Showing posts with label Fabric. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fabric. Show all posts

Monday, May 2, 2022

Various - Fabric 69: Sandwell District

Fabric: 2013

I've feigned surprise over some of the Fabric CDs that ended up on the used market, but I cannot deny legitimate shock at this one. I'll grant recollection's a bit hazy nearly a decade on, but wasn't Sandwell District's contribution to the series hailed as one of the 'crowning achievements' or something? For sure I remember a lot of hype and promo surrounding it because, goddamn, how are you gonna' forget cover art looking like this? Almost as striking as that one with the octopus on a dude's head. More than that though, most of the major 'zines covered fabric 69, so how could one not just assume Sandwell District was a Very Important conglomerate in the world of techno?

Actually, I'm not sure how accurate that is. Yeah, the label developed a feverish cult following throughout the '00s, but you can say that about any ol' techno label. The main players within the group – Karl O'Connor, Peter Sutton, David Sumner, and Juan Mendez – had all been involved in '90s minimalist techno one way or another (aliases Regis and Function the most famous of the lot). They certainly cultivated a particular sound on their label, keeping the classic, cavernous minimal style alive while other scenes became obsessed with Ableton micro-edits and white noise wank. Then, as Ostgut Ton overtook everything, Sandwell District looked primed to join them as brothers-in-arms. Except they disbanded soon after, everyone going their separate ways, some retreating from the spotlight altogether. And hoo, what a more perfect way to crystallize that cult status than that, eh?

Maybe that's why I've seen mostly lukewarm responses to fabric 69. Fans of Sandwell District wanted an exclamation mark on their legacy, a triumphant modus operani that solidified everything they held noble and true about the group. What they got instead was an interesting minimal techno mix that's more about audio space and head journeys than anything worth rinsing out at 4am on a Sunday morning. At least, that's what I assume fans of Sandwell District wanted.

But enough of that. What's important here is what I think of fabric 69. Me, someone who really only knows of the Sandwell District legacy in passing mention. It's a'ight, I guess. I can't be certain this was the case, but it sounds like each member got to have their own little mini-set within the greater whole. Things tend to reach a narrative mini-conclusion a few times as the CD plays, resetting shortly after for a slightly different techno build while retaining a stylistic Sandwell vibe throughout.

Some tracks like Mary Velo's Detune, Carl Craig's Darkness, and Untold's Motion The Dance work as centrepieces while bits and pieces of others (too many to list) are used as the mixing glue linking everything together. It honestly took me a couple listens for this one to sink in, so I can understand how fabric 69 may have been initially off-putting for some. Even such that they'd be willing to offload it for a fiver.

Saturday, April 30, 2022

Various - Fabric 58: Craig Richards Presents The Nothing Special

Fabric: 2011

This is a strange edition. Oh, not the music within, most of it serviceable deep techno and tech-house as you'd expect from a resident of the Fabric nightclub. It's not even odd, if a little self-serving, that Craig Richards would have multiple sets in the fabric series. He kicked things off with Fabric 01, and naturally concluded it with Terry Francis and Keith Reilly in the triple-disc Fabric 100. Relatively early in fabric's lifespan, he used his Tyrant alias to do a double-disc set for Fabric 15. I don't think there was another 2CD edition of fabric or FabricLive after (centennial volume notwithstanding), so clearly a format the Fabric faithful weren't keen on. How nice of Mr. Richards taking that fumble with Tyrant.

Still, an artist using different aliases for different Fabrics wasn't unheard of. Heck, using a Fabric set as a promotional springboard for another project was almost expected, especially if someone had an album, label, or club night to launch. Such seems to be the case with Fabric 58, The Nothing Special a label that Craig Richards was set to premiere later that year. Or was it something else, and simply became a label? I'm not entirely sure, finding little info about this CD a decade on. Something about Craig wanting to create a specific night at Fabric where he'd have to DJ around live acts, but I hear little in this set that reflects such a purpose, Fabric 58 going as it means to go on in the hands of Mr. Richards.

All this, yet that's still not what boggles my mind about Fabric 58. No, what truly astounds me about this CD is how it disrupts the then-current cover art theme! Fabric always featured a trilogy of unique art that never had much of anything to do with the DJ involved. Sometimes you lucked out with cool silhouette urban art or abstract drawings, other times you'd be saddled with the guy with an octopus on his head. At this point in fabric's timeline (volumes 57 to 60) , it was people in striking-coloured bodysuits being assaulted by similarly coloured technology. Hey, such bodysuits were trendy back then, and if nothing else, one of the more memorable runs of cover art in fabric's history. But right smack in the middle of it, interrupting the sequence and triggering all sorts of OCD, comes Craig Richards' stark black 58. What, does he think he runs Fabric or something?

Okay, okay. The mix. Like I said, it's basically a deep tech-house outing, with a slant towards Detroitism. He throws in a liberal amount of '90s tunes from the likes of Two Lone Swordsmen, G-Man, Eco Tourist, Joel Mull, and Johnny Fiasco, and unsurprisingly are more interesting than the upfront material. I find Craig takes a bit too long to warm things up, nor does it shift any higher than mid-gear, but compared to the occasional dry sterility of fabric's previous half-decade, this one nicely bumps once it gets going.

Friday, April 29, 2022

Fabric 55: Shackleton

Fabric: 2010

Another year, another mini-splurge on Fabric CDs on the cheap. While it's doubtful I'll ever get them all, even the thirty-plus currently sitting on my shelves seems like a paltry amount compared to what's out there. Heck, I could expand that by ten more CDs, if I wanted to buy another bundle of ones available for under ten bones. Despite the series having ended, there's two-hundred releases under its banner, many of which are far from ever reaching the pricey collector's market

I bring this up because I find it rather bizarre that despite my generally restrictive rules in getting a Fabric CD (must be dirt cheap on Amazon), I've landed upon yet another 'artist' album in the series. Just how many of these are there? Ricardo Villalobos' entry was the most infamous, in that it was the one that broke that barrier in the first place. I remember there being a bit of a stir when Omar S did the same. I didn't even know Daphni (aka: Caribou; aka: Manitoba; aka: Mister Snaith; aka: Dan) had one until I got it. No doubt it takes a bit of gumption to even do such a thing when followers of Fabric expect DJ mixes featuring multiple artists on a single disc, not an excuse to hawk your own productions.

Of course, the argument can be made that some producers and DJs have a style that's so uniquely their own that doing an 'artist' album is about the only way they could do a Fabric set justice. It's certainly a worthy point when it comes to Shackleton. When he was still technically part of the dubstep lexicon, his style was far more tribal and primal compared to his contemporaries, quickly establishing himself as among the freshest sounding artists of the '00s UK bass scene.

