Soundhog (real name: Ben Hayes) is a DJ, producer and composer of a number of acclaimed Bastard Pop songs. Based in North Wales, he is distinguished by his apparently encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music, which he draws on to concoct 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 Mansun. He has since virtually abandoned the bastard pop material, and is often one of the fiercest critics of the 'genre'. The Radio Soundhog series of mixes display a great deal more imagination and taste than most, and have often been broadcast on radio stations such as BBC Radio Wales and London-based XFM. He has also released original material, and collaborated with Frenchbloke on the soundscape project Tauchsieder, releasing an internet only album Quiet and a physical CD Louder. Soundhog is also responsible for a notorious series of bootleg tracks released under the name The Freelance Hairdresser (a play on the name of Bastard Pop pioneer Freelance Hellraiser), the most famous of which pitted Eminem against a 1950s piano rag by Winifred Atwell; another laid the same vocal over a chopped-up mix of 1970s/1980s UK TV theme tunes. In more recent times, his unofficial remix of the song Machadaynu, originally from the BBC2 comedy series Look Around You, became a cult track and gained the approval of the show's creators and stars. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.