- Certain privileges come with being a DJ of Steffi's stature. One is access to unreleased and exclusive tunes. In some circles, upcoming tracks—plus countless never to be released weapons—are passed around long before they hit record store shelves, rinsed by DJs connected with talented producers who churn out tunes by the week. Steffi, a Panorama Bar resident, makes use of her connections on fabric 94, a mix made up entirely of unreleased music.
fabric 94's sound isn't the melodic house many associate with Steffi and her home club. Instead, you'll find moody electro and atmospheric techno, supplied by producers like Voiski, Duplex and Answer Code Request. It's a heady affair with complex percussion, subtle atmospheres and plenty of bleeps and blops. It's not the set you'd expect from a DJ I once heard, at Panorama Bar, mix Joy Orbison's "Ellipsis" with WK7's "Do It Yourself," the biggest house tracks of that year. But Steffi has always had an ear for deep cuts. She's the kind of DJ who can roll out the hits or play a set stacked with sophisticated bombs. fabric 94 is a case of the latter.
This sophisticated side is also heard on Klakson, a label she founded with the electro artist Dexter in 2000. He appears twice on fabric 94; one of his tracks, "Off The Beat," is a collaboration with Virginia. It's a standout moment in the mix's stellar final third, home to slamming minimalist electro and zapping basslines. "World Gets Crazy," a forthcoming collaboration from Steffi and John Daly, is another late highlight, combining heaving low-end and slamming percussion with the kind of technoid aesthetic currently found on labels like Cabaret Recordings.
The mix's opening segment is less hard-hitting. The mood is dense and downcast, with introspective tracks by L.u.c.a. and Unbalance. There's also "1.5" from STFSHD, Steffi's first collaboration with Shed. The beats are nimble and the atmospheres are thick, but the fog hangs around for too long. By the time Mesak's snappy "Commonaukko" arrives halfway through the mix, we're ready for the extra energy it brings. The set rolls like a dream from there, with jacking rhythms and an edgier mood. Duplex's growling "Voidfiller" paves the way for a medley of reduced electro tracks, concluding with Privacy's "Broke." Without a straight house or techno beat to be heard, fabric 94 is a meditative set from a DJ with more sides than most.
Tracklist01. L.u.c.a. - Echo 1
02. Voiski - Sound Of Distance
03. STFSHD - 1.5
04. Unbalance - Freedom
05. Doms & Deykers - No Life On The Surface
06. Answer Code Request - Forking Path
07. Dexter - 66
08. 214 - Sound Moments
09. Mesak - Commonaukko
10. Duplex - Voidfiller
11. Late Night Approach - Poison Valley
12. UAS - World Gets Crazy
13. Afik Naim - Saturniidae
14. Dexter & Virginia - Off The Beat
15. Privacy - Broke