Continuing its proud reign of fine compilations, the Balance series hits the mark once again with Will Saul. Since the unimaginable 100+ tracks that were featured on Joris Voorn’s we are greeted with the once known as the ‘Bedroom Bedlam’ DJ from Muzik Magazine. As a producer and DJ Will Saul projects his vibrant deep and lush rhythms into everything he does. Originality is not a factor in any of his carefully arranged mixes or well produced tracks and remixes. Strolling through disc 1 of 3 the deep and atmospheric house grooves eventually roll into a darker place featuring rock and IDM styles of music. Bumping up the groove with a bit of disco flavor Studio’s Life's a Beachcalms the way into more laid smooth but still bass heavy dropping tracks from Cage & Aviary on Georgio Carpenter. Always a fan of I:Cube productions and well, a lot of French producers you can’t help but fall in love with their Supernovac song. A sublime and moody groove that races through lush pads and wobbly low end bass. A surprising end but also a delightful one Will ends the disc with Bat for Lashes. Their infectious dark and groovable rock grabs any willing soul and catapults to the dance floor. Pearl's Dream among others is worth diving into any day or night. Moving forward to the second installment of mind expanding articulated moment son sound Will now defines the more minimal and techouse grooves of the late night clubs. Surrendering to the sounds of the dark aren’t easy, going back and forth to classic acid and techno morph each one of the mixes around great artists such as Ricardo Villalobos, Konrad Black, Adam Marshall and on the bit more obscure side Isolée. Featured here more prominently is Will Saul’s own works with Mbira. A submersive a chuggy techouse tune with scratchy pads yarning to reach for the top of what seems a bottomless cave of background sounds. His partnership with Tam Cooper is more of an explorative one. Sequential Circus breaks apart into sections of ominous pads, and haunting vocals layered in between powerful 4/4 dance beats. Rolling into the 3^rd and last disc Will Saul dives deeper into the abyss with a series of genre splitting dub melodies to alleviate the mind. The essence of techno, rock and groove is here but it focuses more on vocals which prevail as the victor with meaningful lyrics that enhance that aforementioned essence of dub. Patti Jo breaks up the dub sound and drops in for a bit of a different tune in a clever 70’s swinging soul styled vocal over a disco inspired remix by Black Science Orchestra on Make Me Believe in You. Jumping back into the 4/4 house sound on Jordan Fields I Wanna Thank You is a guaranteed hit. The flowing funky arrangement will get you in the mood for a bit of what is to come. Sebo K & Metro’s Sax Track is one of my absolute favorites from 09 and it fits well here in the mix. The chuggy and techfunk track lifts your spirits with the sensual horn arrangements and cut up vocal sample snippets that perk up your senses. It’s also a prefect transition track into either genre which Will Saul is about to deliver. Swaying towards the more deeper and darker techno sound on Bateria, DJ T invokes the familiar hand pumping in the air styled tech that gets the crowd jumping furiously into a frenzy. Not slowing down but easing the mind and body down for the next episode of Balance Series compilations Will Saul has delivered what a lot of the fans of this series have grown to appreciate and love. The work here is easy to see and hear and anybody that has encountered one of his sets will definitely agree.

By Marc 'Oxide' LaCasse
Apr 18, 2010