New UK label Simple Records celebrate their second birthday with the release of their first CD and compilation. It’s one of the most exciting releases I’ve heard in some time and has been on high rotation on the car and home stereos since receiving a promo copy last December.
Mixed by Simple label manager, music producer and DJ Will Saul, Simple One features one track from each of the label’s first ten twelve inch singles, plus an exclusive track from Sideshow.
Deep, dark, moody and atmospheric breaks, house, electro and techno flavours from the likes of Saul, Slideshow, Mathew Jonson, Walkner.Hintenaus, Infusion and Christian J sit side by side – making for an interesting 52 minute journey.
You can’t really sum it up better than Simple do in the press release: with a focus on “melody, instrumentation and inviting bass-lines” – covering all the genres, injected with a fresh, progressive, soulful edge.
Saul, an accomplished DJ and producer in the UK breaks scene, has utilised the popular Ableton Live technology, enabling him to mix tracks that at their original tempo would be impossible to combine.
Will Saul gave us the rundown on this exciting new label and its roster of what’s to come in 2005 including the new compilation.
What made you decide to mix the tracks together rather than just compiling them?
“There’s lots of different tempo’s and styles represented across the Simple roster, and I wanted to show that they work well together in the mix despite being very different. I think they work together because the focus is on melody, interesting instrumentation and rhythms rather than one particular genre.”
You’ve used Ableton Live to mix the tracks for the CD release, will you be using this technology for your DJ tour and how will this be different from how you usually DJ?
“I will do eventually. I’m eight tracks in to writing my artist album so I haven’t really got the time at the moment. But when this is finished, I want to get a laptop and a Grex midi controller and get lost for a while… you can have eight tracks playing simultaneously at the punch of a button all perfectly in time and pitch… which is nice! I mix pretty quickly using turntables and keep layering and building tracks to keep the crowds interest, so using the midi controller should enable me to do this but faster and with more going on, acapellas and multiple loops etc. However, I’m pretty happy with my DJing ability at the moment, so I’d only add the laptop and controller if I felt it could genuinely improve my DJ sets.”
You have a massive DJ tour planned to promote release across Europe and the UK, have any investigations been undertaken to head to Australia?
“I’d love to come out to Australia. I’m hoping to get over for a while after my artist album comes out in July… although there was talk of supporting Infusion in April, but I’m not sure whether that tour will happen. I’m in the process of organizing an agent, so hopefully this will mean more international shows.”
Tell us how and where you’ve gathered artists for your label and the Simple compilation and releases so far?
“I’ve known Fin (Sideshow) for years and met him when we both worked at Sony Music, now he’s one of my closest friends. He’s an amazing producer and musician (he plays the blues guitar like you would not believe), so when I started Simple it was natural that he would create a project for it. I approached Tam (Precision Cuts) to do us some tracks before starting Simple as they’ve always been my favourite breaks act. Both Tam and Fin are from the old skool of sampling (from vinyl) to add texture, interesting melody and dynamic to tracks, and I feel this really adds warmth to their productions. They both try to look for interesting hooks and melodies rather than focusing on getting their drums and bass sounding bigger than the next man. I guess you could say we share the same philosophies on what appeals in a record.
Both Tam and Fin have engineered tracks on my album over the winter, and this has been a really good experience for all concerned (at least that’s what they tell me to my face!). I think it’s pushed them to try new things and I’ve definitely learnt a lot from working with them. I booked Uwe and Fred (Walkner.Hintenaus) to play at a night I used to put on in London called Dial a few years ago. They were signed to Kruder & Dorfmeister’s label G-Stone under another name and I became great friends with them also. I’ve always sent Rich Thair our releases as he’s an excellent DJ, plus I’m a big fan of what he did with Red Snapper (he was the drummer). He sent me some of his new material and I loved it – lots of live drum breaks that morph into techno rhythms with really deep and soulful melodies. It’s great to be working with someone who has such a rich musical history and so much experience.”
One of the exciting aspects of the release is how it brings together breaks, house and techno side by side – sort of genre-defying – was it a conscious decision to release a range of different styles on the one label rather than breaking it up into offshoots, as many labels do?
“Absolutely. I’ve a wide, varied taste in music and my DJ sets take in house, electro, techno, breaks and beyond. I also love dub. I would get really bored just releasing one genre of dance music or finding myself pigeonholed with a particular sound. I would rather Simple be known for releasing cutting edge, underground dance music with soul and depth, rather than just a breaks or house label. I think there are so many interesting and talented producers out there and these are the people I approach to remix for Simple. We’ve got remixes coming from Swayzak, John Tejada, Phonique, Infusion and quite a few more this year.”
You already have a schedule of releases for 2005, with a lot of your own tracks and debut artist album planned for this year, did you partly set up the label as an outlet to release your own music, and if so, I guess this has some obvious advantages, please comment?
“Definitely, but also to provide an outlet for friends and producers I admire and respect. It was also important for me to be able to retain artistic control after seeing most artists creative output being turned into ‘just another product that makes us money’ when whilst working for a major. You need to do something new and different to get noticed, to develop a career in music, and that’s what we wanted to do with Simple. I also think that the design focus of the label is important as it makes each release feel special and like we genuinely care about it, which we do!”
We can’t finish up without mentioning your connection with Aussie group – Infusion. How did you hook up with these guys and what was it you liked?
“I’ve known their manager Danielle for ages and I approached them to do a remix for my second single on the label (Cliff) as I love what they do. Jamie was really into the tracks we had scheduled and they turned in an absolute cracker! They’re just a great bunch of guys, incredible performers and dripping with talent. As I mentioned, they’re remixing the first single from my album. I get it back in a couple of weeks so I’m really excited to hear what they’ve done! They’re over in England next month and I’m DJing before and after them when they play live at Cargo (March 4th).
Simple One, mixed by Will Saul out now on Simple Records. See http://www.simplerecords.co.uk for more info.
