How was 2012 For You? The fabric Team Share Their Highlights

A lot happens in a year, especially if you are hosting anything up to 30 DJs and live artists on a week[end]ly basis and co-ordinating 90 minutes of music from a DJ to press onto CD in our bi-monthly fabric and FABRICLIVE mix series. That’s a lot of music, experiences and a lot work done by a lot of people that make it all come together so to try and make sense of it all and take note of all the good things in life we felt it fit to invite some of the people involved in making it all happen to share their own personal highlights of the year past. There really have been some amazing things take place, and sometimes in the thick of it you’re working lineup to lin up and it all gets taken In your stride with little time to stand back and celebrate all the special moments. Like EZ playing for 10 hours or dBridge playing all night and not forgetting the Ricardo odysseys on rotation in Room One four times a year or the spontaneous back to back sessions we've seen with Omar S quickly jumping between the Room Two and Three booths to join NY house man DJ QU on the decks creating his own kind of acid laced heaven into the late morning one Sunday. Everyone involved has their own story, their own personal highlight that on contemplation rises to the top of all the happenings of the last twelve months so we made some time in the end of year mayhem to person by person catalogue and give our own nods to the moments that made the year a whole. There’s also your opportunity to inform the picture of 2012 in Farringdon, we’ve put together a hampers worth of prizes relayed at the end of this article, when you get there you’ll find out how to enter... Terry Francis – fabric Resident Terry has sent us his set from the birthday this year, something quite a few of you cited as your highlights from the 31 hour non-stop rave. Evidently he was feeling it too... Oli Marlow - Press Manager Our resident photographer Sarah Ginn has often impressed me by capturing the light fittings in our venue in her own brand of high definition but this one (pictured above), taken at Hessle Audio on 6th April, is the highlight of an incredibly strong year in this particular field. She makes the brickwork look like chocolate. Dave Gamble – FABRICLIVE Promoter 2012 has been amazing but to be honest there is only one contender for my highlight of the year and that has to be the DJ Machine that is DJ EZ. The Royal Family gave the country a Tuesday off work so EZ gave us 10 Hours of his best, any DJ playing a set length longer than the normal working day deserves to be respected but when you take into account the ferocity and speed of his mixing style it takes it to a new level. He absolutely demolished the dance floor and proved to me what so many people believe that he is head and shoulders above the rest of the game (metaphorically anyway). He even finished his set with this. Craig Richards - fabric Resident One of the saddest and most challenging aspects of being a modern day disc jockey is finding a club where records can be played to their full potential. Some clubs these days don't even have turntables..... There are a few clubs around the globe who still value the romance of listening to music in a vinyl format and of course fabric is one of them. Playing my records through a rotary mixer on that beautiful sound system continues to be one of my greatest pleasures in life. Leo Belchetz – Label I feel both the fabric & FABRICLIVE series have been consistently strong all year, both in quality and range of styles. But as the surrogate mother of all of the mixes in our series, I couldn’t possibly pick a favourite! Though I’ll confess that Sabre, Stray & Halogenix – Oblique (from FABRICLIVE 62: Kasra) was probably my top track from any of our mixes – and I wonder how many people found the hidden track on Pinch’s CD? Launching Ben Klock’s mix at Berghain with the label team, friends and family in attendance was a personal highlight. fabric is the only club to hold a bigger place in my heart, and the welcome and hospitality we received from their staff was truly touching. And that’s before I mention Ben’s incredible 9-hour set from Sunday night into Monday morning – the final long stretch of a true rave marathon! The Sunday night/Monday morning of our birthday weekend just one week later proved to be the highlight of my year at our own disco (though driving through the night from Liverpool to arrive just in time for Levon Vincent’s superb set at his album launch deserves an honourable mention). Ben UFO’s birthday set stood out for its expert selection and meticulously judged pace – skills I’m delighted he’s bringing to our mix series to kick off 2013! Kimi Otsuka - Office Manager Sandwell District at the fabric birthday: Head High- Dirt (Rave mix) When Sandwell played this track it really went off in Room Two. Another favourite set of mine from 2012 was MM/KM live at the Hessle night in August. MM/KM (Mix Mup/Kassem Mosse) - Lost In NPE2 The bass on the body sonic floor gave me goose bumps! Rob Buttersworth – Label