Evil Nine have long been known for their DIY approach to break beat, but on the whole this Fabric album is a house affair. One exception to this is opening track, Evil Nine's own remix of Will Saul's 'Where Is It?' featuring Ursula Rucker's emotive vocals. Underlined by an almost unbelievably fat beat, 'Where Is It?' sounds like a revolution.
Simian Mobile Disco and a Switch remix of the terminally naff Bodyrockers keep things moving along but it is when the edgier, rock-flecked sounds of Riton's 'Anger Man' kick in that things really pick up again. An acid line shimmies up against a pounding, live sounding drum beat as 'Anger Man' melts into Riton's take on the Mystery Jet's 'The Boy Who Ran Away'. As Blaine Harrison cries out "Solace..." over Riton's distorted electronics and drums with the Jets' bassline it's hard to stop yourself imagining a world where rock music was always this exciting.
Square waves abound in Paul Woolford's relatively brutal 'Erotic Discourse' and Boys Noize's 'Volta 82' prior to a mildly breaks-inspired track by Bassbin Twins - 'The Dogs'. Digitalism make Daft Punk sound fresh again on 'Technologic', kicking off this mixes final, and best, third. Guitars and synths fight for the limelight before Justice turn up and steal the glory with their take on Franz Ferdinand's 'The Fallen'. Justice's mix is entitled 'Ruined by Justice', and they'd almost be right if they weren't so damn fresh - everything, including the kitchen sink, is thrown out to create a rock, hip hop, house mess that, once again, conjures up thought's of Daft Punk's heyday.
Boys Noize turn up once more to mess with The Kreep's fantastically titled 'All I Wanna Do Is Break Some Hearts' - imagine a fight in an underground car park in Birmingham featuring some ASBO'd, pissed up youths and this is probably what would be tumbling out of the stereo on the bright yellow Ford Escort in the corner (if they had any taste). Huge drums and basslines combine to re-invent hooligan house.
Last year's stoopidist band, Test Icicles, feature with a Digitalism mix of 'What's Your Damage?'. This is an album that begs to be played too loud out of car windows. The only other remotely breaks track is B-Movie's 'Nowhere Girl', remixed by Adam Freeland. B-Movie are somewhat appropriately named, since whilst this doesn't sound like the soundtrack to Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, it certainly has a filmic edge, bringing Fabric Live 28 to a close on The Clash's 'London Calling'. An appropriately punk-y finish to the most in your face Fabric album for a while. With a mix album this good BlackPlastic looks forward to Evil Nine's next LP - here's hoping it captures some of the punk energy displayed here.