Even after proper demarcations formed following those Wild West years, Shackleton still didn't fit tidily into any specific sub-genre. How, then, could he be expected to do a traditional DJ mix for Fabric if there were so few other cats making similar music he could rinse out? Still, the series wanted prominent names, so let him do it his way, even if the results are basically another artist album from the man. It's not like he had many under his belt by 2010 anyway.

And yep, fabric 55 is definitely a Shackleton set. Lots of afro rhythms, lots of tribal drumming, lots of minimalist dub, almost all fresh material (older joints like Hypno Angel and Massacre crop up), and in no hurry to get the party moving. I know my go-to comparisons for this sort of sound is Sandoz or Rapoon, but for some reason Muslimgauze at his more entrancing is the name that keeps cropping up in my mind in this outing. If Bryn Jones had been inspired by northern Africa rather than Arabia that is. And less about the industrial noise. Okay, it's not a perfect comparison, but I didn't want to again namedrop my old standbys.

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Various - Fabriclive 93: Daphni

Fabric: 2017

*cover art brought to you by FabricLive's “beautiful carnivorous vegetation” period*

I did not expect this. An entry in Fabric's long-running series so close to its conclusion, already hitting the dirt-cheap discount bin? Why was the seller so anxious to be rid of it?

Well, this isn't a traditional DJ set. Daphni constructed something more like a live PA outing, mixing and looping house and techno rhythms into a continuous whole. Even then, calling Fabriclive 93 “continuous” is a misnomer, tracks often leading to a moment that abruptly switches into something different. Not in a 'mixtape' fashion either, the sonic palette too singular for that, which makes sense given these are all Daphni productions on display. It's why I'm getting my 'live PA' vibe, playing out in sections, drum loops coming and going without much mixing between them, plenty of points for beatless melodic indulgences.

It's all rather erratic. Any time things start shifting into higher gear, letting a dope retro-techno groove gain momentum, it's lost, only for something just as interesting to take its lead, rather than build from it. Things do get better as the CD plays out, but towards the end, I find my interest drifting, the promise of proper payoff so continuously snatched away. It's an interesting approach to a Fabric set, I must admit, but for those weaned on a traditional DJ rinse-out, this unorthodox approach can be a turn-off. I suppose we shouldn't have expected anything less from the one-time Manitoba.

Yes, yes, (or Ye Ye?), I know Daphni is Dan Snaith, most famous for his indie-darling project Caribou (he'll always be Manitoba to me!). Daphni was his outlet in getting back to the clubs, initially a side-project for material that didn't fit with Caribou, but eventually a primary alias for DJ tours. His debut album as Daphni was well-received, and I gave Ye Ye Ace Track status as it appeared on Get Lost 4. By 2017, Dan was dusting Daphni off again, and Fabric allowed him to spring-board back out onto the scene. Everything on here was fresh material when it came out, a solid third of the tracks featured in Fabriclive 93 getting expanded versions on the album Joli Mai later that year. Did some of them ever need it.

Why didn't' I just say all this from the start? One, everyone does the bio blurb at the start, so here's a different approach (seems appropriate). Two... ah, I actually forgot specifically who Daphni was at first, leading me to go into this set mostly blind. The name was familiar to me, but I resisted doing the research before the listening, as pure an experience as I could get – I didn't even look at the tracklist. When the odd set construction had me scratching my head, I relented and asked The Lord That Knows All what the deal was. Then, it all clicked, and I enjoyed Fabriclive 93 a little more, such as it was. Wanted to share that experience, yes?

Friday, May 14, 2021

Various - fabric 43: Metro Area

Fabric: 2008

*cover art care of fabric's “clay models on black” period*

It's been a lo-o-o-ong while since I last indulged Fabric mixes on the cheap. Too many of them resulted in minimal tech-house sets at its insufferably driest, but I've been feeling a bit nostalgic for those random chances. Plus, the series lasted well beyond that era, many changing tides of taste emerging since. Surely there's been a few in more recent years that have sunk to super-affordable prices.

Indeed there are, but I'll get to those later, for we're still in Fabric's 'early years' in this outing with Metro Area. This is actually a rather odd entry, the duo almost finished by the time this came out. Their breakout was half a decade old, and while folks had some fondness for their nu-disco jams, it didn't really spearhead a massive resurgence, clubland more enamoured by sample pilfering and filter-funkifying than anything authentic sounding. Thus Metro Area erroneously got lumped in with the 'electroclash' kids (because retro?), but despite DFA's approval, not quite fitting in with the disco punk crowds either. You could count on a track of theirs appearing on a stripped-back disco funk set, but sadly, Metro Area basically disbanded before the disco-edits scene would have made them super-stars.

Which is why seeing a Fabric mix from them in 2008 is so odd, the peak of their popularity well in the rear-view, but too soon for a nostalgic reminder. Was it because member Morgan Geist was set to release a long-awaited solo album around this time? I don't doubt it for a minute.

fabric 43 is wonderful though, in that it's a total love-letter to the music that influenced much of Metro Area's sound: the b-sides, dubs, and instrumentals of disco, funk, and garage of the early '80s. They dug deep for the unheralded, the unknown, and the unexpected. Like the Dub Mix of Ministry's Work For Love (yes, that Ministry). Or the dope bassline in Play By Number's Cloud Nine. Or the funky electro of Midway's Set It Out. Or the wiki-wiki guitar licks of Wiretap's X-Rated Man. Or the electro-pop perfection of Première Classe's Poupée Flash. Seriously, is there any music Belgian's don't excel at?

This mix is a retro trainspotter's wet dream, and Metro Area beef the production enough so things sound about as modern is they possibly could, but some outdated things simply can't be hidden. Like, good God, are the synth tones, few and far as they are, ever out of tune. They even rib on them a little in the intro, fully aware that even if the rhythms are dope, brace yourself for some woeful 'horn' sounds. Also, as we are in the early '80s, there are occasional ropy drums on display. Our guiding duo generally highlight the best parts of a given track, mixing out quickly, but you can still hear clunky echo effects here and there.

Hardly deal breakers though, fabric 43 definitely worth the pennies I paid for it.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Various - fabric 11: Swayzak

Fabric: 2003

When last I talked up Swayzak on this here bloggity-bloog of mine, I made passing wonderment over how their fabric mix sounded. In fact, I wanted to start a proper dive into their discography, and figured rounding up the rest of their DJ mixes would make for a good start. Um, this is about it. Yeah, Misters Brown and Taylor weren't really all that interested in the commercial mix CD market, and judging how their two primary outings fare, it's not hard to hear why: they just can't be fussed with the technical aspects of DJing.

