Tectonic @ Fabric

This night is essential if you're in London this Friday. The Tectonic crew take over Room 1 with the sounds of Pinch, Kryptic Minds, Kuedo, Youngsta and Pursuit Grooves (Live), with Room 2 in the hands of Zero T, Alix Perez, Icicle to celebrate the launch of Zero T's FabricLive mix CD. On top of all this the sounds in Room 3 come from the Autonomic boys with dBridge, Instra:mental and Bullion all gracing the decks. It's set to be a massive so if you're in London then head down!!!!

Click HERE for a recent interview Fabric did with Kuedo (Jamie Vex'd) or HERE for an interview with Pursuit Grooves

Also, here is a little promo mix Pinch did to celebrate the occasion.

Pinch - Promo Mix (May2010) by fabric

Review: Numbers @ Fabric

I had been looking forward to this night ever since the lineup was posted on the Fabric website. Usually I have gone to Fabric for Rooms 2 or 3 and generally stayed as far away from the heaving mass of rudeboys that normally accompanies whatever tear out DJ is playing in Room 1. Take my last visit to Fabric for example; the experimental sounds of dBridge b2b Instra:mental and the emotive DnB of Commix just down the hall from Hazard and Hype. Madness! This night was set to be different. The sounds were quite varied, with Room 1 bringing the summer vibes of Martyn, Brackles and Rustie, Room 2 diving deep with Scuba and Youngsta, and Room 3 was left mostly in the capable hands of dBridge and Instra:mental to do with however they pleased. As I arrived and scanned the set times I realised that I would have to jump around quite a lot if I wanted to catch some of everyone that I wanted to see, but undaunted I bought a classically Fabric priced drink from the bar and headed over to Room 3 to catch the end of Instra:mental's first set.

As I entered the lecherous monster of a track Voyeur was being blasted from the system, much to the delight of the crowd. This was only the 2nd time I had seen Instra:mental play and he did not fail to impress in the slightest, moving from the beautiful sounds of Watching You into some absolutely huge minimal tribal beats. Next up was Scuba in Room 2. Now I have seen Scuba 4 times and he has never been anything but superb, in fact his set at the Sub:Stance take over in Leeds 2 months ago was one of the best I have seen. With this in mind I had high expectations, and I have to say unfortunately I was slightly let down. The tune selection was all right, but the biggest tunes I had heard a thousand times, such as 'Sex At The Prom' – Headhunter and the Prototype remix on the flip. Don't get me wrong, they went off, but I from a leader in the scene I expect to hear something fresh that really excites me. I also didn't really think his mixing was perfectly up to scratch with some tunes clearly not melding together yet being left for ages to play over each other. This being said, it was an enjoyable set and everyone in Room 2 was having a great time, I just think as someone who has seen him at his best I was a little bit let down. I consequently decided to leave half an hour early to grab some fresh air and catch some of Martyn's set in the main room.



With limited time before Youngsta was due to start I jumped head-first into Room 1 which I expected to be rammed full of gorgeous young women getting down to the sounds of Martyn's House inspired music. He was even playing a track which had taken the melody of Row Row Row Your Boat and exchanged the words to “Shake Shake Shake Your Ass”, yet what I saw couldn't have been further from the truth. The room was surprisingly empty and there was barely a girl in sight. Instead I was treated to a very bizarre sight that seemed to be a couple hundred middle aged men shaking their ass to the beat. All the same the music was great and me and my mates thoroughly enjoyed the feel good vibes.

I hurried back to Room 2 just in time to catch the beginning of Youngsta's set and fuck me he does not mess around. In my opinion there is NO ONE as good as Youngsta when it comes to playing dubstep, and apart from a couple of over the top choices at the end of his set he was near perfect. Tracks such as Kryptic Minds' collaborations with Alys Blaze and 'Cold Blooded' ft. Youngsta absolutely took the piss on that sound system and his last track was tooo much. I had heard it once before at DMZ 5th Birthday. It was my favourite track of the night then, and the same this time. I know it's by Pinch, but that's as much info as I have unfortunately. A notable by product of Numbers choosing the same night as the Outlook Launch Party and RAM at Matter was a serious lack of people turning up to Fabric (at one stage I went out to the smoking area and there were only 5 people there!). In my eyes this was actually very refreshing as I had space to dance, and there were no rudeboys trying to mug me for catching their eye. I have always preferred the vibe in Leeds for these reasons exactly, and I think this reduction of people actually made a positive impact on sets like Youngsta's.



We ended the night with some more upbeat vibes in Room 1 with Jackmaster & Brackles dropping some oldskool gems such as 1995 classic, The Bomb by The Bucketheads, before heading out into the morning rain, grabbing a possibly overpriced hot dog and then heading home to collapse. Overall it was a very different experience to what I expected from my past Fabric experience and although I could have exchanged a few middle aged men for some more females, it was a massively successful night with all the right ingredients.

