With his technically impressive DJ sets and innovative productions, U.K. producer Ben Sims is a favorite among techno fans, although he began his career playing hip-hop, acid, and house. With those genres, Sims launched his career in the '90s by spinning DJ sets around East London. By late in the decade, his focus had turned primarily to techno, a shift supported by a series of 12"s he released that year, including the Magnetic EP for Primary Recordings and The HardGroove Project released on Sims' own imprint, Theory. Theory released recordings from Mark Broom, Tony Dax, and many others, while Sims' first official mix CD, Theory of Interpretation, landed on the label in 2001. The first volume of his Escapism mix series followed a year later on the Primal Rhythms label, with a second volume landing in 2008 on Explicit Musick. In 2011, his first album of new productions arrived when Smoke & Mirrors dropped on the Drumcode label. Already a regular featured DJ at their clubs and events, Sims partnered with the Fabric family in 2013 for the mix CD Fabric 73. ~ David Jeffries