Fabric/Fabriclive mix cd series S/D

So it's good then? Her DJ-Kicks is very murky and never really takes off, so I was going to skip this one.

...no to mention Kirlian, Namlook, and even Drax's "Amphetamine"! Looks like she's been heavily into classic '90s bangers, which should be a good sign for an oldie like me.

(xmessage)

really wish I had picked up her album on REKIDS when I saw it in hmv a few years back ..

I love her album but I didn't think the DJ-Kicks was up to much and the Bjarki stuff I've heard from her label is bewildering in its popularity to me. I'll need to investigate this.

I really like the Gerd Janson entry.

It has a great energy (that so many mix cd's are lacking). Good on her.

this rules a lot

I think her DJ-Kicks was the tail end of that particular sound for her.

She's seemed to veer into a more wide-reaching approach to DJing. First indication of that for me was her dropping 'No Good (Start the Dance)' at Dekmantel this year.

Haha I have actually fantasised about being a prestigious DJ at a prestigious club or festival and dropping "No Good (Start The Dance)".

i'm curious what other people's top 10 fabric mixes are. my own lists don't overlap too much with matt dc's but there is some.

as far as the fabrics go i really like tyler stadius and swayzak from the early run. carl craig and global communciation did a great little thing mixing up broken beat and detroit techno. i recall luke slater's was excellent early early example of the berghain / sandwell axis thing bubbling up. ame's is a great blend of deep house and dub house. martyn's was really amazing, kind of sounds like nothing else. agoria's was very emotional, expansive classic techno and house with some neat tempo tricks happening (ableton?). i would probably round out my list with shackleton and levon vincent. very tense listening.

overall i probably prefer fabriclive to fabric. i think a lot more of them are just more interesting, and the good ones have held up really well. jacques lu cont, bent and bugz in the attic still sound really great and fresh. aim's is really lovely pastoral hip hop. death in vegas is very dark and cool in an unusual way, holds up better imo than a lot of similar dark rock-techno-disco entries from the time (say, andrew weatherall or ivan smagghe, both of whom i think are great but turned in not so great mixes). i still listen to james murphy's. the autonomic one nicely sums up that moment. pearson sound, four tet and ben ufo round out my ten.

i do think i forget how many bad blog house and drum and bass mixes were under the fabriclive banner. i still think i prefer the fabriclive mixes i listed to the fabrics but i don't think i'd say the latter series is better than the former.

there are quite a lot i think that are passably good representations of what that person does while not being the best example you can find of what that person does: omar-s, villalobos, dj ez, jackmaster, etc

need to relisten to mumdance and illum sphere, i remember those sounding pretty good but i barely got a chance to listen. and metro area. i haven't checked that one out in a while but i remember thinking it was pretty weird.

This is one of the best mixes of the year for me. Makes me feel jealous how she's not only very physically attractive but great at her craft. She also keeps getting slightly weirder without losing her style which is usually a good sign in any artist for me. The ambition to expand.

Is there a Fabric/Fabriclive mix poll? This is 91 right? There's enough for two or three polls if we do 30 mixes per poll.

The Eats Everything mix also released this year is good.

i'm curious what other people's top 10 fabric mixes are. my own lists don't overlap too much with matt dc's but there is some

i'd struggle to fill 10 i think, unfortunately!

there are quite a lot i think that are passably good representations of what that person does while not being the best example you can find of what that person does

This being one of the main reasons! There are certainly DJ's i like that have released fabric mixes, but most fall in either 'passably good representation' category, or often "disappointing and flat". i think ricardo's is actually one of the ones that doesn't though, i think thats one of the few where it does do justice

i dont know if its the cd format that is the issue, or if Fabric is sometimes.....a bit late in booking, there's an argument some of the contributors have gone well off the boil by the time they got to do one

Mmm I think I could do it but I haven't listened to all of them. Favorite ones I remember top of my head:

Shackleton
Villalobos
James Lavelle
Four Tet
Nina Kraviz
Levon Vincent
Sandwell District
Ewan Pearson
Daniel Avery
Petre Inspirescu
James Murphy & Pat Mahoney
Erol Alkan

Scratch Perverts

i dont know if its the cd format that is the issue, or if Fabric is sometimes.....a bit late in booking, there's an argument some of the contributors have gone well off the boil by the time they got to do one

the concept of a cd mix has felt archaic for years now - when i see a dj i like is lined up to do a fabric cd i just shrug because i can and have heard any amount of mixes/sets by them whenever i choose, usually, it's not a special occasion. but from talking to them a lot of them do feel it's a special occasion, or at least they put pressure on themselves to...represent themselves fully, i guess? which is bad when they try to cram too much stuff in, or over-think their selection when their forte is spontaneity (jackmaster is prob exhibit a here).

