Soundhog

Who is Soundhog?

Soundhog is a pseudonym of Ben Hayes, a DJ, producer and composer of a number of acclaimed Bastard Pop songs. Based in North Wales, he is distinguished by his encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music, which he draws on to concoct "A vs B" tracks that often cast familiar pop, hip hop and R'n'B vocals in a whole new light by using such unlikely "backing bands" as Focus and The Beatles.

Soundhog won critical acclaim for his December 2002 mix for BBC Radio Wales, which was described by its commissioner Adam Walton as "the most astonishing 30 minutes of radio I've ever broadcast".

In recent years he has created the "Radio Soundhog" series of mixes, which merge artists as diverse as Jon Hiseman's Colosseum, 808 State, Can, Scorpions, Venetian Snares and Traffic Sound. These have often been broadcast on UK 'alternative' radio station XFM and the BBC.

He released an official 12" single "Curdler" and DJed throughout mainland Europe in 2004. Recent projects have included official remixes for Shelly Poole and Chicago-based electropop duo Microfilm. He is also a member of the experimental electronica trio Tauchsieder, who have so far released one CD album entitled 'Louder' which features contributions from Colin Newman, Richard X, Tom Ellard and JD Twitch from Optimo.