In order to celebrate the release of the 100th chapter of our CD mix series next month, Kultureflash’s music editor, James Lawrence goes back over the last eight and a bit years of monthly releases to pick his top three mixes and the seven runners up.
Third Place: FABRICLIVE 40: Noisia (2008)
When tasked with picking my top three fabric mixes I knew immediately which releases were going to be taking the two top spots and in which order. The third place was not so straightforward. This is not to say, I faced a challenge of painstakingly deciding between a shortlist of fifteen possibilities. As much as I enjoy what is effectively Omar S’ greatest hits, the last podium spot was only ever going to either John Tejada’s excursion into knotted techno or Noisia’s battery ram of future tech D&B.
Having spent the best part of the last week trying to decide whether the overall sonic assault of Noisia’s FABRICLIVE was superior to the trance rinse-down at the end of Fabric 44 or not. Fairly or unfairly, I came to the conclusion that JT’s effort was too similar to the mixes occupying the top spots and picking a third techno mix wasn’t doing justice to fabric’s extensive catalogue. Meaning the Dutch trio take the bronze with what is easily the most aggressive and menacing chapter of the series to date.
Second Place: fabric 08: Radioactive Man (2003)
After his truly seminal, self-titled debut album (where was this in all the recent decade countdowns?), Keith Tenniswood returned to the fold for Fabric’s fifteenth instalment. Cutting faster than a Columbian barber and showing less restrain than an Angolan arms dealer, fabric 08 is a shining example of how to ride nosebleed breaks.
Whereas Noisia’s relentless chapter arguably substitutes the dancefloor in favour of audio brutality, Weatherall’s right-hand man keeps the machine funk integral throughout. After a number of highlights including the wrecking ball tear of Depth Charge’s ‘Honour’ and the tribal chug of Jammin’s 'As We Do’, fabric 08 aptly crashes to a grizzly end with Disco D’s nu-glam classic ‘Fuck Me On The Dancefloor’. All in all, a great reminder of Tenniswood’s legendary Haywire sessions at the club.
First Place: fabric 13: Michael Mayer (2003)
With what I would happily argue is one of the best techno spins of all time, Kompakt’s head honcho wraps this countdown up with relative ease.
Firmly in contention with Playgroup’s DJ Kick’s and Hawtin’s DE9 edit for the best mix of the last decade, fabric 13 isn’t just my pick simply because it boasts a selection of some of the most emotive tracks in the electronic remit. It’s because of the way Mayer manages to expertly craft a doe-eyed warmness around a number of tracks (many from Kompakt’s extended crew) that alone sound stark and disjointed.
Laced with enough melancholic seduction to send Eno weak at the knees, Mayer seamlessly joins the dots from Italo-piano to early-noughties tech-house before climaxing with Jackson’s Midnight Fuck remix of M83’ Run Into Flowers’. Mayer is often praised for his Immer mix from 2002, but for me, fabric 13 is still his finest moment.
So there we are. Two parts comprised of beats tough enough to make your neighbours think twice about complaining and one part euphoric beauty. Surely a winning formula for any CD mix series...?
Runners Up:
4th: John Tejada Fabric 44
5th: Omar-S Fabric 45
6th: Spank Rock FabricLive 33
7th: Marcus Intalex FabricLive 35
8th: Tyrant Fabric 15
9th: Martyn Fabric 50
10th: Ricardo Villalobos Fabric 36
If you totally agree or feel I’ve grossly overlooked your favourite fabric instalment then please feel free to make your feelings known in the comment box below.
