Toddla T – FabricLIVE 47 (Fabric)
2/5
By: Tim Smith
This is the forty seventh mix of what has arguably become the most influential way to get your ears lapped round new dance tunes- FabricLIVE mixes. If you can pull off a good FabricLIVE mix you will find yourself in clubs across the country and become essential to UK’s dance scene. According to Toddla T’s shooting to stardom through Radio 1, we are meant to trust in the music he brings us. What he does bring is a lot of fun. But he is really Radio 1 - and by this I mean he is probably trying to please too many people. It leads to there being just too many split ends for my liking.
Toddla T manages to touch upon Grime, Afrobeat, Garage, Breaks and Dub - the type of genres in an idea world that would be played in Oceana. And it is that type of music. Best enjoyed with two Tropical VKs on the go at the same time.
Featuring on his mix are a few Toddla T productions and remixes. Caspa, Skream and Deadmau5 all feature. Drums of Death’s ‘jump up bangers’ are a high point in the mix. Toddla does have a talent of breathing a certain amount of charm into numerous Garage tracks in the mix but the rest of the time the toneless bass lines and “beans on toast” MCing from Serocee throughout the mix just do not appeal to me in the slightest.
The mixing itself is in time but swapping from one tune to another seems to be a chore for TT and in turn it’s a chore for us to listen to. The tunes he has drafting in lack a variety in structure and lacking in originality and inspiration.
The sound itself as well seems flat lacking in any sort of punch. The aural excitement is founded in the urban lollypop harmonies throughout. Where Toddla T is at his best is when he brings together different songs that are ridiculously stupid and fun and he asks to whoever is listening to dance that arses off. If you don’t like it or you’re not p*ssed off your face you probably won’t want to bump and grind like the rhythms often ask you to do.
So, there is nothing groundbreaking about this mix in the tunes that he’s chosen or the way that he plays them. It stays on one level which takes the thrill out of it, nothing becomes of the pace the hype. But I don’t think Toddla T should be judged too harshly as his heart’s in the right place, but that doesn’t remove the fact that his mix will be one of the more forgettable in the FabricLIVE series. Slightly tacky, slightly cheeky, but defiantly only worth bearing if you’ve promised yourself a kebab at the end of the night.
Artists in this article: Toddla T
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