- The latest mix for FabricLive takes the series to the Indian sub-continent mixing Indian and Middle Eastern rhythms and melodies with respected producer Nitin Sawhney at the helm guiding listeners through a 70 minute mix of broken beats, nu-jazz, soul and breaks. Broken beat supergroup Bugz In The Attic provided FabricLive with its first broken beat oriented mix, on volume 12, taking in urban and soul elements, Nitin Sawhney's mix follows directly on from theirs with a distinct ethnic flavour to it.
To get things underway, Nitin Sawhney opens the mix up with his edit of Koop's Relaxing At Club Fuckin. Koop are renowned for their laidback jazzy rhythms combining rich percussive beats with smooth jazzy arrangements. Relaxing At Club Fuckin' has a deep smokey atmosphere throughout the track with Nitin giving it a Middle Eastern style female vocal laced on top.
3 Nitin Sawhney tracks follow with Bugz In The Attic producer Seiji providing a bouncy 2-step style remix of Eastern Eyes, keeping it jazzy and ultimately dancey with it's samba-esque rhythms flowing throughout. Homelands gets remixed by Free Form Five who give the Indian flavoured track a nu-jazz vibe drenched with latin rhythms - check the trumpet solo and percussion breakdown in the middle for a taste. Dhizan & Kamien slow down the tempo to create a deeper laidback atmosphere and the duo add in more percussive effects creating a rich organic sound.
Zed Bias' and Injekta's Phuturistix moniker lays down the urban, street oriented breakstep flavours with an uptempo jazzy flavour filled with dark brooding tones on Bad Thoughts. Jazzy horn samples, dark bass tones and heavily syncopated beats supply the rhythm while obscure vocal samples cut in at random. Darqwan's Three Blue Note is quite a surprise inclusion for the release considering Oris Jay usually takes listeners on a ride to the dark side (and I mean very dark) with his brand of dark breakstep beats and dubby basslines.
Visionary Underground bring out the rolling breaks mixed with Indian and Ragga vibes on Freedom. Crisp rolling beats combined with Indian vocal samples and a raggaman chant set the tone for Niraj Chag's The Wheel which speeds up and starts to move the mix into drum'n'bass territory. Visionary Underground return for a collaboration with Ges-e on Militant 24 combining Indian female vocals and tabla rhythms with Aphrodite style drum'n'bass beats and basslines.
Finally Nitin closes off his mix with his own Beyond Skin which combines rock beats and bass riffs. It then breaksdown in the middle for a lone female vocal accompanied by a solo guitar. Finally Craig Armstrong teams up with Photek for the angelic Hymn 2 which combines choir style vocals with dubby beats.
Nitin takes Fabriclive and gives it a distinguishable ethnic flavour while not straying far away from the Fabriclive philosophy - break beats, hip hop, drum'n'bass with elements of eclecticism prevalent throughout. I think I need to have another listen to my Bugz mix!