Essex Rascals is a UK DJ collective made up of members Tony Anderson, Paul Mac, Mark Broom and Ben Sims, all affiliated with the label Way Back Wednesday. Despite being recognized on the international music scene for their UK techno legacies, over the past decade they’ve been delivering their wonderfully eclectic Way Back Wednesday radio show on several stations including London’s Centre Force and Deepfrequency.com. The crew explore an incredible depth of old school music whilst also featuring their own edits and remixes; they delve deep into 80’s Soul, Disco, Boogie, Funk and continual switch the focus between shows to explore the forgotten classics in a wide variety of genres from Rave, Acid House, Hip Hop, Rap and Reggae. Start tuning into the Essex Rascals Podjam mix series via their website and explore their endless archive on SoundCloud.
Back in February we actually caught up with Ben Sims to discuss his music making under his ‘Ron Bacardi’ disco-edits project and got him to talk about the diversity of his music passion beyond the world of techno he’s become famous for. You can read the interview here.
At end of last year, Ben Sims got to deliver a special one-off Essex Rascals show on NTS and at 3 hours long, it’s a sublime showcase of what the show/collective stands for: fun, loose-haired party music. This is feel good music through and through. It’s got a pure hedonistic feel that’s undeniably sexual, groovy and carefree cheesy. Exploring all the emotions felt on the dance floor from moments of catching your breath to tense sexuality, emotive sensitivity to high-energy body-shifters, in the right context the mix offers a way to actual escapism – a demonised term that’s plagued with irony in its misuse – but the mix’s light-heartedness, sensuality and positivity is able to remind us to kick back from time to time and switch off from the world and enjoy the things we’re fortunate for. As an effective, well-needed escape from the absurdity of these times subsumed under a collectively grim outlook for world politics, etc., I ended up replaying the mix straight away to remain in a bubble I had found myself in with my companion listener.
Make this background music for a day/night indoors with cheerful company and engage yourselves in a variety of silly activities. There’s acidy disco, jittery boogie, tantalising drums, silly strings and cheeky bass guitars, all crafted together with brilliant use of effects. Highlight tracks include, Mighty 7 - Call Me, Jeanette - You Turn Me On, Curtis Hairston - I Want Your Lovin’ (Just A Little Bit), L.A.X. - All My Love, Innerlife - Your Love, and Alfie Silas’ classic - Put The Freeze On.
Words by Fred D