As of Monday, I will have officially turned 20 years old. The departure from teenage-hood suggests new responsibility, on top of impending exams and three important pieces of coursework. I have also calculated I will be attending fabric at least 7 times in the next 6 weeks.

I'm aware that in my context that is slightly absurd, especially as I only recently vowed to reduce the frequency I visit fabric. The bottom line is I'm piss-poor, and despite the discounts I receive as a member, a night at fabric is never cheap. Add to this a determination to protect my mind and body as well as a general desire to use the club sparingly these days and I'm probably appearing a little foolish and rather hypocritical. But what can I say? fabric's programming this year continues to amaze and seduce in a way impossible to ignore. It's difficult to believe the club was in administration just last year, with its future ominously in the balance. But such is the institutional force of the fabric brand that it has made billing the biggest names in electronic music weekly, look so effortless and routine.

April and May arguably offer the most exciting run of line-ups at the club for quite some time. As usual, Saturdays continue to explore the leading trends of house and techno, especially with the return of Sven Väth and his Cocoon night in May, while Kill Em All is also back for the third time of the year on a Friday, alongside a highly anticipated BNR take over in Room One. There are even a couple of Thursdays and Sundays that are appealing. In short, the fabric programme over the next 6 weeks or so is not to be ignored, and here's our pick of of what's going on.

Saturday April 16th:
fabric with Magda, Sebo K, Kate Simko (live), Taimur Agha, Terry Francis, Ryan Elliott, Barker & Baumecker (live), Maratrax 11-8am, £19 on the door/18 advance/£10 fabricfirst/students
These days it requires something a little bit special for fabric to tempt me if there's no Craig Richards, and the 16th is the perfect example. Room One will be headlined by mighty Magda, who requires no introduction, for what I hope will be an extended set of her famously murky m-nus minimal. After the mind-blowing WYS! appearance from labelmate Gaiser a fortnight ago, I've been itching for more Minus and other than Ritchieeeee, there's nobody better than the pint-sized Pole.

Thursday April 21st:
fabriclive presents Adventures in The Beetroot Field with Carte Blanche, Tensnake (live).... 9pm-6am £10/12/10
It's not often you'll see us previewing fabriclive on SOTW, and it's even rarer for us to preview a Thursday, but the Easter weekend edition of ATBF is both. The line-up is extensive to say the least, with 22 acts billed for the three rooms, but there are two in particular that caught my attention. Carte Blanche's (DJ Mehdi & Riton) debut last year at Kill Em All was magnificent, so if that's anything to go by then their set on this night will certainly something to consider if you don't have to be up early on Friday morning. Add to that a live set from Disco-House maverick Tensnake and the weekend could be kicking off early in style.

Saturday April 23rd:
fabric with Craig Richards, Steve Bug, Jamie Jones, Andrew Weatherall, Slam (live), Russ Yallop, Subb-Ann (live)... 11-8am, £15/16/10
Leaving Room One on the 23rd could be difficult. Steve Bug and Jamie Jones on their own would make a night unmissable in most venues, but together alongside Craig Richards in fabric is a seriously hot prospect. Predicting set times has troubled me; It's very possible that Richards may close the night from 6am, with Jones and Bug preceding him- who starts first out of those two is something I'm still unsure of. But if you're brave enough to vacate Room One at all then there remains plenty of choice in the other two rooms, especially as Lee Foss's Hot Natured label takes over Room Three. Subb-Ann and Russ Yallop, who has also released on Crosstown Rebels, will surely tempt me and Chris away at some point.

Thursday April 28th:
fabric with Paul Kalkbrenner (live), Simina and Dominick Eulberg 10pm-3am, £12.50 for all (advance tickets only)
Like me, if you attended John Digweed's annual Christmas rave at fabric last year you were probably very disappointed when you discovered Paul Kalkbrenner was one of the several weather related casualties of the night. Well, to make up for it he's back, but this time on a Thursday (another one) where he will deliver one of his legendary live sets of acquired, chilled-out techno. A word of warning: Despite the night being promoted by and held at fabric, there will be no tickets available on the door, which means even immortal fabricfirst members like myself will have to cough-up the full price of £12.50 before the night. Do not make the same mistake as I did for when Nicolas Jaar performed at London Electronic a few weeks ago and assume there will be at least some tickets on the door. As far as I know there won't, and tickets are running out fast.

