Various - #savefabric

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  • Given that fabric has reached an agreement with Islington Council to keep the club open, the proceeds from the #saveculture campaign will now go towards "worthy causes within the industry." But even though fabric no longer needs the money from this compilation for legal fees, #savefabric is still worth your cash. The music within presents as strong a case as any lawyer could argue for fabric's cultural importance. With 111 previously unreleased tracks contributed from across the electronic community, #savefabric obviously isn't meant to be listened to front to back, even if you did have ten hours to spare. The artists are sequenced alphabetically, and there's no consistent musical arc. The tracklist jumps through diverse sounds, from the drum & bass and bass music of Fabriclive to the house and techno of fabric's flagship Saturdays. The best way to approach #savefabric is like you would a club night—pick your favourites to hear first, and then work from there. With such a mammoth spread of artists, that's going to be different for everybody, but the club's residents are always worth checking. Craig Richards revives his A Short Run project with Howie B for the queasy "Stasha." Terry Francis's "The Answer" is springy tech house. The rap from The Jungle Brothers' Afrika Baby Bam on "The Music Saves Me," by original Fabriclive resident Ali B, is a reminder that early Fridays at the club were as much about party breaks and hip-hop as the latter years' drum & bass, represented here by Dub Phizix, Optical and Calyx & Teebee. Then you scan the rest for other highlights, like The Mole's wriggly funk, the taut groove of Smagghe & Cross's "Sam & Jen," Mathew Jonson whipping himself into a full-on rave rage, or Vatican Shadow & Telefon Tel Aviv's "Rejoice" if you need a breather. The tracklist is also a reminder of how many styles have been incubated beneath the Farringdon streets, like Terry Francis's tech house coursing through Matthew Styles & s:vt's "Machine Life," or dubstep's techno cross-pollination personified by Pinch and Skream. fabric is still nurturing fresh sounds here, shining a spotlight on South African gqom progenitor Dominowe. Few people are going to like everything on #savefabric, and the fact that it was put together in three weeks means some tracks may seem half-finished. Many more, however, seem to have been specifically inspired by the state of fabric at the time. Masters Of Disasters' "The Church Of The Many"—delivered like a pirate radio broadcast berating "gentrifying forces of the universe"—or Mr. C rapping, "Developers move in / To make the big bucks," are the most blatantly political, although the sample and title in Slam's "Government Problem 2" presumably isn't a coincidence. Caspa & Rusko's "Ravers Tears," Shackleton's "The Stitch Up" or Sunset Graves' "Dead City Hymn" also seem to reference the club's plight. Tracks like Route 94's "fabric" or Mumdance & Logos' "Return Of The Room 2 Lazer" evoke the club's dance floors in both name and sound, while Agoria's "Tribute" sounds even more euphoric now that fabric has survived. In that sense, perhaps the most thought-provoking track is Special Request's "Requiem." Paul Woolford forsakes his project's usual frenetic junglism for sombre ambient, conjuring images of fabric's cavernous rooms lying empty and still. It's a vision that thankfully didn't last, but one that also reminds you quite how much electronic music could have lost.
