Over the last two years Behling & Simpson, previously Baobinga & I.D., have forged a signature sound heavily influenced by their former aliases. Sure, ‘bass’ artists playing about with the house template is nothing new; for the last five years an abundance of dubstep DJs have been making the transition (the enduring groove of house too good to resist, it seems).
What makes Behling & Simpson stand above their peers is that instead of importing the broody edge of garage music, they’ve gone the other way and injected an upbeat, happy aesthetic – but with all the bite and bass still intact. And when their sound works, it really works – perhaps best exemplified on their Faith Evans and Julio Bashmore remixes on Futureboogie.
Here they open with trademark hollowed-out percussion, but with the urgency and rattling momentum pulled back to a slower tempo. Despite the relatively low BPM, it still feels raucous and uses a delicious vocal, dripping with garage cheese, to full effect.
The original is worth a see-in too: an emotive, downbeat affair that noodles the crooning vocal into your head with a stark minimalism and a lone snare.
Roots & Elevation | Released: December 2011