Saturday April 30th:
fabric with Craig Richards, Onur Özer, Benoit & Sergio (live), Marcel Dettmann... 11-8am, £19/18/10
By this date, I will have certainly attended fabric at least three times in the space of two weeks so I was actually hoping for mediocre line-up before this night was announced. Alas, it is not mediocre in the slightest, with the return of Craig Richards joined by Visionquest's finest live act, Benoit & Sergio and Turkish minimal maestro Onur Özer, who also happens to be one of my favourite minimal DJ's. Room Two also features Berghain resident and RA's no. 10 DJ last year, Marcel Dettmann- something I will definitely be sampling regardless of what's happening in the main room. I forecast this to be the one to avoid missing over the next 6 weeks.

Sunday May 1st:
WYS! Bank Holiday Special at fabric with Miss Kittin, Stephan Bodzin, Marc Romboy, Sei A, Perc... 11pm-8am, £15/16/10
One of many bank holiday Sunday's premier parties, for this occasion WYS! opens up all three rooms and will be just like a Saturday, going all the way until at least 8am. The main room is headed by French temptress, Miss Kitten who will surely have the gents in awe of not just the beats, while Room Two hosts one of Marc Romboy and Stephan Bodzin's tag-team sessions, accompanied by Turbo's Sei A among others. If you're stuck choosing what bank holiday party to go to, WYS! is a safe bet.

Saturday May 7th:
fabric with Tyrant (Craig Richards & Lee Burridge), Guy Gerber (live), Dave Clarke... 11-8am, £18/19/10
The headline act of which is half comprised of the resident DJ may not light as many fires, but anyone who has enjoyed a night at the mercy of Craig Richards and Lee Burridge will most likely tell you the same thing: they didn't stop dancing. Expect basslines you've never heard before on a soundsystem like you've never felt before- these two incredible DJ's are unstoppable when they're together. If Craig Richards's encyclopedic knowledge of music doesn't do it for you, then Lee Burridge's infectious energy will. The experimental Israeli producer Guy Gerber will also perform live in the main room, while Room Two welcomes the don of techno, Dave Clarke for what promises to be a blistering session of his signature sound.

Saturday May 14th:
fabric with Zip, Craig Richards, Agoria, Jozif, Francesco Tristano (live), Julietta... 11-8am £18/19/10
The fourth consecutively outstanding Saturday sees Perlon co-founder Zip command Room One for what I expect to be a very long, and utterly fascinating voyage of minimal. Perlon is possibly my favourite label, and despite several attempts I'm yet to see Zip. From what I gather, he is unanimously regarded as one of the scene's most intelligent, unpredictable and compelling figures, famous for his vast collection of the most obscure records and his idiosyncratic ability mixing the Perlon brand of minimal. For me, this is unmissable as like Villalobos, Zip represents everything that is brilliant about this beautiful, pared down sub-genre of techno. I'm expecting a late start for him in the main room, so it's just as well that Room Two is for once almost as interesting. Fabric 57's Agoria will showcase his taste for velvety French techno, while fabric regular Jozif will keep things housey. A live set from emerging Italian producer Francesco Tristano is certainly something to consider. His unique blend of classical and electronic music is certainly unprecedented, and could potentially be groundbreaking.

Friday May 20th:
Fabriclive presents Boys Noize Records & Kill Em All with Boys Noize, Housemeister, Shadow Dancer, Djedjotronic, Filthy Dukes and more TBC 10-6am £16/17/10
Ever since I first began my love affair with fabric, Boys Noize remains one of a only a few of my favourite DJ's I'm yet to experience there. It must have been a good few years since he was last booked but now finally the wait is over, as May 20th brings Alex Ridha himself to EC1, along with his record's finest members. Boys Noize is far from a new experience for me, but hearing those searing, sizzling, acid-laced basslines on fabric's soundsytem will be...

Saturday May 21st:
fabric presents Cocoon with Sven Väth, Christian Burkhardt (live), Dorian Paic, Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts (live), Sascha Dive, Craig Richards 11-8am £20/22/15
Last year, Papa Sven landed at fabric for the very first time ever, hand-plucking some of his legendary label's key players, such as Onur Özer and Ilario Alicante, to join his EC1 takeover. Despite dangerous overcrowding during the peak hours, it was a great success, with Väth taking to Room One like a duck to water, and Alicante and Dinky dominating Room Two's aggressive soundsystem. The line-up this year isn't quite as impressive (so far: there may well be more to come), but if Sven's in the house, it's gonna be a special night regardless.

