Ben “DJ Scribe” Goldfarb is a DJ, record collector, music producer, writer, and educator. A NYC native, he has been DJing and curating event series for over 35 years at legendary venues like APT, Joe’s Pub, and Public Records, and other institutions like Brooklyn Museum, Lincoln Center, and Celebrate Brooklyn. He is a contributor to the Love Injection Fanzine and the Dust & Grooves record collector photo and interview book series, in which he is also a subject. Ben hosts a monthly open-format show on London’s Soho Radio.
With a vinyl collection exceeding 15,000 records, Scribe is a de facto archivist, musicologist and historian. He continues to collect and play everything great that he can find and afford on wax: from golden-era hip-hop and the r&b, funk, soul, and jazz that form the root of its sample source material, to its hybrid offspring, like acid jazz, neo-soul, broken beat, and nu jazz, plus disco, house, and Detroit techno. On the periphery is 70s salsa, afrobeat, and dub; 80s slow jams and lovers rock; 90s dancehall; gospel and spiritual jazz.
Whatever the genre, his selections are driven by a pursuit of quality over rarity—music chosen for its ability to move on a visceral, emotional, and even spiritual level. He believes—without irony—that music has the power to build community, and inspire joy, healing, growth, peace, and love.