Fabric is one of the world’s super clubs, and the FabricLive monthly mix CD’s are just as famous as the actual club itself. Punters the world over find themselves eagerly awaiting the next release in the collection, wondering which of the world’s best breaks, house, electro and hip hop artists will be next to lend their name and mixing skills to a quality series. The FabricLive series is one of those that appeals to a broad range of people, with many sure to have at least one or two that claimed a spot on their high rotation list at one stage or another (mine are 04 – Deadly Avenger and 30 -Stanton Warriors). Always at the forefront of cool, it’s no surprise that the latest act to take the reins is none other than those bad boys of alternative electro rap, Spank Rock.

Kicking off with the Kurtis Blow classic ‘The Breaks’, you could be fooled for thinking this would be simply a breaks oriented mix. The opening part of the album is heavy on the breakbeat tinge, and opening track leads into the Spank Rock remix of CSS’s ‘Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above’ and Mr Oizo’s ‘Nazis’. From here the album moves into that middle ground between breaks and electro with Yello’s ‘Bostich’, Zongamin’s ‘Bongo Song’ and Kano’s ‘I’m Ready’. By the time we the first third is over, we’ve seemingly dropped the breakbeat influence and focused on electro, running into artists such as Daft Punk (‘Technologic’), Switch (‘A Bit Patchy’), Mylo (‘Drop the Pressure’) and The Contours’ ‘Do You Love Me’ remixed with a sample of Justin Timberlake’s ‘Like I Love You’.

From here the inclusion of ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’ by Yes leads to an 80’s revival, the famed catchy guitar riff slotting perfectly into the mix. But just when you think you’re going to step back into the era of big hair and shoulder pads, the boys manage to reel it back in, slipping into electro house mode, with KW Griff’s ‘Good Man’, Uffie’s ‘Hot Chick’ and Simian Mobile Disco’s ‘Hustler’. Drifting back into 80’s territory with The Romantics and ‘Talking In Your Sleep’, it’s clear that this is a party rocking set, but what isn’t clear is whether you should laugh or be impressed at these long-forgotten inclusions.

Into the final stretch and we hear the likes of Bonde Do Role with their gibberish sounding ‘Melô Do Tabacco’ (XXXChange Remix With The Ford Granada) and the hip hop stylings of Rick Ross and ‘Hustlin’’. For me the hip hop arrives a bit too late, but it’s still a nice addition, with a lead-in into Hot Chip’s ‘Over and Over’ (Maurice Fulton remix) that works surprisingly well. The album finishes with disco funk outfit L.T.D. and ‘Love to the World’, and a dialogue outro secretly recorded before Spank Rock’s live performance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show.

Spank Rock have pulled out all stops in creating a record of varying genres, and unlike some artists who sound completely different live compared to a studio effort, it’s probably what you would hear at one of their shows. What you see (or hear) with Spank Rock is what you get. That’s the beauty of this album and the FabricLive series in general. Spank Rock don’t subscribe to the theory of pigeonholing yourself into one style. A lesser act could get lost with trying to achieve too much, but this record has just the right mix of breaks, house, electro and hip hop to get any party started.