Customer Reviews

Fabric 12

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD is simply incredible. At first, I wondered how this would sound, since I recognized a few of the artists on this mix and that ussually turns me off a bit. But I swear, this CD went from track 1, to track 18, and I loved every minute. I went from being so chilled out to wanting to step inside Fabric itself and just groove. I love this.

Helluva mix. After hearing (seemingly) thousands of mixes from across the musical spectrum, it's only natural to become exceedingly judgemental. For me, there are tons of live mixes and friends mixes available for free that are usually better. But the Fabric and FabricLive series are, by far, the best commerically available mix comps out there.

Like the other reviewers state, AoS give the mix a certain flow, a nice pleasant kind of melacholic vibe to start. The standout track for me is geche - moonface. It's a quirky trip-hop record which is mixed very well from a beatless symphony track.

While the mixing isn't outstanding (it's still good), it doesn't need to be for the type of mix. The solid track selection makes it.

It could've been so good if only it all came together. The first four tracks are each interesting, character pronouncing, string based and/or ambient wonders. 'Heart Noir' has drums that sound like they're being played out of a cave, and feature pretty much the only scratching you'll hear on the disc, while the first track is nothing more than building atmospheric soundscapes, which is cool. But the mix from 'Heart Noir' to the string tribute to Bjork's 'Come To Me' is jarringly amateur. Actually, most of the mixing is pretty standard here. There are basically only a few instances here and there of competent and adequate mixing, let alone anything artistic, but the most horrific fault of this compilation is in its track selection. It goes from well-chosen, interesting, eclectic downtempo to mind numbing minimal house, from rich, sampled drum loops to oily slick, synthetic symbol taps that would put a crack addict in a coma. After track 12, this reviewer found it hard to not just abandon the groove and stare off into space to think about how long it's been since his last girlfriend and how bad off financially he is [he did just get laid off earlier that day]. Aside from the cello of Still Phil's 'Bey Un Bey,' the mix ends on a selection of somewhat cheesy biscuits with no discernable character among 'em. The combination of the toe-stub mix from 3 to 4 and the sleepy house later on makes it really hard to totally submerge oneself in this art gone wrong of a cash cow instalment in the Fabric series. Nice packaging, though...