- Retirements in dance music are rarely permanent, and after making a big deal out of ending the label with its fiftieth release blowout, Will Saul's Simple Records makes a return a year later with Julian Smith's first go in 2012. Apparently October's "String Theory" impressed Saul so much he just had to break the retirement—and honestly, it's easy to see why.
"String Theory," a collaboration with fellow Bristol producer Borai, has something going for it a lot of similar tracks don't: a killer hook. The ramshackle array of rickety drums and nature sounds is held in place by a bassline that erupts into a dusty sample that's been pinched and pulled in unnatural ways. Once the whole thing gets going it's a chugging Frankenstein of a tune, all sorts of elements bubbling, bouncing and bobbing in a hectic manner that coheres to form an infuriatingly earwormy hook. "Tension Point" mates a brisk kick drum and nasty jacking bassline with monotonous chords stolen from some old Peacefrog record, a weird intersection of techno and deep house that nevertheless sounds completely natural in Smith's hands.
The flipside is given over to Dutchman Danny Wolfers for two different remixes of "String Theory." His remix as Polarius takes away the catchy hook and instead turns it into a heavily-filtered crawler bored through by a relentlessly arpeggiating synth. But it's his Legowelt remix that might be the highlight of the EP, putting the entire track on a treadmill, rendering that catchy sample almost unrecognizable. Twitchy, hyperactive and volatile, it's Legowelt at his best.
Tracklist A1 String Theory feat. Borai
A2 Tension Point
B1 String Theory feat. Borai (Legowelt Remix)
B2 String Theory feat. Borai (Polarius Remix)