Things have been a bit quiet on the fabric front these last couple of months with the club and record label briefly going into administration. But funding was secured and everything is now right with the world again. So what better way to bounce back by dropping fabric 53 mixed by UK techno veteran Surgeon. I don’t use the term veteran lightly. Surgeon has been there from the beginnings of UK techno, bringing Birmingham out of the doldrums in the early 90s with the city’s first techno night as well as creating some of the most forward thinking music out there. His sound has always been left of centre, but always intense, with no thoughts about keeping a finger on the pulse. He simply does what he does regardless of the tide of popularism. So with such integrity how does his Fabric mix flow?

In a nutshell, his fabric mix is completely reflective of Surgeon’s character. It flows with a persistent intensity that runs through various dark and bassy shades, using regular changes in rhythm to generate interesting textures and contrast. Take for instance his use of dubstep like rhythms from Al Tourettes & Appleblim, Starkey, and Subeena. They deploy huge drops in the flow, yet they subtly feedback into the intensity when the rhythm switches again. It’s a tried and tested method, but Surgeon pulls it off with a brutal elegance.

However it’s not just his first rate execution of known DJ methods that make this mix, he also uses a real full bodied sound.  Tracks like the Ben Sims mix of Black Star Ritual or the alien like AM-4 B1 by Ancient Methods are choc full of focused white noise like a drill to the brain. Whilst on the other hand you’ve got the more traditional relentless techno from the likes of Robert Hood, Orphx and Mark Broom & James Ruskin which provide plenty of drive. The tracks are brash yet together they layer elegantly together to create that on the edge pressure.

From a geeky perspective, when you start to deconstruct this mix you see the level of detail that Surgeon goes to. Often one, two sometimes even three or four tracks bleed into one another, crossing their track marker boundaries like steely Mexicans. Yet the layering is so subtle that it’s easy to lose track of what’s going on. But that doesn’t discount from their importance as these minute border crossings add so much to this mix as basslines, beats and melodies intermingle to create unique sounds to this mix. It’s layering with a purpose rather than for the sake of it.

When you put it all together, the relentless intensity, the technically complex layers, the wall of sound you get a pretty unique mix that other DJs would struggle to achieve. This dark foray through bass and beats definitely leaves a mark, mainly because it’s so intense that you feel like you’ve been chewed up and spat out the other side like a piece of chewing gum in a gurned up mouth.

Buy Surgeon – Fabric 53 from Amazon (CD|MP3), Play.com (CD) or HMV (CD)

Tracklisting:
01. Location recording from Kuramae Subway Station, Tokyo, Japan
02. Scuba – Glance
03. Surgeon – Bad Hands (Drums Only)
04. Marco Bernardi – Giro (Exium Remix)
05. Instra:mental – Forbidden
06. Forward Strategy Group – Applied Generics A
07. Reeko – Agile Movement
08. Surgeon – Bad Hands Part 2 (Drums Only)
09. Robert Hood – Superman
10. Planetary Assault Systems – X Speaks To X (Al Tourettes & Appleblim Remix)
11. Ritzi Lee – Black Star Ritual (Ben Sims Remix)
12. T-Polar – Crab People
13. Ital Tek – Spectrum Falls
14. Surgeon – Klonk Part 1 (Drums Only)
15. Subeena – Picture
16. Fran Hartnett – It Was Written In Vapour
17. Mark Broom & James Ruskin – Hostage
18. Stephen Brown – Stress Free
19. Ancient Methods – AM04B1
20. Surgeon – Compliance Momentum
21. Greena – Tenzado
22. Starkey – Spacecraft
23. Starkey feat. Anneka – Stars (Slugabed Did A Remix)
24. Cari Lekebusch – Spindizzy (Luke Slater’s L.B. Dub Corp Remix)
25. Surgeon – The Crawling Frog Is Torn and Smiles
26. Orphx – Threshold (Substance Remix)
27. Gatekeeper – Blip
28. Mark Broom & James Ruskin – No Time Soon
29. Russ Gabriel – El Juan
30. DJ Overdose – What

Its pretty straight forward for party selection this week with a distinguished set of nights and days to fill every minute of the weekend despite the clocks going forward.

Warm at Plastic People (Buy Tickets)

As the club’s existence swings in the balance, Warm are continuing to make the most of what little time could be left for Plastic People. Berlin’s Sebo K will be joining Marcus Worgull for another Friday shindig of sublime house music. Get yourselves down to show Hackney council how important this club really is. And if they don’t take notice, vomit in the street to slowly take them down with street cleaning bills.

Headspace at Public Life

Once you’ve finished vomiting in the street, get yourself across Shoreditch to Public Life. New night Headspace dish up their second morning/day party at the much hallowed toilet. Leeds lad Burnski famed for being on all the typical Leeds things (Basics and 20:20 Vision) will be headlining this interesting new venture.

