- Club evangelism at its bassy best.
- Simo Cell's Dekmantel Selectors set from this summer is likely the only place where the first few bars of the Ying Yang Twins' "Wait" will sound like some never-to-be-ID'd piece of deconstructed club. In his DJing and productions, the French artist draws strange and unexpected connections that make you want to dance in strange and unexpected ways. This makes him a club evangelical in the truest sense of the word: from his productions and DJing to moonlighting as a self-described "drink ticket influencer" and committing to more ecologically conscientious touring habits. On his latest EP, YES.DJ, we hear his club evangelism on six weird, state-of-the-art tracks that celebrate club music and club culture in all its guises.
YES.DJ completes a trilogy of club-focused EPs for Simo Cell. The trilogy began with the bottom-heavy techno of 2017's Pour Le Club! and continued through 2018's 5 Party Mix, where he added dancehall and electro references to his arsenal. In the three years since, his production palette has grown more eclectic (check last year's collaboration with Egyptian artist Abdullah Miniawy) and we can hear that on YES.DJ, with its flecks of dark dancehall ("FART") and demonic hip-hop ("not all it's cracked up to be").
Simo Cell's bread-and-butter, though, remains contemporary techno with crystalline sound design soldered with sub-bass stabs (he was, after all, the first non-UK artist to release on Livity Sound). The sub-bass and crisp snares on "Whispers" give it a driving propulsion, while each of the competing synth lines feels like they've been pulled so tightly they might snap at any moment. The synth work on "Short Legs" is similarly compressed and ropey, but the twisting, rolling rhythm sounds a bit like Peverelist having a go at making trap beats.
Building on that Bristol influence, the EP also features plenty of dub and dubstep. Constructed around the titular "Yes DJ" sample, the title track feels like rubbing your eyes and waiting for the focus to come back as one of the record's brightest melodies peaks its head out from behind the tectonic quakes of dubstep wobble. "Cegetel" has a similar stutter, but the feeling here is the claustrophobia of your head getting stuck in a bass bin for too long.
Simo Cell came up alongside Lyon's Brothers From Different Mothers crew in the mid-2010s. While not a single BFDM artist sounds alike (hell, the releases from the same artists rarely sound the same), Simo Cell has discussed the importance of BFDM both for him personally and for a larger renaissance in the French underground, underlining how the crew helped cultivate "a very powerful energy and emulation." And "energy" was the word I kept coming back to while listening to YES.DJ. Each track has a tactile intensity that would likely make your night as the sub-bass rearranges the air molecules all around you.
Tracklist01. Short Leg
02. Cegetel
03. Whispers
04. YES.DJ
05. FARTS
06. not all it's cracked up to be