Album Review - Fabric Live 28 mixed by Evil Nine

The latest in the Fabric series of mix albums, this time selected and mixed by Evil Nine, was not one BlackPlastic was particularly expecting to be impressed by, but sometimes low expectations lead to a pleasant surprise.

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.

June Song of the Month...

Possibly the first album ever reviewed on BlackPlastic.co.uk was DJ Hell's NY Muscle and whilst that review has been lost in the midst of time it is fairly easy to remember that the response to Hell's album was mixed. This is a response BlackPlastic stands by, but there is one track that more than makes this album worthy of a visit - 'Tragic Picture Show'.

Before BlackPlastic goes any further an apology is necessary... 'Tragic Picture Show' features James Murphy, who has become somewhat ubiquitous around these parts. Next month's song won't feature him, that's a promise, but 'Tragic Picture Show' was just too good to pass up on.

It starts off and things are already falling down the stairs... "Just don't play the song and I'm just gonna read it like I'm... Losing my fucking mind" says the vocalist as the beat comes in. And what a beat... High hats ricochet, toms bounce out across the floor, the bassline is sleazy and funky... 'Tragic Picture Show' is the sound of a nervous breakdown and is the perfect driving song.

The lyrics paint a picture of a man absorbed in grief but unable to stop and things really come to a head in the 'chorus'. The vocals are inaudible, dissolved in distortion. This is 4 minutes forty-three is pure jet black chaos and it's fantastic.

Download Review: Underworld - I'm a Big Sister and I'm a Girl and I'm a Princess and this is my Horse

Since the tail end of last year Underworld have been busy putting together a series of download only projects in the form of The RiverRun Project. 'I'm a Big Sister...' marks the final project in this series, with Smith and Hyde set to record a follow up to 2003's A Hundred Days Off over the summer.

The RiverRun Project has been an interesting one, eschewing the established music industry norms of not just having hard copies of your releases for sale, but also organising music into songs and albums and running the standard release schedule of releasing an album and 3-4 supporting singles. All of the RiverRun pieces (for, at 25-30 minutes each, that is what they are) are available for purchase from UnderworldLive for at £5 each (the newest, 'I'm a Big Sister...' is due to go on sale on 10 June 2006). When placed together they are around about the length of an album but it is refreshing to see some artists who are prepared to buck the trend.

Each RiverRun project consists of entirely new music and when consumed as a whole they feel like a walk through a parallel universe's Underworld back-catalogue. Part one, 'Lovely Broken Thing' is reminiscent of Second Toughest in the Infants over its first half and Dubnobasswithmyheadman over the closing minutes as Karl's voice shines through acid and rain. Part two, 'Pizza for Eggs' is more laid back and organic.

The closing part, 'I'm a Big Sister and I'm a Girl and I'm a Princess and this is my Horse', is initially laid back and ethereal, warm yet isolated. The music builds over the course of the first ten minutes until a beat eventually enters the mix. Sounds shift, vocal snippets overlap, fading in and out. Things happen. S-L-O-W-L-Y the music changes and then QUICKLY disintegrates into its third 'movement'. The track still maintains the warmth of tracks such as the frankly flawless 'Jumbo' from 1999's Beaucoup Fish.

'I'm a Big Sister...' is full of texture and details. Good background music, but really this is music constructed for listeners to lose themselves in. Utilise some good quality headphones and explore. The forth movement sounds almost as if it emanated from a church in a far-off land; noises sound like church bells, another noise resembles chanting. The whole affair is brought to a heart-stopping close with a piano and some ambient noise.

The RiverRun Project really is a fantastic thing. Since Darren Emerson left Underworld the band have strived to escape the perceived greatness of their earlier albums. Their first album as a duo, A Hundred Days Off could only really be criticised for sounding too much like someone impersonating Underworld and not enough like the genuine article. RiverRun lays any concerns to rest. Underworld are still great, innovative, genre-defying and, what's more, beautiful.

To purchase any of The RiverRun Project visit UnderworldLive.