so as wanky as the auteurist approach is, i guess the djs who can pull this off are those, like villalobos or levon vincent or omar-s, who craft it almost like an artist album, and who have enough quality material to do it themselves.

as for timing, rather than too early or too late per se, a fabric cd commission often comes when a newish dj is cresting a wave and is simply incredibly busy (and also feeling pressure to justify themselves while simultaneously trying to evolve in general). nina kraviz is an example where late timing works in fabric's favour - technically they're super-late given how long she's been around but she's obviously gone up a level and has been doing some super-interesting things with her label this year, so it's the right time for an auteurist approach (though not with her own stuff) to work.

Think there's a core of a good piece here, Lex!

I don't think they are super-late if she hasn't gone off the boil! Otherwise agree, which is why i only own one of them!

Haha I have actually fantasised about being a prestigious DJ at a prestigious club or festival and dropping "No Good (Start The Dance)".

― Tim F, Tuesday, December 20, 2016 7:14 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

video of it (from exit not dekmantel - apparently this is a regular thing for her these days!). it goes OFF obv

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6WG77z7NzQ

Honestly this mix is fine but not especially exciting and takes an age to get going (a bit like the Scuba one from earlier this year), like it doesn't feel qualitatively any better or worse than the run of reasonably straight-ahead European techno mixes they've put out over the last couple of years. It's a lot better than the DJ Kicks one but I don't feel immediately compelled to go and see her live or anything.

the concept of a cd mix has felt archaic for years now - when i see a dj i like is lined up to do a fabric cd i just shrug because i can and have heard any amount of mixes/sets by them whenever i choose

At the same time, the frankly insane volume of free mixes out there means that some form of curatorial hand feels necessary, even as mix CDs (or digital versions of them) become commercially less and less viable. I'm sure there are amazing mixes being put out by random Estonian dudes on Soundcloud but there are so fucking many mediocre ones out there the whole experience feels like a trawl. Also I'm old fashioned and like decent sound quality and being able to actually see track titles.

Whether the Fabric series is the best for that I seriously doubt at this stage. I think there's something about the architecture and vibe of the building itself that encourages heads-down and quite moody selections from DJs who generally aren't. There's also that maddening thing where DJs who always go hard in actual clubs spend half the CD patiently building upwards to the extent that it sounds completely unrepresentative and indistinguishable from everyone else.

usually, it's not a special occasion. but from talking to them a lot of them do feel it's a special occasion, or at least they put pressure on themselves to...represent themselves fully, i guess?

There was a quote from a Flava D interview where she talked about the rush of going into HMV of all places just to see her CD on the shelves which I thought was quite revealing (and hers is probably the best of the last couple of years). At its best a commercial mix should actually feel like an album rather than a straightforward representation of a club set - Mayer's brilliant at this - and hers does as well. A lot of DJs are actively bad at this. By contrast, Gerd Janson's is fine but there's basically no difference between that and hundreds of similar podcasts, like what's your reason for putting this out for sale?

there are quite a lot i think that are passably good representations of what that person does while not being the best example you can find of what that person does

Even if you filter out podcasts and festival recordings I don't think there's a single DJ who's put their best commercial mix out for Fabric. Immer is better than Mayer's, The Workout is better than Carl Craig's, the Sci-Fi-Hi-Fi mixes by Luciano and Ewan Pearson are both better than their Fabric mixes etc. I seem to remember Ben Klock and Marcel Dettmann's Fabric mixes being better than their Berghain ones but without there being much in it. (Dettmann's DJ Kicks is fantastic and bucks a generally underwhelming recent trend in that series).

The Fabriclive series has a lot more personality in general but a lot of those personalities are fucking horrible. The recent run of garage and grime mixes has been fantastic though.

there's an argument some of the contributors have gone well off the boil by the time they got to do one

Maybe they just aren't that good in the first place when removed from a club context (or even in one), or their ear for selections is very tied to a small and quite limited set of records. But I certainly remember the format feeling much more vital in the early-mid 00s.

