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More common in reggae circles, the art of toasting has been happily co-opted by Detroit techno legend Carl Craig for his installment of the Fabric mix CD series. Throughout Fabric 25, and without it becoming tedious or overbearing, Craig huzzahs certain tracks, gives props to the Fabric crew and , working the mix’s midpoint, assures listeners that, “Oh, yeah. It ain’t over.” Decades of DJing, it seems, hasn’t dulled Craig’s enthusiasm for playing records. Nor has close-mindedness set in with age, with Craig capably shifting gears between Yin Yang Twins crunk, Kerri Chandler’s melodious tech of “Bar A Rhyhtm,” tribal from Africanism with “Imbalaye,” bigger, more recent house hits like Blaze and Barbara Tucker’s “Most Precious Love,” Craig’s own material and more. Craig muscles it all together in what could have been one of the best-sounding Fabric mixes yet if only the whole thing didn’t sound so poor - the EQing on Fabric 25 is resolutely awful, be it the fault of Craig (which given his status as a techno god seems ironic) or whoever mastered the mix. The mids and bass are overblown and their coronas wash out, muffle and stifle the entire mix. Musically, Fabric 25 is a corker, but because of the sound-related shortcomings it’s hardly a classic. www.fabriclondon.com -- www.planet-e.net -- review by Yuri Wuensch
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