In other fabric news...
While I patiently wait for both fabric 57: Agoria and fabriclive 57: Jackmaster to arrive at my door, a recent email sent out to fabricfirst members has confirmed some more fabric and fabriclive releases in the pipeline, two of which are highly exciting. To my delight, fabric 58: The Nothing Special will be the latest addition to the series mixed by Mr. Craig Richards, who I hope will use the mix to disclose some of those staple tracks he uses that have driven me to near insanity trying to track down. Meanwhile, September will bring fabriclive 59 mixed by Four Tet. To be honest, I couldn't have suggested a better candidate to mix a fabriclive. Kieran Hebden represents everything fabric is about, especially Friday's musical approach there and his mix will surely delight Saturday stalwarts as well as those more in tune with Friday nights.

To finish with, rumour has it that fabric are soon to launch their own brand of energy drink. The news was first broken by Resident Advisor, who quoted Cameron Leslie's thoughts about the surprising new venture, and Terry Francis who described how the DJ's as well as the punters need something to "Keep their heads together". However, confusion and skepticism arose because of the timing of this story's release: April 1st. It was featured on fabric's blog, and there has been no confirmation that is was a joke, so I suppose until we find out otherwise we should believe it. I hear some people aren't too happy with the idea, with accusations of fabric 'selling out', but personally I think it's quite an innovative and interesting concept. I haven't purchased a drink in fabric for about a year I think, but that could change if this is true...

First of all, I must correct a mistake I made in the previous Sorry I'm Minimal post, which was some time ago. That post was titled Sorry I'm Minimal 6, but that was a typo, the post actually being only the 5th. That fairly trivial point aside, I can now dig into the real news in the world of minimal techno that has been raising eyebrows of late, and there's no shortage of interesting developments. I've decided to let the next installment of FABRIC WATCH compliment Sorry I'm Minimal 6, what's happening over in Farringdon recently being inextricably linked to the minimal scene.

Starting with the more specifically Minimal news, Italian Marco Carola has released his first album in 9 years, titled Play It Loud. After a handful of EP's released on labels such as Desolat and M-nus, and following his Groove Catcher EP that preceded the album's release and featured 2 remixes from Martin Buttrich, Carola finally provided us with the most extensive repertoire of his work to date. 15 tracks long and including a complete mixed version of the album, there was certainly plenty to scrutinize, but after how much I enjoyed Groove Catcher, I was definitely optimistic. After giving it a good listen, including the mix, I certainly enjoyed Play It Loud, but I couldn't help feeling very similarly to how I felt after listening to Magda's debut album last year. Play It Loud did everything I expected it to do- provide track after track of loopy, lean beats with bags of funk and muscular basslines. All of this I like, and Carola has built his reputation as a top DJ delivering sets with these characteristics in abundance, but as we so often say, what we want from an album is significantly different from what we want on the dancefloor. Any track from Play It Loud will get bodies moving vigorously in a club, no doubt. The incessant drums, hypnotic percussion and well-placed breakdowns, particularly in Light House are the kind of elements in techno that make people dance a lot, but in Play It Loud, that's all I got from start to finish and I wasn't in a club. Making a dance-orientated album in electronic music has always been a difficult task to pull off. If you're the kind of person who wants just a collection of tracks with great rhythm and tasty material to use in your own sets then Carola's album ticks all the boxes. But I want a bit more from a full length, some kind of narrative or depth that goes beyond the simple realms of a bassline and Play It Loud doesn't really have it. But Carola didn't go about trying to create a melodic masterpiece, the clue is in the title, and as a collection of music designed for the club, I would happily groove to anything on Play It Loud.