For sure they can do all the blending and syncing and balancing if they want to - Groovetechnology V1.3 had plenty of sublime minimalist mixing going on. Sometimes though, a tune deserves to be played out in full, with a transition into something so different it defies anything other than a crossfade, so long as the music remains thematically consistent. Such is the domain of the mixtapes and third room 'chill' zones, of which Swayzak was quite familiar with in the early '00s.

Not that the fabric brand hadn't shown wilful genre hopping in the past, though that was more the purview of the Fabriclive offshoot. The mainline series generally stuck things out with tech-house in its early years, with occasional dalliances into deep house, electro or techno. Swayzak's offering was the first time fabric really stretched beyond such narrow confines, bringing in micro-house, disco punk, reggae dub, and even proto-fidget under one mix. Which probably isn't that big a deal, since we're still quite early in the series' lifespan, and couldn't ignore Fabriclive's eclecticism for long.

Cheekily, Swayzak open things up with a little Negativland, with the cheeky sampling of a doomsday cult rattling off all the evil rock bands of the era (which Fatboy Slim cheekily nicked himself). Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Prince, Madonna, Billy Idol, Neil Young, David Bowie, Queen, Adam Ant, Billy Joel, The Police, Huey Lewis, “Weird” Al, and many more... heathens, all!

From there, fabric 11 carries on about as you'd expect of a Swayzak set from this era, chaps like Luomo, Mathew Jonson, and Akufen making the rounds. Midway though, things take a turn for the mixtapey, Röyksopp's slinky, dreamy rub on Felix da Housecat's What Does It Feel Like? played out in full. Then it's a crossfade to Rockers Hi-Fi's Push Push (yay!), blending into... Hey, Ciccone Youth! I recognize that name! Anyhow, here's LCD Soundsystem's homage to aging hipsterism, Losing My Edge, played in full.

Things kinda' jump all over the place afterwards, with sorta-electro (MMM's Donna), sorta disco punk (DFA's rub on Metro Area's Orange Alert), sorta-actually '80s synth-pop (Thomas Dolby's One Of Our Submarines), finally finishing off with ultra-twee bell-house from März. Pantha Du Prince likely heard this. They're fine tunes, but I can't deny hoping for something more consistent for a finish. Hard to top Losing My Edge though. Set peaked too soon!

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Various - fabric 14: Stacey Pullen

Fabric: 2004

*cover art care of fabric's “chimeras are kewl” period*

Time trudges on, and fabric CDs continue their ever-gradual descent into super-affordable second-hand market territory. Why, I can actually be picky-choosy over which ones I pick up on the cheap now! No longer must I subject myself to dry, sandpaper minimal-tech mixes, when even the good stuff can be had for less than a fiver (while the bad stuff is pennies!). Thus I was giddy over seeing this Stacey Pullen set hit the Amazons. Sure, it's no Andrew Weatherall or John Peel or Carl Craig, but it ain't no Jon Marsh or Akufen or DJ Spinbad either. Just kidding, I don't know whether any of those are held in super high-esteem either. I mean, it's not like I've seen them as super cheap as other fabric CDs, including very recent ones.

I haven't had much opportunity to talk up Stacey Pullen, in that he hasn't dabbled in the producer's chair too often. A smattering of singles across a half-dozen aliases throughout the '90s, as any good Detroit native is obligated to do, but the DJing circuit is where he made his name, hitting up a few of the Very Important series in doing so: DJ-Kicks, RA, 2020 Vision, Balance. Wait, Balance? Isn't that a prog and tech-house series? What's a Detroit techno guy doing there?

Therein lies one of Mr. Pullen's claims to fame, a willingness to pull (herrr...) from genres not typically seen as Detroit Pure. Not to any radical sense, mind you, but enough such that he can play to many a fussy audience while still dropping that Motor City knowledge on their unsuspecting earholes. Just kidding, I'm almost certain folks going to see a touring Stacey fully expect it. Thus, it should come as no surprise that Fabric 14 sounds very much of the club it's promoting. A quick run through some bouncy 'ethnic' house to start, some deeper cuts with the obligatory soliloquy thrown in, then a jaunt through dubby tech-house that could be called prog if played by a prog DJ, but isn't because Mr. Pullen could never be a prog DJ, even on a Balance mix. There's a Peace Division track in this set, is what I'm getting at.

Stacey will forever be a Detroit guy though, and after spending half the CD hooking you in with the deep, dark, dub tech-prog, he abruptly changes gears into Moodyman's festive disco funk Music People. Then it's off to an older cut of Men With Sticks' proto tech-house cut 3rd Eye. They, um, aren't from Detroit. Neither is DiY (UK), Oscar (French), Dave Angel or Solid Groove (both UK). Ah, gotta' play the local heroes, I guess. Lots of deep tech in this final stretch too, but with some powa' in d'em beats. Overall, a fun CD highlighting much of what folks dig Pullen's eclectic style, and a worthy addition to the fabric tech-house legacy. Now, about that Balance set...

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

EDM Weekly World News, September 2016

Things have happened in the world of EDM Weekly World News, and we're here to give you that news from around the world you so crave and desire and need. How will we handle such unprecedented changes in the world of EDM? Can we rebuild from the devastation? Might our rights be trampled upon by those would take them away?? And why hasn't anyone figured out what the shit with Blasterjaxx yet??? All this, and more*, in our latest edition of EDM Weekly World News!!



(*not responsible for lost pages beyond the front cover)

Monday, August 24, 2015

Various - fabric 49: Magda

Fabric: 2009

No, I'm not indulging in another Fabric On A Budget run. I bought this because I actually wanted to have it, hear it, and most likely replay it at some future date. There's tons of Fabric mixes like that out there, though many aren't budget-conscious friendly (UK importing's killer on the finances, even when the disc itself is less than a buck/quid/pig's foot). If I'm buying a Fabric mix on a not-so-budget, why this one in particular? Why not one of the cooler names that have graced the franchise's DJ mix series, like Weatherall, or John Peel, or LTJ Bukem, or Global Communication, or (namedrop, namedrop, ad infinitum)? Heck, why settle for fabric 49 for that matter, when the nearby, milestonic fabric 50 is so much more very important? Alright, I admit it! I got a crush for Magda. Le'mee alone about it now.

Seriously though, seeing the cover of her contribution to the Balance series got me reflecting on her other mix CDs – er, all two of them - and whether they stood up now that minimal and simmering tech-house isn't as popular as it t'was a decade past. I’d long known she had a different approach to the sound, one not so hard-focused on gazing into the microscopic lint of techno’s navel. She had the foresight to see Hu-Man Friend Hawtin’s wacky minimal branding for the malarkey it was, one of the first of the M_nus camp to go their own way. She even established her own label with Troy Pierce and Marc Houle, chaps who both shared her sentiments in the way minimal was going in the back-half of the ‘00s (re: wrongly).

