- It might not always feel that way when you're trying to squeeze across the dance floor, but Room 2, with its steady diet of thumping techno, can be fabric's comfort zone. In that sense, Ben Sims' fabric 73 mix has achieved his stated aim of capturing Room 2's "perfect but elusive" vibe, delivering a set of pure 4/4 thump.
A DJ for nearly 30 years, the Essex-born artist has been in the game for twice as long as fabric, and he's hit upon a winning formula he sees no point in changing—namely, bouncy dance floor techno performed on three decks. It's a tactile and spontaneous style seemingly at odds with the way this mix was constructed: recorded in separate sections and then edited in Ableton in a similar manner to Richie Hawtin's DE9: Closer To The Edit. Yet on fabric 73, the rapid-fire cutting between tracks (which reflects Sims' past as a hip-hop DJ) couldn't be farther from Hawtin's long segues and molecular mixing. Sims simply zeroes straight in on the 90 seconds or so he needs of each track—almost always the parts that stomp around like an elephant in steel toecaps.
But while there are stretches where Sims seems to be sadistically piling on the pressure, he's far from forgotten the fun or the funk. He doesn't pull out anything as cheesy as his bootleg of Sylvester's "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)," but parts of this are just downright daft in the best possible way. The rubber mallet noise on Sims' "Break Glass" is more silly hardcore than serious techno. The rave revivalism of "Joy Rider" could be a blast from Sims' acid house past, and the elastic electro touches on the James Ruskin remix of Marcel Dettmann's "Corebox" should get you grinning like an acid smiley face. Like Room 2 on a Saturday night, you pretty much know what you'll get with Ben Sims. If that's what you're after then you won't be disappointed.
トラックリスト01. Joton - GS 01
02. Kryptic Minds & Paul Mac - Icon
03. Kirk Degiorgio - Dread
04. Alden Tyrell - Wurk It
05. Ben Sims - The Little Jam (Edit)
06. Floorplan - Higher (Ben Sims Remix)
07. Gingy & Bordello - All Day (Robert Hood Remix)
08. Dimi Angélis & Jeroen Search - Monopole (Sims JFF Edit)
09. Tripeo - Kienokki (Edit)
10. Benjamin Damage - Recursion
11. Ben Sims - Raise Your Hands (Mr G Remix)
12. Mark Broom - 133
13. MDL vs JR - Belmont (Edit)
14. Marcel Dettmann - Corebox (James Ruskin Blueprint Mix)
15. Mark Ambrose - Shooting Stars (Fokus Group Remix Edit)
16. Robert Hood - Moveable Parts (Untitled 1 Mark Broom Edit)
17. Ben Sims - Break Glass (Sims Remix Edit)
18. L-Vis 1990 - SDS5000
19. Sandrien - I Left My Girlfriend In A Club (Edit)
20. J Tijn - U U U
21. Nphonix - Tactix (Sims JFF Edit)
22. Mike Dehnert - Eigenzeit
23. Ben Sims - Break Glass (LVis 1990 Dance System Remix Edit)
24. L-Vis 1990 - Wires
25. Donnie Tempo - Tazmanian Virus (Sims JFF Edit)
26. Chicago Skyway - Fall Down (Sims JFF Edit)
27. Chicago Skyway - Ride 3 (Sims JFF Edit)
28. Truncate - Room Mode
29. Truncate - Model 1
30. Paul Mac - Grind Returns (Ritzi Lee Remix)
31. Ben Sims - Samurai (Edit)
32. Julien H Mulder - Symmetric Timeline (Sims JFF Edit)
33. Rod - 90's (Edit)
34. Ben Sims - Something (Sims Beats Mix Edit)
35. Terrence Dixon - Minimalism A1 (Ben Klock Remix)
36. Ø [Phase] - Distracted
37. Ben Sims - Dream State (Edit)
38. Ben Sims - Raw Hide
39. Pfirter - Ahora (Sims JFF Edit)
40. Ben Sims - Neurosis (Surgeon Remix Edit)
41. Clouds - Chained To A Dead Camel
42. Fokus Group - Nut Nut
43. Ben Sims - Joyrider (Trevino Remix Edit)
44. Special Request - Broken Dreams