  • Tracklist
      01. _Unsubscribe_ - FFS, R (Loop Mix) 02. μ-Ziq - Bumshit (Vox) 03. 18+ - Holes 04. 2020 Soundsystem - No Order (Ralph Lawson & Rui-Z Remix) 05. A Short Run feat. Howie B & Craig Richards - Stasha 06. Abul Mogard - Patterns Of Our Own Times 07. Addison Groove - Equal Lies 08. Agoria - Tribute 09. Akkord - Scalar Wave 10. Ali B feat. Afrika Baby Bam - The Music Saves Me 11. Appleblim - Fabrication 12. Audion - Fun House 13. Broken English Club - The Gentle Art of Murder 14. Bruce - Cables 15. C.A.R. - Voodoo Moon (Thomas Von Party Cover) 16. Calyx & Teebee - Loose Ends 17. Caspa & Rusko - Ravers Tears 18. Clams Casino - Time 19. Clark - Shadow Banger 20. Coldcut Feat. Roses Gabor - Donald's Wig 21. Cosmin TRG - Dens 22. Curses - A Face In Smoke 23. Dasha Rush - Sweet Monster 24. dBridge - Modern Submission 25. DJ Tennis - Magrelian 26. Dominowe (Gqom Oh!) - Just Dance 27. Dub Phizix - Beatroot 28. Dusk & Blackdown - 110 Not Out (2011) 29. Dusky & Todd Edwards - Holiday In Holloway 30. Enei & Kasra - Basic Instinct 31. Exercise One - All These People 32. Fake Blood - Reflections 33. FiS - DMT Usher VIP 34. Future Beat Alliance - Sleaze Bag 35. Guy Andrews - Procession 36. Hamid - Untitled 02 37. Heartthrob - Scott's Teats 38. House Of Black Lanterns – Lost 39. Howie B - Space Trip 40. Ikonika - Miracle Whip 41. IVVVO & Aïsha Devi - Eros Plexus 42. Jesse Rose - Suck It And See 43. John Tejada - Ucbtron 44. Justin Drake, Lil Mark and Matt Tolfrey - Freedom 45. Kangding Ray - Summerend 46. Kate Simko feat. Amunet Shah - All Heart 47. Kirk Degiorgio - Shadow Of A Solitary Being 48. Kiwi – Throw Down (Latin Freestyle Radio Edit) 49. Kuedo – Bismuth 50. Lakker – Tuc Tuc 51. Laura Jones & Karousel - Find A Way 52. Letherette - Stabz 53. Lucy - The Juggler 54. M.A.N.D.Y. - Berry And North 55. Machinedrum - Stronga 56. Marc Houle - Broken Wing 57. Marquis Hawkes - Redemption Radio 58. Masters Of Disasters - The Church Of The Many 59. Mathew Jonson - Decompression (MJ Ghostforce 12" Remix) 60. Matthew Styles & s:vt - Machine Life 61. Max Cooper, Satirist - Grit 62. Michael Mayer - Auld Lang Synewave 63. Mike Shannon Feat. Dave Aju and the LCC All Stars - Can't Take My Love Away 64. Mr. C - Stand Up (Club Mix) 65. Mr. Jones - Heavy Eyes 66. Mumdance & Logos - Return Of The Room 2 Lazer 67. Nathan Fake - Laluna 68. Neville Watson - Fight On 69. Nightwave – Speakeasy 70. October - Anna's Acid Hour 71. Om Unit - Pop Lockin' Hieroglyphs 72. Optical - Shape The Future VIP 73. Overmono - U-Plastics 74. Paleman - Sore 75. Paula Temple - You Cannot Kill A Soul By Killing The Body (Live At Moogfest) 76. Perc - Foto Real 77. Peter Van Hoesen - Into A Fortification 78. Pinch – Skylines 79. Planetary Assault Systems - Twelve (L.B. Dub Corp Meets PAS Rework) 80. Radioactive Man - Craig's Trousers Flap In The Bass Wind 81. Roger van Lunteren - Hills, I Want You (Gerd Janson Edit) 82. Roman Flügel - Jam The Jam 83. Route 94 - fabric 84. Rrose - Glands 85. Second Storey - The Last Record 86. Shackleton - The Stitch Up 87. Shaun Reeves & Tuccillo - Clouds 88. Sherwood & Pinch - Retribution 89. Shift Work - LA (S.L.O.W.) (Health & Safety Mix) 90. Simian Mobile Disco - Balloon Takes A Holiday 91. Skream - Munk 92. Slam - Government Problem 2 93. Smagghe & Cross - Sam & Jen 94. Snow Ghosts – A Moment 95. Soft As Snow - I Adore (Troy Gunner Remix) 96. South London Ordnance - Arc 97. Special Request - Requiem 98. Stanton Warriors & Cause n Affect - Never Let It Go feat. Janai (VIP Mix) 99. Sunset Graves - Dead City Hymn 100. Tasha - Lost And Found 101. tqd - Vibsing Ting 102. Terry Francis - The Answer 103. The Mole - Glide Down 104. Throwing Snow - One For The Booth 105. Tiefschwarz - Wegekuckuck 106. Tom Demac – Unchained 107. Trevino - Fractured 108. Tuff City Kids - Edlost 109. Untold - This Is How I 110. Vatican Shadow & Telefon Tel Aviv - Rejoice 111. Vex'd - Gravity (2004)
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