Sandwell District – Fabric 69

If anything, I would not quite say this mix is devoid of substance. Are (were) Sandwell District hyped to the bone marrow? Yes, both the label and the artist project. However, bare in mind that these are pioneers we are talking about, and that David Sumner and Karl O'Connor are both techno goliaths with enough credibility to cover two city blocks.
The bar was set high, indeed, and nothing else was to be expected. Did they deliver. Yes, in my opinion, although maybe not in the manner fans had hoped for. This mix is not a reflection of their live show - not even close. Upon initial listens, even I was nearing disappointment. Where's the punch I thought? Where's the tongue in cheek blend of both new and old? Having witnessed them live twice well over a year before this was releasaed, I how they interspersed their gigs and their modern take on techno with beloved classics such as Guiltless, Plastikman's remix of Alphawave, Three O' Three, How's Your Evening So Far?, etc. etc. etc... None of that here.

What you do have instead, by Function's own ission, is an "encapsulation of an era being put to rest". Unlike plenty other techno Fabric mixes, this one has no exclusives, no unreleased DAT archives, no for-live-gigs-only edits and recuts, this one collects the finest of 2012 and blends it into a seamless mix. One could argue, that if this is the best of 2012, then why are there no Phase and Shed tracks. The answer is simple: they just don't fit into what Sandwell District are trying to do here. For those artists, you had to catch Karl & Dave live throughout 2012, 'cause trust me, they were pounding those tracks out every chance they got.

This mix has some exquisite moments, such as Rrose's Wedge, as I could have never pictured that slowly crawling monster as an effective dance tracks, but it's achieved here. The Factory Floor track is a big eye opener, I was not aware of this act before getting this mix, and 16-2-16-9-20-1-14-9-7 is some bizarre next level stuff I tell you. The transition from the more Blackest Ever Black Regis land that prevails the first fifteen minutes of the mix into more familiar 4x4 realms is also done with surgical precision. The flow is impeccable although the music completely changes pace and aesthetic. By the time you reach Markus Suckut's thrumming Hunt, the tempo has picked up substantially and you're nearing the compilation's toughest, most muscular section. The melodic bliss of Motion The Dance works wonders squeezed between the brooding menace of Kerridge and Surgeon. Superb!

The ending isn't quite as tight as the remainder of the mix, and in my opinion is arguably the weakest point here. After such a dense, tweaked and multilayered voyage, they just play out Function's Voiceprint (Reprise) and bring things to an end... It could have been a tad more elaborate, but this is a minor obstacle, as it does nothing to deteriorate the otherwise perfect flow of the mix, although they could have done it in a slightly more challenging way. Great track though, pure morning vibes.

Those who follow techno beyond the beatport top ten charts were dissatisfied at first, by looking at the tracklist because of the mere fact they were acquainted with a fair 90% of the material presented here. I reckon they were missing the point. The point here is not the tracklist, or the artist roster. It's the overall outcome. The music. On Fabric 69, it speaks many languages, all of them fluently, to those willing to listen. Those of you wanting to buy this expecting to hear either a Regis, Sandwell District or Function DJ set or live act, you might want to reconsider. You know what these lads are about live. The rawness, the energy, you have witnessed and heard it all before.

What you have not done though, is hear them deliver a mix as cleverly and meticulously pieced together as this one. Despite the fact all of the material compiled dates from a twelve month period, with the exception of Hawtin's hypnotically perennial Plasticine and Garnier's kind of forgotten classic At Night, numerology isn't the name of the game here. Take it for what it is, a flawlessly executed mix, where off beat industrialism goes hand in hand with dark ambience and purist, peak time club techno. It builds, develops, climaxes, and breaks down? That is the exact essence of a techno mix. Live in a club or on the medium of a compact disc. This one does so much more, and achieves it all with sheer confidence. As much as it's all compiled of recent, widely available material, it's unimstakingly done by veterans on the absolute top of their game. It is strikingly obvious that this wasn't pieced together over a dinner and two bottles of red wine. It's intricately layered, fastidiously mixed and attentive in picking out the tracks. If this is to be the Sandwell District's last outcry, then they really went out how they lived - with a bang! Excellent mix, and arguably my favorite since Robert Hood's one some five, six years ago...
Don't listen to this expecting a rowdy party mix. Expect Sandwell District, and then it will deliver. Let the unpredictability and freshness of techno win you over, and enjoy this mix for a long time.

So much hype and a disappointing amount of substance. Make no mistake, it's a good mix CD of the dark, industrial, hypnotic techno that Sandwell District is known for. The bar was fairly high however, and I don't think it meets expectations. It builds, develops, climaxes, and breaks down, but does little else. The memorability of FABRIC 69 pales in comparison to the other mixes we have seen in recent months from Levon Vincent, Zip, and others.