"Fabric 45"
(Fabric)
nine / ten
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OMAR S - DETROIT: "Fabric 45" (Fabric)
nine / ten |
Omar S is from Detroit. He makes sublime Detroit techno and house in the venerable Detroit tradition. He named his Fabric mix Detroit - comprised of all his own compositions Ð in honour of the city's proud legacy of ground breaking electronic artists. He works by day in a job in the city's crumbling car industry and goes home and makes music in his basement. Fiercely independent, he owns all his own compositions and releases and sells them through his FXHE label.
With this utterly compelling, near flawless mix album set against a backdrop of soulful synths, subterranean beats, and euphoric, throbbing rhythms(and worth it for the mind frazzling 'Psychotic Photosynthesis' alone) he has propelled himself in the same stratosphere of Detroit legends like Derrick May, Jeff Mills and Juan Atkins. Yeah, it's that good.
It's a terrible cliche to say that a dj has embarked on a 'journey' with a mix, but Omar S has done so on this comp. From the aptly titled take off point of 'Polycopter', the mix ventures into the heart of Detroit music, a celebration of the cerebral, soulful and the corporeal. The moods are tangible and luminescent: 'Strider's World' is brooding; 'U' crudely effective vocals add to the woozy bliss; 'Blade Runner' is taut, eerie and unforgiving.
The album's centrepiece is the aforementioned 'Psychotic Photosynthesis', a gently unraveling masterwork of deep house rapture. Exhilarating.
Mark Keane
www.omarsdetroit.us
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