Words: Liam 'Wachs Lyrical' Wachs

FabricLive 50: dBridge and Instra:mental Present Autonomic

I'd been looking forward to this coming through the letterbox for months, ever since I heard that clubbing institution Fabric has tapped up the Autonomic boys, dBridge and Instra:mental, to be on the buttons for the latest (and also the 100th) installment of their seminal compilation series I knew it was going to be something special and in no way does it disappoint!

These boys do not do things half-heartedly or by half-measures, they put all their time and effort into making sure that the final product is as good as it can possibly be. This mix is no different! From start to finish, you can tell how meticulously it was crafted. This is no ordinary mix slapped together in a few hours, it's taken weeks, if not months, to create, tweek and perfect what will go down as one of the classics, if not THE classic, in the Fabric series.

The mix showcases exactly what Autonomic is about, it's about good music, and not being tied down a tempo and genre. The Autonomic sound doesn't belong to drum and bass! Standout tunes? It's impossible to pick any one particular track, not only because they all stand out, but because every track is complimented by another. For example, the mix out of Vaccine's haunting 'Ochre' and into Consequence's remix of ASC's 'Starkwood' binds together so tightly it's almost impossible to hear where one track ends and the next begins. This is just one example, the mixing is this tight the whole way through.

Look out for Consequence's remix of Instra:mental's classic 'No Future', another remix done by a member of the Autonomic family, Code 3's 'Living Proof' (TUUUUUUNE) and ASC's remix of Consequence's '11 Circles'. I'm especially feeling those 3, but like I said it's impossible to pick favourites.

There are exclusive tracks in there from the likes of Scuba, Distance and Genotype, as well as forthcoming material on Exit and NonPlus+ from the likes of Stray, Skream, ASC, Consequence and Abstract Elements. Also, coming on NonPlus+ in 2010 are releases from Zomby, Actress and Jimmy Edgar so keep an eye out for them, definitely a frontrunner for label of the year 2010 and it's only January! Look out for the ASC LP 'Nothing Is Certain', which should be coming in the next couple of months.

Another thing about the mix that makes it what it is, is that it's listenable. You can listen to it anywhere, on your iPod, on the bus, whilst working. It has mass appeal, rather than being restricted and tied down to the dancefloor! The Autonomic sound has become a cult over the past few months, with over 30,000 downloads of Layer:09 of the podcast, and this mix is surely the pinnacle of their acheivement thus far. They've crafted not only a niche for themselves within drum and bass, but within music in general. It's Autonomic. Do not let this mix pass you by! If you miss it, you miss out!

"The mix is a dreamlike collection of electronic soundscapes and beat explorations all lovingly woven into 90 minutes; a treasure of a disc that reveals more edifying details with each listen"

Release date: 15th February 2010

USA Release: 23rd March 2010

myspace.com/instramentaluk

myspace.com/exitrecords

www.fabriclondon.com

NUMBERS AT FABRIC REVIEW

It had been 6 months since I last went to fabric and I had heard a bag of mixed reviews from people who had be inbetween that time. With this in mind I was rather skeptical but the line up demanded my attendance! This said, upon arriving I was rather disappointed to see that Rustie was no longer on the line up leaving the glasgow team a man down! As we got in Joy Orbison was tearing down room two playing a mutated strain of bass heavy funky that head everybody dancing. With all the hype around the man behind arugably the biggest tune of the year 'Hyph Mngo', it was good to see that his set lived up to his music. This was the first time I had seen him play and I was very impressed! Looking around the club there seemed to be an army of guys wearing checkered shirts with the top button done up - just an observation. Furthermore, it was nice to see more ladies around in the crowd.

After Mr.Orbison the dynamic duo that is Instra:mental (Al Bleek and Damon Drama) stepped up to the plate. Mr. Bleek opened up their set with the rather surprising Breakage remix of Sideny Sampson's 'Riverside' which sounded HUGE after that dropping Matt-U's monster 'Watching You' which is forthcoming on Subway records. I'm pretty sure this was the song but excuse me if I'm wrong as it could have also been Skream's 'Exothermic Reaction'. Whatever it was I made a b line for the both demanding a reload which was granted! They also played a Scuba tune start to finish that only they and Scuba have supposedly.

It seemed that at 1 am most of the club descended onto room 1 to see one of last years biggest stars, Hudson Mohawke, do his thing. He was accompanied by Olivier Daysoul and it good to see that a large majoritiy of the room were singing along to 'Just Decided'. 'ZOo00OOm' sounded BIGGG as the bleeps being replaced with a scartchy guitar that sounded too sick! I think next time that this song should be perfomed with a live band because the use of the guitar sounded amazing. Towards 1.45 when his set was supposed to be finished I was worried that he would not have time to play my favourite song off the album. However, the crowd and I were not disappointed when the unmissable panpipes of 'Fuse' came in. He ended his set with his remix of 'Ooops' not only getting the girls in a frenzy but he also had the resident 'badmen' you always see in the corneres singing! All in all I was very pleased to have finally see him play and again I was not disappointed! I'm sure everyone is expecting even bigger things from him this year and I'm looking forward to seeing what he has in store for us!

