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Ed Rush & Optical - Fabriclive 82

    • Label /
      Fabric Records
      FABRIC164
    • Released /
      July 2015
    • Style /
      Drum & Bass
    • Comments /
      48 / View
    • Rating /
      1.8/5
    • Previous
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    Ed Rush & Optical - Fabriclive 82 Ed Rush & Optical - Fabriclive 82
    Ed Rush & Optical - Fabriclive 82 Many people probably thought Ed Rush & Optical burned out with the rest of the techstep scene about six years ago. That was when the coiled menace that made the pair's Wormhole LP so compelling finally blew over into an unsustainable tantrum. However, their Virus label continues to release tracks that still prod the dying embers of techstep. An entry in the Fabriclive series should theoretically allow the pair, otherwise known as Ben Settle and Matt Quinn, to follow in the footsteps of fellow darkside veterans Noisia and Calyx & Teebee—acting as a chance to grab the attention of those who don't necessarily mind it tough, but don't want all their drum & bass to sound like an argument between a roadworks and a vacuum cleaner.

    So, then, is it worthy of their time? No, a hard no as brutal and stubborn as Fabriclive 82 itself. For if the fact that Ed Rush & Optical are still around comes as a surprise, the same can't be said of their style. Even if you don't know them, track titles like "Dive Bomb" and artists called Grotesque let you know exactly what you're going to get before you press play. Settle and Quinn certainly haven't gone soft or lost their grip with age—the mix features 39 tracks mixed tighter and more ruthlessly than thumbscrews—but they sure haven't changed either. It's saying something when the sudden freefall in the Noisia remix of Konflict's "Messiah" counts as a "breather," or when you welcome being harangued by the rap on Black Sun Empire & State Of Mind's "Until The World Ends" simply because it's somewhat different to everything else. Settling into the mix is like being repeatedly jabbed with a faulty cattle prod: it occasionally startles you with something like the insanely elasticated Calyx & Teebee remix of Spor's "Aztec," but for the most part is just painful and annoying.

    Plenty of the distorted basslines here actually sound like someone retching, and it's all too funkless to work well as dance music. It's a sad irony that the pair who spawned neurofunk now more closely resemble brostep, with the same predictable builds lacking attitude and drops that open up like a yawning chasm. Indeed, by the end of Fabriclive 82, yawning is very much the operative word.
    • Published /
      Sun / 13 Sep 2015
    • Words /
      Paul Clarke
    • Share
    • Tracklist /
      01. Phace - Shape The Random
      02. Ed Rush & Optical - Chubrub
      03. State Of Mind - Full Force
      04. Optiv & BTK - Dive Bomb
      05. Noisia - Incessant
      06. Ed Rush - Scarabs VIP
      07. Audio - Headroom (Audio VIP)
      08. Ed Rush & Optical - The Host
      09. Current Value - Loner
      10. Signs - Clockout
      11. Black Sun Empire & State Of Mind feat. PNC - Until The World Ends
      12. June Miller & Mefjus - Saus
      13. Dimension - Whip Slap
      14. Maztek & Grotesque - Straight To Bad (Maztek VIP Remix)
      15. State Of Mind, Mindscape & Jade - Know Your Place
      16. Noisia - Stamp Out
      17. Mefjus - Surrounded
      18. Neonlight & Wintermute - Influx
      19. De:tune - Purge
      20. Neonlight & Wintermute - Insomnia
      21. Audio - Heads Up VIP
      22. Noisia, Hybris & Mefjus - Reptilians
      23. Hypoxia - Badass
      24. Spor - Aztec (Calyx & TeeBee Remix)
      25. Ed Rush & Optical - Watermelon
      26. DC Breaks - Shaman VIP
      27. Misanthrop - I Need More
      28. Optical & BTK - The Infection
      29. Konflict - Messiah (Noisia Remix)
      30. Audio - Collision
      31. Hybrid Minds feat. Tempza & Laurence Baker - Drama (Neonlight Remix)
      32. Signs - Acid Test
      33. Optiv & BTK - Inside Out
      34. Neonlight & Wintermute - Never Stop
      35. The Qemists - Stompbox (Spor Remix)
      36. Ed Rush & Optical - The Turnover
      37. Mefjus & Misanthrop - Stutter
      38. BTK, Maztek & Optiv - Footprint
      39. Black Sun Empire & State Of Mind - Jack Nicholson
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