Simian Mobile Disco's primary focus may be on indie-tinged
electro pop, but their first mix compilation, a set last year
for Bugged Out's Suck My Deck Series, proved that when it
comes to the business of DJing, they have the skills where it
counts. Rather than simply cram the thing with trendy indie
dance tracks and stick their name on it, the boys carefully
thought-out and impeccably executed mix of squelchy, glitchy
new rave tracks. Their newest compilation, FabricLive.41
(Fabric/Inertia), is equally intriguing and well thought-out,
only this time, their focus is on techno. An early highlight
is the Serge Santiago remix of Hercules & Love Affair's Blind,
which stretches the original out, taking its old-school disco
grooves to a far more slick, ice place. The messed-up, blippy
electro disco thing continues for a few more tracks, taking in
Discodeine's Joystick and Shit Robot?s Chasm, until, towards
the middle, Moon Dog's strange, jaunty instrumental Suite
Equestria kicks in. From here, things get a little louder, and
the squelchy, distorted sound of Simian Mobile Disco's
originals starts to come through on on Jelo & DeadMau5's The
Reward Is Cheese and the Simon Baker remix of the group's own
Sleep Deprivation. Things get a little more old school after
that, as the set moves on to Woolford & Peru's Eritoc
Discourse and Green Velvet's classic Flash, before closing
with the wonky, not-quite-Duran Duran of The Walker Brothers
Night Flights. As their DJ skills continue to improve, one can
only wonder what the next lot of Simian Mobile Disco album
tracks will sound like.