The party vibes of room 1 continued on into room 3 where Hot City was playing an old skool garage set accompanied by Crazy D who was getting the crowd hyped as per usual. I heard this dropped which I had not heard for years! So big ups for bringing this one back to mind!




Having had my fix of garage Todd Edwards was missed in order to see dBridge. I'm glad I made this choice because he opened his set with an absoulute banger! It was a remix of Jay-Z's 'Sunshine' and the bass was BIGGG! Maybe it will see a cheeky white label release or it could be lost for ever! His whole set was immaculate as per usual and he had both Crazy D and Dread mcing for him which sounded unusual but in a good way. The deep space bass of dbridge with the playfulness of these two emcees lended a nice skanky atmosphere as it would have been easy to find the darkest corner and just nod ya head the whole way through. A lot of people it seems are starting to get annoyed with mc's for chatting too much and rightly so! BAD mcs can completely killl everything! Apprently at the Outlook Reunion party Plastician had 4 mcs all of which were louder than the music!


After this the back pains were almost unbearable and it was time to leave meaning that unfortunately Headhunter, J.Sparrow & Untold were missed. I would have liked to see what Untold would have played so any one who caught him drop us an e-mail! That night proved that Fabric is far from dead as the club was completely rammed, on top of that there was no aggyness or anything like that just vibes :-) It was a perfect night to start the year all of the aritsts playing are pushing the future sounds of their repsective genres be it Drum & Bass, Dubstep, Funky or Hip-hop.....so if you missed it, you missed out!

Numbers & Elevator Music Launch Party @ Fabric

I've been looking forward to this night for weeks! Hudson Mohawke, Rustie, dBridge, Instra:mental, Joy Orbison, Headhunter, Untold, xxxy and Hot City ALL in Fabric tonight for what promising to be an early contender for night of the year! I couldn't have picked a better line up I had chosen them personally.

See you down there people!

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FABRIC 50

A promo copy of Martyn's Fabric 50 mix came through the post the other day and it's by far one of the most original of the Fabric mixes in recent times.

The legendary London clubbing institution has just recently celebrated it's 10th birthday and with this release and the FabricLive 50 mix coming from Autonomic badboys dBridge and Instra:mental they certainly know how to celebrate in style (and they have some massive nights on the horizon too, check out 27th December and 8th January, both of those nights will be reviewed on the blog!).

This is the first DJ mix from Dutchman Martyn and he impresses too, with amazing track selection and tight mixing. He takes in all sorts of styles from Techno and Funky to Dubstep, dropping tunes from man of the minute Joy Orbison, Hud Mo, Roska, Zomby, Cooly G and of course his own productions (look out for Zomby's 'Little Miss Naughty' and Cooly G's 'Feeling You'.....BIGGGG).

The man himself said that "I did the whole mix CD live just because I thought that was more honest than doing an Ableton DJ mix. It is how I would play live—not everything on the CD is perfect, but it’s not meant to be....Fabric on Saturdays is mostly about four-to-the-floor; my music may not always be so straight up but at the root of it all there's my house/techno background....For me fabric 50 is sort of a temporary moment in time rather than the definitive Martyn mix, because I have been gigging so much over the past year, my sound has gradually moved a little bit more to straight up house and techno related music."

Release date: 11th January 2010 (UK), 23rd February 2010 (USA)

Label: Fabric

Tracklist:

01 Hudson Mohawke: "Joy Fantastic [ft. Olivier Daysoul]"
02 Alec Wizz: "Drummin' (Louis Benedetti Drumminpella)"
03 Nubian Mindz: "Bossa Boogie"
04 Maddslinky: "Lost on Tenori Street"
05 Altered Natives: "Rass Out"
06 Zomby: "Little Miss Naughty"
07 Uncle Bakongo: "Afar"
08 Zomby: "Light Cycle"
09 Deepgroove & Jamie Anderson: "The Clock (Ben Klock's Timepiece)"
10 DJBone: "We Control the Beat"
11 Detachments: "Circles (Martyn's Round & Round Mix)"
12 Joy Orbison: "Brkln Clln"
13 Cooly G: "Feeling You"
14 Martyn: "These Words (Roska's Speechless Mix) [ft. dBridge]"
15 Kode9: "Oozi"
16 Roska: "Without It"
17 Martyn: "Friedrichstrasse"
18 Levon Vincent: "Air Raid"
19 Martyn: "Is This Insanity? (Ben Klock Mix) [ft. Spaceape]"
20 Martyn: "Seventy Four (Redshape Mix)"
21 Actress: "Slowjam"
22 Zomby: "Mercury's Rainbow"
23 2562: "Flashback"
24 Martyn: "Vancouver"
25 Jan Driver: "Rat Alert"
26 Dorian Concept: "Trilingual Dance Sexperience"