Will Saul is in good company. He joins a select list of top tier talent to release a Balance compilation from the Melbourne based EQ Recordings. Other members of that select list include James Holden, Chris Fortier, Desyn Masielo, Paolo Mojo, Jimmy Van M., S.O.S., Lee Burridge and Joris Voorn.
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Now it’s the turn of Saul who’s chiseled out a reputation as being a master of all things melodic and deep when he first gained mainstream exposure as the winner of Muzik Magazines “Bedroom Bedlam” DJ contest in 2000. Since then, he’s continued to rise up the ranks as a top shelf DJ and producer, and has gigged the world over while holding residencies at notable spots like The End and Cable nightclubs in London.
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Saul built up his real world experience by working with Sony International for a number of years before going on to found Simple Records and Aus Music, two well regarded imprints specializing in groove driven music that emphasize a deep and melodic vibe. His biography as a producer/remixer—including with his production partner Tam Cooper—spans several genres. He’s been released on a long list of labels including Buzzin’ Fly, DFA, Freerange Records, Dessous Recordings, NRK, Hypercolour, Fresh Meat, Air Recordings, and on his own imprints Simple and Aus Music.
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Now he’s been handed the responsibility of mixing Balance’s 15th installment by the people over at EQ. A responsibility he’s seems to have wrapped his hands around in order to craft a 3-disc journey to guide you through hours of blissful listening.
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Each of the three discs has 20+ tracks on it and each ooze the Will Saul sound. You’ll find melodic drum and bass, dub, dubstep, deep and techy looped house, avant-garde space-techno, disco-soul and plenty of other micro-genres all intertwined within the confines of about 4 hours of seamless mixing. It shows that Saul has a knowledge and grasp not only the music he loves, but also of the music that you might never discover yourself unless you get guided in the right direction. I’m not going to dissect each of the discs as there’s no way I’d do them justice, but I’ve included the track list for you to digest after the jump.
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I think the most significant thing about Will Saul’s Balance is the way he pulls off ambitious combinations of tracks and manages to make them stick. For example: the third disc starts off with Rhythm and Stealth’s soulful and melodic dub cut “King in My Empire” before veering off into the reggae groove of Sly and Robbie’s “Skull and Cross Bones” via some dub from Geiom and Appleblim. When I was listening to the disc for the first time I remember thinking “How the f*** is he going to get from this into a Black Science Orchestra remix, into a Depayk and Padberg track, then into a Sebo K and Metro jackin’ house cut, before winding up at Shonky, Seth Troxler, and Carl Craig’s remix of “Detroit?”
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But he does. Not only does he do it, but he masterfully does it. His attention to programming each of the discs is positively reassuring and you get the sense that’s he’s deliberated over it so much that he might have lost some sleep over it. He really knows his music and he knows the journey he wants to take you on. And that’s exactly what he does.
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In a world where most commercial music can be found online for free this should be an album you treat yourself to on CD. It’s one of the few mixes that separates itself from a crowded room of under achieving mix compilations. This is a mix that should give you hope that the golden era of mix compilations isn’t behind us and that there are plenty of good years still to come. Kudos to EQ for having the foresight to pick Saul, and double-kudos to the man himself for managing to pull it off.
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Will Saul’s Balance 015 is available in the US from October 20, 2009. Order on Amazon HERE.
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Click through to get to the track list.
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