Over the past few years, Welsh producer Benjamin Damage (a.k.a. Benjamin O’Shea) has been involved in a lot of quality music, yet it seems like he hasn’t quite received his proper due, most likely because he’s best known for producing in tandem with others. Back in 2010, he teamed up with Venom on “Deeper,” the inaugural release from Doc Daneeka‘s Ten Thousand Yen label. And although that particular partnership didn’t continue, Damage did find a kindred spirit in Daneeka, with whom he produced the stellar “Creeper” b/w “Infamous” single in 2011. At the behest of Modeselektor, the pair then relocated to Berlin and turned out a full-length debut, They!Live, which thrust the two producers properly into the spotlight. (Shortly thereafter, the duo also put together an excellent XLR8R podcast.) Now, more than a year after the release of They!Live, Benjamin Damage is fully stepping out on his own, following last year’s “Swarm” b/w “Headache” single with a solo full-length, Heliosphere. The album drops later this week, so we figured it would also be a good time for Damage to go it alone on the DJ front and put together a mix for our podcast series. As those who’ve followed Damage’s evolution might expect, the podcast is rooted in techno, namely the dark, hard-charging, low-end-heavy variety favored by like-minded producers such as Untold and Trevino. The music is propulsive, and while the rhythms twist and turn over the course of an hour, the momentum is never lost. Damage has only lived in Berlin for a couple of years, but it’s clear that he’s been taking notes from the city’s club confines. His podcast offers an intense listen, but it’s also a highly enjoyable one.

01 Benjamin Damage “Light Year” (50Weapons)
02 Obsolete Music Technology “Drum Relapse” (Machining Dreams)
03 Autechre “Bladelores” (Warp)
04 Will & Ink “First Fermat” (Will & Ink)
05 R&B “Bottleneck”
06 Planetary Assault Systems “Kray Squid” (Ostgut Ton)
07 Benjamin Damage “010x” (50Weapons)
08 Monomood “Share Some Light”
09 Hypno “Dynamic Maze of the Self”
10 Bodhi “Culture (Bambounou Remix)” (Grizzly)
11 Barker & Baumecker “Crows (Blawan Remix)” (Ostgut Ton)
12 R&B “Love Rhythm”
13 Truncate “Truncate.7” (Truncate)
14 Paul Mac “Resident Problem (Kamikaze Space Programme Remix)” (Tactical)
15 Benjamin Damage “Delirium Tremens” (50Weapons)
16 Reeko “Electrical Phenomena” (Pole Group)
17 Trevino “Ojak”
18 Benjamin Damage “Swarm” (50Weapons)

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