07 10

Call Super fabric 92 fabric records

21.02.17

The first of fabric’s mixtapes since the club reopened its doors in January, fabric 92 comes with an undeniable sense of expectation. Charged with the task of meeting those expectations is Call Super, who takes this anticipatory energy and plays it off against moments of escapism and clarity in a set intended for the last hours of the night. Well-versed in slicing musicality and eccentricity into a floor-friendly techno set, Seaton weaves and winds his way across a stormy landscape with a tough bass providing the pathway, and glitches, muffles and high-end melodies informing the view.

It’s a thoughtful, often moody mix full of complex emotion, from apprehension to elation to reflection. M:I:5’s Maßtab sets the scene nicely, as though clouds are coming in before droplets start to fall. Objekt’s The Stitch Up gets things moving, but it’s the subtle-yet-significant bassline grooves here and throughout that provide the spine to the mix and, even in its darkest moments, give it an accent of hope. There are moments of jazz and soul, of acid and IDM. Dalliances in tropical with Don’t DJ’s Pornoire and electro with Jega’s ZX82 give welcome stabs of energy without ever deviating too far from the transcendence of the mix. Call Super’s own Acephale II is a high point. As the rain begins to subside, Walter Brown’s Keep On Walkin’ cuts through, a powerfully lucid memory of American slavery. When worked into the gentle Flamingo-esque pop of Yves Tumor’s The Feeling When You Walk Away, it makes for a heartbreaking combination.

Seaton’s deftness for blending styles and textures marks him out as a particularly musical DJ but here his knack for communicating a message also says a lot about him as a person. He’s not afraid to throw up challenges and suggestions, he’s committed to doing something different and he has something to say – in this instance, regardless of how stormy things get, beauty is there if you look for it.