Simian Mobile Disco 'Attack Decay Sustain Release' album

It is with great joy that we introduce you to Manchester’s very own Simian Mobile Disco, two gentlemen who make some of the most fantastic ass-shaking tunes in the Western hemisphere. If you’ve been to any halfway decent party in the last couple years, then there is no doubt that Simian Mobile Disco has been a part of it. If you’ve paid attention to anything that makes you dance just like a DJ’s saved your life over the last couple years, then you know Simian Mobile Disco already. But in case you haven’t, we’re here to help – here’s what you should know about James Ford and Jas Shaw – the two men behind the excellence that is Simian Mobile Disco – before listening to their irresistible debut, Attack Decay Sustain Release.

Initially, Ford and Shaw were part of a band called Simian, whose debut garnered them some smashing critical acclaim both in America and their native England. But like all good things, the band imploded while touring America one summer, and Simian Mobile Disco, the name both Shaw and Ford gave to themselves when they’d dj parties after Simian gigs on tour, rose from the ashes to rapturous response. Originally, Ford and Shaw were Simian’s rhythm section, and this is a fact that clearly makes sense when you hear the amazing beats on Attack Decay Sustain Release. Which reminds us – something important to keep in mind about Simian Mobile Disco is that they do not use any modern electronic recording/music making methods, relying solely on analog synthesizers and drum machines. Indeed, Attack Decay Sustain Release (themselves the sound filters that manipulate sonic textures, something Simian Mobile Disco does best) is made entirely by hand, a feat for any electronic record created in 2007. This is about as DIY as it gets.

While some knob twiddlers are obsessed with splicing familiar songs together into brand new creations (and let’s face it, the novelty factor in this wears off quickly), Simian Mobile Disco get back to the heart of their scene, creating damn satisfying, perfect slices of electro pop meant to keep your feet moving at all times. To call their tunes “nu rave” would be short-sighted, if only because dance music never went away. With their squiggly keyboard squelches and jack-hammer bass, the songs on Attack Decay Sustain Release command the club. “It’s the Beat,” featuring a guest turn from The Go! Team’s Ninja, updates Technotronic’s “Pump Up the Jam” for 2007, mixing Ninja’s dancefloor come-ons with analog orchestra hits, while “I Believe” is unprecedented slink with washy, stacked vocals courtesy of ex-Simian vocalist Simon Lord. “Wooden” burns with psychedelic Technicolor waves, and “Tits and Acid” spills over with metallic twists, super overloaded snare hits and a siren’s wail as its backbone. Simply put, this is a record that just won’t stop.

In addition to Attack Decay Sustain Release, Simian Mobile Disco has created amazing remixes for the likes of The Go! Team, Air, and more, while James Ford has produced LP’s for artists such as Arctic Monkeys (Favourite Worst Nightmare), The Klaxons (Myths of the Near Future) and Mystery Jets (Zootime).

press quotes
“It’s clear from [the] opening track...that Ford and Shaw are in love with the shape-shifting possibilities of sound, like Daft Punk at their most hallucinogenic.” – Q, June 2007

“...in these 10 perfectly weighted pieces of contemporary electronic pop, Simian Mobile Disco rifle through history (hip-house, Italo-disco, 808 State) to produce the definitive sound of now.” – NME, 6/17/07

biography
You might not know Simian Mobile Disco, but they are your friends. You’ll never be alone again. So come on.

Ring any bells, club kids? Yes, “Never Be Alone,” a.k.a. “We Are Your Friends,” a.k.a. the song that’s ruled your summer for the last three years is the tune that invented Simian Mobile Disco. They didn’t write it exactly. More like it wrote them. Let us explain.

Back in the late ‘90s, James Ford and Jas Shaw were studying biology at and philosophy respectively at Manchester University, while crafting strange electronic music in the spare room of their shared house. Fellow student Simon Lord, a folk-influenced singer-songwriter, caught wind of the duo’s sonic experiments, and along with bass player Alex MacNaughten they formed the band Simian. It was around the time when a lot of bands were starting to combine traditional songwriting with electronic sounds in the spirit of Broadcast and The Beta Band. Simian did quite well, but not quite well enough to justify the major label deal they’d signed. James and Jas found themselves playing as a conventional rhythm section in a touring band, which isn’t what they set out to do. Even though they realized it would a terrible cliché for Simian to split in the middle of a long, hot US tour, Simian split in the middle of a long, hot US tour.

