FABRIC 48: RADIO SLAVE

This month, it’s the turn of industry veteran and distinguished chart botherer Matt Edwards to take to the decks for ninety minutes of Farringdon inspired musical musings.
It’s clear from the off that this is a cut above your average techno mix, with the off kilter opening track Michel Cleis’ remix of Right At It by Baeka. From here, a selection of his favourite tracks from the last year and exclusive output from Edwards’ various studio projects, take on a tribal, earthy tone of pronounced, professional head-fuckery. The mix twists the listener through sublimely produced house and deep, hypnotic techno with tracks like Brother’s Vibe’s Platter Sugar and Rekids signing Nina Kraviz’s Pain In The Ass to baille-tech rollers with Daniel Sanchez’s remix of Spencer Parker’s My Heart and the floor destroying La Mezcla by Michel Cleis both receiving almost full length plays.
It’s this old-school, unhurried approach to building an atmosphere that makes this mix such a pleasure to listen to. Elements are slowly teased out of tracks with obvious skill and understanding allowing the listener to settle into the groove and experience the music presented without having to worry about the focus being unexpectedly pulled in several different directions at the same time. There are subtle surprises in here but they’re nudges more than blatant shoves.
This release draws parallels with Luciano’s Fabric 41 mix, with the same timely, patient approach and mature techno sensibilities applied to the material that harks back to the past masters of crowd reading and musical exploration like Larry Levan and David Mancuso. This is proper, grown up “dance” music with all the influences and quirks intact. Play it everywhere.

Words by Chris Lawes.