Audio: Sandwell District Live At Plex

Together, Sandwell District are a label and production entity that are incredibly hard to define. Flouting most of the rules to success in today’s music industry, they’ve achieved cult status and a very loyal and passionate following amongst the underground techno community since their first release in 2002. We’re welcoming them back to our club on the 15th of January - along with Deetron, Agoria and the air London crew - following the release their first LP, ‘Feed Forward,’ which, despite their typical non-press plan, has received numerous rapturous reviews and the 700 limited edition clear vinyl copies, sold out within days. It’s this kind of cloak and dagger approach to releasing music that has created such a healthy mystique around the group, who’ve been steadily building their reputation over the course of their anonymous releases with a strong art aesthetic, which is nowhere more evident than on their blog, run by member Juan Mendez, aka Silent Servant. Other collaborators at the core of Sandwell District are Dave Sumner (Function), Karl O’Connor (Regis) and Peter Sutton (Female), who all share production duties and label running responsibilities. Regis and Function take control of the live aspect of Sandwell District controlling a set up that mixes the digital with analogue, DJing, whilst mixing aspects of live performance into the sound stew. The computerized aspects are not synched with the outboard equipment, but the two work off each other live manually cueing the software and machines. It’s these fresh and unpredictable combinations that give SD the live energy that we’re eagerly anticipating from their set in Room Two. Ahead of their appearance at Fabric we’ve scored a 2 hour live set for our blog recorded at Plex in February 2010. Check out their curation at this year’s Bloc Weekend festival for a lineup that includes SD’s very own Silent Servant here. DOWNLOAD: Sandwell District Live At Plex