Magda’s a DJ whose actions have earned plenty respects from me is what I’m saying, even without taking in a huge amount of her output. Not that there’s much to dabble within the CD market anyway, fabric 49 only her second official mix disc, coming three years after She’s A Dancing Machine. Heck, if you think that’s a mighty gap, Balance 027 took twice that time to spur Madame Chojnacka back into the mixing studio (a couple promotional stints with Resident Advisor and Trax Magazine notwithstanding).

Obviously, Magda wasn’t doing another epic stitch-n-slice mix with seventy odd cuts for Fabric, but she still packs in over thirty spread out over the course of the CD, averaging about two loops/layers/mixes within each indexed portion. Artists range from old-timey weirdos (Goblin, Yello) to trendy tastemakers (Robert Babicz, Gaiser, Cristian Vogel, Jimmy Edgar), plus requisite contributions from her own close circle of contacts (Marc Houle, Heartthrob, Luciano). Of note are selections from outlier Berlin label ~scape, who I know almost nothing about. Help me, Lord Discogs!

The music mostly keeps to her realm of loose, low-key tech-house groove, with splashes of techno bleep and IDM quirk thrown in for good measure. You know what’s gone from this ‘minimal’ mix though? White noise hiss! Plinky-plonk monotony! Oh man, so wonderful hearing such a set from late-‘00s era fabric.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

ACE TRACKS: May 2014

Oh man, May feels so long ago now, what with the fabric review, and that other fabric review, not to mention the FabricLive review, the FabricLive review, and that fabric review. Also, dinosaur footprints. Here’s the best tunes I heard that month.



Full tracklist here.

Missing Albums:
fabric 35: Ewan Pearson
FabricLive.34: Krafty Kuts
fabric 21: DJ Heather
fabric 20: John Digweed
FabricLive 08: Plump DJs
fabric 08: Radioactive Man
Toto - Dune (Original Soundtrack) (FOUND!)
Stylophonic - Beatbox Show
Grooverider - Mysteries Of Funk (FOUND!)

Hip-Hop Percentage: 2%
Neil Young Percentage: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track : Fusiphorm - I Am… You (because you’ll wonder how this track ever earned ‘ACE TRACK’ status; compared to the rest of Marco Carola’s mix, it totally was)

Technically, most Fabric mixes aren’t available on Spotify Deezer, but since a large quantity of the songs used are, I’ve included them in this Playlist. Going forward, I’ll only list an album as “missing” if more than half the songs I’ve selected as an ‘ACE TRACK’ from an album/mix/etc. can’t currently be found on Spotify Deezer. That said, small surprise the older Fabric mixes would feature tough-to-find material.

And yes, May 2014 was utterly dominated by my second round of Fabric On A Budget, rendering this playlist rather samey throughout – hope ya’ll like deep and tech-house, with a few electro and New Wave curiosities thrown in for good measure! The few strays off this path come care of dark ambient (Sabled Sun), soundtrack ambient (Dune), and Grooverider tech-step roughness. Interestingly, despite Stylophonic’s Beatbox Show being unavailable on Spotify, he’s apparently since released a couple more albums that are there, but aren’t listed on Lord Discogs. Then his sophomore LP wasn’t the end after all! I took a quick-listen through his most recent, Jam The House, and it’s deep house. Huh, well, if you’re gonna’ jump on a bandwagon, that’s a better one to do so than trashy electro as found on Beatbox Show.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Various - fabric 54: Damian Lazarus

Fabric: 2010

*cover art brought to you by fabric's “Alternate Uses For Old Bed Sheets” period*

How is it that I now have two mixes from Damian Lazarus? His Crosstown Rebels label material isn't one I've actively sought out to own, though if I had to pick one minimal-deep-tech print to indulge in, theirs is a cut of ketamine I've enjoyed more often than others. They provide a good vibe, one where I could easily find myself continuously shuffling upon a rooftop or summer patio had I decided to spend my vacation in such locales rather than the great Canadian outback, subjected to rippin' winds, blistering sun, and thunderstorms. On the other hand, ooh, dinosaur tracks!

Where was I? Oh yeah, fabric 54. We've finally come to the end of this year's Fabric On A Budget, and let me tell you, I'm leery about doing another one next year. If so many came available on the cheap in but one year's time, I can't imagine how many more might crop up by Spring Of 2015. Like, there are still another eight fabrics and FabricLives in the 30s I've yet to see on the used market. Man, folks sure didn't like those years, did they? There were a few great ones from what I've covered (The Glimmers, Tayo, Ewan Pearson, Craze), but yeah, kinda doggy all around.

Which doesn't have much to do with Damian Of Lazarus's offering in fabric 54, a couple years removed from all that. The music's quite different too, no longer stuck in tedious minimalism drier than a dustbin in Death Valley, though still reaching for that 'deeper than thou' vibe tech-house continued searching for. Naturally, all the hot, trendy names of the time come up: Art Department, Seth Troxler, Four Tet, Soul Clap, Nicolas Jaar, another Lee, Cajmere, and Swayzak. Wait, were those last two still trendy in 2010?

Whatever. fabric 54 ultimately feels like an appropriate set to end this two-week-plus project on. It's rather chill, the sort of music that makes good sense at 9am the morning after. I suppose it could work as main room music too, if it's a small, comfy, intimate environment – not Fabric at peak hour, is what I'm saying, though the fabric series doesn't mind taking a stroll down the hallway to the second room either. There's little to find fault with in Damian's mix, as he doesn't take much in the way of musical risks, an indulgence of '70s psychedelic funk and experimentation from Su Kramer and Bill Holt at the end notwithstanding. In all, a nice collection of house tunes, though kind of peters out from a lack of energy by the end.

I told you fabric 54 was an appropriate end to Fabric On A Budget, Part 2.

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
I feel like I'm partaking in post-hipster activism, getting into the trendy stuff after it got popular, then back-lashed. At thrift shop prices too!

Monday, May 26, 2014

Various - FabricLive.43: Switch & Sinden Present Get Familiar

Fabric: 2008

*cover art brought to you by FabricLive's “Random Crap Smashed On People's Faces” period*

What? No. No! I'm on vacation, damn it. Leave me alone, Fabric On A Budget project. I'll deal with you when I get back in a week. What do you mean I always intended to carry on with this while away from home? Okay, sure, I brought the music with me, but that doesn't mean I'd write reviews for it – keep myself familiarized with the CDs while I was away, that's all. But there's only two left, an end goal in sight, easily attainable, not worth leaving hanging and forceably getting excited for upon my return. This year's Fabric excursion has turned into a slog after all – more good mixes than bad, absolutely, but dealing with the same topic over and over and over drains the creative synapses something dreadful. Maybe I should...

