Fabric -- Reviewed
So I got into the club around midnight (yep, nice and early) where, as expected, Craig Richards was warming things up in typical fasion. There must’ve only been a handful of people on the dance floor and it was great to hear Craig dropping 110bpm dub - just like his old sets he used to play on Groovetech Radio years ago, He’d play King Tubby and the likes. Not sure if that radio station even exists anymore but back then he would play a set every month or so and you could stream it (in between buffering) on Real Player. Craig used to just play old obscure records which was an eye opener at the time as I only knew him from Tyrant fame back then. So yeah, blast from the past and a nice introduction to the night.
At 1.30am on the button Moritz von Oswald Trio made their way on stage and sat down behind their gear. Sasu Ripatti looking like the odd one out, Moritz Von Oswald and Max Loderbauer looking more like the typical head teacher from your school! The first 10 minutes of their set was comprised of building the atmosphere, layering multiple soundscapes on top of one another with Ripatti (aka Luomo, Vladislav Delay) seated behind his drum kit, playing with different tools and instruments at his disposal. The whole performance sounded totally improvised. Ripatti on percussion was simply mindblowing while the other two worked the synths with Oswald also delivering his typical Basic Channel style bass lines. As the performance progressed the rhythms got more and more complex and the obscure nature of the sounds scared plenty from the dancefloor! In fact, it was the emptiest I’d seen Room One at that time of night before – Perfect, more room for the rest of us to dance. Standing in the middle of the floor and experiencing the variety of sounds come at you from all angles was just superb. The bass lines got longer and heavier as the set progressed and Ripatti, on percussion was in a world of his own. You had to watch him in action to recognise the subtle sounds he was making which were making all the difference in creating such a dense atmosphere of sound. I recognised lots of material from their recent Vertical Ascent 2 x 12” but rather than the full tracks performed live it seemed to be elements of each layered on top of one another. Again this just added to the unpredictability and reinforced the fact that most of it was improvised. The performance was totally intense and engaging throughout. Three musicians that You can have nothing but ultimate respect for.
Back to Room Three then where Mike Huckaby was ripping it up. Playing much faster than what I’ve usually heard from him in mixes etc. but still great. He played a lot of old school sounding Detroit techno, synth laden house and dub techno which sounded really sweet on the Room Three soundsystem. The Villalobos mix of Shackleton – Blood on your hands especailly sounded awsome. A small room but a really nice atmosphere and clued in crowd. Kenneth Christiansen, label owner of Echocord was also spinning the decks earlier and joined Mike again at the end. I was fortunate enough to get speaking to both of the guys who were real gentleman with an obvious passion for what they do. Kenneth was even nice enough to give me a promo copy of the forthcoming Quantec album on Echocord. Result! Unfortunately though I can’t remember any more tracks either of them played, I guess I was enjoying myself to much to remember!
What I loved about last weekend was that it was the first time I had gone to Fabric on a not so busy night. It was called ‘The Nothing Special’ afterall even though the line-up was indeed, in my eyes, a very special one. Fortunately with the absence of the ‘A lister’ that brings the ridiculous numbers through the door there was room to move between all three rooms all night, get a drink at the bar and generally engage with a more friendly, easy going crowd.
Before heading back to Room One where I would eventually settle from 6.30 – 8am to hear Craig Richards I hung about for a while to check Steve Rachmad out in Room Two. I didn’t have any expectations and as usual this served me well. Rachmad was excellent. I was very impressed. He was playing really tough peak time techno, His mixing was flawless and and the general programming of his set was great. He reminded Me of how Richie Hawtin used to sound or Marco Carola before they started playing white noise Italian taka-taka-tekno. I spent around 45 minutes in there. Brendon Moeller live in Room One didn’t really get my attention even though he was sounding well. The giant of a man standing behind his laptop on stage just didn’t have much of an appeal especially after witnessing the MVO trio earlier – A proper live performance by three piece 'band'. The live laptop performance doesn’t interest me as a spectacle any longer. It’s boring to watch and restricted in sound especially when the live play back more often than not just sounds like the original track in its entirety. Of course there are exceptions to the rule but I only ever enjoy a live pa when there's some hardware involved.
So, back to Room One and Craig Richards, who as usual was on top form. He takes pleasure in what He plays at that time in the morning knowing what frame of mind (no mind?) the crowd is in. His quality of track selection never dissapoints. Quirky and sinister all at the same time. I never recognised anything he played specifically, just the way I like it. A lot of it sounded like old vinyl. Sneaky B sides that only the avid record collector can discover and utilise at the right times. Funky, twisted grooves right through until 8am until the music stopped and it was time to grab my coat and head for the exit. Once again a top night in Fabric. MVO Trio blew my mind and Craig Richards as always kept me dancing and guessing what He’d play next. My only dissapointment was missing both Fluxion and Fenin perform in Room Three but shit happens, You can never be in two places at once… as I discovered once again back at the after party realising I soon had to make my way to the airport to catch my flight "Aaggghhh… But that’s a story for another time.
DA