SIMPLE THINGS

After the release of “Chasm” and “Wrong Galaxy,” Shit Robot (Marcus Lambkin) had listeners’ ears burning for more.

“Simple Things (Work It Out)” is his much-anticipated new single to be released by his good friends at DFA Records. Born in Ireland, Lambkin was instantly drawn to music, where he augmented his punk rock education of the Buzzcocks and the Dead Kennedys with nights spent wholly entranced with Acid House in the late eighties. Relocating to New York City in ‘92, Lambkin was well on his way to becoming one of the top DJs in New York City when he chanced into meeting future discopunk don James Murphy. Even after Lambkin returned to the continent, his friendship with Murphy continued to develop, evolving into Shit Robot along the way.

In the fine DFA lineage of “Losing My Edge” and “Casual Friday,” “Simple Things” upholds the tradition of DFA ‘talkies,’ coupling body-pulverizing bangers with brain-tickling diatribes. The new track is no different, as it features the steely-eyed

rant of Washington D.C. based iconoclast Ian Svenonius, who has been the voice of such bands as Nation of Ulysses, The Make Up, and Chain and the Gang. Spleening and screeching throughout about robots, singing machines, and the loss of innocence, Svenonius gets matched every step of the way by Lambkin, who shadows that singular voice with an elegant yet gritty array of synthetic genius.

When it came to the task of remixing such a totemic track, Lambkin enlisted two very different men, Serge Santiago and Todd Terje, for the task. For the UK pressing, Santiago --a British based record producer whose talent can most recently be heard on the newest Goldfrapp single-- strips everything down to the acid bassline and a telltale drum tock, pressurizing every component to the point of meltdown, before dropping in a classic piano line to stabilize everything. Originally hailing from Oslo, nu-disco edit-master Terje showcases his remix skills. His subtle yet deft touch here makes his “Simple Things” remix the lynchpin of any disco fanatic’s play list.

With a steady heart-throbbing bass line and an array of startling acidic sounds that build up the dancefloor brick by brick, Shit Robot’s “Simple Things” offers us a glimpse of a futuristic new world, one built not merely by robots, but by Shit Robot.

shit robot - simple things (work it out) (todd terje version)