Nina Kraviz - Fabric 91 (2016)

Nina Kraviz is a Siberian born singer, producer, song-writer and DJ renowned as a passionate record digger and for her outstanding taste in idiosyncratic electronic music. One of the world's most in demand DJs, her hunger to dig deep into the archives of electronic music mean her surprising and unique sets serve as a master class in both the past and future. Her earliest international solo hits appeared on Underground Quality and Rekids, where she released her album Nina Kraviz in 2012, with a DJ Kicks mix in 2015. Her uncompromising attitude and individual sound led to the creation of her own label трип in 2014, where she's able to fully realise her heartfelt divergent aesthetic. In her fabric mix Kraviz takes the listener down the road less travelled. fabric 91 is pieced together from a series of live takes and careful listening will reveal two narratives, separated by a breath, weaving together techno, IDM, electronica, ambient and many disparate facets of acid. The mix includes collectors' rarities like Bedouin Ascent, Frak 'First Snow in Harlem', Mike Henk, DJ Slip and Woody McBride, as well as under-exposed Russian 90s IDM and electronica from Species of Fishes (that was released as just a few CDs) and New Composers & Pete Namlook. Some of Nina's favourite but less known acid stompers illustrate her personal take on acid and acid trance, drawn from practitioners across the globe. From the airy acidic cuts of Minneapolis' DJ ESP and Belgian DJ Tuttle to the much rougher takes of Dutch pioneers Unit Moebius and I-F, the acid trance of Thomas P Heckmann and Frankfurt psychedelic acid of Air Liquide and on to the furious jewel of Italian Reflex label related D'archangelo (Automatic Sound Unlimited). The mix also introduces numerous unreleased tracks from трип including upcoming works by Bjarki, Nikita Zabelin, PTU, Biogen, Orange Juice Man and Nina herself. In fact, the mix features no current releases at all. Every track is either a classic rarity or an unreleased treasure from the future. Starting with stripped back Species of Fishes and Bedouin Ascent, Kraviz takes the listener from the acid thumps of 'Beverly Hills 808303 'Acid Planet', to blissful Icelandic techno from Torul V and blurred vocals in her own 'Pochuvstvui' and 'You are Wrong', completely grinding to a halt at one point, before gliding through a breakbeat frenzy with 'Lag 38' on towards further sonic explorations where some tracks, like Pansonic's 'Murtaja', are woven into the mix for mere seconds, closing with a previously unreleased gem from a young Aphex Twin. Nina's depth of musical imagination and subtle deftness behind the decks elegantly bridge decades, genres and beloved influences on fabric 91, proving her once again to be a master of the unconventional ride.