Super-CRITICAL-isticexpialidocious

Drum & Bass at it's best... Critical label boss Kasra is mixing for Fabriclive 62 and you can stream it below in my favorite samurai.fm format:



Following some words from the man himself as well as some proper info:

Kasra's Critical Music label has been home to some of the most forward thinking drum & bass since the label’s inception back in 2002, and Mowlavi continues to stretch any tired expectations of the genre by housing work from esteemed new school producers like Rockwell, Sabre, Foreign Concept and Enei. It hasn’t ever waned or deviated from its original goal of releasing quality drum & bass, properly and without compromise; and that’s something he’s constantly projected - in three compilations he’s compiled on Critical to date and throughout the tracklisting that makes up FABRICLIVE 62.

"From a young age I always picked up records and tapes at home and just put them on to see what they sounded like, anything and everything from my parent’s collections. I pretty quickly became obsessed with music and buying records, and listening to John Peel on the radio until the early hours. His radio show was probably the most important part of my musical education. I remember being blown away by the spirit and energy of a lot of American underground guitar music he would play. That DIY ethic inspired me to want to run a label."

"Growing up a lot of my friends either liked guitar music or dance music, the two didn’t really cross over like they do now. At first I thought drum and bass was this soulless machine music, but friends would play me tape packs or new records and I grew more and more interested and excited by it. The music was raw, dark, futuristic and with an incredible energy and mood. I remember the first nights I went to, they felt like being in a dark and distant future world - the cliché of drum and bass and its links to the film Bladerunner exist for a reason."

"I just wanted to be involved in the music I loved. I didn’t know anyone influential in the scene, all I had was enthusiasm, a little bit of money and an internet connection. It took a lot of going to clubs and buying drinks and ultimately doing things properly. I had experience of working at some high profile labels and wanted to adopt some of the professionalism yet still have the music as the main focus. Drum & bass has a long history of disgruntled artists not being paid for their work, I think its key to ensure contracts are done and payments are made. After all, without the music, the label is nothing."

"I wanted to put together a mix that was both a representation of what I would play at a Critical event at fabric and a snapshot of my favourite drum and bass in 2012. I wanted as much of it to be as upfront as possible but at the same time not sacrificing the quality for the sake of it being fresh. Some of the mixes I love most have been from the FABRICLIVE series so I was conscious of keeping it really high quality and having something that would do the music, and the opportunity, justice. I wanted to bring back the excitement of the tape pack (minus the over enthusiastic MC and horn sounds) so the mix was done live. There are some little imperfections here and there, I like that. It gives it some personality."

Tracklist as following:
1. Emperor - Network
2. Eastcolors - Rockfella
3. Hybris - The Cleaner VIP
4. Dally - Pathfinder
5. Rockwell - Aria
6. Dub Phizix & Skeptical - Four
7. Fierce & Vicious Circle - Spectre
8. Enei & MC Drs - Obsession (Foreign Concept Remix)
9. CMX - Guilt
10. Fracture - Tunnel Track
11. Kasra & Enei - So Real
12. Xtrah Feat MC Codebreaker - Set The Levels
13. Dub Phixiz - Codec
14. Icicle & Noisia - Driftwood
15. Break - Cold Sweat
16. Die & Break - Deep Search
17. Break - Soundwaves
18. Optiv & BTK - Menace
19. Sabre, Stray & Halogenix - St.Clair
20. Sabre, Stray & Halogenix Feat Frank Carter III - Oblique VIP