Marco Carola - Light House


Play It Loud by Marco Carola is available now on Minus on Beatport

If you can remember, the last Sorry I'm Minimal post centered on Ricardo Villalobos's new two track Peculiar/Zuge 3 EP, which had been released on the Chilean's own Sei Es Drum label. At the time we didn't have it, and it was difficult enough just to be able to hear it somewhere, but we did promise to share it when we got our hands on it and as of yesterday, we have it. Both tracks have cropped up in various DJ charts over the last month or two and it's no surprise why. As you would expect from any Villalobos production, the entire work is stripped down to it's barest bones and layered with flushes of crisp, quivering sonics that only he could craft and weave into something so rhythmic. Peculiar is a 20 minute minimal melody, with contributions from Brito, Weidenthaler and Messelis and is beautiful almost beyond description. Remarkably, the lyrics in Peculiar are as important as the punchy, skeletal beat beneath it is. I'm not sure if this is an accapella of someone far more famous than I'm giving them credit for, but lines like "I know that flowers grow from rain, but how can love grow from pain" are not often found in minimal techno, even in music as colourful and cultured as Villalobos's. Quite possibly a very early contender for the best track of 2011, expect to hear Peculiar played a lot, and Zuge 3 with 3 Phase on the B-side will not be ignored, a less emotive groove but more classically Villalobos with all those pared down, demented dynamics that hit all the right places.

Ricardo Villalobos, Brito, Weidenthaler, Messelis - Peculiar


Ricardo Villalobos & 3 Phase - 3 Zuge


FABRIC WATCH...

It's what we've all been waiting for, fabric have finally announced Ricardo Villalobos's first appearance of 2011. In what promises to be a typically epic, seemingly endless and always memorable occasion, the master of minimal will deliver his exclusive-to-fabric set on Saturday March 12th and not finishing any earlier than 11am on Sunday, but if his appearances last year are anything to go by then all bets are off when the last record will be played...

fabric with Ricardo Villalobos, Craig Richards, Shackleton (live), Applebim, Simon Baker, Ralph Lawson, Glimpse, Chaptal, Nina Kraviz, Terry Francis - Saturday 12 March, 11pm-11am, £19/£18, fabric, London

I've always found it remarkable how the appearance of just a single DJ can create such unequaled excitement and sense of genuine celebration, but wherever Ricardo Villalobos plays, this is the standard reception just his name on a flyer causes. This is especially true in London, where his legendary sets only ever take place at fabric, the first club in the UK to book him, and considering the almost necessary nature of his sets to be without any time restrictions, fabric's unique 24 hour license makes it the only club he would consider playing at in the capital. Of course, there are many other reasons why Villalobos probably wouldn't choose to play anywhere else, such as the unrivaled soundsystem he uses in a way no one else seems able to, but I've said it before and I'll say it again, Ricardo Villalobos and fabric are a marriage made in heaven. The guy loves playing there, and let's be honest he is kind of special so to have the official party hours increased for what is technically just another Saturday night on Charterhouse Street isn't all that surprising.

What will be interesting though is to see how plays after his tragic absence at fabric's birthday weekend last year, when Luciano heroically stepped in. I witnessed his two appearances last year and he took very different approaches in each. In March we had the pleasure of mostly old techno and house classics, such as Ron Hardy's Sensation and Laurent Garnier's Acid Eiffel, with some colourful divergences into tech house. In August, when he notoriously started his set at 9:30, the mood was darker, far more trippy and much more like the signature minimal sound we associate with Villalobos's own work. What will be the narrative of his set this time? I won't dare guess, because literally anything is possible with Ricardo Villalobos is at the helm in Room One. Whatever happens, March 12th is one to put in the diary and will undoubtedly be the highlight of the year for me so far. I feel I should warn those who haven't witnessed fabric with Ricardo headlining before that if you're coming just to catch him, do not come early. Although he was was an hour late, his set time last August was 8:30, which came as a shock even for me after we cruised in at 1am. Back in March, I recall the time being around half five when he came on, so in short, expect a late, late night at his mercy. To make things even more mouth watering, I'm fairly sure not only will Craig Richards precede Ricardo's set in Room One with one of his own perfectly engineered episodes of abstract beats, but also close the night back-to-back with the Chilean, which I can assure you is nothing short of spectacular, especially as the shutters open to allow beams of the Sunday morning light flood into the smokey gloom of the still packed and amazingly frenetic Room One. If you're in a reasonable proximity to London on this date and have a vague interest in dance music, it would be a very wise decision to make the effort and experience arguably electronic music's most important and celebrated personalities entertain for an unlimited length of time at the world's best nightclub. He is a twice yearly resident, but that is never frequent enough after you've witnessed his hypnotic grooves for the first time.

