In the competitive world of DJ-mix series, a record company practically needs a team of MBAs on staff to thrive. You have to create a memorable logo, conceive a clever series name, peddle a distinctive, overarching concept, apply a patina of coolness, cross-promote with a reputable club, and, ideally, present it all in eye-snagging packaging. Even after all that brainstorming, your DJ-mix series will never make a deep impression in the charts, but, at best, will find its way into enough hipster households to keep the operation running and somewhat profitable.
Some of the finer current series include Another Late Night (Azuli), Back to Mine (DMC/Ultra), DJ-Kicks (!K7), How to Kill the DJ (Tigersushi), Suck My Deck (React), and Exercise (Breakbeat Science). One of the most distinctive players in the mixology game is Fabric, a London company that's home to a bustling club and a tasteful label. Fabric divides its output into Fabric (DJ sets created in the studio) and Fabriclive (DJ sets, uh, recorded live in the club). Some early highlights include mixes by Swayzak (Fabric 11), Bugz in the Attic (Fabriclive.12), Michael Mayer (Fabric 13), Tyrant (Fabric 15), and Akufen (Fabric 17). The last named is my favorite of the series, displaying both keen mixing skills with difficult raw materials and an emphasis on some of techno's more bizarre specimens.
Housed in a sturdy tin container and graced with striking cover art, Fabric CDs stand out on record-store shelves like exotic boxes of candy. (You can have these sent to your home every month for a £6 subscription fee.) Fabric's stylistic range is expansive, offering trustworthy blends from DJs in the techno, house, drum 'n' bass, electro, hiphop, and broken-beat fields. The three-chambered club itself hosts an enviably catholic range of elite jocks, consistently booked with epicurean discernment.
As with any long-running compilation series, Fabric experiences peaks and valleys. It went through a barren stretch from volumes 18 to 20, with underwhelming editions from Baby Mammoth/Beige/Solid Doctor, Andrew Weatherall (a real shocker from this usually on-point selector), and John Digweed (slumming and bumming). The series picked up steam again with DJ Heather (Fabric 21). A popular mainstay in the Chicago house scene, Heather brings the soulful, funky house gems with the verve of the most talented of her Windy City brothers and sisters. Her entry in the series will make a true believer out of anyone sitting on the fence about classic house.
On Fabriclive.22, top British turntablists Scratch Perverts don't flaunt their wrist-flexing so much as they thread a popping string of hiphop tracks, with surprising deviations into drum 'n' bass (Ed Rush & Optical, etc.), techno (Alter Ego), grime (Die & Skitz), and Radiohead's "The National Anthem." (However, the Perverts' remix of an Ian Brown song is beyond redemption.) The trio rightly assume clubbers would rather dance than gawk at their deck tricks, and the result is a set to which you can rhythmically nod your head and bend your knees over multiple listens.
Adam Beyer represents techno's hard, gritty wing on Fabric 22. Here Beyer moves from his previous mode of heavy Swedish head-bangers to a subtler, more cerebral brand of minimal techno, at times veering toward Akufen-style quirkiness. Any DJ who works in Reinhard Voigt, Dominik Eulberg, 2 Dollar Egg, DJ Minx, Alex Under, and Joel Mull is golden in my book.
The near future looks bright for Fabric, too, with an outing by white-hot French DJ Ivan Smagghe slated for September 13 (Fabric 23). Renowned for his Death Disco and Suck My Deck mixes, Smagghe is also a member of underground hype magnets Black Strobe. On Fabric 23, he spins a spicy brew of leftfield techno and electro-house that hits my aural G-spots like a pro. Plus, he turned me on to some new artists on whom I'll be keeping close tabs, including Booka Shade, (T)ékël, Sergej Auto, Konrad Black, and the gloriously monikered Fabrizio Mammarella.
Meat Katie (AKA Mark Pember), who issued the punchy broken-beat seminar Fabriclive.21 in May, says, "There aren't many clubs in the world of this size where you can keep it underground, where you can just grind it, and the crowd can appreciate the DJs for what they do."
Smagghe concurs: "If you look at the size of the club and the program, who plays, it's... insane. It's really underground programming for a massive club. And people follow... [Fabric is] like a fucking slap in the face to all the big, commercial shit." Amen to that. DAVE SEGAL
For more info, visit www.fabriclondon.com. DJ Heather plays Sat July 9 at Trinity, 111 Yesler Way, 447-4140, 9 pm–3 am, 21+.
