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Optimo – Fabric 52 | Album Review

Friday, May 7th, 2010 | Album Review | No Comments

It’s pretty dark times for our northern breadrin in Glasgow. Their football club can barely scrape together the costs for an open top bus trophy tour; then there’s that ridiculous stat you always hear that a good proportion of the city lives in poverty at a level which rivals Zimbabwe and to add insult to injury their easterly sister Edinburgh gets voted the best place to live in the country. But these things are the least of the city’s worries. It’s more so the dark cloud that hangs over the legendary Sub Club since Optimo announced they were ending their Sunday night tenure. Their weekly blend of eclectic samplings will be sorely missed, I for one am gutted that I never made it that far up north to witness these legendary nights first hand. › Continue reading

Tags: Cumbia Moderna De Soledad, Desire, Fabric, Italians Do It Better, Optimo, Prins Thomas, Rebolledo, Rheingold, Roska, Spencer Parker, Sub Club, The Tyrell Corporation, Thomas Brinkmann

Radioslave Fabric 48 | Album Review

Sunday, September 20th, 2009 | Album Review | 1 Comment

House and techno lovers on a fabric subscription can breathe a sigh of relief after the Toddla T FabricLive release because the urban sounds of bashment and dancehalll make way for the hypnotic rolling beats of Radioslave. No stranger to the scene Radioslave has been consistently producing quality house and techno for a very good proportion of this decade. Initially starting life as a partnership between Brightonians Matt Edwards and Serge Santiago pumping out cheeky re-edits and bootlegs of pop songs. The Radioslave name has evolved some what over the years. A major milestone was when Serge Santiago went his separate way to leave Matt Edwards flying the moniker solo. And it’s precisely there where the Radioslave name veered off path into the dark and murky undergrowth. Out went the happiness; in came the dark and deep sounds. One thing that Matt Edwards was not afraid to do on his tracks is take his time getting to the point. His productions could wind and meander for minutes upon minutes leisurely strolling through the audio scenery making sure you had time to pick up on the slightest of details.

This nonchalance has transferred on to his offering for Fabric 48. The intro to the mix is literally spread over the first three to four tracks. Now that might sound tedious to listen to, and it would be was it not for the fact that this is a Radioslave production. The eerie whirring of Michel Cleis’ mix of Baeka’s Right At It murmurs the start of the mix. It gently bubbles to its crescendo of shakers and wood block rattles. For your standard mix this would be a logical place to drop in to some big ass beats and bass to get the mix fully going. Not Radioslave. He launches into his own track DDB, a heavy marching kick/clap combo which arrogantly makes itself known. › Continue reading

Tags: Baeka, Brothers Vibe, Daniel Sanchez, DJ Boola, Michel Cleis, Nate William, Nina Kravis, Radioslave, Rekkids, Spencer Parker, Steve Lawler