It would be easy to forget there will be so much as another soul in the house while Villalobos is billed, but there is certainly plenty on offer for those in for more than just Ricardo. Prior to his command of Room One, current fabric favourite Shackleton will perform one of his acclaimed live sets, while another techno space-stepper, Appleblim will be the first to take to the booth in what promises to be a bassy first part to the night. Over in Room Two, fabric 33's Ralph Lawson will take care of house duties on that aggressive system along with Simon Baker, while Room Three will surely offer some welcome relief to those wanting to escape the densely packed downstairs, with Nina Kraviz and Terry Francis offering plenty to enjoy.

With that rather supreme matter aside, there's plenty more fabric news to bring, especially regarding their line-ups, as the club continues to book the world's finest talent as we delve deeper in 2011. This weekend, Berlin's Tobi Neumann, who played an integral part in making fabric's 11th birthday weekend so special, will line-up in Room One alongside another one of the birthday's alumni, Levon Vincent, and Patrice Baumel live. Room Two will be taken over by Clone Records, with the most notable guests including Alden Tyrell and Gerd, both performing live. Although I may not make it until quite late thanks to a certain Alex Ridha's touchdown at XOYO, the weekend after welcomes Marco Carola for his album launch (see above) in what promises to be a very busy evening, especially as Robert Hood will DJ under his Floorplan guise in Room Two. Kill Em All returns nice and quick on Friday March 4th with a new Jackbeats fabriclive residency in Room One, where the fidget duo will join one of our old favourites Brodinski, and Trouble & Bass head Drop The Lime. Room Two is the Filthy Dukes', with Aeroplane, Shit Robot live and Punks Jump Up. Hot Chip's Joe Goddard will DJ in Room Three. The next day see's Visionquest land at fabric, a night announced some time ago and will surely have London's underground community frothing at the mouth, especially as Seth Troxler and Ben Klock will join Lee Curtiss, Shaun Reeves and Ryan Crosson. Unfortunately I won't be making it, with Steve Bug 34 floors up at Centre Point's Paramount club having a little more persuasive muscle. But rest assured, fabric on that sort of night will be nothing short of spectacular. On March 19th, Ivan Smagghe conveniently returns after I missed him in early January. All the more exciting is that he's accompanied by Michael Mayer, the individual responsible for one of the greatest mixes of all time, Kompakt's Immer 3. With Steffi in Room One also, there's little chance keeping me away that night. Omar-S and Anja Schneider headline the following week, but interestingly I could well be cruising down to EC1 on a Wednesday on March 3oth, where 19 year old enigma Nicholas Jaar will perform live...

All full line-ups with details can be found on fabric's website

Finally, I can happily inform you that the individual responsible for mixing fabric 57 will be French producer and DJ Agoria, who recently released his excellent album Impermanence, featuring that unforgettable Speechless collaboration with Carl Craig. I was also fortunate enough to catch him early in January when he played at fabric and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. I expect high standards then, with plenty of delicate house soul to come from the latest installment.

Ever since their second album, Temporary Pleasure, James Ford and Jaas Shaw, the duo that make what is collectively known as Simian Mobile Disco have been on a mission: To expose people to delicacies. We're not talking about Frogs Legs here, or pickled herring, we're talking about disgusting, unpleasant techno that is most definitely not for everyone's aural palate. Actually, is for only a few aural palates. This brainchild of theirs yielded a record label, 'Delicacies' and a club night 'Delicatessen'. On Delicacies, SMD have so far released a handful of EPs that have all been named after gastronomic delicacies from around the world and all showcase their new fondness for darker techno vibes.

You can forget about the delicious (and crudely weak) vocal collaborations of Cruel Intentions. You can even kiss goodbye the charmingly addictive techno-pop crossovers in tracks such as Hustler, which remains an unquestionably classic electronic tune to this day. New SMD is for those who stay on the dancefloor beyond 6am, and for those who would have Jeff Mills and Carl Craig among their record collection.

So what can you expect on their club nights? Pretty much non-stop nasty techno beats for the entire duration of the event. This is exactly what we got at Bristol's Motion where sets from SMD, Paul Woolford and fabric's Craig Richards made for an exceptionally exciting night. Motion is a strange but brilliant club. Of course, most know it's a skate park during the day, but this is just the beginning of it's unique personality. The decor is on the shabby side, the dancefloors are tight and dense and the soundsystem is powerful and intimidating. In the Tunnel, SMD delivered a unrelenting barrage of heavy, bassy techno which included old favourites of their own such as Sleep Deprivation, 10000 Horses Can't Be Wrong (one of Temporary Pleasure's few gems), and their recent delicacy Aspic, all of which fueled memorable reactions from the enthusiastic crowd.

