Fabric 67 _ Mixed by Zip [ Thomas Franzmann / Perlon ]

Got this over Xmas & have been listening to it lots. Classic Fabric sound.

Some people may know Zip by his real name Thomas Franzmann and his association with Perlon, the influential German label. Over the years, they’ve released some fairly off kiter & experimental music by artists such as Baby Ford, Villalobos, Akufen, Shackleton etc..

Zip has also released under the name Dimbiman and is part of Pantytec (who had the brilliantly titled Pony Slaystation album).

This one really brings be back to some of my favourite Fabric mixes – Craig Richards’ sublime Fabric 15, Akufen’s Fabric 17  and Ricardo Villalobos’ Fabric 36..

The thing that my 3 favourites have in common is that they are by, or feature artists that have released on Perlon; the label run by Franzmann & Markus Nikolai, so it makes sense that this guy finally gets a place in the long running mix series. I’ve previously read that he was in industrial bands back in the 80’s, so various phases in his musical career have (possibly) made him disengage with “playing the game”. Though his recent arrival to the party may hint at the effort that was required to pin him down, its better late than never as I’m sure he’s been on the hit list for a while.

The music itself is great. Groovy, abstract, trippy and confusing in places; the perfect head music. Admittedly, this is stuff that I listened to more regularly 5 or 6 years ago.. but I still thoroughly enjoy when anything I hear indescribably falls between the cracks of several genres. This time its in a good place, somewhere between deep house, minimal, tech house and techno, so pick a genre..

It’s not as crazy as something Ricardo would do, but that’s a good thing right? It’s good to be able to predict where the groove is gonna go next – sometimes.

Shake your bones to fabric 67: Zip from Fabric London on Vimeo.

I’ve had this in the car and on the Ipod for the last week or so & its very easy to get lost in it. Great to hear where Franzmann’s head is at when he approaches a mix, as the result is both fun and interesting as his choices regularly force you to question just what the fuck you are actually listening to.

The mixing is a tad functional in places, but he makes up for it by not hanging about for any chin stroking. Consequently, the pace is good and it would certainly seem from the press release that this was always his intention.

Though not a retrospective, it’s very enjoyable to go back to the start of things occasionally and remember that that when something is done well, its always going to be fresh if someone has good taste..

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Out Now

http://www.fabriclondon.com/store/fabric-67.html

 

Tracklist
01. Vedomir – Dreams
02. San Proper & Steven De Peven – Pam Pam
03. Nail – Till The Feelings Gone
04. Melchior Productions Ltd – She Like
05. Pluto – Point Blank
06. G. Marcell – Excites Me
07. Jovonn – Satisfied (Moodyfied Mix)
08. Twin TM – The Fall Of The House Of Shadows
09. Soul Capsule – Seekers
10. Dan Curtin – Convergence
11. Sakro – Jazz In The Forest
12. DJ QU – Everybody’s Dark
13. Scott Grooves feat. Roy Ayers – Expansions (Pyramid Bonus Beats)
14. Terrence Dixon – Return Of The Speaker People (Kausto’s Sudden Aphasia Mix)
15. Kenny Larkin – Drone
16. Armando & Steve Pointdexter – Blackholes (The Sun Of God Remix)
17. Isolée – Music