Full Circle

Gonna wrap you up

by peter nicholson

There's a depressing trend in clubland. While DJing has always involved an unavoidable presence of the schmooze factor (i.e., even if you have mad skills, you still have to kiss some promoter ass to get booked), recent developments have seen people getting gigs as "DJs" solely due to their social status. Not only do these people have absolutely no mixing skills, they think that putting together a set that sounds like a nightmare compendium of drunken requests to a wedding DJ is somehow cool.

Of course this is a uniquely American affair, and if you want to take refuge from some B-list celeb dropping Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" with an ironic wink, you can easily do so via any one of a number of mix CDs from the London club Fabric. With a catalog that has just passed the two-dozen mark regarding both its namesake series of compilations and its collection of sets recorded in the club itself, Fabric is a welcome reminder that many people actually respect skill and taste behind the decks, as evidenced by the last two installments of the Fabric Live series. Fabric Live 23: Death in Vegas showcases a set from DIV man Richard Fearless. By focusing on creating a solid performance that mutates only within certain stylistic confines, Fearless is able to drop some choice bombs that trigger ripples in neighboring tracks, creating a compilation with way more energy than any yard-sale crate-digger's dream. That's not to say that 23 doesn't have its share of surprises – when's the last time you heard the lurching 1981 prototechno of Cybotron's "Alleys of Your Mind" dropped in a set that also features "Pele Bloss" from electro/acid flavor-of-the-moment Whignomy Brothers?

While the fade in to "Alleys of Your Mind" is a bit abrupt (and none of the transitions here are particularly noteworthy), the tracks work perfectly in warping the borders around Fearless's vision of dirty and disturbed dance music. Pairs of tracks from Ghostly International's Solvent and Canadian wunderkind Mathew Jonson, including his burbling techno "Typerope," are standouts, while four of Death in Vegas's own songs – ranging from the beatless, bad-trip test-tone echoes of "Natja" to the pounding, off-kilter acid rub of "Reigen" – further Fearless's agenda of proving dance music doesn't have to be joyful, happy, or pretty to be damn good fun.

Florida escapee Diplo takes a different approach on Fabric Live 24, embracing his eclectic tastes to drop a set that bounces from freestyle to baile funk to grime to, uh, the Cure's "Love Song" mixed in to OutKast's "B.O.B." While Diplo's programming, at first blush, might appear perilously close to the iPod shuffle approach espoused by many so-called "indie DJs," he not only has some serious turntable skills but also avoids resorting to any tired ironic stance – and boy obviously knows his tunes.

When Diplo decides to take a step into the past, he may choose a surefire crowd-pleaser like Yazoo's "Situations," but it follows Cybotron's "Clear" (the track Missy jacked for "Lose Control"), and a minute later, he's back in '80s Detroit for Model 500's "Nightdrive." No amateurs are going to come up with pairing the queasy wheeze of Aphex Twin's "Windowlicker" and the jacking Chicago house of Cajmere's "Percolator," nor are they going to be able to know that the latter fits perfectly with the latest from the Freerange/Front Room camp – "This Is Sick" by Solid Groove – a track that eerily echoes the Aphex Twin number in its breakdown.

Diplo's mix works well on so many levels that it's a virtual lesson in the different roles a DJ can play: He's simultaneously introducing new cuts (baile funk tracks like Gaiola Das Popozudas's "O Darcy"), pointing out the links between old ones (Debbie Deb to Hashim to Model 500), and showing off his skills with scratches and a cappella mixes (he self-referentially pairs M.I.A.'s "Bucky Done Gone" with his own "Way More").

Most important, Diplo keeps your ass jiggling all the while. While he may now be an underground celebrity, partly due to his partner M.I.A. and partly due to some savvy marketing on his own part, dude knows what he's doing behind the decks, and he's earned his spot there. Promoters eager to book the latest buzz-worthy name with a few CDs and a set of headphones would do well to follow Fabric's lead and pay attention to those who actually are able to rock a party. The dance floor will thank them.