Matthew Dear Joins Simian Mobile Disco on 'Wrong With Us' From Upcoming DJ-Kicks Mix: Exclusive

The world's current climate of anxiety is a bit much to take on, even for someone as emotionally tapped in as Matthew Dear.

Dear is more than just your average dance creative. In about 15 years he's found time to push the cutting edge of dark-pop dance grooves under his own name, while simultaneously exploring different sounds with his minimal moniker Audion and techno-alias Jabberjaw. He's also co-founder of Ghostly International and Spectral Sound, but he still found time to get away for a bit with his friends Simian Mobile Disco to put some of his own anxieties into healing song.

“'Wrong With Us' came about in a frenzied session with Simian Mobile Disco at their studio in the English countryside,” Dear says. “We started with some modular synths and went from there adding vocals, drums and other odd ends. In the end, we finished four songs in four days, and I couldn't have been happier with the results. It's a reflection on the state of the world we live in today.”

“Wrong With Us” isn't a pity party or an outright rant. It's a moving, dark-tinged groove with a haunting vocal that speaks to the voice in all our heads. Just as he sings of his own unsureness, the beat gives us strength to push on. “Wrong With Us” is featured on his upcoming latest installment in his DJ-Kicks mix series, alongside two new Audion tracks.

“I always have a lot of unreleased music laying around, those I included on here seemed to fit,” Dear is quoted in a press release. “There are snippets of friends and family strewn throughout the mix. A lot of the vocal interludes you hear are from a portable recorder I've carried with me over the years … I wanted to create a mix that could be listened to anywhere, and reflect a little bit of everything that I play. Whether you're in your car, preparing to open the club, or having a bottle of wine with friends at home, this mix is for you.”

DJ-Kicks 2017 is out Jan. 27 and currently available for pre-order on !K7 Records.

DJ-Kicks Tracklisting
01. Nils Frahm - Ode
02. Matthew Dear - Wrong With Us (DJ-Kicks)
03. Mahal - Ongaku (HVL Remix)
04. Monsieur Georget - Double Lune (Third Child Boomer Mix)
05. Kreon - Silo Sol
06. Caserta - Ricky (Thatmanmonkz Remix)
07. Gwilym Gold x Doc Daneeka - Lust For Sale (MGF Mix)
08. Smoke - Nuutri
09. Decius - Bread & Butter
10. Italojohnson - ITJ10B1
11. Vin Sol - Instinct (Matrixxman Remix)
12. Groovesh - Glowing
13. Duff Disco - Feed The Horse
14. Dudley Strangeways - Hallam
15. Alex & Digby - Angolan Rumble
16. Gary Sloan & Clone - Harmonitalk (Alex & Digby Edit)
17. Randomer - Rendell Pips
18. Markus Enochson - Hot Juice Box
19. Simian Mobile Disco - Staring At All This Handle
20. Pearson Sound - XLB
21. Soulphiction - Sky So High
22. Audion - Live Breakdown
23. Audion - Starfucker
24. Audion - Brines
25. DJ Khalab & Baba Sissoko - Kumu