Ricardo Villalobos at Fabric (Buy Tickets)

Two words – Villalobos, Fabric. That’s all I really need to say. But if you need some other words of encouragement Shaun Reeves is in support with Craig Richards, whilst in Room 2, new holes will be torn as Ben Sims and Surgeon smash your back doors in as Frequency 7. Going to be a road block, better buy some tickets.

Dubfire and Josh Wink at Matter (Buy Tickets)

Someone that has been round the block a few times is Philly’s Josh Wink. He’ll be showing his age as he celebrates 15 years of Ovum records at matter. In those 15 years he’s picked up a few skills to pay those so called bills and made a few friends along the way. He’s brought on board another veteran, born again techno evangelist Dubfire. Fanciulli and Yousef will also be chipping to what is probably a few thousand years of collective DJ experience.

1Roof at Cable (Buy Tickets)

The cringely named 1Roof have got party number two this weekend. They claim you need to be prepared for another mind altering journey into the unknown, urgh, I think I’ll take my chances and just wing it thanks. But PR sheen aside, they’ve got a bloody solid line-up. CJ Mackintosh, a UK DMC winner from the days when headphones were still used and most of the 6 minutes were spent beat matching two records, will be heading up a bill that consists of Giles Smith, Justin Drake of Peace Division fame, Dean Mushin, Guy Williams and Luciano Esse, all under “one roof”… sigh…

Moodymann at T-bar (Info)

Sundays just don’t seem to want to let you rest these days. We’ve got a prime cut of T-Bar this Sunday as they do what they do best – great DJs for free on nights other than Saturday and Friday. This weekend Moodymann is dropping a few tunes all for nothing. But the question is will his braid lady be there sorting his fro out?

The first is one of Birmingham’s finest. Surgeon has been tearing up dancefloors across the UK and further for the best part of two decades and is one of the figureheads of the British techno scene. Generally sitting towards the tougher end of the sound he’s often been compared to Detroit’s Jeff Mills. This mix taken from Shanghai last week will no doubt show what the man can do. Download here or listen below:
[See post to listen to audio]

The other mix comes from Detroit based dancers turned techno producers Aux88. They make their first appearance in the UK for quite sometime, so their show this Friday is sure to be a special one. Check out their classics mix with the legendary Model 500 to get a taste. Download the mix here or listen below:
[See post to listen to audio]

Buy your tickets from Ticketweb, we heard on the grapevine they’re going quickly so get em quick!

29th May – Balance at Cable, London Bridge
http://www.balance-club.co.uk/
SURGEON [LIVE]
AUX 88 [LIVE]
BEN SIMS
LUKE SLATER
GUY CALLED GERALD [LIVE]
JIM MASTERS
BILLY NASTY
ELECTRO ELVIS & LULA
ALEX DOWNEY

The latest in the line of promo mixes for the forthcoming techno night Balance comes from Billy Nasty. He delivers a gut wrenching dub-step mix to show you his his slower side.  Billy is on the Balance bill along with Aux88, Surgeon, Ben Sims, Luke Slater and A Guy Called Gerald, all of whom I’m sure will test Cable’s soundsystem to the limit.

So listen to the mix here:
[See post to listen to audio]

Or download it from here

Then buy your tickets for the 29th May right here

29th May – Balance at Cable, London Bridge
http://www.balance-club.co.uk/
SURGEON [LIVE]
AUX 88 [LIVE]
BEN SIMS
LUKE SLATER
GUY CALLED GERALD [LIVE]
JIM MASTERS
BILLY NASTY
ELECTRO ELVIS & LULA
ALEX DOWNEY

AUX 88 (Detroit) live – UK exclusive
Surgeon – London debut for new live /av show
Luke Slater (Planetary Assault Systems DJ set)
Ben Sims (Split/Theory)
A Guy Called Gerald – live
Jim Masters (Base/Hi-tek-Soul)
Billy Nasty (electro set)
Electro Elvis & Lula (Wang)
Alex Downey (Split)

Stream it or download it from here

[See post to listen to audio]

AUX 88 (Detroit) live – UK exclusive
Surgeon – London debut for new live /av show
Luke Slater (Planetary Assault Systems DJ set)
Ben Sims (Split/Theory)
A Guy Called Gerald – live
Jim Masters (Base/Hi-tek-Soul)
Billy Nasty (electro set)
Electro Elvis & Lula (Wang)
Alex Downey (Split)

Leading up to the event, they’re making a new mix available every week. The first comes from UK techno stalwart Luke Slater. Hope you enjoy.

[See post to listen to audio]

Or you can download the mix from here.

