Live remixer, producer, DJ, monkey. “This is the formula that Benji Boko has chosen to introduce himself on his website. No reference to genres, but rather to roles, because his music is” multi-genred” and also Benji Boko hates the trivial question asked by journalists obsessed with the need to close every category in the box.
House, hip-hop, 2 step, nu-jazz, funk and reggae are rather the flashing suggestions which emerge while listening to the 19 tracks of “Beats, Treats and All Things Unique”: a solid and accomplished debut album, released June 20 for Tru Thoughts (Hidden Orchestra, Belleruche, Nostalgia 77). And if he was almost unknown until 2009, today Benji Boko is the new name inflaming the best clubbing nights in UK, who’s even going so far to rely on Maxi Jazz (Faithless frontman) as a special guest for the first single “Where My Heart Is”. With a boundless imagination and exceptional skills in the art of mash-ups and sampling, Benji Boko has produced 19 tracks which, although not all of them are hits, they hypnotize the ears of those who appreciate artfully remixed jingle (“Moveaboutlot”), dance-hall/funky beats (“Sound No.1”) nu-jazz synthesizers (“Slowjunkie”) and lounge music which finally is not sounding fake and empty (“Glider”). And if in the nearest future Benji Boko will be engaged to replicate the magic of Glastonbury on other dates set out in the UK, the Czech Republic and Germany, for the time internet users will be satisfied to download for free (from his official site) the entire set which galvanized the English crowds of the festival.
