FABRICLIVE 70: FRICTION

Label: FabricScore: 9/10

What happens when the country’s biggest club hands over the reigns to one of D&B’s biggest name DJ’s for their FabricLive mix CD compilation? Moving onto number 70 in the series it’s Friction’s time in the hot seat and he delivers another high quality, high impact mix for the crew down in EC1. 

Friction’s deck dexterity is well known. Comfortable on a multitude of turntables or CDJ’s he delivers an absolute aural onslaught from start to finish, packed with dubs, VIP’s, current crowd pleasers and upcoming beats. Setting his stall out early on the rowdy side, Swag by DC Breaks does the necessary damage over the top of the VIP version of Optiv & BTK’s Understand. Also making an appearance is Enei’s Liberation and Inside Info & Mefjus‘ Mythos to keep the high octane pace going. And this is all within the first five or so minutes! Hey, they don’t call him the Quartz Lock Kid for nothing. One sight that made me happy on the tracklist was the inclusion of Calibre’s remix of Badmarsh & Shri’s Signs, a classic cut of the Irishman’s production and a welcome addition to any mix in my opinion. The middle section switches up the style a bit, bringing more melodious vibes from the likes of Technimatic on Bristol & Sphere, Chord’s ultra funky Biting Point and the driving bass of the soon to be released Searching by Kove. Once you hear the thumping step of Break’s latest single Steam Train though you know its gonna be back to the gully sounds as the rest of the CD steps dark and heavy. A couple of Icicle classics get the VIP treatment and feature on the final furlong as Dreadnaught and the blistering Minimal Funk get a serious update. Keep your ear out for Anxious by the man too, good to hear some Icicle freshness in the mix and trust me, it’s an absolute stomper. 

Putting a mix in the more than capable hands of the Shogun Audio boss man was only gonna have positive results. If you’ve ever managed to catch Friction live then you’ll have a fair idea of the goodness on offer here. The tracklist is varied yet still caters to the heads, bringing that proper D&B sound. Fabric’s D&B mixes have always been spot on in their execution and quality. Friction has made sure number 70 is no different. 

Ahead of Friction’s FABRICLIVE 70 launch party on Friday, a night wherein fabrichave assembled the cream of the d&b crop to help celebrate, we’re stoked to be able to provide the streamable archive of his 30 minute radio mix below for a flavor of things to come from Friction when live in the basement

FABRICLIVE 70: Friction – 30 Min Radio Mix by Fabric on Mixcloud