DMC presents Fabric 19: Andrew Weatherall

Every so often, reference is made to dance being dead, or rock being healthy, or vice versa. It implies the two things have an inverse relationship; that they can't co-exist. It's a load of old nonsense, as the work of Andrew Weatherall serves to prove. A cursory glance at his discography - featuring Creation, Heavenly, Factory, Rough Trade, One Little Indian, Warner, Talkin' Loud, Island, Boy's Own, Deconstruction, Warp, Rotters' Golf Club etc - undermines the cliche further. Or put another way: trends don't sell records, artists do. Andrew Weatherall lives his life in small print, not bold text, always supporting the independents, and ever ready to back the underdog. He cares for fashion but not what is fashionable. Nothing about him is painstakingly planned, or coolly calculated.

"It's only in the last five years that I've considered myself a DJ, 'cos when I first started, I just played records. I thought of it as a job, but I never thought of it as a career. When you start thinking career, you start thinking 'game plans', and 'I've gotta be at a certain stage', and 'oh, why am I still doing this' if, you know, 'my career should be here'. I've never thought of it as a career. Call me an underachiever but I never... I think if you start thinking of it as a career, you start thinking you've gotta be here at a certain time, then you start taking shortcuts and start making the wrong kind of decisions. For a long time I put myself down and said it wasn't a proper job. But it is." - Andrew Weatherall

'Fabric 19' is Andrew's second or third official mix CD (it's a little hard to tell for certain). Inspired by a recent DJ set at Fabric, in support of the band !!!, he began to stick any deep and sleazy house tracks he found in a separate pile at home. For the mix, he's blended them with a few deep and druggy records, and some sleek and poppy ones. It features electro, acid, house, techno, schaffel, synths, and electric guitars, and it provides many of his typical 'moments'; the Egyptian Lover crashing into Sexual Harassment, for example, or the Joy Division-inspired selection of The Emperor Machine, to precede he and Keith Tenniswood's cover version of Ricardo Villalobos.

"You know, I was a little bit arrogant. I was thrown into it - a young kid in the suburbs - and in a matter of months there's these people telling you you're the best thing since sliced bread. It can go to your head a little bit, so the quality control suffered. As I got older and a little bit wiser, I realised I had to be on my game and not slack, and not be self-centred. I got to sit there and think 'is what I'm doing (whether it's playing records or making them), is it as good as what other people are doing-' It's a constant process of looking at yourself. To be honest, the last couple of years I have thought, in the back of my mind, 'what would happen if I gave up DJing or cut it right down-' And then I thought 'no, I can't do it!' As hard work as it is sometimes, it's so helpful to the studio side of things to hear other people's music, play it, kind of deconstruct it, and be blown away. You've gotta have that - people constantly raising the bar - and that's what I like about playing other people's music. When you get back to the studio in the week, you know you've got to exercise really high standards, and high quality control." - Andrew Weatherall

Tracklisting
01 - Sexual Harassment - I Need a Freak
02 - The Egyptian Lover - Freak-A-Holic
03 - Kango's Stein Massive - M/S Langåra (Syntax Erik Mix)
04 - DJ T. - Time Out (Acid Dub) -
05 - Alexkid - Don't Hide It (Alexkid's Vocal)
06 - Tomboy - She Hit My Head
07 - Delon And Dalcan - Dunufus
08 - Marc Romboy Vs. Booka Shade - Everyday Of My Life
09 - Jesper Dahlbäck - Robot Dance
10 - Steve Bug - That Kid (Hate Mix)
11 - Metope - Second Skin
12 - Miwon - Brother Mole (John Tejada Mix)
13 - Black Devil - Timing, Forget The Timing
14 - The Emperor Machine - Bloody Hell
15 - Ric Tags

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