Oh, alright, I'm already bored out here in the Peace River region. Sometimes I forget just how hinter these hinterlands get.

Let's take a look at what's next, then. We're finally out of the 30s, and entering another weird, transitional period in electronic music's history. Dubstep was blowing up big, the nu-EDM was just around the corner, older forms of UK garage were finding fondness among young clubbers, and many producers of the old guard were scrambling to keep up with these shifting trends. The two cats with credits on the cover of FabricLive.43, Switch & Sinden, were riding this wave with some success, in part due to an occasional night at Fabric called Get Familiar. Don't care about the deep underground, simply having an urge to cut loose with fun-time club jams that even the most Axe-drenched bro can enjoy? These guys got you covered – or Sinden does anyway, since Switch wasn't the DJ.

More so, if you love the UK's various rave-garage aspects, you'll adore FabricLive.43. Speed garage! Throwback hardcore anthems! - no actual classics though. Grime-house! (!??) Dubstep! Bassline! (re: speed garage) No 2-step though, that stuff's strictly for the chicky-poos, mate. Only hard wobble dirt low-ends, and rot-snot. Bleh.

I know this stuff's pure heaven for its targeted scene, but my tolerance for hoodlum UK garage only lasts a few tracks before the novelty of shuffle rhythms and south London rappers wears itself out. I've never figured out how such nonsense bassline sounds are taken seriously, but then this is the same country that also gave us 'donk' music. Sinden's mixing doesn't do much to warm the music up either, always in a hurry to drop another track in a different style with no regard for set flow. Can't let the tunes linger too long, I guess, lest the listener realize how silly it all is and put on something with more substance instead.

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
I could have bought $5 beers at the nearby redneck bar playing bro-country, and it would have been a better bargain.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Various - fabric 40: Mark Farina

Fabric: 2008

*cover art brought to you by fabric's “Landscape. Just Landscape.” period*

I’ve been writing about music for about a decade now, yet after all that time and God knows how many written, this is my first Mark Farina review. Considering how much I've name-dropped the man's name, that's... astounding. It's not for a lack of having his releases (though clearly I've never bought a Mushroom Jazz CD – enough peers had 'em for my fix), but despite enjoying his brand of bouncy deep house vibes, I haven't been in a hurry to gather all his mixes. The man has so damned many of them, you see.

In that regard, fabric 40 doesn't come off terribly special when stacked against Mr. Farina's discography. When this came out in 2008, he already had a dozen-plus mix CDs to his name, primarily his ongoing Mushroom Jazz volumes. He'd also released plenty more sets on OM Records, plus entries for well-regarded mix CD series such as United DJs Of America (fuckin' classic!) and Ministry Of Sound's Sessions. That he would have a stab at Fabric was all but inevitable given the club-label's occasional toe-dip into Chicago-San Fran deep house waters. In fact, it's remarkable it took all the way to number forty for him to get his chance (guess DJ Heather had priority). Unless you’re a Farina Completist, I can’t see fabric 40 being high on a purchasing list, what with so many other options out there.

As such, fabric 40 has a bit in common with fabric 20 from John Digweed: a set with little selling point for casual fans of the DJ, but more intended for followers of Fabric. They differ, however, in that Digweed altered his typical track-listing with a Fabric audience in mind, whereas Farina’s mix doesn’t. Swell thing if you’ve got a hankering for a little extra West Coast house-bounce in your day, but hardly essential if you’ve dutifully collected every House Of OM CD out there; somehow, Fabric’s core audience doesn’t strike me of that sort.

This is turning into a hard sell, isn’t it? Despite the class on display, Farina’s arrangement won’t thrill either, opening with simmering funk and soul, and maintaining a slow, steady build for the CD’s duration, nary a deviation from his comfort zone. Things may go a little garage (John Larner & Slater Hogan’s Gettin’ Ready), other times deeper with the dub (Alexander East’s Believe En Me). Maybe there’s a melding of the two (Mood II Swing’s Closer (Oliver DeSmet & Fred Everything Mix)), or simply a jazzy bliss-out (Johnny Fiasco’s Last Word). I think he injects a few of his Air Farina skits throughout too, or maybe I’m over-anticipating having to be at the Vancouver Airport in a couple hours. Point is fabric 40 delivers exactly what you’d expect a Farina mix should. If you don’t know what this is... Well, it’s a starting point.

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
I need more Farina in my life.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Various - FabricLive.38: Craze

Fabric: 2008

*cover art brought to you by FabricLive's “Melting Material On Predators” period*

Hey now, what have we in our midst? A real DJ! Three-peat DMC Champion at that. Okay, competition winners aren’t that rare in FabricLive’s history, but the music DJ Craze’s plays here is one Fabric hadn’t ventured into: Miami bass! Haha, I bet the label figured he’d do another drum-n-bass or regular hip-hop mix, so props for Mr. Aristh Delgado for adding yet another notch in the series’ already eclectic assortment of genres. True, previous FabricLives occasional drop a tune or two inspired from the Floridian scene, but Craze’s roots run deep in streets among Ocean Drive, and he shows no qualms in using Fabric’s prestige as a love-letter to the city's musical innovations.

And why not? Miami bass and freestyle were thriving genres for a large chunk of the '80s and '90s, a melding of hip-hop and urban R&B utilizing Kraftwerk electro as the genetic backbone. So successful were these offshoots that they practically subsumed electro-proper altogether, one kicking off the bass music scene as its own unique entity, the other taking electro to the top of American dance charts long before anyone else did. Even as those scenes faded from popularity as the '90s wore on (folks grew weary of those Numbers samples, I guess), they maintained a faithful following in their native Miami, of which Craze undoubtedly grew up surrounded by.

That said, the first few tracks had me worrying we wouldn’t be getting that, two cuts from Cool Kida giving us a taste of... ketamine crunk? No, just no. Who even likes such sluggy slop like that? Craze does come correct with some real crunk in Bangers & Cash’s Loose (you know what they’re talking about), but dammit, this CD was advertised as old school. Give me the classics, mang!

Ask, and you shall receive, Craze making no bones about what this mix is showcasing once he drops the original Miami Vice Theme from Jan Hammer. From there, it’s the vintage booming south (Miami Jam Crew’s Pretty Girls; Lushus’ Ho Fo Sho; Fresh Celeste & M-4 Sers’ Give It All To Me), mint freestyle classics (Beat Club’s Security; Debbie Deb’s When I Hear The Music), and even tasty technobass (DJ Magic Mike’s Cutz The Record; DJ Laz’ Red Alert).

