Rub-N-Tug: Fabric 30
Fabric

Rub-N-Tug members Thomas Bullock & Eric Duncan are all about stoking a raucous party vibe so it's no surprise their pumping Fabric mix is primarily focused on letting the good times roll. (The duo adopted the group name after hosting wild disco parties at a friend's ‘Chinese Rub-N-Tug massage-palace-cum-loft-space,' and, at the first Rub-N-Tug loft jam, fights broke out while someone played a keyboard with his bare ass). Electro and house dominate with throbbing bass lines and chugging beats snaking a path through the sweat-drenched crowd. Interestingly, the mix's character shifts ever so subtly throughout the 74-minute set, morphing from its grimier beginnings (the sleazy sputtering electro of Claude VonStroke's “The 7 Deadly Strokes”) into a sleeker machine in its final third (Lifelike and Chris Menace's “Discopolis,” Ame's “Engoli,” and Ewan Pearson's remix of Mocky's “Catch A Moment In Time”). In between there's snappy tech-house funk (Jesse Rose's “Evening Standard”), exotic synth delirium (Gary Martin's “Turkish Tavern”), and silky electro-house (Rufuss's “No Exit”). I could do without the banal lyrical gyrations of “Lets Get Busy” by Curtis McClaine and The House though the “Sympathy for the Devil” backup vocals and soul-funk groove almost make up for it (Foolish and Sly's “Come A Little Closer” is likewise as much soul and gospel as it is techno or house). The peak moment arrives halfway through with Serge Santiago's “Atto D'Amor,” feverish electro-swing that's as spacey as it is Latin-flavoured. Rub-N-Tug's set isn't the greatest Fabric release by any stretch (not that it's aiming to be so either) but it's certainly a fine enough soundtrack to your next party.

December 2006