Hectic - "Don't Care" (Play Records Inc)
I pre-saved this off the back of an Instagram post so I could hear it the minute it dropped, and it was well worth the wait. A low siren starts far in the distance, like falling down a hole, and creeps closer until the mental breakdown is already in progress. Hectic's "Don't Care" is a standout: a driving 135bpm record that shares the pummelling, looping drive and taunting vocal attitude of the Chemical Brothers' "Hey Boy Hey Girl" and "Do It Again," with "Setting Sun," which Hectic cites as an influence, in the background. It's built for the hours when the night has gone deep and messy.
The hook is why it works. Hectic says the alarm-type sounds come from his modular synth, and you can hear it in how the siren bites. The hook's core tone comes from a Doepfer oscillator, and it's incessant until 1:10, tangled up with machine-breakdown samples, before it climbs higher. The repetition is the setup, and the climb pays off everything before it and lifts the whole track. It sounds chaotic, but it's tight, economical and slick, with sparse, woody, percussion and record-scratch fills in the gaps. In the breakdown the siren returns higher and more urgent, the delays turn rubbery, and acid lines close it out.
The 4:24 Club Mix (the single is 3:39) isn't a major rework. It retains the same vibe as the single but is extended, with longer drum breaks on the intro and outro for mixing. It opens on the kick and more complex glassy percussion before a high-pass sweep leads into the siren as it moves in from the distance. The snares are more present and spacey, and the breakdown vocals get extra reverb. My one wish is a longer, more drawn-out acid section to get lost inside of. The tension is wound so tightly by that point that letting the acid run would have turned the final stretch into a second peak instead of a closing flourish. Even so, it's the one I'd keep for late at night, with the single earlier in a set.
The androgynous vocal is a shrug set to a beat. "I don't care about what you think" is the attitude: if you fancy a drink, come along it'll be fun, and if you'd rather not, no hard feelings. I'll get my kicks either way. The line is repeated, then broken into fragments, and the "do you want it?" hook sounds like it's entirely up to you. The vocal's sound and delivery also remind me of Underworld: half-spoken, detached and processed, like a thought overheard late at night. It may be a British thing, but there's a clear line from them through the Chemical Brothers to Hectic. Hectic says the vocals are samples pieced together from another vocal, with heavy processing on top, and that the track went through many iterations, with different drums and vocals, before landing on the final version. You'd never know it. It sounds effortless. That sexy hook climbs right on up, and you'll be glad you stayed for the fall.
Hectic, "Don't Care" (Play Records Inc, out October 9, 2026)
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