For the Record is a conversation series where we speak with all manner of music heads — DJs, music journos, indie label captains, record shop owners, listening bar kingpins, et al — about their stories + the music that makes them.

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Benjamin James is a contributor at Oscillator and Factory. He’s also the founder of Ziggy Ziggy, a music brand that celebrates on-chain music culture – named after one Ziggy Stardust. He’s also a writer for Billboard and a former artist and producer. He used to run a small record label in the north of the UK, where he joined forces with a brother-sister combo of vocalists and started a group called Mausi. Together they built a career as artists, touring with big names like Charli XCX and Rudimental before succumbing to the suppressive power of a major label.

MUSIC MENTIONS

• David Bowie


• The Cure


• Talking Heads


• Yeah Yeah Yeahs


• The Strokes


• “Meet Me in the Bathroom” by Lizzy Goodman


• LCD Soundsystem


• Interpol


• Faithless


• The Clooney (Newcastle)


• Polarsets


• SoundCloud


• Hype Machine


• Mausi


• Charli XCX


• RAC


• Future Tape


• Neon Gold Records


• Water & Music


• Catalog


• Factory.fm


• Oscillator


• Spotify


• Arcade Fire

Q&A

• Little Simz


• XL Records


• Jamie xx


• Boards of Canada


• Black Dave

Discovering music today (34:20 ):

• Soulection


• COLORS


• Factory.fm

First album ever purchased (35:45 ):

• “Marshall Mathers LP” by Eminem

Most recent album purchased (35:55 ):

• “Wet Leg” by Wet Leg

Artists discovered in the past year (37:45 ):

• Samara Cyn


• Flying Lotus


• King Hannah

Desert island discs (48:28 ):

• “Disintegration” by The Cure


• “XX” by The XX


• “In Rainbows” by Radiohead