Various - FabricLive 85: Jesse Rose

Fabric: 2016

Okay, throw all that I've said about FabricLive being the series emphasizing broken-beats. This edition completely debunks that proclamation, Jesse Rose a straight up house dude through and through. Maybe a little tech-house for those 'harder' moments in the night. This isn't totally unprecedented, some FabricLive sets dipping its toes into the realms of house and techno. Typically it's with more of a focus on the funk roots of those genres, or at least an inching nod towards something more disco. It's not common though, and certainly nowhere near as faithful to the deep sounds of American house music. That Duke Dumont set, perhaps, or one of the volumes featuring an artist I know little about (Jimmy Edgar? Daniel Avery? Fake Blood??). What I'm getting at is FabricLive 85 sounds like it'd be better suited for the Fabric-Prime series than FabricLive, but I guess Baby Ford had dibs on that one.

Anyhow, Jesse Rose. I feel like I should know him more, but can't help thinking I'm mistaking him for some other tech-house DJ from the '00s with a similarly phonetic name. I've only come across Mr. Rose once before, on the Rub-N-Tug Fabric CD, but was a fairly regular artist on many sets for a solid decade and half. He had his own Berlin label, Front Room Recordings (when it was impossibly cool to have such a thing in your pocket), then moved onto another print in Play It Down. Then he apparently shut most of it down towards the end of the 2010s, and I haven't found much info for him since. Did he decide to hang things up after all that time? Never returned from a sabbatical following the Pandemic Years? Your guess is as good as mine, but far as social media is concerned, the Jesse Rose story ends before the '20s.

Which makes FabricLive 85 even odder, in that it came out only a couple years before his seeming hiatus. Normally folks release a Fabric set when they're on the verge of going onto bigger things. Or maybe Jesse was already showing hints of winding things down, and wanted to pull a Sandwell District instead? Not that Mr. Rose was a prolific mix CD marketer either, this only his third outing in the field (his first being on Get Physical ...ah, perhaps that's where I remember him from?).

These are about the only quirky talking points I have regarding this set, as it's a fairly standard deep house one with only the slightest nods towards tech-house. The funk flows, the soul simmers, the vibes vibe, the mixing keeps things even keel but doesn't really feel like it goes much anywhere. The sort of tunes you wouldn't mind hearing in a second room or some place more loungy, perhaps outdoors near a bar. Again, something I'd expect to hear on the parent Fabric series, not the one more known for its eclecticism. These Fabric On A Budget sessions always seem to end like this.

Various - FabricLive. 83: Logan Sama

Fabric: 2015

It's kinda' sad more FabricLive CDs haven't made their way onto the cheapskate's market. Or maybe it's good, suggesting a level of interest the primary series seems to lack for certain spells. It's more sad from my vantage point, missing out on potentially dynamic sets. FabricLive may have started out more of a broken beat option for the Fabric brand, but as the years wore on, it allowed far more musical diversity, showcasing artists with an 'anything goes' mentality that simply wouldn't fit among the house and techno luminaries. Also, remarkably prescient of what hot new trends in the UK underground were due to blow up. Whether you figured these trends were good or bad boils down to personal preference, but it cannot be denied FabricLive was at least giving them some shine when others weren't quite ready for it.

One they did initially miss, however, was grime. To be fair, Fabric was far more focused on nu-skool breaks and d'n'b in those days, so the fact the first wave of that scene passed them by isn't entirely their fault. Nor the fact grime was so quickly subsumed by its dubstep offspring, getting any attention abroad a challenge for much of the '00s. It had its holdouts though, keeping some embers aglow on pirate stations, waiting for its chance to emerge from its underground roots once all the hype surrounding UK bass mutations subsided.

One of the chaps doing so was Logan Sama. In fact, he was so successful in keeping grime alive, he was given a shot at an official BBC program. That... didn't pan out, due to getting... well, not exactly 'me-too'd, but more 'James Gunn'd? Simply put, the internet never forgets whatever edgelord jokes you thought hilarious among your peers.

FabricLive. 83 came out before all that, Mr. Sama still on his way up. As for his set, it's nothing less than a definitive grime throwdown, twenty-four tracks of various *boom-boom, wuub-wub* sounds front to back. The energy remains hype, every track offering something different from the last and never overstaying its welcome before quickly moving onto the next. Far as Lord Discogs can tell, every cut is unique to this set, adding to the music's inner city punkish attitude. That, and the mostly shouty, spittin' multitude of MCs featured.

