No more Fabric mixes ‘in the current format’ (see link below) which people seem to agree means they’re going digital.
This is very sad. I’m a subscriber and a sort-of collector (I have about 120 in total), though it is of course exciting news to have Sasha doing number 99. The ‘Fabric’ side concentrated more on House and Techno, whereas FabricLive was more Drum & Bass, Hip Hop, Dubstep etc. Both lines produced more brilliant mixes than I care to list, and certainly the ‘FabricLive’ stream was *the* best purveyor of D&B mixes. I’m using the past tense because it just won’t be the same as a stream. No more distinctive tins for a start, and no doubt they’ll be twice as long and less concise and thoughtfully worked out as a result. Hashtag sadface.
Meanwhile, it seems to be end-of-days for the mix CD. Global Underground appear to have given up the ghost, likewise Renaissance and At The Controls. Thankfully Balance are keeping the faith with recent mixes from James Zabiela and Max Cooper among the best they’ve ever put out. Can’t recommend those two enough if you’re into your electronica.
Onwards!
–>
My top Fabric mixes
Surgeon
Slam
Sandwell District
Scratch Perverts
and some people who don’t begin with S….
Ricardo Villalobos
Ben UFO
Omar S
Ellen Allien
Cool beans. I did start to list mine but there were so many it got silly. Surgeon, Sandwell, Villalobos and Ellen Allien definitely up there for me.
The thing is, the quality has always been high. Like, just lately there have been one or two generic tech-house mixes for Fabric, but the FabricLive series has been really strong. Do check out the Midland mix. It’s a cracker. And the new Dimension mix is a brilliant whistlestop tour through current D&B. It also features this, which I lurve.
Yeah another vote for Surgeon, and that Villalobos one was mint…need to dig those out of their tin boxes. Must be tough to make much profit on DJ mixes with everyone going playlist crazy. DJ Kicks are still going..the recent Lone mix was sublime stuff.
Ha, all those S’s and I still forgot the Shackleton mix, which is fantastic.
Wait until Lodey wakes up, I’m sure he’ll want to be across this 😉
Another subscriber here, sad to see the format end. There have been some great editions in recent years… Daphni, Soul Clap, Midland, Call Super, Mathew Jonson spring to mind.
Also a fan of the Balance series. Zabiela is superb…not heard the Max Cooper yet but I think you’ve just persuaded me to cough up.
Hope you like it.
Meantime I have to agree on some of those latterday Fabric choices. Soul Clap aren’t my thing but I loved the Call Super and Midland mixes.
Dr Volume above reminded me of the DJ Kicks series, which is also going strong. I haven’t heard Lone yet but the Michael Mayer one is just as addictive as his Immer mixes. Meanwhile, I hanker after At The Controls. The James Holden and Agoria mixes were phenomenal.
Which reminds me: why oh why has James Holden never done a Fabric?!!?
As someone who has a minor addiction for mix CDs (currently working my way through the Anjunadeep series, consistently high quality annual series of deep house mixed by Jody of Way out West, Above and Beyond etc) this is bad news. Not helped by the fact that Spotify has completely failed to get to grips with licensing mixes: GU, Fabric etc all barely represented. So ‘digital’ presumably means the rapidly diminishing arena of mp3s. Doesn’t bode well at all @leicester-bangs and others – good to hear from @intoxicatedman for the first time I’m aware of. Leicester sorted the Sainz balance mix for me recently and it’s quite quite superb