Evil Nine: FabricLive.28
Fabric

Evil Nine's (Tom Beaufoy and Pat Pardy) contribution to Fabric's Live Series explodes with breakbeat crunch and punk spirit, a fact clearly intimated by the inclusion of songs by Franz Ferdinand, The Mystery Jets, Test Icicles, and The Clash. It's 73 minutes of pumping thrash that stomps from the first moment of Will Saul's “Where Is It?” (with Ursula Rucker musing “Where is my freedom?”) and never lets up, rolling thereafter on to the chopped squelch of Uffie's brazen come-on “Ready To Uff,” Switch's dizzying treatment of Bodyrockers' “Round & Round,” Riton's throbbing “Anger Man,” and the future-glam disco of Digitalism's ‘Highway To Paris' makeover of Daft Punk's “Technologic.” The set rises to a suitably anthemic level near the end with Adam Freeland's soaring version of B-Movie's “Nowhere Girl” and, as anomalous as The Clash might seem as a Fabric selection, there's no disputing the epic, stabbing force “London Calling” still possesses, so many years after its first appearance. Low-slung bass lines and guitar crunch abound throughout FabricLive.28 but, if there's one element most common to its 17 cuts, it's the slamming drum attack Evil Nine uses to drive its tumultuous mix. No polite microhouse stylings for Beaufoy and Pardy here; FabricLive.28's an unapologetically raw party record.

August 2006