In addition to being a techno legend, Carl is best known in the jazz house as a the producer of The Detroit Experiment album and for his remixes, particularly Cesaria Evora’s ‘Angola’ (which featured on Peterson’s In Africa compilation this year) and The Congo’s classic ‘Congo Man’ (Honest Jon’s).

In the notes Craig says, “Initially, I wanted to do the mix in an empty Fabric, but that wasn’t possible. I did have Fabric in mind when I made the mix, but because I was doing it in my studio and it’s a new facility, there was quite a lot of experimenting. I wanted to do a hi-tech, hyper mix you could listen to in the car or a café or a banging club. I felt I could do something different, especially by adding claps, sounds and my own vocals. A real party mix.” You can’t really add much more to it as you can feel throughout this what a great time he’s having. It’s Infectious fun and highly recommended (‘Stadium Rock’ warning on track 9).

He’s picked a couple of his own tunes from his Plant E label while he blends the techno-house theme. Don’t be put off by the creepy opener, ‘The Whisper Song’ and listen out for the choice cuts such as the ever great ‘Jubita’ by Megablast (the Stereotyp remix on included here), Kerri Chandler’s ‘Bar A Thym’ (that Tom Middleton’s got hold of for a remix, out last week on NRK who are in a bit of a purple patch after Quentin Harris’ ‘Let’s Be Young’) and the afrobeat of Africanism’s ‘Imbalaye’ (with added vocalisations from Carl). His own ‘Darkness’ is another large tune.

Fabric 25 is following in a long line of top releases in this series and the companion series FabricLive. You’ll recall Joe Ransom’s FabricLive20 included Megablast’s Luv Lite Massive single ‘Bun De Wikkid’. The next one in the series is by Global Communication (Tom Middleton and Mark Pritchard) that is out 16th January 2006 whilst the next FabricLive features the drum ‘n’ bass of High Contrast.

Always worth checking the club listings to see who’s on with regulars such as Craig Richards (who once set up a night called ‘Georgie’ as a tribute to legendary footballer George Best. RIP), Joe Ransom and The Amalgamation Of Soundz.

Reviewed: Various - Fabric 25 - Carl Craig (Fabric) Cat. No. FABRIC 49

Tracklisting:
01 - Yang Yang Twins - Wait [The Whisper Song] - TVT Records
02 - Carl Craig - Angel (Caya Dub) - Planet E
03 - Trickski - Sweat - Sonar Kollektiv
04 - Kerri Chandler - Bar A Thym - Nite Grooves/King St
05 - Just One - Love2Love [Phlash Edit] - Neroli Productions
06 - Megablast - Jupita [Stereotyp Remix] - La Rosiere Records
07 - Scott Grooves - The Journey - From The Studio Of Scott Grooves
08 - Africanism - Imbalaye - Yellow Productions
09 - Blaze/UDA/Barbara Tucker - Most Precious Love [DF Future 3000 Instrumental] Nite Grooves/King St
10 - Rayon - The Panther [Rubber Re-Edit] Crosstown Rebel Music/Rebelone
11 - Soundstream - 3rd Movement - Soundstream
12 - Dark Comedy - Good God - Art of Dance Records
13 - D’Malicious - Alive - Wave Music
14 - Pasta Boys - Limit - Disco Inn
15 - DJ Yoav B. - Energize - Wabi Sabi/Nomorewords
16 - Nick Petty/Shamus Coghlan - Crushing - Missing Unit
17 - Carl Craig - Darkness - Planet E
18 - Tokyo Black Star - Blade Dancer [Dixon Edit] - Sonar Kollektiv

Links:
Thomas Inskeep November 12th, 2005. Carl Craig’s Fabric 25 might be 2005’s best DJ-mix comp. It’d be just as effective in a club as it is for home/car listening, and is just really, really gorgeous more’n anything.
www.fabriclondon.com
Club Listings
Release Party: 12 November 2005:
Room 1: CARL CRAIG, Craig Richards, FABRICE LIG (live)
Room 2 (Gigolo Records): DJ HELL, Kiko, Hacker (live), Crossover (live)
Room 3: PETE HERBERT, The Amalgamation Of Soundz
Planet E www.planet-e.net
Carl Craig discography
Megablast
Carl Craig live on WorldWide - Detroit Experiment etc
Gilles Peterson : Tracklisting 11/9/05 (1) Kerri Chandler - ‘Bar a Thym’ (Foremost Poets Vocal Mix) (NRK)
Fabric 24 - Rob da Bank
Megablast - Jubita Remixes (La Rosiere Records) Cat. No. ROS 010 12”
Tracklisting: A. Fauna Flash Remix B. Stereotyp Remix
gerry.hectic - 22-Nov-05 05:57 PM “Described as a “proper slice of head twisting when Northern Europe meets Detroit”, Fauna Flash do their “impossible to resist” remix whilst Carl Craig found the Stereotyp remix irresistible as he included it in his Fabric25 CD remix. Don’t forget, the original is excellent also. Mega Megablast! “