There's also the cramming-30-tracks-into-70-minutes thing, which is fine if they're playing big-room techno or if they're someone like DJ EZ who always does rapid transitions, but kind of annoying if they're a house DJ feeling the pressure to over-represent themselves. I do love the Jackmaster one though even if the mixing itself is completely shonky. Sometimes it adds to the intensity and at other times it completely kills the vibe.

i recall luke slater's was excellent early early example of the berghain / sandwell axis thing bubbling up

<3 Luke Slater but I remember this being a really good techno mix broken up with these baffling side turns into the big dancefloor bankers of the day, like DFA or Switch or whoever sticking out like a sore thumb. Just this general sense of lacking courage in his convictions or something, or having too much of it. I suppose some mix CDs that feel obvious at the time later feel like an excellent document of a scene but this isn't really one of them.

Maybe they just aren't that good in the first place when removed from a club context (or even in one), or their ear for selections is very tied to a small and quite limited set of records

This may be true but here it sounds more like you are describing someone who was never on the boil

DJs can get lazy, or rest on laurels and stop digging! or just change their style in ways that dont work! or have different phases....just the same as producers.

At the same time, the frankly insane volume of free mixes out there means that some form of curatorial hand feels necessary

Curatorial hand yes, but its the same for records or for anything, its something you build up over time subconsciously, everyone builds up their own curatorial hand, which is built up from a variety of sources, nothing is ever random (except for when it is).

Objekt's 'Kern' is better than any Fabric mix from this year except maybe the Flava D one. And that feels like both a coherent statement and something that wouldn't have worked as a podcast. It also doesn't waste a second of the CD without feeling rushed.

I don't think there's a single DJ who's put their best commercial mix out for Fabric

if there's a better james murphy &/or pat mahoney mix out there I'd love to hear it

Probably several other artists are in the same boat (Bugz in the Attic and Bent to start with) but I assume Matt meant "(of those DJs who have released several commercial DJ mixes)".

there is no need for a curatorial hand.

xp I'm not disputing the truth of it, just often hanker for more in that vein

just gave the claude vonstroke mix a spin.

not sure i have ever actually listened to it before.

really enjoyed it.

not that crazy about this guy's own productions but this looks interesting to say the least

http://www.fabriclondon.com/store/catalog/product/view/id/1134/s/fabric-92/category/8/

I knew zero about him at all before listening to this, but the Call Super mix is the first one in ages, in the core Fabric series at least, where I feel like I want to go back to it again and again and engage with it in the way I would an album. The fact that it peaks so early (and what a peak!) gives him a lot of time to drift through other moods and the second half is completely mesmerising.

Also I didn't really look at the tracklisting beforehand so the Wonderful Life moment was pretty much hands-in-the-air in my front room.

I can't recommend all of Call Super's own work (under his name as well as Ondo Fudd) highly enough

and yeah the Fabric mix is wonderful

"16. Bitstream - Incubator"

Great record!

yes, the fabric mix is excellent, reminds me of agoria's similarly free-wheeling entry

i'm also excited for the special request one which is next out (fabriclive 91)

http://www.factmag.com/2017/02/09/special-request-fabriclive-91-announced/

request for comment: any artists on houndstooth, their in-house label, I should be checking?

they had a sale on houndstooth stuff, and I was looking through and realizing I wasn't too familiar with the majority and started off on a listening binge to see what's up

well lex and a lot of people i know endorse call super (who i am not crazy about but will be giving another shot)

i quite liked the special request 2CD and i've also really enjoyed the marquis hawkes releases

not so into post-dubstep these days but if you are you will probably like the akkord album

finally i have heard a lot of good things about aisha devi but not investigated myself

actually got into akkord via a remix ep a while back

was surprised aisha devi is on houndstooth -- I saw her live last year and it was a++ and after realizing I'd been into her past work under an alias it made sense

Love the Call Super mix (really like his album from a few years ago too but this is very different).

Had not heard the house version of Photek's "T'Raenon" before, it's very pretty. Kind of nerdishly amused by how the track sequencing implies that Photek leads with a breakbeat when in fact it's Bushwacka's (it's almost like a small joke about how much we have forgotten about 90s dance music).

the call super is wonderful, wow

Brad make sure you listen to his (relatively) new track “Fluenka Spoke”.

great track

just announced Fabriclive 100 (the last one in its "current form" according to the PR blurb) : Kode9/Burial.

tracklisting = TBA

I'm intrigued!

whoa

i'm assuming craig richards for fabric 100

would not surprise me if they don't release a tracklisting and just put it out.
and yeah, its a pretty bloody great way to end the physical series.