Fabric: 1st.

Fabric has never had a month like this one for its ongoing CD series. James Murphy and Pat Mahoney (ie LCD Soundsystem) take the FabricLive commission, while Ricardo Villalobos handles Fabric. Both are absolutely sensational.

First up, the James Murphy, which is a set well versed in the arts of a good mix: breathing spaces, the sense of a journey, and unending shit-hot tunes. The first 25 minutes are shameless, joyful booty-shaking funk, before shifting into another gear with the more spacious, Chicago sound of the middle section. It then gradually slows down the groove, taking in early electro and classic disco before blissing out in some a capella Love Of Life Orchestra.

What's really interesting (to me anyway) is seeing how influential this whole period has been on a whole range of DFA acts. The rolling, hypnotic synth in Junior Byron's "Dance To The Music" is the roots of the similarly repeating line in LCD Soundsystem's "Get Innocuous!", while the voluptuous basslines of G.Q., Baby Oliver and Chic are potential progenitors for The Juan Maclean's most addictive moments. The shuddering, mildly acidic effects used by Babytalk have been updated by Hercules And Love Affair, and the timeless one-note hopscotch jangle of funk rhythm guitar has been passed down to The Rapture to reignite four-piece guitar music. Indulge my trainspotting below:

LCD Soundsystem - Get Innocuous!
Junior Bryan - Dance To The Music (Dub)

The Juan Maclean - By The Time I Get To Venus
Baby Oliver - Primetime (Uptown Express)

And this is just so euphoric:

Donald Byrd And 125th Street, NYC - Love Has Come Around

The Villalobos mix is all his own production, thereby blurring the edges between artist album (often a bad idea in techno anyway) and club set. As with all his production, it's a subtly uplifting, terrifying experience, the music crawling inside you for better and worse. Its chief strength lies in the way elements of tracks are bled across the entire record - for instance, the addictive melody of "4 Wheel Drive" is brought in over the previous two tracks, leaving the notion of distinct tracks redundant in favour of a throbbing, dangerously organic whole.

So of course, it's almost absurd to try and blog this because its pleasures are only fully revealed during total immersion. But here's the 12-minute track that comes at the heart of the set, "Andruic & Japan". A quick, metronomic pulse beats against rumbling, unpredictably violent drumming and a drunkenly free-associative train of thought from some woman. It's totally unhinged, truly gone mad in the disparity of its elements. And it features a truly heartstopping moment when a vocal stab suddenly invades the shaking structure. I won't say where, but for me it ranks with "KICK OUT THE JAMS, MOTHERFUCKER!" in terms of all-time vocal thrills. The best moments in minimal techno are these, when you have earned those unexpected, adrenal bumps in the road after minutes of smooth cruising.

Ricardo Villalobos (with Andrew Gillings) - Andruic & Japan