Techno stalwart Paul Woolford followed SMD for some more pounding beats and unpredictable twists. But we couldn't keep ourselves from venturing into The Cave where Craig Richards closed the night. It could be argued that Richards stole the show to be quite frank. He was undeniably on top form, keeping the dancefloor moving with surprising amounts of energy for what had been a turbo-charged night. Squelchy, fragile, trippy tech-house was on the menu, blended together with Richards' unequaled ability to maintain beat coherence. Some tracks were more monotone, some were far more ravey, but one thing is for sure, it certainly whetted the appetite ahead of what will be a rather big night for Craig next weekend...

Fist or Finger Vol 1 - 'Beats In Space' - 4th Oct 2010 by jozif

Take bright techno newcomer Jozif and veteran fabric resident Craig Richards and the result isn't exactly obvious. However, if it's on Richards' new co-owned label Fist or Finger then it's devastatingly brilliant. Jozif's Beats In Space EP is unfortunately limited edition and only on vinyl, all the more unfortunate as the original is actually so good it's frightening, and it's remixed by Craig Richards (a rare production outing) on the B-side. Just have to hope I hear Richards drop it next time I hit EC1...

On nights like this, fabric falls somewhere out of the semantic scope of 'nightclub'. A nightclub, for most, is a strict, flashy environment, with surly, angry and intrusive security, prohibitive dress codes, a music policy designed to 'keep the girls happy' and a basic opening/closing time schedule. Not at EC1. Forever pushing the boundaries of the underground community, Saturday night fabric is simply a vast, subterranean temple for only religious followers of all things techno. If you are one of those people, you could be forgiven for not really wanting to venture anywhere else on a Saturday. Once inside when the night is beginning to peak, usually about 6am, it becomes clear why this place is a legendary institution. With a dress code that permits all but business suits, there is the most fascinating cross-section of cultural identities inside. The security are so passive that almost anything goes. People openly are lighting up cigarettes and more on the dancefloor with no opposition. The only thing the security is there for it seems is to eradicate trouble, which is in everyone's best interests and for which I've seen none every time I've been . With the music as the main attraction, of course, such is the reputation of the club now that big name guests are weekly. Carl Craig, Jeff Mills, Tiefschwarz and Seth Troxler are just a few of many that regularly appear in the cockpit-like booth of Room One and with their 24hr license, nights frequently conclude no earlier than 9am. I am yet to stay the entire duration of any night, a feat Chris is eager to reach.

But then one day, someone from the fabric team came up with the idea of a night that really doesn't seem to end. Because 8 or 9am is far too early, for their 10th birthday last year they celebrated with a 30 hour rave, commencing at the standard 11pm on Saturday, but not concluding until at least 5am on Monday. The concept was nothing short of a success, and a ground-breaking event for club programming. What it proved was there people that liked this sort of thing, and enough of them to create a residency of which would become known as On & On & On... After their birthday bash, two more On & On & On events have taken place with some quite incredible line-ups. This time fabric took a breather and reduced the duration of the event by half creating fabric On. If you ask me though, it started out as a standard fabric Saturday but after they secured Ricardo Villalobos to headline Room One for the second time this year, they just knew they had to do something special for his notoriously epic sets.

Unless you're there to see a live act or anyone other than the main headliner, the later you get to fabric the better. We headed there about 3am which was still too early to avoid the high-heeled girls and 'out-on-the-town' London lads who cluttered the bars if not the dancefloors. We also discovered to our slight disappointment that we would be waiting about 5 hours until Ricardo would be gracing the decks of Room One. Not to worry though, in the meantime we had a bit of Dinky, a live performance from Canadian project, the Modern Deep Left Quartet live, Terry Francis spinning in Room Two, Swayzak and Baby Ford b2b up in Room Three and of course, the legendary Craig Richards warming up for Ricardo all the way until at least 8:30, according to the set-times pinned round all over the club. That on its own would be some line-up, but knowing that Ricardo Villalobos would eventually rule the night is some prospect.

