Magda – Fabric 49 | Album Review

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 | Album Review

magda Oh Magda, my how far you’ve come. Since your days as Richie Hawtin’s personal tea lady to now a heavy weight DJ with your own Fabric CD. A proper rags to riches story. On her path to stardom, Magda had put out She’s a Dancing Machine her first CD compilation way back in 2006 when clicky minimal techno was still fashionable. She earned some deserved applaud with her multi layered and intricately architected mix. It was mechanical, it was robotic, it was computerised, yet it clicked and jacked along dripping in synthetic funk. Magda had set her own bar high, the question is could she surpass it on Fabric 49?

The answer – no, at best on par. The mix follows the same recipe of synthetic funk, robotic rhythms and mechanical beats. The only difference is for Fabric 49 she stays caught on the same jittery electronic theme rather than providing contrast and texture exploring the techno genre. On Dancing Machine she moved from abstract sounds, to funky rhythms, to dark pummelling techno with ease. But on Fabric 49 she stays firmly locked on the same groove throughout.

After 70 minutes of listening you’re left with a few moments and a lot of non-descript toe tapping. Don’t get me wrong there are some interesting tracks and transitions. When the bassline drops on Magda’s Moroder’s Revenge you do take notice as does the fog horn bassline from Robert Babicz’s Chordy. B-lines aside, there’s an interesting spooky medley between Marc Houle’s Profounding and Yello’s 1980’s track Heavy Whispers whilst the final track offers one of the few other diversions from the normal path of the mix. Everything else in between is neither here nor there. However that’s not to say it’s a complete waste of time. It bops and wiggles in true Magda style. It just needs a bit more zest along the way to differentiate itself from track to track like Dancing Machine was able to do.

If you’re a big fan of the clicky Minus sound then you’ll probably really love this mix. It does have robotic funk and is technically well put together. It just doesn’t make much of an impression after multiple listens with the listening experience being quite a throw away.

Buy Magda – Fabric 49 from Amazon (CD), Play.com (CD) or HMV (CD)

Tracklist:
01. Goblin – Al Margini Della Follia / Bostro Pesopeo – Falls (Hercules & Love Affair Remix) / Marc Houle – Voices
02. Circlesquare – Non-Revival Alarm / Gaiser – mfnstmp
03. Magda – At The Gate / Artem Folevski – Empörung (Original Mix) / Groupshow – It’s Not Just Country Birds That Are Attracted (To The Blue Glass Bird Bath)
04. Cristian Vogel – Mungo / Magda – Draculan Love Attack
05. Goblin – Buio Omega (Alternate) / Magda – Moroder’s Revenge
06. Catorze – Luscofusco / Marc Houle – Deep Sea / Heartthrob – Miss Pig
07. Robert Babicz – Chordy / Madato – The Night’s Rumors
08. Click Box – Bad Fish (Magda Edit) / Boosty – Telescope
09. Artem Folevski – Guido / Isomer Transition – San Pellegrino
10. Hobo – 23:59 / Luciano – Saulitude
11. Marc Houle – Profounding / Yello – Heavy Whispers
12. Heartthrob – 101 Loop / Farben – Aufschlag/Abschlag
13. Hobo – Mobius Trip / Rafael Droors – Blue
14. Bruno Pronsato – We Were… / Arsenal – The Coming (Idjut Boys Version 2)
15. Jimmy Edgar – Beat Squared / Jan Jelinek – Tierbeobachtungen (Live Played By Anne Westphalen & Peter Ley)

Tags: Fabric, Magda, Marc Houle, Richie Hawtin, Robert Babicz, Yello

1 Comment to Magda – Fabric 49 | Album Review

Hoops
November 27, 2009

agreed average mix, not bad but not good either

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