Ben Thomas may have jumped on the no-vowels, all caps trend for nom de plume’s of late, but BNJMN is only one of Thomas’ artistic aliases.
In the past, he has recorded under the alias JackHigh and has several other creative outlets other than BNJMN. He has also collaborated with beatsmith Teebs, released tracks on two Beatnicks compilations as well remixing Kirk Degiorgio on Far Out.
Arguably the finest moment for the young producer has been the release of ‘Plastic World’ in 2011 and equally successful ‘Black Square’ which followed a year later on Rush Hour’s Direct Current imprint, he has been lavished with comparisons to his contemporaries Lone and Actress. Although his sound is ostensibly different to the artists on the Direct Current imprint, garage flavoured artists such as Falty DL, Policy and Aardvarck, BNJMN’s blend of new and old styles has been given emphatic nods of approval from critics and fans alike for his curiously intriguing muddle of sound that he has made entirely his own.
His relationship with Rush Hour came about innocently enough, with the fledgling producer sending in demo’s the good old fashioned way; before Thomas knew it, after some email exchanges with the label head Christiaan MacDonald, the EP predecessor to ‘Plastic World’ had arrived on his door step.
After picking up a guitar at the age of 5 and taking it up until the age of 15, Thomas’ major musical influences came in the form of Radiohead and Aphex Twin; he began producing music after he left school and hasn’t looked back since. He cites acts as diverse as Theo Parrish, Brian Eno, William Basinksi to old folk and Detroit Techno.
His live performances as BNJMN have been described as never being the same twice, revolving around Ableton and controllers to mix his own material both new and old as well as a back catalogue of remixes, mixing as he goes.
Thomas also released an EP on Svetlana Industries that leaned toward the 2 Step/ garage influences of his label mates, serving only to reinforce his extensive litany of influences and styles.