Smartly, Craze mixes things up with tunes from newer acts (Chromeo, Armand Van Helden, Blaqstarr, Switch) who definitely owe some debt to the groundbreaking and shaking bass work Miami’s pioneers accomplished. Ending everything off with killer ghetto anthems like Kid Sister’s Pro Nails (produced by Craze’s turntablist compadre A-Trak) and DJ Assault’s Keep It Pushin’ (with too many names on the remix), and FabricLive.38's a CD any self-respecting bass head should hear.

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
Miami bass isn’t for everyone (including the previous owner, apparently), but any set that throws technobass into the mix is an automatic win for yours truly.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Various - FabricLive.36: James Murphy & Pat Mahoney

Fabric: 2007

*cover art brought to you by FabricLive's “Cave Drawings In Water Colours” period*

I'm surprised this year's “Fabric On A Budget” venture hasn't turned into as much of a slog as I feared it would. Many of these CDs have been quite enjoyable, some even surprising me in curtailing expectations. Chalk it up to FabricLive's eclecticism, every edition I've covered offering something different from the last. I suppose you could say the same of the fabrics too, but aside from Radioactive Man's pure electro excursion, there isn't that much of a stretch between deep house, tech-house, and minimal house. Compared to the breaks, hip-hop, bass music, rock (!), electro, disco-punk, and mash-up action going down with FabricLive (and I haven't even covered one of the many drum 'n' bass mixes), you can forgive me for finding this series' diversity more exciting than having to indulge in “yet another *blank* house mix” from the other.

Even here, arriving at FabricLive.36, I'm feeling all squee inside, despite knowing almost exactly what sort of music I'm gonna' hear on this CD. James Murphy and Pat Mahoney are LCD Soundsystem, or at least the primary music makers behind the project. Whenever touring with the band, they'd pull a double-gig DJing on the side, which must have let ol' James breathe a sigh of relief not having to bellow out Losing My Edge or North American Scum twice in two nights (to say nothing of his intense cowbell smashing!). As this was about the time they were touring the sophomore LCD effort, Sound Of Silver, of course they'd get a chance at a Fabric mix too – seems the trend with these, after all.

A few tracks aside (Baby Oliver’s Primetime, Mudd’s Adventures In Brickett Wood, Babytalk’s Keep On Move, their then-current LCD B-side Hippie Priest Bum-Out), Misters Murphy & Mahoney (sitcom pitch!) are taking us on a tour of late-‘70s slash early-‘80s disco, garage, and funk. Some tunes are from very familiar names (Chic, Peech Boys, Was (Not Was), Love Of Life Orchestra, Donald Bryd), but being the New York City proto-hipsters that they are, the duo opt for showcasing unheralded acts of the era.

There’s disco-boogie from Gichy Dan’s Cowboys & Gangsters and Punkin’ Machine’s I Need You Tonight (think Tom Tom Club), electro-funk from Elektrik Dred’s Butter Up, and dancefloor-soul from Jackson Jones’ I Feel Good, Put Your Pants on. Also, Good Ol’ James and Pat (lame spinoff show) squeeze in a bit of a Vanguard showcase of the early ‘80s, a veritable giant of independent record labels that’s provided an outlet for tons of jazz, blues, funk, and folk music since the ‘50s.

Mixing? Eh, functional for the most part, given the nature of these DJ unfriendly tunes. FabricLive.36 is more like a mixtape than a live rinse-out with its clever track arrangement – try and guess which disco and funk numbers are actually from the 2000s!

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Various - fabric 35: Ewan Pearson

Fabric: 2007

*cover art brought to you by fabric's “We Cans 4AD Too” period*

I recognize Ewan Pearson more than I did Ralph Lawson, but it sure doesn't seem like fabric's musically stretching far compared to its sister series. I could almost write a carbon copy of Lawson's background, Pearson's story in tech-house relatively similar. Sure, their careers have taken differing paths (Lawson stayed in the UK, Pearson headed for Berlin; one occasionally makes his own music, the other remixes a ton; that guy plays tech-house-house, while him dude plays tech-tech-house), but for the layman glancing at all these fabrics and FabricLives, neither are an easy sell when sat among very important techno people like Ricardo Villalobos, Ellen Allien, Rob Hood, and Luke Slater (and that's just sticking with the 30s run).

Oddly, I had to remind myself that fabric 35 almost certainly wasn’t a prog mix, as Pearson’s a name I mostly recalled cropping up in the early portions of prog DJ sets. For sure he’s done work in other genres (electroclash, funkier house, whatever it was The Chemical Brothers were doing around 2003), but that Soma Quality Recordings association probably helped keep Lord Digweed’s eye on him. Even with copious amounts of techno on this CD, fabric 35 kinda’ leans proggy in its construction, feeling more like a ‘journey mix’ than most rinsers of this music go.

I’ll get this out the way: there’s no minimal on here, at least of the plinky-plonk variety. There’s certainly a few stripped-back tunes, like Marc Houle’s remix of Marcashken’s Nimrod and Samim’s Paspd (back when it was still okay to play Samim tracks), but they’re simple lulls before getting back to some groovy techno action. There’s sinister electro vibes oozing from Snax’ Honeymoon’s Over, from which Mr. Pearson offers a great mix into an equally sinister, Latin jazz workout of Jens Zimmermann’s Tranquillité (I honestly thought it was one, long overlay). Remarkably, ol’ Ewan keeps this tangent going with Liquid Liquid’s Bellhead, a rapturous cacophony of Afro-percussion. Who says techno must always be serious digital music?

While fabric 35 doesn’t lose its momentum, it does get a bit over-indulgent at times. Laven & MSO’s Looking For God barely treads the line of tasteful minimalism (thank ‘God’ for a strong groove with this one), and I wasn’t too anxious to hear Samuel L. Sessions’ Can You Relate “what happened to the techno?” sermon anytime soon again. Also, it’s rather odd to end with a mash-up of the soulful croon of Beanfield’s “Tides” – C’s Movement #1 and the neo-trance of Aril Brikha’s Berghain. Or maybe not, if you think of fabric 35 as a progressive set hiding in techno’s clothing. Definitely makes listening to this more fun if you figure Ewan Pearson’s put this together as such.

