For the last eight years, the club “Fabric” has been pumping out DJ compilations in two series entitled Fabric and FabricLive month after month. After 91 releases, you’d think that they would have run out of quality DJ’s – but A-Trak’s FabricLive.45 eschews the notion that electronic and club music is dead. In fact, FabricLive.45 is a highly enjoyable compilation that reaches all over the electronic genre to deliver a generally solid release.
Expect nothing less from the man who won an international DJ competition at age 15 and is the DJ currently backing up Yeezy – the songs on this release are solid all around. So, while Kanye (whom A-Trak DJ’d for last year) shifted his style by jumping onto the auto-tune bandwagon, A-Trak’s FabricLive.45 provides a slew of dance/electro tracks with far ranging influences that makes for an overall great listening experience.
FabricLive.45 starts off with the typical “Say Whoa/You Can’t Hide From Your Bud.” I want to let you know right now that a lot of the songs on this record are hit and miss – the best tracks, such as “Mothership Reconnection (Daft Punk Remix)” really get your blood pumping, while others will leave you standing around awkwardly wondering how to dance. That said, the variety of influences on FabricLive.45 are astounding. Some tracks contain Latino influences, such as “Sweet Mother”, and other ones include a trance-ish flair, such as “The Chance” and “Paris”. There are even traces of hip hop on “I’m the Ish” (Auto-tune! Say it aint so!). Needless to say, the transitions herein are seamless. It’s hard to place a finger on FabricLive.45’s overall sound – the compilation is far ranging mix, from hardcore (electronic), to techno, to trance. It’s a potpourri of the electronic music that’s been lightened up so as to be more accessible to the casual listener. However, FabricLive.45 is hardly a diluted electronic mix – it’s still a record that’s fit for any sort of nightclub.
Don’t expect anything revolutionary in this release – its main purpose is to be an album that you can just party out to. If you’re expecting something with deep and meaningful lyrics, it’s best you search in another genre. Track names like “The Book is on the Table” are a pretty good indication of how deep in meaning FabricLive.45 is. Then again, FabricLive.45 manages to distinguish itself from other not-so-deep artists by stringing together wide varying beats from the electronic genre into an enjoyable mix. Many of the artists in the compilation may not immediately jump out at the casual listener – the artists on FabricLive.45 encompass the whole of electronic music. However, that hardly makes FabricLive.45 any less of an album. Although the whole record is very listenable, it lacks A-Trak’s presence (he is only credited on the first 2 tracks), and you have to keep in mind that it’s a compilation, not an original release.
While having a large amount of influences is a good thing, it also proves to be somewhat of a double edged sword on FabricLive.45. The glitchy vibe on “Do Dat” feels out of place and will leave a slightly bitter taste in your mouth. “Sweet Mother” is also another song that feels out of place. Unless you have an extremely broad taste in music, there’s bound to be one point another that puts you off. Points like “Oh! (A-Trak Remix)” may come off as too strong, while other points, like “Heartbreaker (Diskjokke Remix)” come off as lacking in intensity. However, FabricLive.45 also has extremely addictive points which will definitely draw you in for the entire length of the album.
Personally, I’ve always found that the Fabric and FabricLive mixes tend to hit and miss. I always revisit Spank Rock’s FabricLive.33, yet somehow I always avoid High Contrast’s FabricLive.25. A-Trak’s FabricLive.45 has its good points and bad points like all albums. FabricLive.45’s influences are so broad that only two labels that this album manages to avoid are “generic” and “predictable”. If one thing can be said for this banger of a mix, its wide varying influences will definitely have something to offer for every listener.
Track List
01. A-Trak – Say Whoa
02. Boys Noize – Oh! (A-Trak Remix)
03. Scott Grooves – Mothership Reconnection (Daft Punk rmx)
04. Voodoo Chilli – Get On Down
05. Skepta – Sweet Mother (House Version)
06. DJ Class – I’m The Ish
07. Metronomy – Heartbreaker (Diskjokke Remix)
08. His Majesty Andre – Peep Thong
09. Zombie Nation – Forza (Original)
10. Alex Gopher – Aurora
11. Dance Area – AA 24-7
12. Robbie Rivera – MoveMove (DJ Observer&Daniel Heathcliff Remix)
13. Daniele Papini – Church of Nonsense
14. Laidback Luke & A-Trak – Shake It Down
15. Nacho Lovers – Acid Life (Nachos 909 Dub)
16. Rob Threezy – The Chase
17. Friendly Fires – Paris (Aeroplane Remix)
18. Fan Death – Veronica’s Veil (Erol Alkan’s Extended Re-edit)
19. Simon Baker – Plastik (Todd Terje’s Turkatech Remix)
20. The Martian – Tobacco Ties
21. DJ Gant-Man – Juke Dat Girl From The Back
22. DJ MP4 – The Book Is On The Table
23. Jamie Anderson & Content – Body Jackin’
24. Raffertie – Do Dat
25. DJ Zinc – 138 Trek