Oh, there's grime MCs. Lots of grime MCs. I count... three, four... twenty-five, twenty-six... forty-seven, forty-eight... seventy-nine... Yeah, as I said, lots. I even recognize one name in there, Flowdan! A number pop up on multiple tracks (P Money, D Double E, Bossman Birdie, Killa P, Jammz, etc.) but a whole lot more are one-and-done with their verses. I can't help but imagine a huge line-up of every grime rapper in Logan's sphere, itching for a chance to shine, reaching around the block from the studio this was recorded at, like some old-timey amateur talent radio show. Hey, no fair Hitman (25) and Ego (23), cutting back in line! Don't be disrespectin' Discarda like that.

Various - Fabric 74: Move D

Fabric: 2014

Seeing Move D as part of the Fabric legacy feels strange to me. He's as worthy a contributor as anyone, but for so long, I've associated Mr. Moufang with a totally different aspect of electronic music. Music out on more experimental labels like BineMusic and ...txt, collaborations with dudes known for ambient and dub (HIA and Pete Namlook ...holy cow, did those two ever have musical simpatico going for them!) than anything fashionable. That's just a small slice of his entire oeuvre though, the chap appearing on all manner of house and techno labels at any given time, easily fitting in with the trends of the day as resisting and ignoring them. It's a testament to Dave's insane work rate that followers of one corner of his discography can remain entirely ignorant of another. Yes, I'm totally using that as my excuse for being utterly thrown for a loop after playing Fabric 74.

So this is a house set. A throwback house set, the sort of bump 'n grind vibe that defined the eastern American seaboard of the early '90s. One that makes me think of vintage Strictly Rhythm, and not just because it includes one of that label's defining singles in Darkman's Annihilating Rhythm. There's a few tunes from 'back in the day' included, but many more that were released within the early 2010s, doing their damnedest to sound like the early '90s. Was this when some folks were trying to call the latest incarnation of retro revival house music 'future house'? Memory's getting a bit hazy on that, so many retro revivals of house music having come and gone now, it may as well have always been around. Yes, the 'retro revival' is probably older than the original gap between eras!

So Dave doesn't throw a single bone to the ambient techno contingent? Not a single nod to his Deep Space Network roots? Well, a little. Juju & Jordash's Loosey Goosey features spritely synths dancing over a tech-house rhythm, while his own Luvbyrds has more in common with Balearic chill than anything house (so many twittering birds). In between those two cuts, however, is a nod to ol' school speed garage, Roots from Last Magpie. And yes, it's a straight-up homage, the 2013 EP it came out on titled 1995. It's got the UK garage 'wuu-ub wuu-ub wu-wu-woouub' bassline, it's got the time-stretched vocals, and even the sirens. I mean, it's about as tasteful as you could make it as an homage, including some nice pad work that wouldn't sound out of place in most atmospheric jungle of the day. It's just, y'know, I'm hearing it in a set from the same guy that appeared on Fax+ on numerous occasions. Worlds colliding!

Oh, the DJing itself? Functional, Move D clearly another chap more comfortable in the producer's chair than behind the decks. Not that he'd never done one before, frequently doing podcast sets prior to Fabric 74. Hasn't released a commercial set since, though.

Various - Fabric 73: Ben Sims

Fabric: 2013

Quite the time skip here, going from 50 to 73. What's remarkable is this is the first item out of Fabric's '70's block I've tackled. I've been close, what with doing Sandwell District's Fabric 69, but I've even done one in the '90's, Daphni's Fabriclive 93. For a time, that was the biggest gap between editions!

Makes sense that more in between will get filled though, volumes finding their way onto the cheap-o markets as time wears on. There's been items here and there throughout all of Fabric's history that I've nabbed on a pauper's budget, and now that the original run's concluded, more from its latter years will emerge. Will they be from heralded names like Sasha or Skream, or less known ones like Call Super or My Nu Leng? Time will only tell, but I can offer this little spoiler: the '80's will also get some coverage in this round of Fabric On A Budget, thus filling in every single numbers block in some form! Well, unless you also include the two '100's. I won't if you won't, though.

