Levon Vincent's Fabric 63 work-out

Earlier up inside the year I was asked to review the Levon Vincent Fabric session for those blighters at Hyponik. Deepish house ain't totally my bag so, being (and still am computerless), the review took some time to churn out. And then the words never did see the light of day - so here they are in their entirety. Lucky youse innit...

Levon Vincent - Fabric 63 mix
 
House, house and even more fucking house - the words originally made up the tagline of revered dance music magazine Faith. But this lairy marketing speak is also an apt way of describing the electronic pedigree of esteemed DJ and producer Levon Vincent. House music? He’s steeped in the stuff…

For those unaware (or who missed his recent mesmerising set in the Boiler Room) Vincent is a New York-now Berlin-based house head. More importantly, he’s a man with a thorough schooling in the digital bricks and mortar which make up 4x4 tech movements. Since the mid-eighties, he’s been burrowing through the digital underground crafting music, working in record shops (NYC’s much-loved Halcyon) and releasing great records (‘Late Night Jam’ and ‘Games Dub’ to name but two). This latest Fabric session is Vincent sticking his head into the relative commercial sunshine following years of dedicated subterranean toiling.

So how does the man tackle his first commercial mix? Rather than the Shackleton or Omar S approach of ram-jamming the tracklist with his own work, Vincent opts for more sporadic, personal inclusions - but the seven rhythms borne from his fingers are among the most satisfying moments in the set. The rest of the music comes mainly from his New Yorkan contemporaries - Joey Anderson, DJ Jus-Ed and DJ QU all feature.

Vincent’s focus here is locked on ‘groove’ rather than creating extreme dancefloor explosions - and many of the tunes on this vinyl-only set are allowed the rare luxury of stretching to their fullest. Joey Anderon’s ‘Earth Calling’ begins the affair with a disjointed, glowering piano before the pistons and hi-hats of DJ Jus-Ed’s Blaze kick in and the ebb and flow of the 75-minutes begins - it’s much like an electronic tide flirting with a sea shore, which on first listen can be a disorientating experience. But there are some serious moments - Vincent’s Polar Bear brings some real bite to the previous ethereal electronic flutters. Anthony Parasole’s Tyson ducks and dives as nimbly as the boxer of the same name before he resorted to nibbling on ears.

But it’s Vincent himself who serves up one of freshest slabs of aural magic - Rainstorm II is a crisp bit of cosmic machine funk which sees the mix depart its rhythmical moorings and enter a whole new galaxy. The production’s mechanical slap bass is relentless amid the electronic swirl - and it’s one of the finest, rushiest moments on here.

With recent Fabric-endorsements including Vision Quest, DJ Sneak and Digital Soundboy, Vincent’s set is a more than worthy addition to their ongoing mission to act as a platform for underground talent. His mix isn’t showy - instead relying on drawn-out grooves rather than bombast to bring the wobble. However, once it sucks you in, it sticks to your inner ear like a limpet. This memorable session is really difficult to let go… 

Monolake gets his geek on...

I had the pleasure of meeting Robert Henke, aka Monolake, down at Fabric at the tail end of February. Monolake is the artist name for this German dude's numerous sonic excursions into the realms of techno and beyond and, while you can lose your marbles to his music, there's obviously a shitload of thinking behind it - interacting with him felt like talking to a particularly chatty yet massive brain.

Despite the intellectual inadequacies on my part, it was a real pleasure to spend an hour in his company - this dude is a gangly self-confessed geek who can talk the proverbial hindlegs offa donkey. And was willing to forgive my rambling on... You can read what we talked about via the link below... And check out photos from Hyponik photographer Jimmy Mould here... Another sweet dudeeeee...

Monolake - Chance elements - Hyponik interview

Pinch - FabricLive61

Bristol bass dude Pinch has been a big man in the profession of speaker shaking for time. And his latest mix for Fabric is suitably large on road. It does a pretty fine job of joining the dots between dub, grime, jungle and soundsystem biznarse.

I trotted out some words for Hyponik here - Pinch Fabriclive 61 Review - and this Addison Groove banger is one of the biggest on there. Watch out...

I love Jackmaster and I'm not afraid to admit it

The latest Fabriclive mix is owned by Scottish DJ dude Jackmaster. He's one of the main players in the Numbers crew and one of the best DJs we've seen over the past year. He's disgustingly young but seems to be able to deeply tailor his sets to any kind of party - whether it be booty bass, grime or disco. His latest Fabric mix has been on repeat in our kitchen and my headphones for the past month and a half and there's still no sign of it losing its edge. It's energetic, exciting DJing which doesn't veer into the kingdom of the sausage fest, despite having a tracklisting which should make any IDM head weak at the knees.

You can read my review for Resident Advisor and the interview I did with him for Stool Pigeon underneath below...

Jackmaster Fabric mix Resident Advisor review

Jackmaster interview with the Stool Pigeon

This Anthony Shakir tune is one of the more exquisite delights from the mix - but everyone of the 29 tunes on there is a freaking minter. Brace...

Time to get funky at Numbers

The summer of 2010 has been massive thus far. July has been totally off the chain and it's slowly turning this year into perhaps one of the best ones ever. Ever, ever, ever, ever? Ever.

Start of the month saw us down at Fabric for the Numbers party. Numbers is a mad collection of Glaswegian piss heads, music lovers and DJs. From their sweaty bosom they've spawned the likes of Warp golden boys Hudson Mohawke and Rustie. They've also kept the flame for independent dance burning brightly with a shedload of big raves and parties north of the border.
So on one of the hottest Friday's on record, we got domestically messed up to the eyeballs before heading off into the night. The line up was almost hot as my underarms. Hardhouse Banton and Karizma, Roska were all big players on the bill. They played a right selection of mad tunes.



