Fabriclive 50: Autonomic [Fabric]

It's been a fine old start for 2010 for the people at Fabric. Not simply content with hitting the big five-oh in style with mix CDs from Martyn - and now Instra:mental & dBridge - they've also put out a serious early contender for unmixed compilation of the year in Elevator Music. A decent way to spoil aficionados of UK-centric bass music's ongoing evolution then.

Instra:mental & dBridge's Fabriclive 50 mix is worthy of the position it's been given in the series' history. Less a dancefloor oriented artefact than a document of the d'n'b innovations that the Autonomic crowd have been pushing over the last couple of years, it's a reminder that there are still producers of interest working in a medium that seems increasingly hackneyed. Stripping drum 'n' bass back to its bare bones, and subtracting that horrible 'emphasis on dance energy at the expense of pretty much everything else' tendency, it strikes a well-pitched balance between sit-down listenable and jump-around-your-bedroom fun (in the last twenty minutes or so, at least).

I reviewed the record in full for DiS - it's up here.

"The moment Autonomic drifts hazily from the speakers, the first thing you become aware of is just how immaculately programmed it is. Such is the careful dedication with which this mix has been put together that it’s nigh on impossible to pick apart consecutive tracks. In fact at times it’s almost possible to detect the ghostly remnants of a tune that went by three or four tracks hence – the melancholy strains of Loxy & Genotype’s ‘Farah’s Theme’ weaving into the backdrop of D-Bridge’s stunning remix of Scuba’s ‘Tense’, or the tightly interlocked trio of Instra:mental tracks that form an early highlight. Its impressive 31 track length doesn’t allow much time for any individual to take centre stage: Autonomic flows like a night out, a series of short, interconnected but often ambiguous vignettes that together constitute a formidable whole."

http://www.myspace.com/instramentaluk
http://www.myspace.com/exitrecords

Apple Pips, Fabric, 19th February

Appleblim's Apple Pips label has some seriously good stuff coming out in the near future, a lot of it from local Bristol producers - established ones like Komonazmuk, as well as upcomers Al Tourettes, Arkist and Orphan 101. He's just recorded a staggering mix for Fabric, his first longform one for quite a while, as a promo for the upcoming Apple Pips takeover of Room Three on 19th February. It's going to be a massive one, featuring sets from Greena, Al Tourettes, Wedge and Gatekeeper, as well as the boss man himself.

Mix and interview up at Fabric's blog here.

The tracklist looks something like thiiis:

Data - The Fall of Phaeton (dub)
False Prophet - Wake Up [Spatial remix] (TAKE Records)
Gatekeeper - Atmosphere Processor (dub)
Arkist - Switch (dub)
Scuba - You Got Me (Hotflush)
Wedge - Worry Dolls (If Symptoms Persist)
Headhunter & Gatekeeper - Jellyfish (Transistor)
Addison Groove - Footcrab (Swamp 81)
Al Tourettes - She Shimmers (Apple Pips)
Joe - Untitled #2 (Apple Pips)
Greena - Actual Pain (Apple Pips)
Hard House Banton & Roska - Warning (dub)
Atki2 & Dub Boy - Tigerflower (Idle Hands)
Midland & Ramadanman - Your Words Matter (Aus)

That Midland & Ramadanman tune is something else entirely.

Elevator Music [Fabric]

Last Friday saw Fabric's launch party for their rather excellent new Elevator Music Volume One compilation, which does an impressive job of gathering together a host of unreleased tracks from new and established producers working in that grey area between dubstep, house, techno and garage. It speaks volumes that even the divisions between certain 'strains' of dubstep are beginning to crumble, leaving a bizarre and hugely exciting mutant field completely resistant to easy categorisation.

The music on Friday was ample evidence of that, from the distinctly garagey flavour to the end of Sigha's frosty techno set to Jackmaster's genre-defying end of night show, which managed to weave seamlessly between a host of different styles without losing an ounce of its addictive groove. In between, Joy Orbison played to an unsurprisingly packed room at the unseasonal time of 11:30, Mosca, Hot City, Shortstuff and Untold laid waste to the third room, and I once again managed to miss 2562. Either way, it was an appropriate way to open a year sure to be an exciting and innovative one for bass music.

I reviewed Elevator Music for Drowned In Sound here:
"Elevator Music’s real success is that it vindicates the notion that the music emerging from this axis is more than just dancefloor fodder. Innovation is driven by group interactions and friendly one-upmanship, rather than by any one producer. Anyone’s only as good as their last release - a forceful creative motivation, and one which makes each track on here as rewarding in this context as in a longer mix. It’s probably a bit early to be throwing around ‘compilation of the year’ accolades in January, but Elevator Music Volume 1 has thrown down one hell of a gauntlet. It’ll take some beating."