Ben Sims getting tapped in late 2013 for a Fabric seems about right. A stalwart of the techno scene since the '90s, he was one of the few chaps that didn't jump on the minimal bandwagon the same way so many others did. In fact, he found something of a comfy home getting in on more of a Latin and tribal take with tech-house, all the while filling in the gaps with the vintage bangin' bosh old school Drumcode resolutely held true to. As the tide of tastes turned with the 2010s, Mr. Sims found himself a perfect companion to the Berghain sound. I'm actually kinda' surprised he never got tapped for a set on Ostgut Ton as well, but seeing as how many of the club's jocks would regularly rinse out Ben's tunes, I guess that's close enough.

Anyhow, this is a pure bangin' techno set through and through. Just relentless, pounding bosh, tracks dropping one after the other in rapid success, never pausing for a single breakdown. Oh, there's periods where the bass will cut out, feigning a brief bit of tension building, but Ben lets the tracks speak for themselves, for as long as he allows them to anyway. What's most fun about this set is Mr. Sims doesn't even portend any pretension of fancy DJing, mixing seldom more complicated than a hard crossfade. And nor does he need to, these tracks uncomplicated and straight to the point, each unique from the other without ever clashing in tone. Man, after so many years of minimal's homogenized aesthetic, how refreshing was it to hear something like this? Oh, probably not that much by 2013. Can't forget that time jump I just did within Fabric's history.

And there isn't much else I can say about this set. It starts more on a tech-house tip, but soon enough, we're in the good shit, riding it out until the end.

Various - Fabric 50: Martyn

Fabric: 2010

Come to think of it, Fabric was being a bit ballsy in handing their half-centennial volumes of both Fabic and Fabriclive to upstart genre heroes like Martyn and D:Bridge. Sure, it'd be safe enough dropping another round of Fabric friendly tech-house or jungle, but no, there's plenty of new sounds making waves in the underground and abroad, and we're gonna' make sure folks know about them in our fiftieth editions.

Why do we place so much prestige on '50', anyway? '10', '100', and '1000', sure - adding another zero demarcating a whole new series of numbers is a pretty big deal. '50' though, is just half way to one-hundred. Is it because many fiat currencies rely on certain amounts for easy distribution, '50' being one of them? Honestly, in my neck of the world, '50' spots aren't terribly common, seemingly rarer than '100' bills. Is it an age thing? Maybe, but still only regarded important in relation to the century mark. Okay, that's enough rambling to confuse the Hell out of whatever A.I. bot is scarping this review.

Choosing Martyn for Fabric 50 isn't that far out of leftfield as it may have seen at first glance. Yeah, he was something of a post-dubstep hero in ye' olde year of 2010, one among a clutch of producers taking it down more interesting roads than whatever the North American bros were vomiting out. Mr. Deijkers was never strictly a dubstep guy though, having come up through the D'n'B scene on Marcus Intalex' Revolve:r print. He just kinda' jumped on a bit of a bandwagon when the UK bass scene was blowing up, had his fill of doing his own thing with it, and was just as quick to move onto other things, mostly house and techno (as many early dubstep heroes did).

While the full transition was still a couple years off from Fabric 50's vantage point, even here you can hear him testing the waters outside the familiar confines of future garage sub-genres. There's a couple Ben Klock remixes, a Redshape remix, and a Levon Vincent acid track (Air Raid). Heck, even his own Vancouver owes more to dub techno than whatever London broken-beat genre he's forcing it into. Small surprise it mixes in from 2562's Flashback, a chap who was already paving the way into such post-dubstep genre fusions that sadly didn't last much into the following decade.

It's this little tug-n-pull of what I'm sure folks expected of Martyn and what he actually wants to do that creates something of a disjointed set. It's good overall, don't get me wrong, just seems a little muddled in where its destination is. Does it want to showcase all the various facets of UK bass music as it existed in 2010 (the Afro-beat stuff, the bleepy stuff, the funky stuff, the soulful stuff, the dubby stuff), or does it want to steer us away from all that (the techno stuff)? For sure its eclectic, but feels rather rambly in the process.

