A-Trak - Fabriclive.45 (Fabric)
4/5
By: Alex Hibbert
Having won the world DMC competition at just fifteen, and subsequently four times more, been a member of Skratch Picklz, The Allies and, oh yeah, Kanye West's crew, it seems A-Trak - AKA Alain Macklovitch - knows his way around a turntable. The question is: can he translate his unquestionable skill onto a format that doesn't allow the freedom, mistakes or the certain je nais se que of the live venue? And exactly where does he fit in the modern day spectrum of dance music?
A-Trak's opener, his own 'Say Whoa!,' slightly skewed in nature for the very fact it was written for Nike's Original Run series, certainly helps with the introduction. "Hello, my name is A-Trak" is mixed in dexterously, "thank you for inviting me into your home," he enthuses, but an hour later the pleasures all ours. Though associated mainly with Hip-Hop in his earlier outings, that tag is wearing suitably thin, as what A-Trak does here is merge together genres, tracks and ideas with a deft touch that's not only eased by his prowess behind the decks, but in administering a dose of music from a never ending range of influences. So we find the juxtaposition earlier bass-led musings, introduced in the first 'Say Whoa! You Can't Hide From Your Bud' mash up, heavily fractured by the tropical paradise rendering of 'Sweet Mothers' calypso beat, which itself is broken into by the Baltimore Club beat of 'The Ish' by DJ Class, which segues into the quite perfect 'Heartbreaker.' Was that a mouthful? Well if your drawing breath quickly try listening to this, A-Trak's mixing is a kaleidoscope of ideas and influences, cutting into and out of samples, loops and tracks with a delirious abandonment, but still managing to make the end result sound incredible.
I've been espousing the beauty Dance music can evoke for ages, and though I suppose beauty isn't commonly associated with sweaty types gnashing their teeth, there's definite beauty to behold here. Take the transition from Rob Threezy's 'The Chase' into Aeroplane's remix of 'Friendly Fire's 'Paris,' in which a sense of beauty is exaggerated amongst the lush vocal of Au Revoir Simone, and even in the deep throb of A-Trak's own remix of Boys Noizes' 'Oh!' But if there's beauty in the simplicity of these tracks then the beast must be Zombie Nation's 'Forza,' where A-Trak's scratching is so quick it literally creates a song within a song, and both merging together seamlessly to create quite daunting prospect. In fact A-Trak isn't afraid to get involved anywhere he can, moulding Alex Gopher's electro stomp 'Aurora' into a cacophonous wail of crowd and bass and reintroducing DJ Zinc's sublime year 2000 cut '138 Trek.' for an all out aural assault climax.
So what about those earlier questions? In fact both are hard to answer. A-Trak's scope isn't centred on genres or scenes, but that's not to say I like everything here - then again I don't think that's the point. If everything was to my taste I may even feel let down. Why? Because this isn't an album for anybody, its an album for everybody. And what is it A-Trak has that others don't? Maybe that certain je nais se que.
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment