Simian Mobile Disco - FabricLive.41

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  • 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.
  • Tracklist
      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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