Fabric 56: Derrick Carter

The legendary Chicago veteran Derrick Carter's addition to the Fabric series promised to be something truly succulent. And it doesn't disappoint for a second. It's a clever move from Fabric to intersperse their releases between contemporary producers/DJs such as Shackleton and DJ Marky and veteran acts such as Drop the Lime and David Rodigan - appreciation of the past while nodding towards the future. But Derrick Carter's set is an unpretentious joy. Listening to it in a Salford flat really isn't good enough. You have to close your eyes and imagine being swept into the club atmosphere. Something like Katy B might warble on about. But dirtier; dirty is good. And Fabric 56 is an absolute sweatbox.

The mix takes in ten years of definitive house tracks. It's not a rise-fall-rise compilation, Carter specializes in smacking one furious, railroad track beat on top of another until you're desperately trying to ignore the heaviness in your legs and wondering when you can take a breather. But it won't happen; you'll just have to bite your lip and keep going. It swings from industrial tech-house to old-school electro hip-hop before flashing back into deep, fuzzy soulful beats; always remaining intense and euphoric. Scattered throughout the mix are embossed vocal samples, fragments of disco, nuggets of soul, slivers of brass. Basically, everything that a great house set should have. And from the bare rhythm tracks that make up the early part of the record, the bass steadily creeps upwards in the mix during the set, until it's practically assailing your internal chemistry.

The Fabric compilations have always been at their best when they exude the atmosphere of a great live set into your headphones, speaker cones or boom-box. Carter's skill in creating this is that he doesn't try to be overly clever with the technical mixes or pretentiously focusing on obscure tracks. It's one of the best Fabric releases of recent years and part of a continual renaissance for a release line that was slipping into over-familiarity and drudgery a few years back. Derrick Carter's Fabric mix is basically a condensed block party in a CD case: it is never anything less than outrageous fun. - Drowned in Sound