Various - Fabric 46: Claude VonStroke

Fabric: 2009

Hey, wait a moment...! *oh, one... three, four... six, seven, eight, nine...* Holy cow, I've also nearly completed a 40 set of Fabric CDs! All I'm missing is Âme and Omar S. Wow, this somehow sneaked up on me, not even realizing it until coming to Claude VonStroke's set. I wonder why I haven't lambasted this era of Fabric releases being on the cheap as much as I have the 30s? Maybe because the mixes in this batch have been better? Well, I don't know about that, still in a rather minimal tech-haus era as many mixes were in the late '00s. Mark Farina's was fine, but nothing out of the ordinary from him. Jay Haze was perhaps a little off-kilter to really stick in my head, while Radio Slave was pretty much the same vibe for the duration. That Metro Area outing though, that one took me by surprise in unearthing so many early '80s rarities and b-sides, while Magda's...

Okay, she's the main reason I haven't thought of the 40s as bad as the 30s, though not entirely because I just like Magda sets in general. Nay, it's due to the fact I bought that CD not on a budget, paying whatever regular price it was whenever I got it. Sorta' defeats the concept of strictly nabbing items on the cheap-cheap, don't it? I've a feeling if I ever want to complete the 40s as well, I'll have to spring regular price for at least the Omar S. one. Seem to recall it being quite highly regarded. Does make me wonder if, as time wears on, other blocks of Fabric CDs will come down to budgetary prices in such a fashion (glances at the 70s in foreshadow).

Anyhow, Claude VonStroke. Anyone with even a hint of tech-house knowledge should know who this chap is, and how his Dirtybird print took the festival scene by storm. And why not, offering up a brand of bouncy, almost liquidy dance tunes that made better sense out among fresh air and BBQ grills rather than stuffy, muggy clubs. I don't recall if he'd quite broke out to the massive success the label saw throughout the '10s when this came out, but it's not like he needed much additional help getting there, his run of big singles during minimal's heyday practically cementing him as a made-man early on.

This still being the '00s, however, Fabric 46 hasn't quite shaken off the bloopy-blippy side of tech-house. It's certainly more playful than years past – how can you not boogie to Holger Zilske's Mes Yeux or wiggle about to tracks like Voodeux's Just A Spoonful or wobble to the pianos of Wighnomy Brothers' Guppipepitsche? Unfortunately, there's just as much of the plodding, dry deep-tech scattered about, mostly serving as transitions to the fun stuff, but there just the same. Still, Mr. VonStroke's style is firmly cemented even this early on, making his Fabric set one of the more easily identified ones I've thus heard.

Various - Fabric 44: John Tejada

Fabric: 2008

I've sure come a long way around to finally spot some shine on John Tejada. Dude's been in the game for over two decades (lot's of dudes like that at this point), and have even come across him in a couple random Balance sets over the years. More recently,contributed to the resuscitated Cottage Industries series, but I know I've seen his name plenty from dang near every corner of clubland. So it goes when you're a producer having releases on such Very Important labels like Kompakt, Poker Flat Recordings, 7th City, Touched, and oodles more. The usual assortment of tech-house luminaries have rinsed out his tunes, but Mr. Tejada's works have even found their way into David F'n Guetta's mixes (of course it'd be a track called Sweat (On The Walls) ...that's gotta' be a CB4 reference, right?). You can imagine, then, my slight disconnect associating ol' John with the worst of mid-'00s electro-sleaze while also thinking him more in line of melodic IDM wonks like Plaid.

I shouldn't be thinking of his more modern works though (or some of his pre-Poker Flat material, for that matter), at least with regards to what he brings to the Fabric series. I'm sure he was tapped for a DJ spot based on his run of singles throughout the '00s that brought him the most prominence. Based on this set, however, I get the sense John's far more comfortable behind the producer's console rather than the turntables (or whatever software used to construct Fabric 44). I'm sure he's toured some clubs for a little extra scratch, but Lord Discogs lists this as his first real commercial mix CD - the Backstock releases were more compilations of music from his own Palette Recordings print.

Actually, I think Mr. Tejada's most cozy rinsing out his tunes, as Fabric 44 features seven tracks he had a hand in (about half-and-half solo and collab's). John's also quite the fan of Shed here, at least three more cuts featuring Mr. Pawlowitz in some fashion. Also-also, this is the sort of techno set that includes tracks with titles like WAX10001, Equalized001, M Track 1, and Huba (Plaid's 15 Years Lost Remix). Lots of 'faceless underground techno', is what I'm sayin', even if the producers involved are some of the most popular chaps around.

