With a consistent, unflashy approach to presenting his craft, it can sometimes be easy to overlook Benjamin Brunn. The Hamburg-based producer has been releasing music for the best part of 20 years, although it is primarily since his collaborative work with Move D around 2008 that he has been more publicly visible, and yet he remains something of an outsider proposition. Musically, his is an easy confection to love, dealing in well-rounded, melodically rich electronics with an understanding of groove and enough kinks in the composition to hold your attention. 2012’s A Sun Life LP on Third Ear served as a perfect distillation of these qualities, sporting as it did a warming balance of techno and house laden with plush synth lines.
For a while there it seemed like the accessibility of digital production and its ensuing glut of characterless music had ensured that anyone who could get hold of some crusty analogue equipment to run their tracks through was guaranteed success, and the chance to stand head and shoulders above the rest of the baying crowds of beatsmiths through sheer sonic charm and raw aesthetic. Alas it seems that it’s no longer that simple, as an ever increasing swell of artists both burgeoning and established reach for the hardware to bring authenticity and relevance to their tracks, and once again ideas and imagination must be called upon to truly stand apart in ever more competitive times.
Third Ear are a comforting proposition in a scene littered with brash new upstart labels, high-concept imprints and artist-run ventures. Guy McCreery’s venture is a label’s label, if such a thing could ever exist, steered by one man with a clear vision for house and techno informed by Detroit but never in deference to it. Over the years plenty of the Motor City greats have appeared in various forms, from Mike Huckaby to Theo Parrish, Mike Clark to Kyle Hall, but the remit of the label has reached out to artists from all over the world. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact sound that defines Third Ear; it’s better considered as intangible, much like the output of the city that inspires it so.