Name: DJ EZ - Fabriclive 71
Item: DJ EZ - Fabriclive 71
Author: Stephen Titmus

EZ is the greatest UK garage DJ there ever has been and probably ever will be. Hardly anyone can make well-worn anthems sound exciting the way he does, which goes a long way to explain his continuing popularity through the years UKG became unfashionable. His mix for fabric cements a blossoming relationship between himself and the London institution after some hugely successful sets at the club over the past few years. EZ has pedigree in mix compilations. His Pure Garage CDs were a big deal in the UK, often reaching the upper echelons of the compilation charts. But despite their commercial success, there was something missing from Pure Garage. The mixes were good, but tapes of EZ playing at raves like Garage Nation were always more exciting. Thankfully his Fabriclive mix is full of the inimitable mixing and quick fire blends that make EZ's live sets so jaw-dropping. A case in point is the way he brings in Cleptomaniacs "All I Do." Using the cue button of the CDJ like an MPC, he punches in a vocal sample in triplet time before dropping the track in perfectly on cue. It's exactly the kind of inventive mixing that made EZ's Boiler Room session such a joy—the kind of mix that provoked Bradley Zero to interrupt just to say, "We don't understand what just happened!" The way he introduces the Exmen rework of Sia's "Little Man" is also worth noting. Like "All I Do," "Little Man" is a stone cold classic that's been played at almost every garage night since 2000, but EZ manages to mix it in a novel way. By flicking between the faders, he chops up the sound of two records to create an entirely new rhythmic interplay. EZ's been doing this choppy style of mixing for well over 15 years, but no one can get close to copying it. This high standard of mixing continues apace for 32 tracks. The result is pure peak-time party, with almost every blend a creative one and every record an impactful tune. Selections veer between garage staples and newer tracks from Disclosure and Royal-T. Garage nerds may have wanted EZ to include more obscure tracks, or perhaps try and push the envelope a bit more. I'm glad he didn't. EZ's never been a purist and has always had an unpretentious love for UK garage's past. In 1999 that meant playing records from the genre's pre-history, such as Logic's "Blues For You," with upfront 2-step from Groove Chronicles. Today that means taking anthems like Dem 2's "Destiny" and rubbing them up against music from the many post-UK garage spin offs. It's to EZ's credit that when the tunes become a little too corny, as they do with Mike Delinquent's "Live" (which riffs on Seal's "Killer"), there's always a great mix and a huge record just around the corner. EZ's rep has long been a thing of legend within his own genre. With any luck, this hook-up with fabric will win him the respect he deserves across the board.

Tracklist

01. EZ -EZ Intro 7 02. Artful Dodger feat. Zoe Kypri - No I Turn You On (Disclosure Remix - DJ EZ Special) 03. Moony - Relax 04. Cleptomaniacs - All I Do (Bump & Flex Dance Floor Dub) 05. Jammin - Hold On 06. Sia ft Little Man - Exemen Works 07. Jook 10 - The Beginning 08. SBTRKT feat. Sampha - Living Like I Do (Lil Silva Remix) 09. Cause & Affect - Kamikazee 10. Shystie - Pull It (Fabian Dubz Remix) 11. N'N'G - I Keep 12. Stephen Emmanuel presents Colours - Hold On (SE22 Mix) 13. Woz - Reach 14. Mike Delinquent Project feat. KCAT - Live 15. Dem 2 - Destiny 16. Majestic - Let's Go Back 17. Royal T - I Know You Want Me 18. Nativ - Afrocentrism 19. DJ Q presents Classified - Classified Bass 20. EZ - Want You Back 21. Todd Edwards - Javid Khan 22. Once Waz Nice - Messing Around (Wideboys Mix) 23. Disclosure feat. Eliza Doolittle - You & Me 24. Ed Case feat. Shelley Nelson - Something In Your Eyes 25. Smokin Beats - Dreams 26. Disclosure feat. Ria Ritchie - Control 27. Issac Christopher - The Good Old Days (Kerri Chandler Instrumental) 28. MD X-Press - God Made Me Phunky 29. Cause & Affect - Social Experiment 30. RiP Productions (Mellow Works) 31. MJ Cole - Sincere 32. Jess Mills - Vultures (MJ Cole Remix)