Cool beans, then. A real rinse-out of real techno for the real heads, right? Maybe, kinda'? I was incredibly leery at Fabric 44's start, about as bloopy minimal as this stuff could get in 2008, but things do pick up into more traditional Detroit minimal. Ah, the Berghain sound is on nigh. Overall though, this set has the feeling of Mr. Tejada just playing tracks rather than building any kind of narrative, which only furthers my assumption he's more suited as a producer than a DJ. Still, any set that includes classic Orbital (Fahrenheit 303), contemporary Spooky (Candy), and obscure Pete Namlook (!) can't be all bad.

Various - Fabric 41: Luciano

Fabric: 2008

Ah, the man who flew too close to the sun, crashing down as the trends of clubland shifted into a new decade. Actually, that's unfair, Mr. Nicolet maintaining a solid career to this day. He's simply too entrenched in the minimal tech-haus scene to fall that far, his Cadenza print too long lasting to completely fold, his Ibizan parties too well-regarded to fall out of favour. It cannot be denied though, that when I last talked about him, there was a sense he was shooting for crossover stardom, a lane many were rejecting as hubris personified. No, better to stick things out on the DJ circuit, build your fame on the Party Island, keep winning Ibizan DJ Awards in the field of tech-house over and over and over like he's Dixon at Resident Advisor. No need to indulge in artistic album expression ever again.

But nuts to all that, happening after this particular CD had come out. For sure getting tapped for Fabric 41 helped him along to that promotional period involving Tribute To The Sun, but that was still over a year away. At this point, Luciano was more frequently getting name-dropped along side Ricardo Villalobos as Very Important minimal-tech jocks with Chilean ancestry. It was a very small sample size, so quite easy to stand out in that highly specific field. I suppose releasing a record on Perlon didn't hurt either.

Regardless, we're getting the 'hot talent on the rise' Luciano here, so naturally his set hopes to capture some of the eclecticism he was getting noticed on while retaining the vibe of a live gig. He hadn't done many mix CDs before, a contribution to Soma Quality Records' Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi. series being his most prominent one prior (I'm sure he's content leaving Party New – Electro-House properly memory holed), so still in something of a feeling out process in how to put that all together. Did he pull it off?

If you like stripped but subtly vibrant style of tech-house, sure. Fabric 41 definitely has moments that remind you why this brand of 'ethnic' tech-haus was finding some ground in the latter half of the '00s. The wobbly, sleazy basslines of tunes like Getting Late from Los Updates (Luciano on the rub). The ultra-loopy deep transitional tracks that let you just get lost in the moment (Sety's Mogane, Guido Schneider & André Galluzzi's Albertino). The big obvious anthem that hadn't yet caught on as a big obvious anthem so you can't really hate on its inclusion (Johnny D's Orbitalife... gads, does that rhythm ever remain ridiculously infectious). The play at peak-time opulence, but done in a somewhat clever way (mashing M83's In Church with Julien Jabre's Jungle Beatz). The gamble on ol' school credibility by way of modern remixes (Inner City and Phuture get rubs from him and Tiefschwarz). And ooh, the 'not-trance' melodic closer, just to remind you that even though this is technically a set for the London crowds, Luciano's still an Ibizan DJ through and through.

Various - Fabric 34: Ellen Allien

Fabric: 2007

Yeah, yeah, I know. How has it taken me this long to cover anything from Ellen Allien, and finally only doing so by way of a discounted Fabric CD? She's an intriguing figure, no doubt, carving out her own niche and brand within a heavily male-dominated Berlin techno scene. I'm sure if I take a full, proper plunge into her discography – albums, mixes, art – I'll find plenty of golden nuggets to gorge myself on. Still, there's always that lingering caveat that keeps me hesitant: '00s' 'Berlin' 'techno'. You know the era I'm talking about.

I'm not saying Ellen was just as guilty in steering that scene into the dry, minimalist waffle that turned techno into such a pretentious chore to trudge through. If anything, she was an outlier to all that, going more brashy electro during minimal's rise. It was the omnipresent sound whether you liked it or not, however, and being heavily involved in that region's music scene, she too eventually fell sway to what you were 'supposed' to be doing with techno at any given time, personal preference be damned. At least, that's my impression of her career in the years surrounding this CD, and in a way, her Fabric set kinda' confirms my assumption.