The Levon Vincent mix. The music speaks for itself. Annie Buckle – Press A surprise set from Omar S and DJ Qu going B2B in Room Three back in June. It was completely unplanned and just came out of nowhere, which was a huge part of the excitement. Hearing Liz Torres' 'I Can’t Get Enough’ is a lasting memory from this special night Liz Torrens – Can’t Get Enough Shaun Roberts – FABRICLIVE Promoter I've been with the company for over a decade now and one of the most fulfilling parts of the job is watching (and, to flatter ourselves somewhat, aiding and abetting) the transition from precocious talent to "any chance you might be able to fit a gig at fabric into your schedule?". Dan Avery's contribution to the FABRICLIVE mix series was one such moment made all the more enjoyable because I know how hard he has worked for it. The perfect storm of killer releases on Erol Alkan's Phantasy label (if you don't know about 'Water Jump' yet, catch up) and an adventurous, technical, barnstorming mix CD has really put Dan into the frame as one of our most exciting prospects in the London electronic music scene. 3 of his all time heroes (Weatherall, Alkan and Chemical Brothers) have given him their seal of approval this year. He has earned it. Hats off to you Dan. You reap what you sow. My highlight of the year no. 1. Highlight of the year number 2 has to be the marathon six hour set (ok, it ended up being over 7 hours) in the summer from the Essex executioner, Andy C. To those of you who are used to 4 hour sets from house and techno DJs this may not seem a big deal but you only need to watch and hear Andy play once to understand that this is a whole different ball game. Mixes come thick and fast sometimes spitting out 2 records in a minute with a cheeky double drop in for good measure. The hype building up to this show was immense and he didn't disappoint. On stage in Room One with a towering Godzilla monitor rig that would be adequate for the main room of most clubs he worked his way through so many records that I had forgotten from his 20 years in the business. Upstairs afterwards we sat down to share a few drinks and relax. Andy spent his whole time cursing himself for forgetting to play certain records. I was under orders from his management to spoon him into a cab by 8am. I think I got him in to the car about half nine (sorry Scott) still explaining why we couldn't turn the sound system back on. Stone cold legend. If I had to pick a third it would be Andy C again, dancing to disco at his wedding but sharing that video with you would be unfair. Andy Blackett – fabric Promoter Sandwell District, for being general top boys and a great laugh, always enjoy having them as the venue, oh and their music isn’t too bad! Best bit was trying to get them in the car after the birthday as they had a gig at ADE on the Sunday and they nearly didn’t make it… if Alan their agent only knew how close there were to staying with us. The most surprising DJ set had to come from DJ Steaw, he played Room Three on the birthday and I'd ever heard him live before and it was my set of the year. I think it was probably because it was so unexpected, but he kept the tunes rolling and the set kept growing... Truly great music so thanks to the Bicep guys from bringing him in to the fold on the birthday. The prize for the best press shot of the year, or, should I say, most homo erotic shot of the year goes to Alex Jones! Saul Press – Promotions Traxman smashing it out on the Hyperdub RM1 takeover, all the sweet sounds of footwork banging out. Kirsti Weir – Press dBridge’s five hour set in Room Three this summer was one of the best things I’ve experienced here this year. He’s really got a machine like rough quality to his beats and through the room three soundsystem the whole room felt like a machine in itself the way the sounds were spat out. It’s also been an incredible listen back after I think we took the recording on holiday and listened it all day on the beach and driving round this tiny Greek island, it just goes to show that this was a really really special thing to have occurred. STREAM: dBridge 5 Hours set 03.08.2012 And Rob Booth and Dave's T-Shirts have rated very highly this year on the happyness scale too. We’ve also had an end of year clean in the office and found quite an array of unclaimed prizes from over the year that we’ve put together in this bumper pack with a few more surplus prizes for runners up. To be in with your chance of winning just head to our Facebook page or comment here sharing your own highlight of 2012 - it can be something related to our disco or label or not - winners will be announced on the thread in the New Year. Ricardo Dependent & Happy Album - Perlon Ricardo fabric 36 – signed Paul Ritch live at Green & Blue’s 10th Anniversary Levon Vincent: Novel Sound Stereo Systems / Together forever / Speck’s Jam 12” Bruno Pronsato – Lies about nights truths about days (Lick my dec) New Jack Techno - Turbo 12” Vivek – Against the tide / Trinity – Tectonic 12” D’Julz – Fofaka EP – Bass Culture Records 12” Joey Anderson – Earth Calls 12” – Deconstruct