Part of the fun of the mix CD, at least when it's by someone whose work you're intimate with, is to spin your own narrative alongside the one the DJ in question is attempting to lay out. DJs have influences and favored peers the way rock stars have Behind the Music; those outside sources are a crucial part of the metadata for anyone involved in the story beyond the records themselves. But what if you like someone without being especially invested in them—or even find them a bit faceless? That's how I've tended to respond to Simian Mobile Disco. They've impressed me in places but I never made the connection with last year's Attack Decay Sustain Release or the slightly earlier Suck My Deck mix. In a way, I still don't really know "who" Simian Mobile Disco are, but FabricLive 41 helps to fill in the blank spots.
The emphasis there is on "helps," because the main thing FabricLive 41 teaches me is that SMD is all over the place. What that means in this case is that they hit a lot of fairly obvious marks without sounding particularly desperate about it. Sure Hercules and Love Affair's "Blind" is one of the obvious songs of the year, but Serge Santiago's remix snugly fits the dark electro feel of FabricLive 41' s first half. The fusillade of sure shots that close it out (Paul Woolford Presents Bobby Peru's "Erotic Discourse," Plastikman's "Spastik," Green Velvet's "Flash") may be shameless, but the tracks evolve naturally into one another. Metro Area's "Miura" sounds mighty sweet rising through the spaceship-twitter ending of Perc & Fractal's "Up Tool." You've got your Kompakt, your DFA, your nod to pre-disco electronic music ("Cindy Electronium," by the jazz bandleader and synth pioneer Raymond Scott), your damn near everything you'd expect of a crowd-pleasing DJ mix in 2008. If that means anything, it's that SMD don't so much put their stamp on the times than let the times stamp them.
Buy Simian Mobile Disco - FabricLive.41 at
Tracklist: Simian Mobile Disco - FabricLive.41
01. Tomita - The Firebird – Infernal Dance Of King Kastechi
02. Sisters Of Transistors – The Don
03. Simian Mobile Disco – Simple
04. Hercules And Love Affair – Blind [Serge Santiago Version]
05. Smith N Hack – Space Warrior
06. Discodeine – Joystick
07. Shit Robot – Chasm
08. Perc & Fractal – Up Tool
09. Metro Area – Miura
10. Worthy – Crack EI
11. Moon Dog – Suite Equestria
12. Fine Cut Bodies – Huncut Hacuka
13. Bentobox vs Chordian – Aemono
14. Jelo & DeadMau5 – The Reward Is Cheese
15. Simian Mobile Disco - Sleep Deprivation [Simon Baker Remix]
16. Popof – The Chomper [LSD Version]
17. Raymond Scott – Cindy Electronium
18. Paul Woolford Presents Bobby Peru – Erotic Discourse
19. Moebius Plank Neumeier – Pitch Control
20. Plastikman – Spastik
21. Green Velvet – Flash
22. The Walker Brothers – Nite Flights
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