We caught the tail end of Dinky's set, a classically deep house set that kept Room One happy. Not exactly the scary sounds you would hear later on but perfect at a time when the place is still merely simmering. The Deep Modern Left Quartet followed Dinky on the other side on the room, on stage. Their live set-up looked incredible. Four Canadian producers, including Matthew Jonson, around a hard-wired array of machinery. All members frantically tweaking, twisting and pressing to produce some delightful sonics. But with so much to see, we vacated Room One for a Terry Francis session in the narrow cave of a second room. As usual, his sleek blend of Techno and House fueled a breathtaking surge of movement on all corners of the room. Fabric's Room 2 has always fascinated me. For someone who hadn't been to the club before, it would be easy to mistake it for the legendary Room One. During the club's busiest hours, usually from 3-6am, Room Two is arguably more frenetic and thrilling. Coming from the foyer area as you enter from the stairwell, it's visible but only through a tiny arched entrance tunnel. From there it looks formidable, nothing but chasm of darkness, smoke and lasers and floor-shaking bass. Francis is perfect at this time, using everyone's raw energy with every trick his spinning experience gives him.

Fabric's Room Three could often be likened to a proverbial 'chill room'. It's tiny for a start and is never that densely packed even on particularly busy nights. I expect this is partly because many newcomers to the club either simply don't know there is a third room or if they do, don't know how to get to it. Even I scratched my temple at one point in slight confusion of how to get there despite having been there several times before. There is undoubtedly a much less intense atmosphere compared to the two rooms downstairs. We entered during Swayzak and Baby Ford's B2B set which yielded some deliciously groovy deep tech and minimal sounds.

After we resurfaced to the outside world for an essential break in the smoking garden, we moved back to Room One where Craig Richards was busy spinning in his first of two sets of the night, first on his own before Ricardo, and after with Ricardo. Richards' sets are when the extraordinary brilliance of fabric really becomes clear. When you really do begin to forget there is normal, mundane, civilized and quiet life elsewhere. Always different, his sets are musical nutrients for everyone outside the legendary booth in the club. Nightmarish is one interestingly accurate adjective that emerged from his set this particular time. A teeming, relentless tour of dark, trippy, fragile beats, breaks and acid pitches that on Room One's intimidating soundsytem does send you into a frenzy of near insanity as well as movement. At one point, the entire room was pierced with the unrelenting sample of someone screaming, while waves of thumping techy beats rolled in and out.

We stuck around during Richards' set a little longer than we probably would have before perhaps switching rooms, purely because of the promise of seeing Ricardo Villalobos open a set at fabric. Fashionably late? Maybe he was but at almost 9:30 in the morning having been there since 3, our patience was tried. We gave up waiting for him and instead took a breather outside. Little did we know the night before he was in Ukraine closing a festival, so his lateness could be forgiven. Soon after we returned where at last to our excitement we could see the old master at the helm in Room One through a storm of smoke, lights and camera flashes, and also hear him. Immediately we entered into climate of extreme minimal, classic Villalobos. Reminiscent of the kind of work he produced on his album Thé au Harem d'Arichmède. He then moved onto more tribal techno sounds, still maintaining the microhouse structure but with the typical latin flavours and bizarre vocals that are a staple of Villalobos' sets. A self-confessed audiophile, Villalobos tested the Room One soundsystem to it's maximum, manipulating it with all his wisdom, unearthing frequencies never delivered before.

Probably the most endearing, most enjoyable thing about Ricardo Villalobos at fabric is experiencing arguably the most naturally gifted electronic musician play so freely because he feels at home. It's easy to forget that if it wasn't for fabric, Ricardo may not be the musician he is today. That room one booth couldn't be more comfortable now for a man who has been spinning there before anyone had heard of him. It's this relationship with the club that makes nights he returns so special, so memorable. I just can't wait for next time, where I will strive to stay beyond 11am.

For those who don't religiously follow Resident Adviser, the online bible for all things good electronic music, here is a special little feature that was published a few days ago. A rare and truly precious interview with one of the most revered and respected DJs in the world, fabric resident and music director, Craig Richards.

Craig Richards - The Tyranny of Expectations (RA Interview)

The legendary Lee Burridge teamed up with Craig Richards for the first time at fabric this year a couple of weeks ago for another epic TYRANT set. I was fortunate enough to be there and experience the quite incredible skill and creativity of these two remarkable DJs. The pair's contribution to the evergreen fabric series, fabric 15: TYRANT, showcases brilliantly their mixing and selection ability and is arguably one of the best releases on fabric records to date.

Here's a little snippet of what the mix is all about- intelligent, deep and danceable tech-house...

Ada - Lucky Charm