Before I get into that, let me once again throw some shade on the 30s run of Fabric mixes. Yep, yet another CD in this era that's been reduced to bargain bin lows. I'm now missing only two out of this portion of the series: Steve Bug and Robert Hood. I almost want to get them just for completist sake, but nay, I'll wait to see them on the cheapy-cheaps. Bug I could see happening, but not Hood – that one's been hailed as being good, actually.

The first half of Fabric 34 is the sort of set I was hoping to hear: an eclectic ride through various forms of house and techno without ever sounding too much like a mixtape in the process. A little vintage Larry Heard acid, a little retro-future Detroit cool groove (Estroe's Driven), a little propah' Detroit dubby freshness (Don Williams' Orderly Kaos), and even a little neo-trancey melodic charm (Artificial Latvasmäki's It Is Now Either). Yes, all the kinds of techno I've no problem hearing from the mid-'00s. That second half though...

Yeah, I didn't care much for this stuff back when, and time hasn't been kind to it either. Roman Flügel has earned his stripes, but Mutter is every cliche of wanky, plinky-plonk minimal you can imagine. Even that's more interesting than the utterly uneventful Plastikman rub of Heartthrob's Baby Kate, a tune that really didn't need going more minimal. There's also seven minutes of Thom Yorke warbling over stripped down electro beats, in case the big, bold, artiste sign in this portion of the set wasn't clear enough. I know Ellen isn't the sort of lass to bang out anthems, but this portion of Fabric 34 is pure navel-gazing tedium.

Various - Fabric 28: Wiggle

Fabric: 2006

In some ways, it's remarkable this CD took so long to appear on my Fabric On A Budget list. It's an edition that seemed destined for the bargain bin, a name only the most ardent of Fabric faithful would be familiar with. When you've built your DJ mix series brand on featuring recognizable names from across the house and techno spectrum, most folks will come away with only confused glances of who 'Wiggle' is.

Right, you, oh tech-house disciple of yore', may know this is a reference to the Terry Francis' label of the same name, one that was celebrating a decade of existence when fabric 28 was released. It wasn't a major print though, and kinda' petered out shortly after. Some would argue the label was just the side-hustle, that it was the club nights with the Wiggle brand being featured that was the real attraction. Among particular house heads in the UK, I can believe that, but something tells me folks across waters weren't so hep to what was going on in the underground of merry ol' London, especially when tech-house was becoming quite the mainstream club thing as the mid-'00s rolled on.

From my lofty vantage point eighteen years on, however, fabric 28 feels more like a stop-gap of a set. As this is technically a Terry Francis set (did Nathan Coles contribute? Liner notes are unclear), it marks another instance of a returning Fabric alum, Terry having done the second release in the series after Craig Richards. Why go back an already tapped well when I'm sure there were plenty of other worthy candidates waiting in the wings for a crack at Fabric? Oh, right, that ten year anniversary thing of the Wiggle brand. Well sure, I guess that's an excuse for the label in having an off-month.

I really shouldn't be so nitpicky on the reasons for a Wiggle set though, because gosh darn it, at least it's a proper tech-house set. That may seem glib, but y'gotta' remember when this came out: 2006, the height of the minimal era. Indeed, Wiggle is surrounded by an Audion set and a Tiefscharz set, both of which I've covered, and capturing the minimal trend at its most trendiest. None of that plink-plonk-hiss nonsense is heard here though, with some basslines that actually make your hips wiggle. Yeah, there are portions where the vibe goes a little deeper, or things strip back so a vocal or acid line can shine, but that's all part and parcel of the ebb and flow for a set such as this. Not really peak-time, but definitely a solid warm-up for the headliner.

Unfortunately, that's likely why fabric 28 remains one of the most forgotten of the early sets of Fabric's legacy. A very meat-n-potatoes CD, released when folks expected tunes and sounds on the cutting edge of clubland. Okay, it also didn't help this was some of Fabric's ugliest cover art to date. Would you impulse-buy something sneering at you like that?

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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!

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...

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)

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.

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.