I can't work out whether Pon de Folay is the worst or the best thing I've ever heard.



The crowd itself was gnarly as you like. My companion described the rave as "200 men and 20 slags", which although arguably could be construed as slightly sexist, was bang on the money. Tottering legs, attitude and nerds in trucker caps abounded. It kinda felt like we were at a branch of Oceania somewhere in the midst of the Black Country.

Midly disappointing were the Numbers DJs themselves. Jackmaster's Sonar set from earlier in the year (which can be streamed over here) is impossibly good, taking in everything from Model 500 to Chaka Khan and Womack and Womack. Yet him back-to-back with Spencer seemed to lack something. Although this French Fries rhythm is a loud and honky beast.



Maybe we were too fucked. Maybe we weren't fucked enough. Anyhoo it resulted in us leaving about half 4 to roam back home across London with our trousers rolled up like a pair of nutters drinking 'beaters and shouting shit. A rare sight for the eyes. Watch out ladies.

The evening culminated in an intense rant ('the thing is, right, Fabric is like on our doorstep yeah. And when we go. It's a bit like being abroad. I'd come from abroad to. Go here. I think. Like. That's the thing. It's like. You don't hear this. Do you. Like anywhere else. Which is why it's amazing. Isn't it? Well isn't it. Yes.'), a wander round the local estate armed with small speakers and beers, then horizontally twitching on the front room floor until it was too hot to do anything other than get up. Restful? No. Funny? Very.

Modeselektor vs Fabric vs Wetherspoons

Thursday October 22nd - BNP buffoon Nick Griffin’s leery mug is scratching itself across Tvs nationwide and Fabric is open for business - vive le super club and its own special protest. The world may have gone mad for the BNP hype but we’d removed ourselves from the political equation by opting for snacking on a ‘large one‘. Says muchos lotos about our take on the ‘media furore' don't it.

Being a school night and all, we didn’t want to get too bashy… but by the time we’d convened at Wetherspoons in Farringdon it was almost too late. Some frenzied chicken jerking in E8, a Heineken, boogaloo and bus ride and suddenly all bets were most definitely out of the window - or at least in the pint pot and being downed at a rapid rate. The first round in ‘spoons cost £16, which anyone with even a passing interest in their reasonable rates will realise is fairly horrifying.

After watching Griffin’s ‘sweating sex offender’ vibes on the box in ‘spoons with the subtitles on, we rumbled off to Fabrish with the collective bi(f)t(a) between our teeth, working a lairy flex through Farringdon - Boo yacka boo yacka - Amped up to the gills on night juice, we were readier than perhaps a quartet of large time loving twats with work the next day have ever been.

Landing at the club and the anticipated hoardes were not in evidence - London crew the Patchwork Pirates were on playing minimal dubstep to a half empty room and the Stella was expensive. It must cost a lot to pay for the silver trays they insist on serving your change on in there. I’m not after table service - I just want to stick the foamy liquid in my mouth and down my front. Whatevs, by the time the lights went up for Modeselektor, we’d endowed enough of said foamy shit to see a vibe all unwholesome and glistening… and the people had come. Hold tight...

The pair were bang into it - Gernot Bronsert was all Morph from Tony Hart’s show - gurning, limbs waggling while Sebastian Szary partner crime was more restrained - not in a pencils, easel, glint of a beast in the eye sort of way - but almost military in stance and gait despite the hardness they were dropping - Outside when we collared them it made even more sense - He was wearing a fucking beret and vibing hard.

They rinsed through some of the best bits of both albums - Hello Mom and Happy Birthday - two throwaway titles that don’t really bely the brains and bangingness which lie within. Modeselektor’s flex is all low end electronica, sub crunk woofers united by techno. Let Your Love Grow with Paul St. Hillaire words gliding atop was glitched ragga thump with a heart while The Black Block, Hyper Hyper, Hasir and Kill Bill Volume 4 brought the rave rain down on us all.

By the time the pair popped two magnums of fizz all over the crowd in some sort of orgasmic, weird celebration of all things big and hard, we were down the front, roaming on a mosh pit style flex.

Bristol’s big man - Joker finished us off by playing a groovy selection of all tings techno and dubstep. Rinsed on the crystal funktion one system in Fabric’s main room was something to behold and the perfect foil to the German duo. My mind was proper blown by his business - Like the man with the milktray - Sleek, elegant yet you wouldn’t mess with him cos he’d have you up against the wall with one hand round yer throat and the other playing with your balls…

The aftermath was long - But more than worth it. Hello Mom. Not until the day after the day after fingers crossed...



Outside on the streets - they call it papping nerdstyle



Furtive email checking



Lift off



On it Thursday stylings

Incidentally when they played Kill Bill VI, it looked a little like this...

Omar S disses on Ricardo Villalobos

The latest Fabric installment is from a slightly unknown entity, the vaguely mysterious Omar S. No, me neither but according to reports, Mr S has been swaggering round Detroit for a number of years making real men’s techno and shooting his mouth off. He sounds like a top bloke and genuinely mental.

Check out the Resident Advisor interview with the man in preparation for the release. Omar has ‘done a Villalobos’ as it’s now known by filling his Fabrish mix with his own productions. Whether this move is an act of great narcissism, bravado or a bold statement of intent he was obviously unaware that it had been done previously. And he’s not happy.

RA: How has the mix been received?

Omar S: “You read the shit people are saying already about the Fabric Mix? A few assholes are talking about "Oh, Omar-S. He did the same thing as Ricardo Vi-vi--...." whatever the fuck he's called. I don't even know who Ricardo Willalobo is. I ain't start hearing his name till like a year ago. Who the fuck is that? So how would I know what he did for Fabric? I don't even know how to say his last name, why would I bite off of him?”

Check the full interview here. It is worth it.