Ben Kaya is an american, brussels based composer, producer and performer. His work primarily is concerned with simplicity, limitation and repetition, using long durations, repetitive motifs and a focus on texture in sound and visuals to bring a natural life to his vision.
His compositions often include the use of alternative tuning systems, electronics in combination with acoustic instrumentation, programming and acoustic phenomenon.
I caught up with Ben to talk about his early musical experiences, how he started making his own compositions and the making of one of his latest releases “Adored” which you can check out here.
CMM-What was the first music that really made an impact on you as a kid and what artist or band did you enjoy the most?
Ben-The first music that impacted me strongly, before I began to fully listen to music by myself, was music my mother would play around the house. She particularly enjoyed Massive Attack, Tarkan and The Cars among many many other artists. It was definitely a goal of hers to play as much as possible to me haha. I eventually explored my own musical enjoyment. It began with electronic music when I was young, around 9-10. I discovered Aphex Twin, like many, and other various musicians that were and are so imminently important to a broader musical world. I originally thought that music was created using DJ decks because when I watched videos of these performances this is what I saw. I eventually figured it out and purchased FL Studio when I was 11. I continued listening to a large variety of music. From rap to ambient and more underground electronic of all sorts, and also classical music, which I very slowly fell in love with.
CMM-How did you start playing instruments and developing your own sound?
Ben- I hardly ever played instruments. I played a bit of trombone in middle school which helped with reading music; however I began producing music when I was 11, and from there composition in various forms. Now I consider myself almost primarily a composer. I still will “produce” music in the contemporary sense however I find the most joy writing music for others to play. In my electronic music I use almost exclusively hardware synthesizers and pedals.
CMM-You recently released an E.P. called “Adored”. What was the writing and recording process like for this session and were there any particular pieces of gear you used to get the sound you were looking for?
Ben-In “adored” not much gear was used as it was just mostly for the recording process. I recorded it myself at the California Institute of the Arts and so had access to their array of gear and got to go a bit crazy. I used two Telefunken M60s for the close stereo mic. I used an AKG 414 XLS for the center mono mic and two more as a stereo room mic. The three close mics went through Neve 1073 500 series preamps and the rooms went through a set of API 512c 500 series preamps as well. I have used all of this gear many many times and knew exactly how it would sound, so it was an easy and safe choice for such a pleasant sound.
CMM-If you could do a score for any film director you wanted to work with, who would it be and what would the film be about?
Ben-I would love to write a score for an Andrej Zulawski film, On the Silver Globe is one of my favorite films ever. His storytelling through aesthetic and dialog is so thorough and profound I think I would hardly need to think, I’m sure the ideas would just flow. Maybe some other sci-fi esc film. Something based on artificial intelligence but in his way.
CMM-Anything Coming Up?
Ben-I have quite a bit coming up, it’s a bit stressful. I recently moved back from Los Angeles to Brussels so I have been adapting but now many opportunities are coming. I just released an 8 song collaborative project with my good friend Grayson titled “grain & halo” which was fun to make. I also have some performances of pieces I’ve written coming up, mostly in Brussels. A few ambient electronic shows when I return for a bit to the US in December, mostly in Seattle. I am working on some large scale performance projects with some friends that we will be going into residence with soon which I am very excited for. My goal has been to travel as much as possible and work everywhere I can and it’s slowly coming true. I will be doing a residency at a large church here in Brussels in the Spring so I can hopefully record more organ music as well as have some type of performance then. Follow my instagram for updates! @benkankaya