BLOC Weekend looks set to return after last year’s sell out success. Taking place on the 13^th – 15^th March weekend, this year sees the early spring weekend move location to the Butlins “mega-resort” in Minehead near Bristol. It boasts the largest water park in the South West with a water slide that can spit you out at up to 40mph. Definitely what you need after a night of jaw breaking techno and Aphex Twin’s microphone in a blender trick! But it’s not really about the luxury settings of the holiday resort its more what’s on. And judging by this year’s current line-up it could be held down the local sewage works without deterring anyone.

So who’s on the bill? Well they’ve brought in Aphex Twin as the main headliner for this year. He returns to performing with the premier of his new show, with new collaborator Hecker exclusively for BLOC. With no regard for the norm and various urban myths of him playing sandpaper or overloaded blenders this show is bound to throw a curveball for all those into the weird and wonderful. Also making a welcomed return to the scene is The Future Sound of London. Another coop for the BLOC organisers is the return of The Future Sound of London for their first show in ten years.

Probably the next highlight for EarPipe is the announcement of DJ Q-Bert joining the line-up. Probably the best turntablist to ever walk the planet, QBert had to retire from competition just to give everyone else a chance. However he still performs and is still pushing the boundaries of turntablism. In the same hip hop vein Afrika Bambaataa, one of the original originators of hip hop culture is also on the bill.

That’s only the tip of the ice berg. There is a plethora of underground genres being catered for. In the techno corner you have the likes of Carl Craig, Green Velvet, Robert Hood and Frequency 7 featuring Ben Sims and Surgeon. All things dub are covered by the likes of Skream, Benga, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Digital Mystiks and Kode 9. The list of artists just keeps going on and on. So rather than bore you to death you can find the current full line up at the end of this post.

So its look to be a corker of a weekend once again for BLOC. If you’re up for a weekend of forward thinking music in a dry location and a 40mph water slide within the UK, then look no further. Get your tickets and accommodation from www.blocweekend.com.

FULL LINEUP TO DATE / MANY MORE ACTS STILL TBA:

Aphex Twin + Hecker

The Future Sound of London

Jamie Lidell / Carl Craig / Afrika Bambaataa

Green Velvet / DJ Qbert / Skream / Benga / Metro Area / Altern-8 / 4Hero

Busy P/ Egyptian Lover / Daniel Bell / Heartbreak / I-F

Dublime feat. Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry / Scientist / Digital Mystikz – Coki / Tipper /

Kode 9 / Rusko – Debut Live show / Ed Rush and Optical / Mad Professor / Zion

Train / Plastician / Pole

Overkill feat. Modeselektor and Pfadfinderei / Beardyman / Clark / Richard

Devine / Tim Exile / Otto Von Shirach

Subloaded curated by DJ Pinch, feat. DJ Pinch / 2562 / Jamie Vex’d /

Appleblim / Peverelist / Joker b2b Blazey / MC SGT Pokes

Split and Tilted Disco feat. Robert Hood / Frequency 7 feat Ben Sims and

Surgeon / Redshape / James Ruskin / Colin Dale / Steve Strawberry / Alex

Downey

Numbers feat. Martyn / Rustie / Hudson Mohawke / Jackmaster

Dynamix II / Dj Godfather and MC Omega / Dylan & Robyn Chaos b2b / Ulrich

Schnauss / Ed Chamberlain / Global Goon / Rob Hall / Transparent Sound /

Ceephax Acid Crew / Cosmic Force BassClef / Ital Tek / Lief Ryan / Alexander

Robotnick / Bizzy B / 2 Bad Mice

Greco-Roman feat. Rob Da Bank / Drums of Death / Totally Enormous Extinct

Dinosaurs / Greco-Roman Soundsystem: Raf Daddy, The Great Mentsh & Full

Nelson

Cocadisco feat. Russell Haswell / DJ Benetti / Louis Enchante and friends /

Andy Blake / Rodaidh and Piers

Caravan Recordings feat. October / Emptyset

Wifey feat. D’explicit – LIVE PA / China feat. Black the Ripper / DJ Undecided /

Wifey DJs

Cliché feat. French Kriss / Michel Dupont / French Connection Trio + Special

Guests

Pathic / ADJ / Junq / P45 / Ebola / Lusinda / AGT Rave Cru / Amental / McMash

Clan

Residents from: WANG – Electro Elvis and Lula / Braindrop / Dub Pressure /

Drums of the South / Square Roots / Sequence / Plex / Dissident

BLOC Residents: Billy Nasty / Radioactive Man / Ed DMX / Jerome Hill / Luke’s

Anger / James Tec / Rebel Intelligence / Joe Hart / Oliver Way / George ‘The

Skull’ Hull