Four Tet-Fabriclive 59

This mix has been everywhere for the last couple of weeks. Wasn't going to post about it, but whilst at a friends the other night it started a party all by itself as its that's high in quality and thought why the hell not. The concept, arrangement and ethos behind Kieran Hebden's mix was I thought a excellent forward thinking idea making it stand out from the plethora of unimaginative by the numbers mixes that flood the internet nowadays. He wanted it to be representative of his experiences of going to and djing in Fabric. I sort of got that vibe when I first heard 'Saturday Night, Sunday Morning' by the Unabombers years ago documenting the experience of former Manchester institution 'Electric Chair'. You really got a sense of what the club night was all about, the vibe, atmosphere, and what the night (admittedly it was theirs) meant to them.

This mix is littered with tracks you reflect on with a smile or really really want to investigate further. I remember listening to Four Tet's fabric podcast a couple of years back and he featured 'First Born' by Crazy Bald Heads then. I remember going on to a mate about it at the time (a self confessed garage/2 step nut), and it's was difficult to fnd anything about it (had about 25 views on youtube). Thought it was destined to be forgotten about but I was wrong. Here it makes two apperances, once in it's original form and also a Four Tet remix.



Other standouts include KMA' s classic mid 1990s garage monster 'Cape Fear', recent deep house and techno from STL and WK7, and Burial's more dancefloor driven 'Street Halo'.



This mix was always going to include original music from Four Tet and 'Pyramid' slips in comfortably to the classic, rare and vintage tones of the mix. Pyramid and the more downbeat closer 'Locked' came out on vinyl last month on his own Text imprint but blink and you would have missed em. Fortunately my girlfriend was on the money and got a order in early with Piccadilly so I sort of have access to a copy.



With Wolf and Lamb, Dixon, Motor City Drum Ensemble and now Four Tet, we have been spoilt with some excellent mix CD's this year. The format ain't dead yet!

Four Tet-Fabriclive 59 (buy)