short tracks. “If a track is going to go out as a tool for a DJ to rock a dance floor it has to have a certain functionality. It may or may not have that when you’ve laid it down. If it doesn’t but it’s got all the elements, you have to make it like that which usually involves a little editing and rearranging. “ When performing as Wbeeza, Brown chooses to relay his music live; building his world from the ground up, inter splicing beats with other tracks and flipping samples his own way. Piecing together seperated loops and patterns of his material he can create a unique and wholly individual soundscape; one that’s impossible to replicate through simply DJing. “I don’t have an impulse to play other people’s music,” he states firmly when asked if he finds DJing constrictive at all. “The main thing I get from playing live is testing my music on a big system. Hearing them on that big system, making sure they’re sounding as I intend. Mixing the elements live and feeling out the room so that it is different every time is a buzz. Of course I get a buzz out of making people dance and seeing them have a good time. Getting the love from people who are feeling your music is something special, but the main thing I get from playing live is for me to hear my music properly and then to tweak it if I think it needs it. All the tunes on my next EP due in August are tunes that have gone down big when I’ve dropped them live.” “As I was saying before,” he concludes, “with the raw tracks, I’ve made them DJ friendly and fine tuned them as dance floor weapons - but that’s not what's is in my live shows. I'm using raw tracks and patterns that I then build and mix together in the club, live, as its happening. I’m making so many tunes that I’ve always got some fresh ones every time; whether that’s bare beats, grooves or full tunes...” Catch Wbeeza playing live in Room One at the Hessle Audio takeover on Friday.