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
A pleasant surprise, this. fabric 35 passed by with little fanfare compared to its sexier neighbours, but there’s plenty to love with Pearson’s offering.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Various - FabricLive.34: Krafty Kuts

Fabric: 2007

*cover art brought to you by FabricLive’s “Cave Drawings In Water-Colours” period*

I’ve generally taken the conditions these used Fabric CDs arrive in for granted. With such a simple design, how can the packaging get screwed over anyway? Cardboard sleeve, tin case, aluminum disc and liner notes within - we’re good to go, right? I never thought one would be shipped with no case, but Krafty Kuts’ FabricLive.34 proved me wrong. All I got was the CD tucked within the sleeve, and wrapped in one of the most ghetto cardboard packaging jobs I’ve ever seen. How this was even allowed advertised as an acceptable condition to sell on Amazon, I’ll never know. I was fortunate enough to have spare jewel cases so I could still stack it in my towers, though I had to 'craftily cut' the cardboard sleeve’s edges to make it fit. Hah!

Anyhow. Krafty Kuts is the man up next in FabricLive, which meant a brief return to the proper breaks scene for the series – like hardcore, it'll never die! Martin Reeves made his name during the nu-skool era, though he leaned more classic hip-hop breakin' compared to the Plumps and Warriors of those days. With a career that held strong even during that scene's downswing, it was an eventuality Fabric would come a knockin' for a taste of those killer Kuts. Probably didn't hurt he'd released a debut album the year prior, his name fresh on the minds of folks still following tunes of his sort.

If you know your breaks, FabricLive.34 probably won't hold many surprises, but you'll enjoy it nonetheless, Krafty craftily sticking to his breaks-and-butter throughout while throwing in knowing winks to those heads that never fled their scene. There’s scratching aplenty, acapellas aplenty, and most of the main players have tracks dropped in here: DJ Icey, Freestylers, Aquasky, and Plump DJs, although the Plump’s Listen To The Baddest is practically electro-house. Come to think of it, most of the middle of this set skews 2007 electro, including copious amounts of the swinging 2-step break that’s only the second most boring broken-beat around (‘Freeland breaks’ earns the top prize).

Speaking of the set’s middle portions, Mr. Kuts unfortunately runs out of steam after leaning a bit too heavy on anthems for a while. A shame since FabricLive.34 kicks off with all the energy you could hope for in a breaks mix (including a cheeky pisstake on ‘minimal’ techno), but builds and drops one after the other always grow tiresome without some sustained rhythmic momentum. Ah well, he at least indulges himself some with a few Latin cuts and even Primal Scream at the end. A strong finish, in other words, even if it’s on a totally different tangent from where his set started from.

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
I’m mostly nitpicking about Krafty Kuts’ set flow - can’t be calling this blog Electronic Music Critic without finding something to critique, after all. A solid CD of breaks, then.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Various - FabricLive.33: Spank Rock

Fabric: 2007

*cover art brought to you by FabricLive's “ARTIST NAME IN BIG FUCKING LETTERS” period*

Hey hey! I've now completed a FabricLive cover series too. Surely that warrants a free CD prize from Fabric. True, I'm practically getting these for nothing already, but it's the principle of the thing. C'mon, Fabric, hook a Canuck up with a bonus mix (preferably a good one).

It's an even bigger coincidence that the cover runs of fabric and FabricLive I'd complete are both from the same time, indeed the same issues (31, 32, and 33). What was it with Fabric in early 2007 that folks would want rid of these CDs so badly? True, two out of the five I've covered so far were pants, but another two were ace. Hm, does this mean FabricLive 33 is utterly average like Ralph Lawson's mix?

With a name like Spank Rock, there’s no way we’d get ‘utterly average’. The name alone inspires thoughts of either the slummiest ghetto tech or the cheekiest electrotrash. The group is somewhere in between, more known for their antics in hip-hop’s ‘Bounce’ side of things (what kind of a genre name is ‘Bounce’..!?), but also found a welcome home with drunk-sleaze electro-house clubbing as the ‘00s wore on. This mix is their attempt at condensing their shows into a sloppy, cohesive whole, which sounds like a good ol’ rollickin’ whiskey time. I mean, just look at all these names on here. Kurtis Blow! Yello! Mr. Oizo! Daft Punk! Yes! Metro Area! Tangerine Dream! (??!) Rick Ross! Chicks On Speed! Mylo! (those Talking In Your Sleep guys) The Romantics! Hot Chip! Uffie! More and more! Oh boy, this is gonna’ be like one of those awesome As Heard On Radio Soulwax mixes, I bet. Yeah, if 2 Many DJs had been totally wasted while recording.

Have you ever been to a party where the DJs (usually always two or three) are really cool guys and have fun taste in music, but always resort to pandering with the most obvious fucking tunes around? You cheer them on, ‘cause hey, it’s just a stupid night out, and you like the chaps, and you’re drunk as all Hell off of hi-balls, and ooh, I love that A Bit Patchy song by Switch, even though I just heard it played out by another DJ duo with impeccably deep crates. Oh dear, it’s that Drop The Pressure song again. I’ve heard it too much on the radio already, and dear Lord is that mix into Yes’ Owner Of A Lonely Heart ever rough – can’t you put on something not so played out anyway? Shit, now they’re painfully forcing a mix into Para One’s Dudun Dun. Get your act together, guys. I want to cheer you on (I love Miss Kittin & The Hacker’s Stock Exchange!), but give me a better reason to. Oh, what the Hell, another round of hi-balls!

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
About as worth it as $3 hi-balls. All night.

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Various - fabric 33: Ralph Lawson

Fabric: 2007

*cover art brought to you by fabric's “Tacky Phifties Phamily Photos” period*

Hey, this is the first Fabric cover series I've got a complete set of! Yay, triumphant achievement unlocked, and all that rot. Okay, it’s not that impressive compared to those who've subscribed to the club’s CD, but it's not like I'm specifically gathering them for this reason. It's just a coincidence that folks were eagerly offloading fabrics 31, 32, and 33 at whatever price they could get, even a single penny. I can understand doing so for Marco Carola and Luke Slater's mixes, but Ralph Lawson? This one isn't that bad. Kind of run-of-the-mill, sure, but nothing someone should be embarrassed to own.

First, this Ralph Lawson guy. He's kind of familiar to me, though not in that Carola way. It's likely from his 20:20 Vision/Soundsystem work, which I've seen crop up on the occasional tech-house collection. Also, he has a warmer sound in his productions, with a bit of tribal influence too, making him a favorite for prog DJs tracklisting their early portions of their sets. At least, that was the case in during the first-half of the '00s, before everything went glitchy, minimal, and doff in the tech-house scene. As such, fabric 33 comes off rather retro for a 2007 CD, but I'm not gonna’ complain – I'll take early-aught prog over minimal deep-tech anytime. Not that there’s anything terribly prog in this mix, but it sure sounds proggier than John Digweed’s fabric set.

