 FABRICLIVE 40 - Noisia While the renaissance of jungle is filling the dancefloors and stereos of drum’n’bass lovers the globe over, there is still a more scientific or sinister element burning bright alongside the rewinds of the masses. More jump-up than jungle, and perhaps originally suggested in the early work of deep science pioneers like Krust, Matrix, TeeBee and Ed Rush & Optical, this deeply shadowy future tek drum’n’bass uses a relentless and complex collection of upfront dark beats and moody soundscapes to encase the ears and get the dancefloor ready to strike, but also carries an intricate subtlety of skill in production, perhaps witnessed more in the glitch genre, than those hailing a constant repetition of Amens.
NOISIA, consisting of
members Nik Roos, Martijn van Sonderen and Thijs de Vlieger from
Groningen all from The Netherlands, are new forbearers of this more
turgid sound, and use their FABRICLIVE 40 mix to run the gamut of dark
shadowy delight in all things drum’n’bass. Featuring many Noisia tracks
from their own two imprints Vision and Division Recordings, as well as
labels Ninja Tune, Quarantine and Virus, this mix is a serious throttle
to the senses, commanding dancefloors around the world to stand to
attention.
“We’re not physically angry people. We’re not that good at it – or,
at least, I’m not good at writing happy stuff, even though sometimes
I’d love to write something that’s nice. Sometimes I’ve managed to pull
it off and write something nice, but the happy stuff – I don’t mind it
but I’m just not really good at writing it, I don’t really know how.” Nik, Noisia
Having all gone to the same elementary school, it took other interests to bring these three music fans together: “We all went to elementary school together but we didn’t really hang out.” – Nik, Noisia; “We met through graffiti; I knew Martijn through skateboarding and graffiti and Nik through graffiti.”
- Thijs, Noisia. But a mutual passion for producing forced their hand
to become a collective and they started to create sounds that were
somewhat alien to their peers: “I’ve probably been producing for
ten years or so. Nik and I both got a CD from this art school guy
through Nik’s dad and there were some really basic music making
programs on there. We just started fucking around, and I started out
basically doing hip hop and house and trance, and Nik and Thijs started
doing more like breaks and big beat. At some point they found
drum’n’bass and they played me a couple tunes that they’d made, and I
was just really into it. Drum’n’bass wasn’t largely represented in this
neck of the woods. I remember the point in time where we were in the
school cafeteria and I asked Nik and Thijs, ‘Would it be possible for
me to join Noisia?’ I didn’t want to just do what all the other kids
were doing.” – Martijn, Noisia; “All the other kids were either
studying or doing some kind of extra-curricular high-society type shit.
There were a lot of posh people in our school. But when Martijn came up
to us and asked if he could join, I said “we’ll talk about that” – I was already being diplomatic. (laughs) And pretty soon afterwards, it just kind of happened.” – Nik, Noisia

Their acceptance into the drum’n’bass world seemed to come at breakneck
speed, having now released on seminal imprints such as Subtitles,
Moving Shadow, Ram Records, Virus Recordings and Renegade Hardware, as
well as collaborating with Cause 4 Concern, Teebee, Phace and Bad
Company UK, and remixing Konflict, Pendulum and Matrix, without even
releasing their first artist album. “When
we first released with Ram and Virus, those two were like – whoa!
Subtitles was our first big label, after that was Moving Shadow. I
think we actually drank champagne when we signed to Moving Shadow, that
was really, really big for us.” – Thijs, Noisia. Others on the
periphery of this scene like The Freestylers and Amon Tobin have asked
for the Dutch trio to collaborate, and Robbie Williams requested a
Noisia remix of his cover of Manu Chao's Bongo Bong and Je Ne T'Aime
Plus (for EMI). Their remix for Moby, ‘Alice,’ left the illustrious
producer so impressed, he said he wanted to be a DnB DJ. Big things.
But more so prolifically, the three have a constant DJ schedule playing
3 to 5 shows every weekend, and constantly traveling without reprieve.
Although this is more the fuel of NOISIA, then the makings and
mechanics, “I don’t really see us as mainly DJs, I see us as
professional musicians, producers. We have to DJ for the money but if
we can DJ less and still pay the bills, we would be in the studio more.” – Thijs, Noisia
But conjuring these much in demand DJ skills, NOISIA take no prisoners
with FABRICLIVE 40, and create a mix that forces the ear and the feet
to high alert from the word go. Moving through all manner of shadowy
darkness with an almost light filled segue way touching on future
breaks, FABRICLIVE 40 is not for the faint hearted, but will open up
the ears of every listener who falls into its path.
“We wanted to make a mix that represents what we do in the
studio as well as what we play when we play a show. So we've put in a
lot of fresh drum and bass but also some breaks tunes from our label
division and some weird downtempo. We use every show and every mix as a
medium to showcase what we make, and as a medium to show people what
kind of stuff we really like. Sometimes aggy, sometimes deep, sometimes
just down right weird, but always dirty. A load of filth in a cage
that's sometimes opened. I hope people are going to like it, especially
techno people, because so many aspects of techno are related to drum n
bass but they may never hear this kind of drum n bass. Maybe it will
open some ears, I hope so.” - Thijs, Noisia
Tracklisting
01. Noisia & Phace – Cannonball – Vision Recordings
02. The Qemists – Stompbox [Spor Remix] – Ninja Tune
03. Phace – Alive [Dub] – Phace
04. The Upbeats – Anti Social – Cyanide Recordings
05. Break – Splash Step – Quarantine
06. Noisia – Diplodocus [Dub] – Noisia
07. Spor – Claret’s March – Lifted
08. Noisia – Head Knot [Dub] – Noisia
09. Noisia – The Tide – Vision Recordings
10. Icicle – Nowhere – [Dub] – Icicle
11. Noisia & Phace – The Feed – Subtitles
12. Sabre – Global [Dub] – Subtitles
13. Phace – Cold Champagne [Dub] – Phace
14. The Upbeats – Panic – Subtitles
15. Noisia & Black Sun Empire – Infusion – Vision Recordings
16. Noisia – Split The Atom [Instrmtl] – Division Recordings
17. Spor – Mordez Moi – Division Recordings
18. Noisia – Seven Stitches – Division Recordings
19. Noisia – Brown Time – Division Recordings
20. Noisia – Stigma [Dub] - Noisia
21. Moby – Alice [Noisia Remix] – EMI
22. Noisia – Concussion – Vision Recordings
23. Noisia – Façade [VIP] – Ram Records
24. Ed Rush & Optical – Medicine [Matrix Remix] – Virus
25. Noisia & The Upbeats – Mudslide – Vision Recordings
26. Misanthrop – Viperfish [VIP] – Subtitles
27. Noisia – Crank [Dub] - Noisia
28. Noisia & The Upbeats – Creep Out – Non Vogue
29. Noisia – Square Feet – Division Recordings
Neurofunk.co.uk has been lucky enough to get a preview copy of the FABRICLIVE 40 mix, Noisia really have put together a great mix with the whole spectrum of sounds they cover through DnB to breaks, these guys are such a highly talented producers and DJ's, this really is an essential mix you need to add to your collection, GO GET IT!!!
Release Dates: fabricfirst members: 02/06/08 uk/r.o.w. retail: 16/06/08 usa: 07/08/08
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