Hackman
From: Selborne, Tracks played out by: Dusk & Blackdown

Hackman – also known as Funky Hackman – seriously knows how to push my buttons. Since starting to make house music last year, particularly inspired by Roska and Martin Kemp, his productions have reached levels well beyond his age and experience.

Driven by free-flowing basslines, his tracks feature technicolour melodies that seem to be both sharp and bouncy at the same time, and in many cases gorgeous cut up female vocals, which as any Todd Edwards or Burial fan will tell you, are pretty much the best thing you can put on a track. His excellent ‘Pistol in your Pocket’ features on Fabric’s Elevator Music compilation, but even better are a pair of stunning 12”s for Ultrasound’s Well Rounded label (often home of Deadboy) and Ramp Recordings’ new house sub-label, the name of which is still to be decided.

Hackman, introduce yourself.

“I’m Ben Hackman, 19 years old from Selborne, now at music college in Leeds.”

How would you describe your music to the uninitiated?

“I make a mixture of UK Funky and Garage.”

You had quite a classical upbringing, right? Tell us about that.

“Yeah, I started to play piano when I was five and violin a few years later. Had to do a lot of orchestra and ensemble stuff which I hated, especially all the concerts that came with it.”

When did you move on to electronic production – and what provoked you to do that?

“About 3-4 years ago. It was probably because of being into drum’n’bass, and then getting a laptop, and thinking I could give that a go.”

What stuff were you making at that early point?

“Drum’n’Bass on Garageband.”

When did you start to develop the house sound you’ve got going on now?

“Early last year, just got really inspired by a lot of the music coming out then, particularly Roska and Martin Kemp.”

Do you feel it’s more aligned with Funky, or with other strands of house?

“Probably is most with Funky, but I’ve been listening to a lot more deep house recently which might come through in my productions.”

What do you build on?

“Logic 8.”

Tell us about the releases you’ve got out, and what you have in the pipeline.

“I’ve got an EP coming out on Shifting Peaks soon which Brackles has done a remix for, of ‘Always the Same’, which sounds sick. Also the Bodies EP on Well Rounded records is coming out in March, and an EP for a new sub label from Ramp will be out at some point which ‘Gutter flower’ and ‘More than Ever’ will be on.”

And tell us something we won’t already know about Hackman.

“I like Sushi.”

Download: Hackman – FACT mini-mix

Tracklist:
More Than Ever (forthcoming Ramp sub-label)
Bodies (Well Rounded)
Gutter-flower (forthcoming Ramp sub-label)
Surround (Well Rounded)

This entry was posted on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.