Ralphbert Lawson warms things up on the deeper side of house music, as most DJs of this sort are wont to do. None of that American or German styled deepness though, this be the warm, dubby, cinematic stylee the Western edges of Europe prefer (and me!). Then there’s a little tribal funk (Dennis Ferrer’s Transitions), a plonk of minimal (Badmouth’s Anymore (Phonique Remix); Marc Romboy’s Jigsaw (John Tejada Remix)), a touch of electro (Swag’s Hot Gloves (Bakazou Mix)), a dash of Detroit (Will Saul’s Pause; Nick Chacona’s The “Right” Wing), a drop of acid (Joakim’s Drum Trax (Beats)), a flaking of disco (Justus Köhncke’s Advance), and- why does writing the music out this way seem so familiar?

I honestly have little more I can detail about Ralphbert Paulson’s CD. It flows well, spices things up without being obnoxious about it, and leaves you with pleasant fuzzies afterwards. It’s about as serviceable a tech-house set as you can hope for. Damn it, why couldn’t it have outright sucked? Those are easier to write about. Eh, the being ‘totally wicked awesome’ option? Haha, this is tech-house, the most functional dance music around. Anything more exciting almost always ends up in another genre category by default. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this sort of music for a dancefloor or even as a listening experience – it’s just terribly boring music to write about.

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
Sure, I guess. Hey, at least I finished a cover art series for the first time.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Various - fabric 32: Luke Slater

Fabric: 2007

*cover art brought to you by fabric’s “Tacky Fifties Family Fotos” period*

Luke Slater is Planetary Assault Systems, L.B. Dub Corp, Clementine, and Translucent, all very important aliases in the world of techno. I guess Slater under his own name’s important too, what with four LPs, over a dozen singles, and oodles of remixes too. P.A.S.’ the one most techno disciples enjoy namedropping though, and for good reason, the project always two steps ahead of what that scene is accomplishing. But that’s the underground, where he could take more risks. As plain, simple Luke Slater, his productions were broader, dabbling in other genres like downtempo, breaks, house, and even *gasp*, electro-crossover on Alright On Top. It’s curious he never made another “Luke Slater” album after that one.

Really, his whole career went into a relative limbo during the mid-‘00s, likely due to focusing his efforts on running his newly established Mote-Evolver imprint. During that time though, Slater put out a mix for Fabric, only the third mix CD he’s ever released (the two-part Fear And Loathing ran a couple years prior). Maybe it’s for the best, as judging by fabric 32, I suspect studio DJing really isn’t Mr. P.A.S.’ strong suit.

If I can take anything from fabric 32, it’s that ol’ L.B. has an eclectic ear for techno. Not that his own discography wasn’t proof enough, but this mix is all over the place, showing off plenty branches of the genre. There’s dub techno, minimal techno, electro techno (?), prog-techno (!?), disco punk techno (!!?), techno-techno (stop making shit up), and breaks too. Really, this has all the hallmarks of a mixtape, Luke Skyslater showing off his musical interests without much care for technical mixing. Fine and well if the set flows all the same, but fabric 32 doesn’t.

His transitions are often so abrupt, half the time I’m double-taking, thinking I’ve got my player on Random by accident. Some DJs can pull such freewheeling set programming into a thrilling, unexpected ride. This one’s just confusing, Slater unable to settle into any sound for long before throwing an odd tangent. You’d think a set that starts with his own dub techno cut Rhythm Division (as L.B. Dub Corp), and features Basic Channel’s Phylyps Trak II/II near the end (geez, again?) would flow smoothly. Instead, your links are Guy J & Sahar Z’ Hazui (Gui Boratto Remix), Switch’s A Bit Patchy, Spank Rock’s Bump (Switch Remix), Audion’s Mouth To Mouth, The Juan MacLean’s Love Is In The Air (Mock And Toof Remix), and Marin Buttrich’s Full Clip - and yes, in that order. True, there are other tracks among them, but that list gives a decent impression of how Slater’s set unfolds. If you’re familiar with those names anyway (folks reading this blog should be).

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
If it’s an honest representation of Luke Slater’s DJing, I guess so. Though a disappointment, it beats paying cover charge at a club to sate the curiosity.

Things I've Talked About

...txt 10 Records 16 Bit Lolita's 1963 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2 Play Records 2 Unlimited 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 20xx Update 2562 3 Loop Music 302 Acid 36 3FORCE 3six Recordings 4AD 6 x 6 Records 75 Ark 7L & Esoteric 808 State A Perfect Circle A Positive Life A-Wave a.r.t.less A&M Records A&R Records Abandoned Communities Abasi Above and Beyond abstract AC/DC Ace Trace Ace Tracks Playlists Ace Ventura acid acid house acid jazz acid techno acoustic Acroplane Recordings Adam Beyer Adam Ellis Adam Freeland Adham Shaikh ADNY Adrian Younge adult contemporary Advanced UFO Phantom Aegri Somnia AEI Music Aes Dana Afgin Afrika Bambaataa Afro-house Afterhours Agoria Aidan Casserly Aira Mitsuki Airwaves Ajana Records Ajna AK1200 Akshan album Aldrin Alex Smoke Alex Theory Alice In Chains Alien Community Alien Project Alio Die All Saints Alpha Wave Movement Alphabet Zoo Alphaxone Altar Records Alter Ego alternative rock Alucidnation Ambelion Ambidextrous ambient ambient dub ambient techno Ambient World Ambientium Ametsub Amon Amarth Amon Tobin Amplexus Anabolic Frolic Anatolya Andrea Parker Andrew Heath Androcell Anduin Andy C anecdotes Aniplex Anjunabeats Annibale Records Anodize Another Fine Day Antendex anthem house Anthony Paul Kerby Anthony Rother Anti-Social Network Anzio Green Aoide Aphasia Records Aphex Twin Apócrýphos Apollo Apollo 440 Apple Records April Records Aqua Aquarellist Aquascape Aquasky Aquila Arcade Architects Of Existence Archives Arcturus arena rock Arista Armada Armin van Buuren Arpatle Artifact303 Arts & Crafts ASC Ashtech Asia Asian Dub Foundation Astral Engineering Astral Projection Astral Waves Astralwerks AstroPilot AstroPilot Music Asura Asylum Records ATB ATCO Records Atlantic Atlantis atmospheric jungle Atom Heart Atomic Hooligan Atomine Elektrine Atrium Carceri Attic Attoya Audiobulb Records Audion AuroraX Autechre Autistici Autumn Of Communion Auxilary Auxiliary Avantgarde Avatar Records Aveparthe Avicii Axiom Axs Axtone Records Aythar B.G. 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