Word on the Street – True Talent Out on the Concrete

Stewart Hume,

Correspondent (Music)

 

If you ever take a walk though a big city you will, without doubt, come across some form of street performer. Now I think that it is fair to say that many such performers are not the best musicians. If I had a pound for every time I hear some guy with a guitar singing ‘wonder wall’ I would be a very rich man. However every now you come across a diamond in the rough and you find a busker that simply oozes talent.

One such artist is Benjamin Stanford who goes under the name Dub Fx. Originating from Australia, Dub Fx moved to Europe to peruse a career in music. He soon set about creating a unique sound drawing influences from reggae, hip-hop and drum an bass. Dub Fx found that the best way to get his music to the masses was performing on the streets so that is exactly what he did. Armed with his RC-50 loop station as well as other pedals original intended for guitars, the Australian set about creating soundscapes using this technology mixed with beat boxing and vocal harmonies.

He soon found that this could attract quite the crowd. If you search him on YouTube, virtually every result is a video of him performing on the street, often taken by a curious on looker. This has meant an organic rise to fame for the artist as he gains public attention simply by word of mouth. This has meant that Dub Fx has remained completely independent. This has produced a phenomena that is incurably popular yet always appears organic.

As well as his music, Dub Fx has no become the voice of Boss Roland loop pedals performing and conventions and most recently announcing the creation of new products. He has quickly become the voice (and the music) of this style of playing which see performers producing soundscapes of whole bands by recording tracks and over-dubbing them on the spot.

His appeal as an artist is that is has remained so organic which is suppression as he could have ‘sold out’ and perhaps made a currier for more mainstream music. He is defiantly worth searching.

It just show that street performers can be suddenly propelled to the world stage thanks to new technology. Many artists in the past, such as Katie Tunstall, who had origins as buskers were able to break through. Perhaps in a music world of uncertainty, with down loading being rife, the light at the end of the tunnel is that talent musicians are picked up and receive the recognition they deserve.

Image courtesy: Simona Ilcheva (k0t3t0.deviantart.com/)