In order to satiate their love of electronic party music, James and Jas booked themselves DJ dates while touring with Simian. They’d finish a gig and then run off to play electro records to small, sweaty rooms full of people who often seemed to be having lots more fun than the audiences at their gigs. As a joke, they called themselves Simian Mobile Disco.

At around the same time, their record company decided to launch a competition for bedroom acts to remix the Simian track “Never Be Alone.” A then-unknown French production duo called Justice entered and, famously, didn’t win (James blames this on the dodgy stereo on which they had to listen to the entries). Nevertheless, the remix was picked up by DJs like Erol Alkan and became something of a party anthem. You still hear it played regularly in clubs across the UK and Europe now, four years after its initial release. It gave James and Jas the boost to strike out on their own as DJs, remixers and producers of thumping electronic party tunes. They knocked up a few songs of their own, and released them on labels such as Kitsuné and Click Click Bang. Thanks to having a foot in both indie and dance camps – with their productions combining the dynamics of rock with the propulsive groove and acid fury of techno – they became DJs of choice for all the emerging club nights that were putting on live bands, as well as the usual dance-fodder.

James produced albums for Mystery Jets, Klaxons and Arctic Monkeys. “He makes the magic happen,” said Jamie Reynolds from Klaxons. “I think he receives outer-planetary signals through his hair and they come out through his eyes.” Meanwhile, Jas began to build the largest modular synth in the South East of England.

They kept making tunes as Simian Mobile Disco but were careful not to take it too seriously, aware that over-thinking their music would be the death of its jubilant, instant appeal. They went to New York to record the vocals of an aspiring singer/rapper called Char Johnson. She freestyled for 45 minutes and SMD edited the best bits into ‘Hustler’, an incendiary dancefloor destroyer that owned 2006, and even got mashed-up with Rick Ross’s coke-rap hit ‘Hustlin’’.

They got booked to play everywhere from the Club NME Tour to superclubs like Fabric. They introduced ghetto-tech to the indie kids, played acid to the housed-up hordes, and dropped the theme from ‘Willy Wonka’ at Bugged Out. Everyone smiled. Then danced their asses off.

Up stepped Wichita, home to Bloc Party and Blood Brothers in the UK and one of the last truly independently-minded labels out there, to offer Simian Mobile Disco an album deal. Their side-project had become full-time – but James and Jas continued to treat it like a side-project because they wanted to retain the spontaneity. They didn’t want their songs to sound too tech-ish and programmed, so they recorded them all on analogue machines, and kept the mistakes. They tried to emulate the accidental human qualities of the proto-acid producers like Phuture and synth pioneers like Delia Derbyshire, a kind of psychedelic acid wobbliness that can be heard on the menacing “Wooden” or electro sci-fi workout “The Theme.”

They called up their old Simian mate Simon Lord and asked him to sing a swirly, psych-folk vocal on “I Believe,” just to prove there were no hard feelings. They roped in Barry Dobbin from popsters Clor to add his unique vocal hooks to the cinematic space disco of “Love.” They enlisted exuberant Go! Team frontwoman Ninja to splatter her sassy hip-house rhymes all over irresistible opener “It’s the Beat.” They decided to name the album Attack Decay Sustain Release because, like the sound manipulations they described, it sounded like a good motto to live by.

All the album’s tracks began life as extended club wig-outs for SMD to play out live, but have been edited down to keep the album varied, punchy and constantly stimulating. The long versions exist on their hard drive and may see the light of day as a series of limited edition 12”s at a later date. Attack Decay Sustain Release, however, was envisioned as a taut listening experience, not a glorified DJ mix. And they’ve achieved their aim with panache.

Simian Mobile Disco have an instinctive knowledge for what will work on any dancefloor, with any crowd, at any time. And now they’ve used that instinct to create the most invigorating dance album of 2007, a record that pummels you into submission with its relentless volleys of pure disco delight. The Simian Mobile Disco is coming to your town: do not even attempt to sleep.

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Simian Mobile Disco - Attack Decay Sustain Release