Caspa & Rusko – Fabriclive.37

December 2007 • Fabric

As dismissive of dubstep as a lot of people are (especially the more annoying "brostep" stuff), I've been trying to keep an open mind with the genre. There's bound to be some decent brostep somewhere, right? I've already heard a Rusko album which wasn't bad, and Fabric is known for putting out some pretty high-quality mixes regardless of style; this particular one isn't too bad itself, though it sometimes has its head up its ass.

The beginning and end of the mix, in particular, is where most of the juicy good bits are. It's some pretty abnormal stuff for dubstep with house-like beats and some really neat sampling, such as the East Asian style in "Cockney Violin" or the reggae style of "Round the Way Girls". The mix closes out in a similar fashion with some almost ambient tracks (at least, compared to the ones before them) that are less experimental but still pretty pleasant.

The problem, of course, lies in the middle of the mix, and unfortunately the majority. There are quite a few obnoxious tracks that don't do anything for me at all, like "Terminator" or "V" or "The Drop" (one of the most annoying beats I've ever heard in my life), that are basically a simple drum beat and very grating "wub-wub" distorted bass. Caspa's material, especially, is dull; Rusko and the guest producers generally mix it up a little more but everyone gets their fair share of wubbing.

I guess since this mix is what basically started the whole brostep thing, it's understandable that is sounds very simple and primitive, but that doesn't really excuse it for being somewhat dull and sometimes hard to listen to. It would have been nice to hear them stick to the more light and sample-based stuff; I can only take the wubs for so long before my head starts to hurt. Technically, it's not bad, though, and if you can stomach some dirty bass then this is worth a listen. Otherwise, stick to tracks 1–5 and 26–29 only.

5

Michael Mayer – Fabric 13

November 3, 2003 • Fabric

I have a confession to make. It may not seem like it on the surface, but I really don't listen to all that much electronic music. Sure, I dabble in breakcore and drum and bass a bit, but recently I discovered how much I was missing out on and decided to jump into electronic dance music, starting with house. And I'm kicking myself for not doing so sooner; one of the very first releases I found, Michael Mayer's Fabric 13 DJ mix, blew my mind completely.

Now, I've heard house before, so I didn't come into this blind. I can tell this is some comparatively good stuff here, or at the very least it plays to my tastes well. In contrast to certain cheesy poppy French house groups I've experienced (you know the one I mean) I really dig the stripped-down, all-business approach taken here. The vocals are subdued and click with the music really well. The beats themselves are all fantastic. It's difficult to comment on them as a whole since the styles vary considerably, but there are more than a few highlights: the fidgety bass and somber strings on "Bring Me Closer", the glitchy industrial drums of "Killerteppich", the incredible dancy fun-ness of "Run into Flowers"... I could go on.

Mayer does a great job mixing the tracks together; with maybe one or two exceptions every track here is pretty great. (I'm not a huge fan of "Easy Lee" and "Love Me", partly due to the annoying vocals in each, and some of the more minimal tracks can get a bit dull.) Like many albums it does fall prey to having a bit of filler in the middle, but maybe it's more of a case of the opening and closing tracks overshadowing the rest of the mix. Still, it's overall a great collection and it really does get better with every listen. Somehow, very upbeat and very dark tracks both get thrown in together and yet it still sounds really cohesive.

Anyway, I've talked out of my ass enough and I'm sure any house veteran is probably snorting indignantly at this review, but hey, at least I'm trying.

8