Burial & Kode9 - FabricLive 100 (2018)

Kode9 & Burial present FABRICLIVE 100, with the final instalment of this iconic series seeing the two pioneers of UK bass music unite for a hypnotic 74-minute mix. While Burial has famously never DJ'd in public, he paired up with Kode9 for a one-off mix for Mary Anne Hobbs' final Experimental show on BBC Radio One broadcast on Sept 9th 2010. Kode9 has also on very special occasions performed 'All Burial' DJ sets. While they kept the tracklisting secret until the day of release, a move that sent the masses into a spiral of speculation, Kode9 and Burial's Fabric mix shows the pair are very much plugged into the fast-paced footwork and its influenced soundsystem burners that have defined much of Kode9's Hyperdub imprint over recent years...

While it's no surprise that both Kode9 and Burial are both well-researched junglists disciples, the tempos on FABRICLIVE 100 hit many of the same speeds as those foundational early to mid/late 90's LDN sound. Yet the artists are for the majority of the mix entirely contemporary (minus the odd Intense, Jacob's Optical Stairway and classic trance and DNB roller!!) while the 2-step RNB night cry and the Durban sound of Gqom Oh! get a strong look in also.

By far the standout moments are the bubbling bassline funky of Cooly G's Magnetic, the euphoric robotics of Luke Slater's Euro-trance sidewinder 'I Can Complete You', while the impossibly hard to get a hold of 'Underwater Fireworks' by Nut-E-1 and 'Drug Me' by Jungle Buddh, both of which we'd wager that it's worth buying the unmixed 4 x LP edition of alone just to own these classics on wax!! With ease and skill they mix Vladislav Delay into DJ Spinn, Babyfather into 4Hero's Jacob's Optical Stairway alias, before ending on an RP Boo banger that is slowly engulfed by the falling rain atmospheres, the signature Burial sound that makes his music such a perfect soundtrack to cold nights spent atop endlessly running night buses in deepest South London boroughs.

FABRICLIVE 100 is sure to be not only one of the most talked about mixes of 2018, but it's also the key that unlocks the sounds and influences of Burial's after-studio-hours sessions.